Odyssey of the Blind God

Gianna didn't say anything on their way back. After they entered the shuttle they had hailed, the two took off their robes and masks before they entered their own train of thoughts.

Nial was focused on the information he had received and was trying to digest the text that had been written on the paper.

'The information about the Sacred Knights and Eclipse Assassins is scarce but there is more than enough to give me a rough understanding of either group. Meanwhile, the Heaven's Gates are not even publically known…isn't that a little bit weird? Mankind's strongest Organization is not even known to the general public…'

It would be a lie if he were to say that he understood everything he had gotten to know from the chubby merchant.

However, Nial did understand some basic things, including the fact that it was not certain whether his family was in danger or not, and what the Heaven's Gates Organization was doing with her sister.

In the end, Nial simply concluded that his family had been kidnapped and brought to the Heaven's Gates Organization because that made the most sense in his opinion.

'They should be fine, right?' He once again wondered but he had no way of finding out the truth for quite some time. It made him feel helpless but it was the bitter truth and what reality looked like.

While Nial was deep in thoughts, Gianna kept glancing over at the young blind man every now and then.

She also had lots of thoughts in her mind, with most being related to Nial.

'He doesn't look any special right now, but before…the Pseudo-Domain he manifested was truly powerful… Does he have a Darkness Elemental Affinity? That might not be it…his darkness felt weird and it was merged with something else…'

Gianna's perception was exceptional. This was also why she could tell the difference between ordinary elemental affinities and something that was not even close to being called such.

Her interest in Nial increased quite a bit but that was only obvious after seeing the young blind man break the will of six Prym-ranked Originals and force them into retreat while he was merely at the 7th Origin rank.

Even if Nial's mana core was larger than the norm, this feat was something not many could achieve.

'Maybe he has a complex Innate ability, and his first ability supports his Innate ability?'

In the end, Gianna also knew that Dilan's senses were exceptional. Not only was his mana control almost so perfect that she wondered if he was already rivaling her in that subject but Gianna had also noticed that Nial had been interested in her silenced movements.

He still heard her, though she moved with the grace of a soundless lion which one could only notice upon intently observing Nial's ears.

'Master should have picked him up in the Teradan military camp. Will the other one be a monster like Nial then?'

Mathias was not as powerful as Nial but one could consider him a monster as well. His comprehension of the Earth affinity had increased by leaps and bounds. It was even possible for him to enter close combat now which would elevate his combat power drastically!

When they returned to Miranda's mansion, Nial immediately went to the room he had been assigned. He needed to sort his thoughts and make up his mind about what steps to take next.

It was obvious that he had to become stronger but the most important question was <How?>. There were many ways to become stronger and it was only obvious that absorbing Mana from Origin crystals would be best for fast progress.

This was even more so the case with the Ciran taria technique as it increased his mana absorption while using Origin crystals as a medium.

However, it was not exactly cost-efficient because Nial, Bella, and Mathias ended up paying millions of dollars to enlarge their mana core only once.

Mathias was not too far from reaching the 10th Origin rank, which meant that he would have to start liquefying his mana before he was going to create his first Origin ring.

The most efficient way to create the strongest Origin ring without having too many issues was to fill one's body with mana.

Once the entire mana core was filled with mana, it would be compressed into a single Mana droplet. Following that, one could start creating the outlines of the first Origin ring before the process would be repeated over and over again.

Most Originals said that this process was slightly dangerous because one had to be fully focused on both maintaining the outlines of the first Origin ring's foundation while simultaneously liquefying the subsequent Mana droplets after the Mana core was filled with mana once again.

It was possible to postpone the creation of more Mana droplets but the foundation of the first Origin ring would be frail if created using this process.

Thus, it was more likely for mishaps to occur the moment one were to venture into a dungeon, or spar against powerful opponents. However, one would be stronger that way as the frail framework of the Origin ring could already be made use of.

There was also a different way which was to create several Mana droplets before one would start building the foundation of the first Origin ring.

This process was the safest but it was also a process that prevented the Origin ring from reaching its full potential.

After all, the second Mana droplet one created in succession to the first Mana droplet would hold less mana if one used the safest tactic!

The principle behind this was quite simple. When using the entire mana within one's Mana core to create the first Mana Droplet, the Mana core would be empty after the mana in its gaseous state was used up.

However, when the same Mana core would be filled once again, it would hold less mana because a Mana Droplet that resided within the mana core would now take some space.

Thus, instead of creating another Mana droplet with the same amount of compressed mana inside the Mana  core, it could be used to store just a tad bit less mana.

It might not be traceable at first, but the difference between a perfect Origin ring that had been created with a slightly more risky process and the Origin ring that had been created in the most secure way would be unveiled over time.

Not many Originals regretted the path they chose to create their first Origin rings.

Everyone, who was able to tell what the limit of their capabilities was, would choose the process they were the most compatible with and confident in.

After all, if an Origin ring were to be destroyed or damaged in the creation process, it would not only be difficult to fix the issues without facing severe repercussions but it was possible that the one's soul would be damaged the moment their Origin ring broke!

Given this information, Mathias was inclined on choosing the first and slightly more dangerous process to create his Advanced Origin rings.

With his Mana core's limit, it was no problem for him to reach the 10th Origin rank after 9 enlargings. That was why he wanted to make use of this potential, and not restrict himself just because he wanted to play safe.

The only issue was that the creation of an Advanced Origin ring required several hundred Mana droplets and to create a single one the mana core had to be filled, meaning that one had to fill one's mana core to the brim, several hundred times at that.

Not only would it take time to fill the mana core, liquefy the mana within the core, and keep on building his first Origin ring, but it would be a costly affair if he would solely rely on Origin crystals and stay in the Mansion.

Furthermore, the creation process of the first Origin ring would take an extremely long amount of time because the entire procedure was entirely new to Mathias and he would be forced to figure out most things by himself.

Everyone was different, meaning that one's body might prevent certain tricks and tips from working out.

Thus, Mathias would have to get to know more about himself, his body, and his constitution along with learning the most-efficient way to liquefy his Mana and create his first Advanced Origin ring.

The young man in question, Mathias, was currently in the living room, sitting across from Miranda, who was looking at him with a fierce expression.

It looked like she was about to give the young man a good beating the moment he retaliated against her once again.

Gianna didn't go to her room after Nial left. Instead, she had to continue serving her master, which was why she was standing beside Miranda in the living room as well, ready to provide her master with everything she needed.

"Even if you have enough funds, it will probably take you two or three years before you enter the Low Prym rank!"

Miranda was just lecturing Mathias because the young man was as impatient as ever.

He looked at Miranda with slight frustration but the Witch of the South didn't even think of being lenient with him.

"Two years are not even long if you consider that it is the first Origin ring you create, an Advanced one at that. Others require five or ten years to create their first one. I know why you're so impatient but almost everyone needs at least one year.

In fact, the Originals who require only one year to create their first Origin ring, and Advanced one, are our greatest prodigies!

I have yet to see more than a handful of prodigies with such terrifying talent though all of them had been trained meticulously since a young age.

Just calm down and figure out how to accumulate enough funds so that you won't have to waste your time conquering dungeons while you advance to the Prym rank!"

It was a rare sight for Gianna to see her Master shouting, let alone lecturing someone with a fierce tone.

However, the young female butler was further baffled when she realized that her Master was lecturing the young man for his own sake.

Her Master wouldn't gain anything from lecturing Mathias right now. Rather, she could avoid losing her cool by not minding his business and by ignoring him completely.

But that was not what Miranda did.

After she had released her frustration about Mathias' constant complaints that it would take way too long to create his first Advanced Origin ring and that they didn't have that much time to waste, Miranda started to give him some general pointers.

'Did she really take those two as her disciples?!? Since when did Master start to accept disciples??'

Gianna was confused but that was only obvious.

Being someone's teacher was tiresome, certainly a big responsibility and it required lots of time, time the Witch of the South never wanted to spend to nurture disciples.

Miranda had always been focused on her own work, on accumulating knowledge and getting stronger.

But from the looks of it she had changed quite a bit in the few months, she had been away from Liondra.

'Just what happened?!'

While Gianna was confused, Mathias had finally quieted down. He listened to the pointers Miranda provided him, while simultaneously trying to imagine everything she stated.

Receiving general pointers was quite helpful to Mathias as he was visibly frazzled and appeared clueless about what to do next. Despite the minute differences in each human body, the vast majority of functions in the human body and constitution were still the same.

That was also why Miranda could give him the most basic knowledge about the creation of Origin rings, without going too much into detail about the specific differences every human body had.

This was something Mathias had to figure out by himself.

"To create a firm Origin ring, it would be best if you were to continue conquering dungeons. In fact, I recommend you to spend only a few hours a day solely focused on the creation of your Origin ring because your combat perception will get rusty otherwise.

Furthermore, there are other benefits you might obtain while conquering dungeons when you're creating your first Origin ring!"

**

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