Odyssey of the Blind God

"You could have gotten money from the loan sharks. They would have given you as much as you needed…though with a pretty bad interest rate," Nial responded to Felix's comment, his voice devoid of any emotions.

Every new Original needed money, that was a fact. As a 0th Rank Artisan, it would be possible to earn a significant amount of money within a month as long as one worked hard enough. The money should be more than enough to buy a bunch of resources and to support the young Artisan's family.

"No…they couldn't give me enough…" Felix said, piquing Nial's interest as he continued:

"My sister awoke her Origin after I arrived in Halheim. She was said to have great talent, and soon a powerhouse from a foreign race's Embassy approached her. They gave her a small fortune worth of Origin crystals and a Mana Breathing Technique, which their race uses.

In exchange, they set up a Soul Contract that says she has to advance to the Deux rank in a certain period of time and help them with something in exchange for the resources and technique she obtained. In case she failed to meet the standards they had set up, she would become their Slave, or she would have to pay for her freedom…"

The story went on, but the most important was that Felix's sister accepted the deal because she had been certain that she could advance quickly. Her Mana Veins had been ranked as 'Superior' and her Mana Core didn't have a limitation in terms of the numbers of enlargements it could undergo.

She accepted the deal, and her progression skyrocketed with the use of the resources she had received. However, it was just two months after she started to practice the Mana Breathing technique she had obtained from the foreign race that she noticed something was off.

'The Mana Breathing technique was altered to prevent humans from advancing. That means she would have to create a new mana core and get rid of her old one…while that's possible to start anew as an Original, it would cost her a long time and resources…and then she wouldn't be able to meet the requirements set up in the Soul Contract…not bad, that's a really intelligent way to get their hands on Slaves with great potential…'

Nial could tell that this tactic was just a different means for foreign races to get their hands on more slaves, more high-quality breeders.

It was bothersome to think that even foreign races belonging to the Embassy, which had been accepted inside the human shelters, would do something like that and resort to cunning practices, but Nial could imagine it.

'Are we that interesting for other races? Just the fact that we have five ability slots seems to be enough for them to go insane…'

He could understand where the foreign race's interest was coming from, especially after he had encountered many other races in the past. Nial was able to tell what their perks were and he got to know the number of ability slots most of them possessed.

Through that, it was quite obvious that five ability slots were not only the highest number he encountered as the average number of ability slots every member of a race could bind to their mana core, but they didn't even have a disadvantage.

Many races with three or four ability slots had certain flaws and disadvantages that decreased their power drastically. Yet, the humans from Jundra didn't really seem to possess something like that.

Not every human from Jundra was talented, and there were many black sheep in their rows, but that was something one could find anywhere.

'Were we that talented before we were born on the Origin? Did we accept getting sealed away when the Origin sealed its power to postpone the prophecy from coming true?'

There were many questions he had about the humans in Jundra and their connection to the Origin, but the answers were not within his reach as of now.

That was why Nial told himself that the humans from Jundra were unique because of their place of birth and especially because of their heritage.

This made him feel much better and it allowed him to focus more on the young Artisan, Felix.

"So after you figured out what the foreign race did with your sister you wanted to make some quick cash by using the money of loan sharks to buy the Cultivation Drug.

Afterward, you wanted to sell it on my property where many newly awakened can be found. You tried to tell them that the Cultivation Drug is nothing bad and that they will advance much faster, which would result in a domino effect to elevate their progression as Adventurers, or Artisans.

Unfortunately, you were reported and your Cultivation Drugs were taken away," Nial summarized what happened to Felix, who could only nod his head before he lowered it.

He was looking at the ground with slumped shoulders, not daring to say anything for quite a while.

"Do you know how many newly awakened Originals like your sister were approached with the same scheme? And have you heard about something similar happening in the other shelters?" Nial asked, changing the topic for a moment.

Felix had expected to get beaten up for his attempts to turn Nial's employees into drug addicts, but Nial was calm, too calm in Felix's opinion.

'I will definitely die today…' He thought, dreadfully.

However, he was not ready to die, not without ensuring his sister's well-being. Dying might be bad, but it would only hurt for a moment. Being enslaved and forced to obey the will of your master was something much worse than death, if you encountered the wrong master, that is.

"I will tell you everything I know…but please…please help my sister!!" Felix fell on his knees and moved his broken body despite tremendous pain coursing through him, just to crawl closer to Nial.

However, Nial merely got up from the ground, which was enough to create distance between them once again.

"Why the hell should I help you? You really don't understand in what kind of situation you are, do you?" Nial's ice-cold, and emotionless voice rang through Felix's ear and the young Artisan further slumped to the ground, his eyes red and teary.

"Please…" He mumbled, repeating the same word over and over again.

"Please…"

"Please…"

"Please…"

Several minutes had passed, yet, Felix didn't stop asking Nial for help desperately.

'What tenacity…he could have just worked hard to save his sister instead of becoming a pseudo-savage by trying to sell the Cultivation drugs.'

"Alright, hold your horses, youngster," Nial said all of a sudden before he sighed deeply.

He could tell that Felix cared for his family and that he would give his all to protect them, even if that meant he would do something immoral.

That was not necessarily bad because it showed that he was loyal to his family, especially since Nial would do exactly the same.

If it was necessary to annihilate an entire race for the sake of his family, he would do that as well. That was how life was.

"If you get me the information I want, I might reconsider helping your sister!"