Odyssey of the Blind God

"What kind of existences create the dungeon portals? Are they not naturally manifested?"

Despite the fact that Nial's question had been directed at the Old Medic, it was Bella who asked this question in utter confusion.

It had always been mankind's assumption that the dungeon portals were naturally created. The process and reason for their manifestation were unknown, but it was thought to be the result of Jundra's evolution.

Some even presumed that Jundra itself caused all of this in order to awaken its own mana.

However, in the end, nobody knew the truth, which was a bitter fact.

That was why Nial's comment was weird. After all, it meant that he knew about 'existences' that created the dungeon portals.

This also included that he was likely to know their reasons to create the dungeon portals.

'Did his Innate ability reveal some memories to him after he completed the first enhancement?' Bella wondered, recalling that some Innate abilities were known for providing memories after they had been enhanced.

This was rare but certainly not something that had never happened. With that in mind, Bella stared at Nial, hoping that he would reveal more about the things he got to know.

But Nial didn't even notice Bella's gaze that was fixated on him because his entire attention was on Miranda.

"Existences that create the dungeon portals…?"

By looking at Nial's expressions, Miranda could clearly tell that he was serious with every word he spoke.

Intrigued by this, she couldn't hold herself back anymore.

"Okay, then tell me. If I'm satisfied, I'll accept the three of you!"

She knew that information as important as this had its price, and if the price for something as invaluable as knowing more about the reason behind the dungeon portal's appearance and existence, it was worth training three Originals that were quite talented, to begin with!

However, Nial just shook his head after he heard Miranda's answer.

"By telling you that there are existences that create the dungeon portals, I already gave you a firsthand taste of the information I have. I'm not here to negotiate. If you are not interested in the information, we should take your leave.

It's not like you are the only Original with seven advanced Origin rings."

After ward, Nial turned around just to mumble to himself,

"You are not even at the Prometheus rank, why are you acting all high and mighty?"

Nial was already on his way to the door when he heard the sound of rushed footsteps behind him.

"Who allowed you to leave, little brat?" It was obviously Miranda, who appeared behind him, preventing him from leaving as she held his shoulder tightly.

Nial didn't even allow her to speak any further and had simply decided to leave. This was something that annoyed Miranda even more than the attitude he showed to her.

Everyone treated her with the utmost respect because she was one of the strongest humans in existence.

As such, Nial's behavior was amongst the worst she had encountered.

Everyone, who didn't give her the respect she deserved, was always punished harshly.

Miranda didn't plan on punishing Nial as she could easily overlook a single act of disobedience.

After all, Nial was unlikely to know better.

But the words he had mumbled to himself were something she had clearly heard as well.

Because Miranda had heard everything, she didn't feel like allowing Nial to leave before he revealed everything he knew.

And that seemed to be quite a lot, considering that he had spoken something about a certain 'Prometheus' rank which she had never heard of before.

However, the moment Nial's head turned towards her, Miranda froze in place.

"Let go of me!" Nial growled in a barely controlled voice. Every single word was spoken in an eerily cold but fierce tone.

It was weird and felt like some sort of mind manipulating energy was intertwined in his words, which led Miranda to freeze in place.

Or at least that was what she presumed while looking at Nial's lifeless eyes that radiated a faint crimson hue.

His entire facial expression was filled with anger, while his Odyssey seed pulsated three times at once.

Due to this, he was able to control the entire mana in his surroundings.

However, that was not something Nial was bothered about as he snapped his fingers.

Just a moment later every single trace of mana under his control was altered by his dark energy.

Thus, the entire abode of the Old Medic turned pitch-black.

Mere moments later brightly glowing crimson eyes pierced through the darkness and stared straight into Miranda's soul.

It was as if she was unable to keep anything about her body a secret from the crimson-glowing eyes that bore into her.

A trace of fear manifested in the depth of her heart and as if a bolt of electricity zapped her, Miranda let go of Nial's shoulder.

Letting go was something she instinctively did without realizing as Miranda felt how her hand was slowly going numb.

The mana that coursed through her hand and entire arm slowly decayed as Nial released the purest form of his dark energy into the outside world.

Only when Miranda let go of him did everything return to normal.

The darkness disappeared, while Nial's eyes turned the same as before, pale white and lifeless.

Even then, the dark energy he had released was retracted.

Only remnants were left behind in addition to Nial's ice-cold expressions.

He knew that the Old Medic was the best to exploit. She had numerous connections, resources and even specific knowledge Nial might require.

Though it was not as if he would face much more problems even without her.

Conquering dungeons to gain the resources he needed was more than enough.

It would provide him with combat experience, to begin with.

And experience was something he would always require because Nial was fully aware that he would have to experiment a lot with the dark energy to fully grasp it.

With the Odyssey seed's support, it was possible for him to do whatever he imagined, but without the Odyssey seed's pulsing, it was quite difficult for him to do whatever he wanted to.

This would require practice; lots of practice which was something Nial could do as long as he had enough time.

While staring at the Old Medic with his lifeless eyes, Nial couldn't help but be quite disappointed.

He had approached her on a whim because he thought that becoming her disciple would be the best for their small team of three.

However, it looked like he had been wrong.

Thus, his angered expression softened, only to be replaced by disappointment before he turned his head once again.

"Wait, a moment!" Miranda suddenly said, only to add "please…" in a low voice, even without meaning to.

"I will accept all three of you if you tell me about it. In fact, even if you don't tell me about the existences that create the dungeon portals, I can accept you and your team!"

Even if it felt to Miranda as if she had thrown away her pride just to know the truth behind the existence of dungeon portals, it was quite obvious to her that it would be worth everything.

The fact that she felt fear the moment Nial's lifeless eyes stared at her was enough of an indicator that Nial was bound to become stronger than her.

Miranda could clearly sense that Nial was not an ordinary Original.

This was something she was already able to tell a week ago, but it was even more apparent right now.

Nial had changed a lot during the last week, and Miranda could tell that if she didn't rope him in now, she would never get her hands on him.

From the looks of it, she might already be too late!

The way the situation had turned was entirely unexpected for her, which was why Miranda felt the need to rush things.

Meanwhile, Bella and Mathias could only look dumbfoundedly at the unfolding situation.

They had never seen Nial that angry. As such, their gazes were fixated on his back.

Neither of them dared move an inch because they could decipher that Miranda was their ticket to become extremely powerful in a short amount of time.

The fact that the old Medic was an Original with seven advanced Origin rings contributed to their reason quite a lot.

After all, mankind was said to have only one being with eight advanced Origin rings, while only a handful of Originals possessed seven advanced Origin rings!

And the most ridiculous thing was that Nial seemed to have one of these Originals in his grasp.

This was beyond the understanding of Mathias' poor mind, while Bella could hardly hold herself back from smiling brightly in excitement.

'He is even better than I could have dreamed of!!'

Bella thanked her gut feeling for making her approach Nial after she encountered him twice.

It was the best that could have happened to her.

As such, she was quite happy to hear Nial's answer after he considered a few things for a few seconds.

"I accept your offer, and I'm grateful for accepting the three of us! Greetings, new Master!"

Bowing lightly to Miranda, Nial formally greeted her but the Old Medic couldn't help but feel that something had gone wrong.

The attitude of the young blind man had changed at once, which made her feel as if his acceptance was comparable to a slap in her face.

But that was not what Nial intended to do, at all!

Nial thought that he should be respectful to someone with the highest authority because the old Medic commanded it

In that regard, he had been a bit harsh and blunt to her a while ago.

However, this was the pride of the late Darkness God that seemed to have begun to merge with him.

Having seen numerous memories of the God of Darkness, Nial could tell that his mind was adapting itself to the real dangers mankind was bound to face.

With that in mind, he had mistakenly disregarded mankind's hierarchy, which was something he realized too late.

But even then, he wouldn't allow anyone to disregard him, let alone his decisions in any way.

Mankind was simply too weak for that to happen, to begin with!

That was what Nial understood, only to be even more aware of the fact that he was even weaker than them.

It was just his mind, knowledge, and the power he ought to possess in the future that led Nial to revert to his usual behavior.

"If we were to speak about the existences that create the dungeon portals, you can give them many different names…" Nial started to speak all of a sudden, making everyone look at him, just to continue revealing some of the most important information he had deducted from the distant memories of the late Darkness God.

"Some call them Saints, some Devils, others Destructors, Immortals…but at the end of the day most beings with the power to create dungeon portals are known as Gods!"

The memories had become clearer in his mind after he passed the primary Trial of the Gods. This made things much easier for Nial as he learned a lot about the life the God of Darkness had lived.

The moment Nial finished the last word, sharing the shocking information he could hardly believe at first, as well, silence swept through the Old Medic's abode before Miranda asked,

"...Gods? Like literal Gods?!?"