Odyssey of the Blind God

"Considering that you're still looking for new abilities to bind to your mana core, you should start refining your body and learn a few basic martial art techniques. That way you can become stronger without the possibility of destroying one of your ability vacancies!" The Dojo Master suggested when they finished running all possible tests he could think of on Nial.

They required much longer than expected to finish all the tests but there were certain problems that had to be figured out early enough.

"My body is really a mess, isn't it?" Nial asked, feeling a bit frustrated. Even if he was not able to read the universal language yet, he could see the graphical representation that showed the test results of his body, and the images that were created from the mana stability and other important factors of his body.

What he saw didn't look good, which was quite obvious because the Dojo Master had turned quiet.

In the beginning, Nial had been sure that the Dojo Master was a man of few words but that didn't seem to be entirely true. As long as the Dojo Master was curious about something, he would talk a lot. Other than that, he would keep his answers and instructions rather simple.

Nial knew that the Dojo Master was interested to find out more about Nial and his secrets because he was special. That may sound weird when hearing it for the first time but after visualizing all the graphics and images that had been made in response to the tests, Nial didn't feel like laughing at all.

'Every single alteration of my body was healed without the intention to correct anything, let alone to make sure that everything inside my body was located at the right position…such a mess…' Nial felt a headache and he began to sigh deeply.

Starting from the fact that the Odyssey seed had always been a part of his body, up to the part where the Heart of Darkness was created, Nial could come up with only a handful of events and things that must have happened to change his body.

The Symbol of Life and the Fairies' Blessing were included, and so was the fact that Ryu had created a bond with Nial.

His body was in extremely bad shape and the existence of the Heart of Darkness made everything only worse by pushing aside bones, flesh organs, and more.

The Heart of Darkness made everything only worse by creating new mana veins where no mana veins were supposed to be ideally. His body was also forced to change in accordance with the Heart of Darkness because the human body was not supposed to have two hearts and a mana core in his body.

Nial's mana core was larger than the mana core of others, especially since he was in possession of nine Ancient Origin rings that created a much larger crystal layer around the Mana core than other Origin rings would do upon being connected and enhanced.

"Will a normal body refinement technique help me remove all the impurities, fix my body, which includes the location of my mana veins, organs and so on, and allow me to become physically stronger…without any complications?" Nial ended up asking despite knowing the answer to his dumb question.

"A normal body refinement technique will definitely not be enough, but I might have a technique that is somewhat suitable to your situation. My master, the master of my master, and many more generations of masters were known for collecting unique techniques that couldn't be used by normal existences…so I might find something," The Dojo Master explained and Nial could only smile weirdly.

He knew that he was not an ordinary human but hearing it from the Dojo Master made him feel like it was really the truth. From the weird way in which he had lost his vision, to the way the Fragment of the God of Darkness found him, up to everything else that happened after he turned 18 years old, every single experience of his life was weird.

For a long time, Nial had forgotten the monthly dreams he had had between the age of three and 18. Upon recalling them, he visualized the face of the Divine Goddess once again.

'I wonder what she wanted from me. She didn't know about the Fragment of the late Darkness God within me, and she planned to help me regain my eyesight…was her plan to turn me into one of her vessels, or make me something like Bella?' Nial was not sure why he thought about the monthly dreams he had to have in the past.

But after thinking about it for some time, Nial was pretty sure that it was only natural for him to think about something messed up when he thought about his broken body.

Right now, he might not feel how troubled his body was but it would only require a tiny spark to cripple him. At least, that was what the Dojo Master seemed to be telling him when he finished his train of thought.

"Your Heart of Darkness absorbs far more mana than your body can handle…but that is also one of the few reasons why your body is still moving according to your will. Right now, your mana, the Heart of Darkness, and your Darkness Essence are too powerful for your body to handle properly, yet, oddly enough your Heart of Darkness does not only have destructive traits in it. It heals you as well!" The Dojo Master explained that he was not able to understand why this was the case either.

However, Nial was able to understand everything perfectly fine. The Symbol of Life might not exist anymore within him because it had merged and evolved with the Odyssey seed to become the Heart of Darkness but its effects were still intact.

In fact, the effects of the Symbol of Life had been augmented severely when it evolved to the Heart of Darkness, and Nial was still kept alive due to this.

"If you cannot find a suitable body refinement technique in your wonder box, can you tell me what I should be looking for? Finding a suitable technique should be quite expensive but I can still create and sell Tier-2 runic armaments. It shouldn't be difficult for me to create a bunch of Tier-2 runic armaments as long as I have a good blacksmith by my side.

Otherwise, I'll have to do everything on my own, which would take up way too much time," Nial had already accepted that he was now a member of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo and that the Dojo Master wanted to help him.

He could trust the Dojo Master to a certain extent, especially since he would die if he were to expose certain secrets to the outside world.

"Because you're a member of my Dojo, you won't have to take care of anything. Just train hard, gain glory for the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo…and merit points if you feel like beating up a few people in the Colosseum, or complete some missions in the Guild," The Dojo Master offered him a variety of options to choose from.

However, the pressure around the Dojo Master was not something Nial took lightly. He had yet to figure out how the Alliance City worked and what everything meant but Nial was pretty sure that he would be fine.

There was no need for him to be too worried, but that didn't mean he would allow others to support him constantly without repaying their kindness and generosity.

"I will create runic armaments nonetheless. I understand why the Valxians don't rely on them but my standpoint regarding the importance of runic armaments is different. If I can survive by using runic armaments, by learning how to create better ones and preferably kill my opponents as well, I am willing to give my best to become a better Runicier…

Because survival is everything that counts!" Nial made his stance regarding Runic Armaments clear. If the Dojo Master couldn't accept that Nial would leave willingly.

He would never allow anyone to restrict his growth, not anymore.

Yet, contrary to his expectations, the Dojo Master agreed with him.

"I am glad that you understand why we don't really use runic armaments, and I can also understand where you're coming from. You must have worked hard to become an Expert Runicier at your age, and your talent must be exceptional as well.

I might not be able to give you advice in regards to runic armaments but you can tell me if you need something!" The Dojo Master said, astonishing Nial greatly.

The Dojo Master was truly a weird kind of person and the longer Nial was around him he grew increasingly confident of the fact that the Dojo Master was actually an open-minded person, who was strict with his students for their sake.

Nial kept talking to the Dojo Master for a while. They thought of other ways to fix the flaws in Nial's body that seemed like a slaughter feast from within rather than a well-functioning body.

Afterward, Nial and Ryu returned to the first floor of the Dojo where they met Elder Walin, who continued to instruct the other students.

"How about you join us? I will teach everyone a new martial art technique today." Elder Walin asked as she looked down at the small figure Nial, who could only shake his head.

"The Dojo Master said that I have to refine my body before I can start learning a martial art technique, otherwise, my entire body might get ripped apart. I'm on my way out to see where I can lodge a room or something like that, and explore Alliance city to get to know everything I need to know," Nial just said when Elder Walkin waved her hand.

"You're a member of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo, which means that you get your own small room in the pagoda. Well, the small room might be too large for you but Ryu can stay with you if you two want to share the space.

As for exploring the Alliance City, wait until we're done teaching and I can show you everything!" Elder Walin explained and Nial could only nod his head.

"…Okay."