Odyssey of the Blind God

"You don't want the Elves' help?" Miles asked in confusion. He was pretty sure that his son would accept this offer under normal circumstances.

Was something wrong? Miles expected the worst as he waited to hear his son's voice.

"I don't think that I should leave this place right now. I'm trying to figure out a few things about myself and staying here will probably deliver the answers I'm looking for," Nial finally answered without sharing everything that was going on in his mind right now.

Right now, Nial was not sure if the sacred tree, Yggdrasil, would accept him now that the Symbol of Life had fused with the Odyssey seed. And even if Yggdrasil accepted him, Nial had no idea if the life force supply would actually help him out.

It might somehow help him but Nial didn't think that it was worth traveling back to the Forest of Life because it would take around two months for a one-way journey.

He could use the teleportation device but that required an enormous amount of mana from Origin crystals, and he preferred using it only in emergencies as he didn't know how many times the teleportation device could be used.

Nial didn't want to risk anything if it was not really necessary.

"Okay…" Miles could only accept his son's decision even though he didn't think that it was correct.

The support the Elves, especially the Royal Princess, provided him was extremely helpful. It would be easy for him to gain a lot as long as he accepted the Elves' help.

Unfortunately, it looked like his son was too proud to keep accepting the Elves' support.

His father misunderstood a few things but that did not matter. The only thing of importance was that Nial would remain in Alliance City until he found a new destination, or what he truly wanted to do and who he wanted to become in the future.

He had yet to figure out who he truly was, after all!

"The mana storage has been used up. Don't hesitate to call me if something happens!" Miles tried to sound relaxed but Nial noticed the concern in his father's voice.

"That's okay dad. I'll call you soon. You should tell me if something is troubling you as well! The moment you feel that something is off, call me!" Nial replied before they ended their call with a rather awkward goodbye.

Ryu pushed his beak against Nial's chest, demanding pat's from him. Nial did as requested and they ended up spending a few minutes standing around, doing nothing but caressing him. Ryu was caressed and Nial found the necessary time to think about what they should focus on right now.

'The Dojo Master said that he had a few things to tell me, but he said that it won't be that important….though he seemed quite happy, so saying that it is not important may not actually be the truth…' Nial contemplated before he chose to follow his gut feeling.

He went over to the pagoda of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo and decided to search for the Dojo Master.

"Looks like it's quite busy today as well," Nial mumbled when he visualized hundreds of Originals belonging to various races. Most of them were young and they didn't belong to any organization, which made their motive quite obvious; they wanted to join the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo with the hope to make huge gains.

They just knew that Nial had gotten a lot stronger after he got his hand on a secret technique that he had received from the Dojo Master in addition to various other resources.

However, what they didn't truly believe was that Nial had already been powerful enough before joining the Dojo. Most of the new challengers were certain that Nial had become powerful only after he joined the Dojo and due to the Dojo Master's interesting and unique way of nurturing his students.

The Dojo Master's generosity was something everyone knew about by now. It may be difficult to get accepted into the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo and most challengers of the entrance test would end up becoming temporary servants if they fail the entrance test.

Thus, it was no surprise to see thousands of servants lurking all around the Pagoda, acting as if they were actually doing something impressive.

This something was not a lot because there were too many servants compared to the few tasks the Dojo had for them.

Nial was quite amused about that but he was not actually sure if the Dojo Master gained something from having too many servants around.

"If you're questioning what we're doing with all the Servants, don't worry about that. They're given the chance to exchange their contribution points with freedom, or to shorten the period for which they have been punished to be the Dojo's Servants!" Elder Walin said when she appeared next to Nial.

She gave him a small smile and could see that Nial had been thinking about what she just said.

"You can read my mind, can't you?" Nial asked with a faint smile on his face.

"Not really but you're always facing the direction of what interests you most. You are not even looking at all the challengers but in the direction of all the servants," Elder Walin explained.

Even if Nial was blind, his behavior was quite similar to a person with vision. It was not unusual to look in the direction of the things that were the most interesting. That being said, his 'gaze' was a pretty great indicator for others to gauge what was going on in his mind.

Nial never realized that but now that he thought about it, it made sense. In the past, it mattered a lot as to where he looked so that he could properly listen to all the sounds around him.

With that in mind, he could tell that there were a few habits he would have to change or improve in the future.

'I am still pretty bad at controlling my emotions, my senses are powerful but I don't use them enough and my combat style is still pretty one-sided. I would rather use my abilities in an extravagant manner than fight close combat. That may be more useful but it's also pretty obvious that I lack close combat experience.' Nial reflected on his strengths and weaknesses as more and more troublesome habits flashed through his mind.

He was not actually bad in close combat but it was not his forte either. As long as he learned a few new martial art techniques, it would be easy for him to fix this issue. However, there was something that could be considered to be a little bit more difficult to change.

The most annoying habit was that he was sometimes an overthinker and mulled over certain things more than required while neglecting those that required his attention and time. It was stupid but something he had to work on and improve, otherwise, things would go downhill in the future.

"I'm looking for the Dojo Master. Where can I find him?" Nial asked Elder Walin and she pointed toward the back.

"There are a few entitled challengers in the back. They're the descendants of some powerful families and the family heads were pretty aggressive saying that they wanted their children to become the new elite of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo. I've never liked them, to be honest," Elder Walin started to complain and Nial left her side without commenting on her little rant.

He was aware of where the Dojo Master was and that there were a few Valxians around him but he could tell that the Dojo Master had been annoyed, thus, he asked Elder Walin about it instead of directly approaching him.

Nial went over without saying much more and the Dojo Master's expression and attitude began to change upon seeing Nial.

"Your timing is perfect, Nial! As one of the newest members of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo, you have to lend me a helping hand, right now!" The Dojo Master declared before pulling Nial straight into the center of the small group around himself.

"You want me to fight them for their entrance test?" Nial asked in return, clearly understanding what the Dojo Master wanted from him.

"As smart as always. Fight them!" The Dojo Master said before quietly whispering into his ears, "Defeat them in an overwhelming manner!"

The Dojo Master's request was quite interesting. He didn't seem to like the descendants of the influential families, or their heads…or maybe neither of them. With that in mind, Nial prepared himself to defeat the bunch of Valxians in an overwhelming manner as an idea flashed through his mind.

"Do you mind if I have some fun?" Nial thus asked and a faint smile emerged on the Dojo Master's face.

"Do whatever you want!"