Odyssey of the Blind God

The last two weeks had passed in a blur, and it was now time for Nial to receive the coordinates for the gathering point to meet up with the other participants of the Teradan military camp.

It would be a lie if he were to say that he was not nervous, but he had learned to not let them overwhelm them to a large extent since the day he had awoken his origin.

However, today Nial felt restless even without his emotions being unsealed by the Odyssey seed's faint pulsation.

As such, he tried to calm his jittery nerves and try resting a little bit.

For the last two weeks, he had mostly focused on increasing his control with mana, which was quite easy thanks to the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.

Testing out the different movements, while circulating mana through his body in a complex way was taxing for his body and mind.

Nonetheless, it was quite helpful, and Nial gained a lot from the last four weeks that had been extremely straining.

Only during the last few days had he been able to focus more on allowing his body to adjust to the drastic changes it had undergone, followed by doing combat training.

Even the intensity of workouts he did was drastically reduced, which was mostly owing to the fact that Kira and Mara were sure that Nial would need his entire physical strength from the day he would set foot in the Teradan military camp.

It would be extremely harsh for him and probably even more taxing than the last four weeks.

Thus, Nial was not supposed to further drag the exhaustion of his body and unnecessarily strain him.

Instead, he should be in his prime health and physique for the big day when he would encounter the other participants because they would certainly focus on taking out the other Originals that were deemed as the weakest.

As such, Nial, who had barely undergone his second enlarging was a perfect target for them.

With that in mind, he was supposed to pay more attention to everyone else and to clearly demonstrate that he was not someone any Tom, Dick and Harry could bully just because they wanted to.

This was very important in the opinion of the sisters, and Nial could understand them to a certain extent.

If not even his peer and those around his age were to respect him for any of his traits, what should the military, government, or even the affiliated organizations think of him?

The final goal he and the sisters had in mind was the same, and it was quite obvious.

Becoming the strongest and most surprising dark horse should be his way to go, and Nial was quite confident to achieve this.

It was not like he knew what kind of challenges he was bound to encounter.

However, Nial was sure of the fact that his training and hard work would definitely allow him to bounce back on his feet, even after a defeat.

This was essentially the most important.

After all, if he were to keep lying on the ground after being defeated, what would be the use of nurturing him?

Standing up as long as he was not dead was the most important in Nial's opinion.

Even if he was still lacking a lot in all the ways one could imagine, Nial wanted to improve and learn from his mistakes.

He believed that this was an important trait.

Nevertheless, surviving was the most important to achieving this.

As such, Nial's plan was simple- survive and improve!

Ignoring his body's pleas for sleep and rest he had pushed himself relentlessly to keep training along with improving his knowledge during the last few weeks.

Hence, he was certain to have reached a certain threshold of basic knowledge.

Unfortunately, this was still far from those descendants that had learned about many things for their entire life.

There were certainly a few youths that had been trained for the Teradan military camp their entire life, and Nial shouldn't underestimate anyone.

Thus, with a mixture of excited, and worried emotions coursing through him, he tried to calm himself, while attempting to prepare himself mentally.

Yet, the moment he received the message from the government's artificial intelligence, Nial jumped up from the cushion he was leaning against, attracting the sister's attention.

"Did you get the message? Where do you have to go?"

"Is there any more information like what things you are not allowed to bring, or something else???"

Both sisters had been as restless as Nial, if not even worse.

As such, they bombarded him with questions, which he answered after he read through the message two times.

Reading it out loud, he repeated the message to them.

"Dear Mr. Orin,

As per the recommendation of an independent individual, you will receive the address of the 10th gathering place. There you will encounter other participants that have been recommended by independent individuals.

Nobody is allowed to follow you, and sharing the exact information is strictly forbidden. Anyone who leaks the address will immediately be expelled!

As per regulations, the Teradan military camp forbids the participants to make use of their background in the camp. The only 'advantage' that is allowed to be used is that one's spatial rings and weapons, in addition to necessary miscellaneous items such as clothing and hygiene items can be brought along!

The Spatial rings will be searched through. If an item that has been listed in the forbidden section is found, the staff will confiscate it, and it won't be returned!

Address…well I'm not supposed to say that…."

After sharing the message, except the address, he pointed to the list of items that were forbidden to be brought along.

This was something perfectly normal, but Kira and Mara still read through it, while spending a few minutes trying to figure out if it was possible to find a loophole.

"This year they even forbid you to bring your own cultivation techniques with you. Only techniques like the Control of the Ancient Monarch seemed to be exempted…"

"Ohh..they even forbid hammers, a portable forge, vials, syringes, an ink brush for inscriptions, and so on to be brought too!!"

Listening intently, Nial was intrigued to figure out more about the forbidden items.

Initially, he had simply expected that some descendants of rich households would attempt to build their clique by luring poor, yet promising Originals into their trap.

Baiting them with ability crystals or mountains of origin crystals should have been enough to allow them  to increase their strength drastically

However, owing to the fact that even the Originals ID cards, or to be precise, access to their bank accounts was restricted in the Teradan military camp, let alone resources to strengthen oneself, Nial was intrigued.

After all, not even equipment for auxiliary occupations such as forging, and concocting were allowed to be brought with.

This meant that those few individuals with an Innate ability that focused on auxiliary occupation would have quite a few restrictions.

Furthermore, Nial even got to know that herbs and ores were forbidden to be brought with them, and the same was said about vials that harbored all kinds of serums.

When he figured that out, he immediately took out all of the original crystals Kira and Mara had brought him before grasping one of the potions he was still left with from the treasures blacksmith Arnold had given him.

"If I cannot bring this little treasure with me, I might as well use the last few hours here to absorb more mana!!"

Feeling challenged, but also as if the Teradan military camp was providing an almost fair chance to the rich and the poor, if one were to ignore the fact that one was allowed to bring one weapon in one's possession to the camp, Nial's restlessness vanished into thin air.

Thus, Nial kept throwing out everything he was not allowed to bring, followed by the origin crystals that were separated from the other equipment.

Gulping down the potion he sat down before starting to absorb and annex the mana that leaked out of the origin crystals.

He had loosened faint threads of mana from each crystal leading them towards him, filling his body rapidly.

This allowed him to start utilizing the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique, which was the means he used as a replacement for a proper mana absorption and annexation technique.

Kira and Mara had pondered handing him one of such techniques, but in the end, the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique was simply better.

It was not a means to strengthen one's body, but it was everything Nial required for now, and even more.

With the said technique one could learn to control mana at a terrifyingly high level, after all!

Spending the last few hours he had left until it was the appointed time he was supposed to be at the stated address, Nial was able to absorb a decent amount of mana.

This was mostly owed to his precise control over mana, and the fact that blacksmith Arnorld's serum had allowed him to circulate mana through his body at a rapid space.

As such, he was now ready to depart.

After booking a shuttle for his travel from the mansion to the secret meeting point, he spent the following ten minutes with Kira and Mara, who were oddly silent after they had been intrigued by the list of forbidden items for a moment.

Having spent close to a month with Nial, both the sisters felt weirdly comfortable around him because he was not like other men, who were only interested in them owing to their strength, family background, or beauty.

Instead, Nial was genuinely interested in everything he asked, even if that had mostly to do with other things than doubts related to their personal life.

In fact, he didn't really ask any personal questions, such as where the governor of Katu was currently, or why they were alone in such a huge mansion.

In the end, he didn't even ask Kira to explain the situation to Kark and his group.

Because he was never nosy or went too deep into their personal matters, he was comfortable to talk to, and neither Kira nor Miriam felt any discomfort to reveal anything.

Occasionally, both of them would even tease him a bit and see him go mad with frustration, which they found to be quite adorable.

As such, it was difficult for the two women to bid farewell to Nial.

They were worried that something might happen, knowing that their lessons and efforts were not worth causing a miracle that would magical make Nial be at par with those that had been preparing for an entire decade or longer.

This was simply impossible in only one year, with the given issues.

Because of that, the two sisters were standing stiffly in the doorframe of the mansion as they saw Nial walking down the stairs.

"If a woman approaches you, be careful!! You never know what their intention might be!!"

"When you get your first challenge, think about it thoroughly, and fulfill the requirements slowly! Don't rush anything and think rationally!!"

"If you die, I'll kill you!"

"..."

".."

"."

Throwing all kinds of words at him, the two sisters gave him suggestions and warnings about hundreds of things. Nial felt touched at their concern, and he couldn't help but smile lightly.

He was glad to have encountered the sisters.

It was hard to describe how thankful he was, but Nial was sure that without their help, he would have a much more difficult time.

Because of that, his sole purpose of going to the Teradan military camp had been affected a little bit.

Nial wanted to thank the sisters for all their help and guidance, and there was only one way for him to return the favor- by becoming a remarkable individual in the military camp, and a rising dark horse.

Thus, with a smile on his face, he left the mansion, and bid them farewell before getting into the shuttle that had arrived for him.

A new chapter in Nial's life was about to be unveiled, and he was expecting lots of things to happen.