Odyssey of the Blind God

Almost three months had passed since Nial left the new human shelter and there hadn't been any bad news from his father or Master Crevian.

No news was good news, which was even more so the case considering that he could communicate with his father through the communication device Master Crevian and another Master Runicier had created especially for him.

Nial was thankful for their help but he was also a bit worried. The man-made world bridge in the destroyed Heligav settlement had accumulated enough energy to allow several hundred Deux ranked Heligav to emerge from it but so far not a single being of the Heligav race had shown up.

The Heligav had figured that their settlement had been destroyed and it was not unlikely that they would keep accumulating more energy within the man-made world bridge to make sure that it would have enough energy when they wanted to initiate a surprise attack.

Nial was pretty sure that the Heligav were planning something but the Royal Princess was no different. She had prepared lots of traps and several plans to attack the Heligav the moment they would emerge from the man-made world bridge.

Thus, Nial was not really worried and he kept traveling through the wilderness, facing some ferocious dungeon beasts once in a while.

Nial had slowed down the amount of mana he absorbed for his mana core because he didn't want to improve his rank at a rapid pace. It would be too complicated if the creation of his Origin seed prevented him from binding three more abilities.

With that in mind, the Heart of Darkness absorbed the mana for itself to progress and to integrate itself properly with Nial's body and mind. His mana veins were still growing as well and they required a constant supply of mana to be used and to keep improving.

The Heart of Darkness was certainly useful but Nial was also a bit worried about its existence. After the Heart of Darkness had been created, it was even more difficult for him to control his emotions. The influence of the dark energy had already been quite impactful but after everything that had happened with him and to him, he was an uncontrollable force.

However, the worst was that Nial didn't really mind the fact that he couldn't control his emotions properly anymore. He knew that when he was angry, he wouldn't be able to control himself. He was also well aware of the fact that he might somehow end up killing someone, yet, he was not scared of that.

This was a bit worrisome and Nial felt that the only reason why he could still calm himself a bit was that he was not completely alone right now.

Ryu was by his side, which was why Nial's mind was not tormented with the thoughts of taking revenge, of killing everything and everyone, who threw weird gazes at him.

[There are other people…like Nial!] Ryu suddenly exclaimed in his mind as he continued to run forward. They weren't that far from Alliance City anymore and Nial had estimated to meet a few other races in the next few days.

But even then, he was a little surprised because Ryu's vision seemed to be much better than he had thought until now.

Nial had already perceived the four sources of mana that were much more stabilized than the ferocious and somewhat unstable mana which dungeon beasts possessed.

He knew that the four beings would be of some race, and the only issue Nial had was that he couldn't visualize them yet. Nial's range of perception and [Mana Sense] were utilized to their limit but the distance to them was still more than 50 kilometers.

"I know. Just keep running for now," Nial told Ryu as he patted the wingless Gryphon's head while he kept trying to find out what race the four beings belonged to.

Ryu chirped out loud and he kept running across the large steppe that spanned hundreds of kilometers. Some ruins of old buildings that had been taken over by nature hundreds of years ago were visualized by Nial but he didn't cast another glance in their direction.

During the last three months, Nial had often encountered some ruins of places that had once been towns, cities, or even shelters.

Nial felt a bit bad about everything when he visualized the places that had once been flourishing cities but he knew that it was neither his fault for mankind to have been pushed back to a total of nine shelters, let alone that dungeon portals had manifested.

There was no need for him to feel sorry about something that happened hundreds of years ago and because of something he was not at fault for. He hadn't even been born at that time.

Nial ended up visualizing everything around him. This included the hordes of grazing dungeon beasts, the pack of wolves that were hunting old and sick beasts to fill their stomach, and the evergreen and fast-growing nature that spread out everywhere.

It didn't take Ryu long to cross a distance of tens of kilometers before he slowed down drastically as Nial had mentally ordered him to do so.

'They're human-like but have a different type of skin, and their mana is different as well,' Nial concluded quickly when his [Mana Sense] had finally reached the four beings.

Three seemed rather young and they were fighting a monster at the Peak of the Prometheus rank despite being at the lower ranks of the Prometheus rank, while an old woman was observing them.

The old woman had noticed the presence of both Nial and Ryu as well and it looked like she was waiting for them to approach their group.

Nial concealed the power of the Heart of Darkness before he ordered Ryu to approach the four with caution.

"I wonder if they can speak the universal language…" Nial mumbled to himself.

He had learned that every race usually spoke in their own language to make sure their conversation couldn't be understood by their opponents on a battlefield when they were at war with each other, but there were also some languages that were predominantly spoken in certain parts of the Universe.

Master Crevian and the Royal Princess had handed over a few books to him about the different universal languages before he had departed and now it was finally time for him to make use of what he had learned.

"Excuse me for iner–...." Nial had begun when he was interrupted by the old woman. She lifted her finger and placed it in front of her mouth and Nial shut his mouth instinctively. She motioned him to come closer and Nial riding his new mount, Ryu, instructed him to approach her.

When Nial was less than a hundred meters away from the woman, he got down from Ryu and walked toward her.

"I'm sorry for interrupting you but I didn't want my students to be distracted by your sudden arrival." The old woman apologized before he introduced herself in a rather simple manner, " I'm Elder Walin of the Thousand Body Refinement Dojo! With whom do I have the pleasure of talking?"

Nial was glad that Elder Walin, the old woman, was able to speak in one of the languages he could understand. That was pretty helpful and he began to visualize her from up close.

This didn't even take him a moment as the image of a three-meter-tall woman with an athletic build formed in his mind.

From up close, Nial could clearly perceive that she was extremely powerful. Her skin was tough and Nial could feel that his mana was being repelled by her. It was very hard for him to keep visualizing her without the usage of more mana.

'A mana-resistant body? Maybe that's just her skin?' Nial wondered before he recalled that he had yet to introduce himself to the Elder.

"Greetings Elder Walin. My name is Nial Orin, and I'm a traveler, who is in search of myself and my purpose in life," Nial introduced himself in a somewhat broken universal language.

He was pretty adept at learning new languages but that didn't mean he could speak them fluently. Nial tried to smile lightly as he realized that Elder Walin kept looking toward him instead of her students.

"A blind human traveler trying to find out who he is…on Jundra? And you're only at the Prometheus rank, with a loyal, mutated, yet, crippled Gryphon by your side," Elder Walin summarized, and gave him a knowing smile before she lightly added,

"You are very interesting, Nial Orin!"

Nial looked at her, not sure if she thought that he was amused or if she was about to laugh at him.

He didn't like this but it was not as if he could do anything against the attitude of the huge Elder Walin.

"I'm planning to get to know the cultures of several races, which is why I chose to go on a solo journey all around Jundra. The Alliance city should be a suitable destination to get to know multiple cultures and races in a short period," Nial said, making a small effort in the attempt to prevent Elder Walin from finding out that he was actually a human from Jundra.

He hoped that she would think he was from some other human race that might have emerged on Jundra by now. According to Master Crevian, there were many different human races, and one of them should have chosen to conquer Jundra by now.

That was something Nial was pretty certain about, which was why he tried to create a misunderstanding for Elder Walin.

Nial was not sure why he was trying to do that but he felt that it would be better if nobody were to know that he was a native resident of Jundra.

"You should have had a hard time surviving until now, Nial Orin. Your adventurous spirit must be very strong!" Elder Walin stated in return. She again gave him a small smile before she returned her focus back to her students as she continued to speak to Nial,

"But I am pretty sure that you will have a hard time in Alliance City. The City might have been created to merge the forces of several races and it is considered neutral territory where all races are allowed to roam around, but that doesn't mean the city is harmless."

Nial learned something new but he could tell that the news was not necessarily a positive one.

"So you mean that I will get killed inside Alliance City, or that it is highly likely that something will happen to me?" He asked in return and Elder Walin just nodded her head.

"Most small groups or individuals of minor races disappeared overnight. They might have left the city but I don't believe that it's the truth. To survive, you would have to join one of the bigger Martial groups, or become the servant of stronger individuals because your strength is not high enough!" Elder Walin explained calmly before she shouted out a few commands in her own native language.

The three students, who had been fighting against a large group of Hyenas, changed their combat style into a more aggressive style that focused on the destruction of their opponent's body.

"I don't think that you're telling me all of this just because you want to help me," Nial said all of a sudden. He could tell that kindness was not something he should expect from his own brethren, let alone other beings. Every piece of information was important and everything came at a price. He had learned this by now.

Elder Walin was a stranger to him and Nial was not the same fool he had been before.

"What do you want from me?"

**

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