Odyssey of the Blind God

"Miranda…ehh, I mean, Old Witch of the South, do you really think it is necessary for us to teach the three disciples of yours? We've been told to teach the 10 highest-ranking participants of the military camp…so I don't think we have much time to help you out as well…"

Instructor Junades felt uncomfortable rejecting Miranda's request for him to teach her disciples. In fact, he didn't even know who her disciples were, let alone that she had disciples to begin with.

However, even if Miranda asked him and Kassandra Blake for help, it was not that they could simply ignore their Commander's order.

They didn't want to face issues with the military law, after all.

"That's no problem, my disciples are in the Top 10. You can teach three for the price of two. I'll help as well but as you know my expertise in martial arts is not exactly…extraordinary, let alone noteworthy."

Miranda knew that she was not a great martial artist. That was why Junades and Kassandra had been her options to request teaching Nial and the others.

But the most important was that Junades knew Nial from before, while the same could be said about Kassandra and Bella.

Miranda's comment had intrigued Junades and Kassandra, which was why they visited her abode the day after the camp's gathering.

Whom they didn't expect to meet at her place were Nial and Bella, actively absorbing the mana out of high-quality Common grade Origin crystals.

They had purchased a big stash of Origin crystals early in the morning before returning their focus to the Ciran taria technique.

That was also why they didn't notice the two Instructors' arrival. Meanwhile, Miranda appeared next to Junades and Kassandra while smiling faintly.

"I didn't promise too much, right? I know you two are 'acquainted' with them, so I wanted the two of you to help them become stronger. Mathias, the Earth element user needs proper tutelage as well. He does not have even a single ounce of close combat experience but I want this to change."

Juandes and Kassandra were still looking at the three young Originals with a slightly baffled expression.

They could clearly sense that they had absorbed every single trace of mana within a single Origin crystal in between two to eight minutes.

This was several times faster than one would usually be able to absorb mana, which was why they were so baffled.

"Even if you're their teacher for now…isn't it a little bit wasteful to allow them to absorb mana from that many Origin crystals right away? If they absorb mana like this for several hours a day, every single day for the next three months…your pocket will bleed until you're dirt poor…"

Kassandra knew how wealthy Miranda was. But even then, she couldn't believe that the Old Witch would splurge her money like this. She never did something like this, after all.

"Oh, don't worry, these three brats are using their own money and military merit points."

Miranda replied nonchalantly, but her words made Kassandra feel even more baffled.

'Since when is Bella so wealthy? Even with 100,000 military merit points, it won't be possible to support this kind of expense for three months… why is Miranda so confident in them?'

Kassandra knew Bella the best. There was a time when she had been extremely rich owing to her family's situation. However, that was not the case anymore. She might have been adopted by an above-average household owing to some connections that had been used in her favor but that should already be everything.

'It shouldn't have been possible for her to bring anything with her from that household…so how?'

While Kassandra was confused, Junades could only smile faintly.

"You mean they made more than enough gains in the ancient ruin's dungeon to be able to bear these expenses for more than three months?"

Junades was a quick thinker and he could easily deduce that Miranda was proud of the kids. He also knew that they had sold quite a few runic armaments to the Miriad trading firm.

Thus, his deduction was spot on, and the only difference was that he was still underestimating the young Originals.

"Three months? Well, you can put it like that. Even if I don't know how wealthy they're right now but from what they showed me, and what I've heard, they should be able to easily continue spending freely for more than a year…"

If Miranda were to say that she presumed Nial and the others were unable to use up their entire wealth even if they were to quadruple their expenses in the year she mentioned, Junades and Kassandra might not be able to teach them today.

They would be too shocked after all.

Thus, Miranda refrained from bragging a lot about her disciples.

Both Instructors were utterly shocked. They kept looking at the three young Originals for quite a while until Nial finished his daily quota of Origin crystals to cultivate with.

He stretched his body after all Origin crystals around him had been wrung dry, just to flinch the moment his range of perception allowed him to visualize Junades and Kassandra.

Nial got up quickly before approaching the two instructors.

'Is his mana control the best?' Kassandra wondered while looking at the small batch of Origin crystals next to Bella that was still filled to the brim. 'Or did he have fewer Origin crystals, or of worse quality?'

Nial smiled when approaching Junades. He bowed to Master Junades, who smiled proudly at Nial as if he was his real master, and not just Nial's instructor.

"Looks like your mana control has improved quite a bit. Was the technique I gave you useful?"

Junades was referring to the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique, which made Nial feel a little bit uneasy.

He practiced the technique Control of the Ancient Monarch a few times but his expertise in it was far below the threshold he wished to have met by now.

Nial was a little bit frustrated about that but Junades didn't seem to notice it. He believed that Nial's high mana control originated from his daily practice with the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.

"I'm still trying to improve. The 24 hours of a day are way too few to do everything I wish to accomplish…"

Nial smiled wryly after trailing off. Seeing his disappointment, Junades wanted to say something but Miranda intervened.

"It's good that the two of you are on good terms, but let me butt in for a moment." She said, making Nial feel a bit curious.

"Both Instructor Kassandra and Instructor Junades will teach the three of you martial arts. I will focus on teaching you guys abilities because the proper usage of abilities is my expertise. That should be fine, right?"

Nial just nodded his head before thinking about something.

"Will we have time for ourselves to study runic armaments as well? You didn't see all the books we have procured. There should be more than 100, maybe even 200 to read. Actually, I don't know the real number, but runic armaments are quite intriguing and as long as we can use them properly, our strength will increase manyfold."

Nial's words shocked Miranda because it was now that she realized just what a gem she had found as a student.

'The two books he showed me were not the best ones they found?'

However, before Miranda could even say anything, Nial pulled out a book in his hand, which he showed to Instructor Junades.

"I'm not sure if that request is feasible but Mathias, and I wish to learn this technique. Will that be possible for us to achieve in three months?"

Junades knew how valuable books about runic armaments were. Thus, he was as astonished as Miranda with the sole difference being that Miranda knew the true value of Nial's books, which was tens, if not hundreds of times higher than the number Junades imagined.

But the moment he began to look through the Elementus Mylee manual, which Nial had handed to him, Junades felt more and more shocked.

"This technique…is amazing!" He exclaimed after having flipped the pages excitedly before reading through it with much slower pace to engrave the words in his mind.

"It might be a rather low-leveled combat technique in terms of the amount of mana you need to possess to use it, but it can also be used as an Intermediate technique as long as your stored mana reaches a certain threshold. That is truly amazing."

A technique that was divided into two parts to cater to beginners and experts with two separate versions was truly rare to find. Either a technique had few requirements to be fulfilled which were why its use was limited, or the requirements were sky high and it would take a while to reach them, to begin with.

Of course, there were unique techniques such as the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique, but that was not a combat technique!

"If you and Mathias focus on the first part, you might be able to reach a Basic Mastery in three months? Maybe, if your understanding of the technique is high, you might attain a profound mastery. But for that, we would have to practice this technique several hours a day, which would be quite hard with all the other training you'll have to face…"

Junades' mind had already entered the Instructor mode. He had already made up his mind to stay with the three young Originals and to turn their following three months into hellish training.

Meanwhile, Kassandra was still baffled. Numerous thoughts flashed through her mind, and she had no idea what was going on.

Too much shocking news caused her mind to go blank.

Only when Miranda tapped on the young woman's shoulder, did she regain her senses.

"What about you? Are you ready to teach the strongest new generation mankind has ever seen?"