Odyssey of the Blind God

Khain couldn't believe what the Dojo Master said. He looked in disbelief at the Dojo Master before his gaze moved back to Nial.

"You…held back?" Khain asked in confusion and frustration. If the Dojo Master's words were true, it would be a great humiliation for Khain to have lost against Nial with such a big gap of strength at that.

Nial was not even tired and he could keep fighting even now for a much longer time if he wanted to.

"I wouldn't say that I held back because I gave my everything to fight you without my runic armaments and so on…" Nial said first because he added, "...but I cannot say that I went all out."

Going all-out in a spar, or an entrance test was not worth the effort in his opinion. For Nial, going all out meant that he was ready to sustain serious injuries in a life-and-death fight against an extremely powerful opponent.

He would have to be ready to risk his life in an attempt to kill his enemies if he had to leave no stone unturned to ensure his victory. Khain and all the other Valxians had a similar understanding of giving their best, just that their means to go all out were different than Nial's.

In the end, the young Valxian was not pleased with the result of the battle and he looked dispiritedly at Elder Walin.

"Don't look at me like that. I was just motivating you to win against Nial by telling you that you would have to undergo the Heavenly training if you lose. You don't actually have to…" Elder Walin said and she smiled oddly.

Her gaze kept flicking to Nial every now and then. She was not sure what the Dojo Master meant by holding back but her understanding of the behavior of motives of the Dojo Master was also not that profound.

He should be able to see things that were well hidden from her eyes.

Nial was equally interested in the Dojo Master's comment.

'He shouldn't have sensed my dark energy, so how does he know that I held back 'a lot'. Not using my runic armaments can be considered having held back a little bit, but only the fact that I was not able to unleash the true power of the Heart of Darkness, let alone bits of the power the dark energy and the Essence of Darkness which should be considered akin to holding back A LOT…' Nial thought, feeling slightly suspicious.

It was not difficult to tell that the Dojo Master was everything but simple and that was something Nial liked quite a bit about him.

The Dojo Master was a rather likable character, which was why Nial felt that it had been a good choice to consider joining the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo.

Nial turned to the Dojo Master and he waited to hear his verdict that he passed the entrance test. However, before anyone could say something, Ryu chirped and rushed toward Nial.

The wingless Gryphon glared at Khain and darkness emerged out of Ryu's black feathers, ready to pierce out and devour the young Valxian, who had kicked and punched Nial without the slightest bit of hesitation.

It was only obvious for Ryu to be enraged and he had only held back because his connection with Nial had told the wingless Gryphon that Nial was still unscathed after he had kicked and punched so often.

"This Gryphon is really loyal. I wonder how you were able to gain his trust," The Dojo Master said suddenly as he turned his attention to the three meter tall wingless Gryphon.

Ryu's body stiffened when the Dojo master's gaze landed on him and he quickly hid behind Nial, which looked rather ridiculous.

"It even considers you as a stronger being and seeks your protection…that's interesting…" He added and an even broader smile appeared on his face.

"Everyone has one or two secrets, don't they?" Nial replied before he began to smile as well. He didn't feel intimidated when the Dojo Master stared at him.

Rather, it was the Dojo Master, who felt a sense of uncertainty after witnessing the battle between Khain and Nial. Now the Gryphon, whose strength was definitely not weaker than an ordinary monster at the Lower Deux rank, was hiding behind Nial to protect him.

That was odd, especially since Gryphon's were too prideful and would not hide behind other beings under normal circumstances.

Only a Gryphon Lord or Gryphon King was capable of influencing other Gryphons in a subconscious manner like Nial had managed to achieve in the case of the wingless Gryphon without even trying hard.

Nial as a person was as interesting as a fighter. He didn't even hide the fact that he had secrets. It was only obvious that everyone had a few secrets but nobody openly spoke about it…it was not normal at least.

"Of course, everyone has a few secrets, but I hope that you can trust me and my judgment in the members of the Thousand Bodies Refinement Dojo to reveal one or two secrets now that you've been accepted to possess them," The Dojo Master said without a change in his facial expression.

This was not the way Nial had hoped the Dojo Master to announce that he passed the entrance test but it didn't really matter at the end of the day.

"You will have to undertake a few tests, tell us what abilities you have bound to your mana core, how many vacant ability spots you've left, and a few more pieces of information so that we can create the most suitable training plan for you.

It would be quite beneficial for us if you share what martial arts techniques you want to learn and in what direction you want to progress in the future and how much focus you want to divert on other things than the Dojo!" The Dojo Master declared and everyone else in the room nodded their heads as if the Dojo Master had just imparted some wisdom.

Nial ignored the reaction of the other Valxians and he focused his attention on the Dojo Master.

After his body was thoroughly scanned, his Heart of Darkness would be found. It might shock the Valxians but it wouldn't expose his dark energy or the Essence of Darkness.

Exposing his Essence of Darkness would attract lots of attention but it was better to expose this than the dark energy because more than one being could be in the possession of the Essence of Darkness.

He could tell that he would have to trust the Dojo Master with a few things to create a perfect training plan for himself but that was a bit bothersome.

'If something goes wrong, I will be in big trouble…' Nial sighed deeply before he thought of something.

"Can we sign a Soul Contract? And I would prefer just to tell you about the things you asked for." Nial asked straightforwardly and the Dojo Master nodded his head without hesitation.

"That's only obvious. Your secrets are your trump cards in a life-and-death battle. Sharing them is dangerous." He said, and everyone else nodded once again.

'Are they robots or what?' Nial began to wonder at the stoic reactions of the other Valxians before he was brought to the second floor which only the Dojo Master, he, and Ryu entered.

A contract had already been prepared, and it only required a strand of the soul from both parties to sign it.

Nial read through the contract, he requested a few changes and they signed the contracts with a mark of their soul on it not much later.

Once the Soul contract had been set up and signed, Nial was free to expose a bunch of his secrets.

He didn't reveal everything to the Dojo Master but the information he revealed was shocking enough.

"You have three ability vacancies, no idea what kind of abilities you are looking for because you are stubborn enough to search for linked abilities, and you are an Expert Runicier, capable of creating Tier-2 runic armaments….and that's just the tip of the iceberg…what, or who the hell are you, seriously?" The Dojo Master's expression crumbled upon realizing what a monster he was standing in front of.

He was ready to bombard Nial with questions but he put aside the topic for a moment.

"Your Essence of Darkness should be turned into your trump card. Using a powerful instant kill technique with your Essence of Darkness, which is augmented with the power of the Blood Eclipse Moon ability will allow you to deal with veteran fighters at the Deux rank…one or two abilities about close combat should be quite suitable for you, but I won't tell you what kind of abilities you should bind," the Dojo Master said and his mind began to rattle.

Nial smiled at the reaction of the Dojo Master. He seemed to have changed quite a bit since they left the Pagoda's first floor. It was quite interesting to see the true face behind the Dojo Master and it calmed Nial quite a bit.

'I am really lucky to find good people when I need them, huh?' He could only think and he began to shake his head while continuing to caress Ryu.

Quite some time passed and the Dojo Master ended up doing everything related to Nial's tests by himself. He led Nial to the underground floor of the pagoda, administered all tests on Nial and ended up frowning even deeper than before.

"How is it possible for your Mana core to be so strong? And this black heart is truly something in a completely different league than anything I've ever seen as well… Your physical strength is extremely high but your body hasn't been tempered, let alone refined even once. You have so many impurities within your flesh that I could cry a river…" The Dojo Master summarized his observations. He had always thought of himself as someone who is quite talented.

But it made him hurt to see how much hidden potential Nial had yet to unleash within his body.

Was he not powerful enough already?

If the first human from Jundra was already like this, what did the rest look like?