Odyssey of the Blind God

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thus, she didn't mind the repetition.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Huh, how do you know that?"

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

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