Odyssey of the Blind God

Only two origin crystals had dropped from the beasts they had killed, but nobody was really bothered about that.

All three of them gathered a bit farther from their small battlefield and looked around for rocks to sit on. Nial let out a deep sigh that also released the tension that had coiled in his muscles.

"You guys are awesome!"

He praised his teammates in a voice loud enough for both of them to hear.

There was no need to hold back on complimenting Bella and Mathias as he simply revealed his thoughts.

Nonetheless, the two couldn't help but feel a little bit embarrassed as Nial's combat prowess was, by far, the most impressive amongst their small group of three.

Bella and Mathias might have not shown their entire strength owing to the circumstances of the battle, but they presumed that Nial had yet to reveal his entire strength as well.

In fact, Bella knew that this was the case as she had perceived the lethality of the fully unleashed black Miasma on the day Nial bound the [Hodur's Heir] to his mana core.

This made her understand that Nial must have improved quite a lot considering the fact that his mana core rank had increased by two grades within one month.

It was not an impressive feat, per se, as Nial had been at the 1st Origin rank when Bella first met him.

However, it could be considered quite a significant improvement as his combat prowess, including his control over mana, and proficiency in wielding the spear had not degraded.

He seemed to have been trained in the major aspects of combat, which indicated that he must have found someone, who had acknowledged his talent.

Each of them had their own mystery and secrets which made the group a rather interesting one.

While Bella was simply smiling, and letting her mind wander, Nial's attention was fully focused on rewinding the battle in his head from the moment it had started as if it was a motion picture replaying in his head.

He was not sure whether his actions had been perfect, let alone if his movement sequences had been correctly utilized.

A few things bothered him, including the fact that he had not considered a situation wherein he would be forced to move and fight on the wet, muddy ground.

This had been the worst issue he had faced, followed by the fact that his first thoughts during the battle had nearly cost him his life.

Making mistakes irked Nial, and he believed that it was not only him who was annoyed.

Averting his mana perception towards Mathias, Nial would easily distinguish that his friend's facial expression was that of a frustrated and annoyed young man.

Unable to be of much use after he had helped Nial in the first few seconds of the fight, Mathias couldn't help but hide his emotions.

He was a rather timid and reserved person who didn't like talking, but his emotions were clearly noticeable, even for Nial, who could only visualize his friend with the use of his mana.

"Don't think about it too much. It's only obvious that we have to slowly figure out what we are lacking in order to come up with counterattacks.

I might be able to see in the darkness, but it's not much either. I mostly used my mana perception to support my poor sight in the darkness to kill the Goblin Wolfriders!"

Bella had obviously noticed Mathias' dissatisfaction with himself too.

Because this was something perfectly normal to feel after being useless in a fight that could have ended rather disastrously, she tried to make him feel a bit better about himself.

This might be easier said than done, but considering that she could easily gauge his potential, Bella felt that it would be pointless to allow him to sulk.

In the end, it would adversely affect the team's strength and morale, if Mathias were to be dissatisfied with his own strength.

Mathias might even do something reckless and act stupid enough to endanger their entire team.

Nial sensed Mathias' impatience too, which made him join Bella's attempt to fix the issues before it could even form, to begin with.

"How about you try to use Illumination crystals if we are forced to fight in the night, once again?

I believe with your Earth affinity, you can simply erect a few replicas of lanterns as long as you use Illumination crystals!"

A sudden idea popped in Nial's head when he thought about ways of helping Mathias for a mere second.

As such, it was a half-cooked idea, but it was still better than nothing.

And to their fortune, Matthias nodded his head, slowly accepting the fact that he was not perfect, that he had to learn a lot, and that there were external means that could help him improve in the areas he was lacking in.

Understanding that improving himself was, in fact, the quintessence of the entire Teradan military camp, Mathias couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"I'm…a little impatient, aren't I?"

His voice was rhetorical, and Bella could only sympathize with him, while Nial clearly understood the intention behind it.

After all, Nial had gone through the same after losing his family to some powerful people.

Though he had worked hard on sharpening his senses, somehow he began blaming himself for his ignorance which made him feel like he was much worse than both Bella and Mathias might think.

'I should have heard, smelled, and sensed the arrival of the Goblin Wolfriders, from much farther away…I was not focused enough on my surroundings!'

Clearly recalling that his entire focus had been on the ocean before, Nial could only shake his head, embarrassed about the mistake he made.

He had let his guard down, and if not for Bella's warning, they might even have died tonight.

Nonetheless, Nial knew that he was supposed to rectify his mistakes during their stay in the Teradan military camp.

With that in mind, he was ready to make a mental note of his weak points before fixing them one after another.

This should be the best way to improve himself.

Having calmed down, Nial wanted to clear the tension that still lingered around them by proposing an idea on how they could find the Teradan military camp as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, even before he was able to say something, Bella clasped her hands together, and let out an excited squeal.

Both the boys turned to look at her smiling subtly at them with her eyes slightly squinted, making it seem as if her eyebrows were crescent-shaped.

"If we are done now, let's go to the ocean! Who knows when we will ever get the chance to encounter the legendary ocean!!"

She seemed excited as she tried to improve the mood of both of her friends.

Mathias was taken aback by her suggestion as he had presumed that Bella would tell them to search for a good hideout in which they should rest until the morning.

Afterward, it would be much easier to start searching for the location of the camp.

Against his expectations, Bella wanted to do something different, and when he looked at Nial, Mathias noticed that a bunch of Illumination crystals had already manifested in his hand.

Nial had taken them out of his spatial ring to hand them over to Mathias before he focused on something different.

Walking away a few steps, he approached the closest Goblin Warrior corpse before he bent down, and reached for its neck.

Picking up the red gemstone necklace that hung around the Goblin Warrior's neck, Nial inserted his mana into it, but was unable to access it.

He tried again and inserted even more mana, but it was impossible.

This caused him to tilt his head in confusion as he attempted to envelop the necklace with his mana in order to find out more about its characteristics.

Meanwhile, intrigued by what he was doing, Bella and Mathias followed his example.

They attempted to insert their mana into the red gemstone necklace too.

"Marked objects? I didn't think that any kind of low intelligence life form could create something like that!"

While Nial had no idea what marked objects were, Mathias seemed to understand what Bella meant as he replied in understanding, "Ahhh!"

"So you think someone crafted this object that manipulates weak-willed beasts and makes them lose control over their own body while giving the sole control of it to ordinary Goblin Warriors?"

Mathias was so astonished that he forgot about his shyness to speak out loud.

However, this went unnoticed by Bella and Nial, both of whom began to think of his words.

A moment later, Nial asked,

"Does marked objects mean that only specific beings are given the rights to use specific objects?"

He didn't know what marked objects were, and before Bella and Mathias were to advance their discussion to a level at which he was unable to follow suit, Nial wanted to ensure that they were all on the same page.

Bella, unbothered by the fact that Nial asked such a simple question, answered calmly while moving the red gemstone necklace in her hand.

"That's roughly correct, but under normal circumstances, a marked object can be said to be bound to only a few individuals.

After all, you will have to imprint your individual mana fluctuations into the object of your choice, before it was completely manufactured!

This is mostly called 'Mana imprint'!"

Listening to her intently made Nial understand that it was the weak repelling force that he had sensed when he had attempted to insert mana inside the red gemstone necklace.

Now he understood why this was the case, but their current predicament was, by all means, not solved yet.

"In that case, why do I only sense one pair of mana fluctuations inside the gemstone? I thought that the necklace formed a faint connection between the horned wolf and the Goblin Warrior, but I guess that is wrong now…"

Nial's mind was rattling as he was trying to find a solution to unlocking the usage of this weird artifact.

"I think only a single Goblin Warrior's mana imprint was inserted into each gemstone, and they got their hands on a horned wolf, each. Otherwise, I don't know myself what exactly is going on!"

Mathias' conclusion sounded logical, but that was exactly what was weird.

From the logical point of view, nobody should be able to create an object comparable to the red gemstone necklace, let alone allow such a treasure to receive a mana imprint from an ordinary Goblin Warrior.

After all, this would mean that the beast controlling red gemstone was not valuable enough!

"Can Goblin Shamans inscribe gemstones to create such a beast controlling one?" Bella suddenly asked, staring at the red gemstone in her hand.

The carvings in it were unique and exquisite, which made her believe that Goblins were unable to do so.

However, based on her knowledge mankind had yet to find any kinds of runes that allowed one to take over control of beasts.

Abilities that allowed such a thing existed, but not seemingly ordinary runes.

If that were to be the case, mankind's stance to oppose the dungeons and surrounding beasts would be completely different.

They would also make use of the opportunity to turn beasts into mounts that would drastically cut down their travel time and increase their speed while traversing through the wilderness.

At the same time, the mount could act as an additional member of one's combat force, thereby adding combat strength to protect its rider, and defeat all opponents that obstructed one's path!

Unfortunately, as mankind didn't have the capabilities to control even the beasts with a weak will, this ought to be impossible.

Or so the three youths thought!

**

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