Odyssey of the Blind God

Using the tram, Nial was able to find his way into the most crowded area of the shelter in a mere half an hour.

It had been a long time since he had visited the central of the district, but upon entering, he recalled why that had been the case.

The large open area was bustling with a lot of people who were going about their usual business.

A cacophony of noises of talking, yelling, and laughing of hundreds of people made him feel momentarily dizzy.

They all were roaming through the tightly packed streets which made it impossible for him to hear anything clearly.

There was not even the possibility to use his senses to pave a way through the crowd to find the route to the Originals association.

Fortunately, he didn't have to rely on his normal senses anymore.

Nial could use his mana to visualize the people around him and evade them if necessary without the need to change his direction.

Because nobody usually cared about others walking through the center district, many bumped into each other, and Nial recalled several past instances when he had been lost due to being pushed around.

Shaking his head, he tried to accept that it had been a matter of the past and that things were different now.

As such, he walked through the crowd of people, only to notice that others were retreating at the mere sight of him.

This astonished Nial for a moment, only to sense that the people who were giving him a wide berth weren't Originals.

The mana Nial released was directly perceived by them, even if they couldn't do anything with it.

One could easily figure out whether someone was an Original or not, and the ordinary citizens immediately realized that Nial was one of them.

Because of that, they made space for him and ensured that they did not bump into him.

They only eyed him warily and did not dare offend him even if he was blind.

At least that was what most citizens were doing, thinking that it was better to maintain a low profile.

In the end, it was just too much of a hassle to offend even a blind, newly awakened Original.

Even a disabled Original was stronger and had more importance than ordinary citizens.

Having a clear path before him, Nial found his way to the Originals association without issues.

Initially, he hadn't known where the association was but finding it wasn't a problem.

When he reached his destination, he saw a large crowd of Originals who had gathered around the Originals association. The surrounding buildings were also used by Originals, in order to train all the young and newly awakened, sell items, or purchase corpses and all kinds of devices.

There were even a few blacksmithing and alchemy shops around which Nial wanted to visit later.

Due to his heightened mana perception, Nial could visualize the surrounding in the radius of two meters after he used his [Mana Perception(poorest)] ability.

However, if he didn't focus on visualizing anything, the range at which he could perceive things was much higher.

Thus, he could clearly sense the masterpieces of metalwork and pure mana harbored within some medicinal solutions that were put on the display panels of the shop windows.

Ever since he had awoken his origin, and the Odyssey seed, Nial felt much more joyous and relaxed.

As such, he didn't feel uncomfortable in the central district as it was usually the case.

Now that he could perceive his surroundings better, he found roaming around the streets relatively easy, and intriguing.

However, what shocked Nial, was that he could even see letters by using his mana perception.

That was amazing and made him smile vibrantly, with the sole issue being that he was not able to read.

He had only learned the alphabet of the blind, and even that had been useless.

The government didn't really support blind people as they were deemed as useless and an unnecessary burden on society.

They discriminated against most of the disabled citizens, and Nial couldn't even describe how angering this was.

Yet, in the end, he was unable to do anything against the government's unfair behavior because he was powerless and a weakling.

Even after he had awoken his origin, Nial had yet to perceive anything that allowed him to live easily with his blindness.

That was if one excluded his mana perception that was innately already exceptional. And it received another boost when it was further enhanced by his [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability!

'Mother said that they don't even have a dungeon guide for the blind or the visually impaired...what kind of bullshit is that…?'

His good mood worsened at the thought of the government's behavior and attitude towards the disabled.

Fortunately, he reached the Originals association not long after, distracting him from the depressing thoughts that flashed through his mind.

As he had seldom stepped into the association before, Nial was not aware of the large number of Originals that he could now see.

He had thus believed that his parents were special even if their talent was considered below average.

However, this belief changed over the short period he had been inside the central district.

Less than 15 minutes had passed, yet, Nial assumed that he had encountered more than a thousand Originals already!

That shocked him a little bit if he were to be honest.

Upon taking his first step while entering the Originals association, he couldn't help but stiffen.

It was a huge and magnificent structure that was so wide that he could not even see its ends that seemed to stretch for miles.

The moment Nial stepped through the automatically opening door, the world around him changed completely.

If the central district was considered to be densely packed with mana then the Originals association was overflowing with it!

The open areas and wide streets of the district held ample mana that originated from the surrounding dungeons and permeated the air around the entire district.

Though the mana he could feel inside seemed to be more invigorating.

Just by standing in the doorframe, Nial was already able to feel how his mana veins were craving for the mana inside the entrance hall.

Greedily absorbing everything, his body seemed to have acquired a mind of its own, and Nial felt unable to move for a moment.

Suddenly, this sensation disappeared as he was distracted by someone who had appeared behind him.

"Don't block the door, kiddo!" A deep voice spoke to him, resounding in his ears as he felt a large hand gently pushing him forward.

"You have to pay more attention to where you're standing, kid.

Otherwise, some Originals who have experienced bad luck in their dungeon conquests might vent their anger on you!"

Without turning around, Nial sensed a small, middle-aged man with a bulky physique and a long beard walk past him, followed by the rest of his group.

Bowing lightly, he thanked the man, who simply nodded his head.

This encounter made Nial feel that not everyone was as selfish and bad as many Originals were rumored to be.

At this moment, Nial noticed something through his mana perception.

He could tell that the entire group around the dwarf-sized middle-aged man was much stronger than his parents, or many other Originals he could see around him

However, he was unable to tell how strong they truly were which was disheartening.

Nial's eyes kept flitting to the dwarf-like leader because he felt that there was something unique about him that made Nial curious.

Shaking his head, Nial dragged himself out of his thoughts.

He had arrived here for a different task and meddling in others' business or bothering them needlessly, just because they had been kind to him was not the best way forward.

Thus, Nial turned towards the likely direction of the reception and activated his [Mana Perception] ability once again.

This in turn helped him increase the range at which he could perceive everything to a large extent.

Without the necessary mana to keep his ability activated for a long time, Nial could barely perceive where he had to go before the range of his perception returned to its usual once again.

After that, he was able to take the direct path to the reception.

Sadly, every single counter was occupied so he had to wait for more than 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, the queue was quite long.

Nial noticed this, but he didn't know whether it was normal, or if something had happened.

But after listening to the discussions around him, he realized that there was nothing special going on anywhere.

His timing to enter the Originals associations just seemed to have been extremely bad.

When it was finally his turn, the receptionist introduced herself, while storing away the origin crystals she had received in exchange to money that she had handed to the previous Original.

"I want to be registered and tested as a newly awakened Original. Furthermore, I want to sell a few poorest quality common grade origin crystals, please!"

Without looking up, the receptionist pointed at a box Nial sensed right next to a magic device before she replied,

"Put all origin crystals inside the big box, and please scan your ID at the card reader right in front of you!"

Doing as instructed, not even a minute had passed before Nial heard her announce,

"32 poorest common origin crystal, each worth 30$. That would be a total of 960$.

Do you want to receive cash, or should I transfer the 960$ to the bank account that will be created after your Innate talent has been tested? You will receive a special Originals ID with which you can also do transactions.

There are also several other kinds of functions, but you can read the guide for that!"

After she said so, the situation turned a little bit odd.

The receptionist next to the young woman exclaimed and tapped on her shoulder while trying to tell her something.

On the other hand, Nial just smiled, because even the Originals around him had turned quiet, becoming very interested in what would happen next.

They wanted to see how he would react, but instead of throwing a fit or doing anything odd, Nial just answered her.

"Please transfer everything to my Originals bank account once it has been created!"

Nodding her head to indicate that she had understood him, the female receptionist kept doing her work while her head was still bent.

She was fully focused on her task, and without lifting her head, she simply pointed at a feeble-looking young man, who was standing next to a small door.

It almost looked like he was guarding it.

"Alright. It has been done. Now, please follow my colleague. He will test your Innate talent!"

The situation had already become awkward, the moment the receptionist said that Nial should just read the guide about Originals and their ID.

However, it was only when she pointed toward her colleague that she lifted her head to see Nial staring at her with his white, lifeless eyes.

"Eh…I…I'm sorry…I..w-will...take you to my colleague, plea-..."

Embarrassed about her mishap, she wanted to make up for her blunder. But before the receptionist's colleagues could approach Nial, and try to pacify him, Nial lifted his hand.

"Alright, thank you for your help, have a nice day!"

Afterward, he turned in the young man's direction, and approached him, walking around the counter as if he could see it.

'Didn't he say that he is newly awakened? How can he use his mana to visualize his surroundings...or is he just barely sensing that there is an obstruction?...He might have lied about the time of his awakening too… well whatever.'

Shaking her head, the receptionist tried to forget about the incident and Nial as quickly as possible.

Thus, she stubbornly continued her work as the next Original who was already waiting to get his origin crystals exchanged approached her desk.