Odyssey of the Blind God

Unbearable pain spread through Nial's entire body. His highly enhanced senses made everything he felt worse than it actually was even if he accepted his body being scanned through thoroughly.

He screamed out in pain and blood trickled down the corners of his mouth moments later. It looked like he had sustained internal injuries, which caused the owner of the voice to look at him in confusion.

"Your senses are higher than others, aren't they?" The voice asked skeptically and the pain disappeared before it returned as the voice continued to infiltrate his body.

Nial began to scream again and droplets of blood began to ooze out of his nose, eyes and ears as well. All of his senses were focused on the things the voice was doing to him and Nial was incapable of perceiving anything else.

His body seemed like it was turned inside out and he could hardly control himself as his legs gave in. The mysterious being never let go of his head and the pain only got worse the more time passed.

The Odyssey seed tried to thwart the being's infiltration, which was why the situation got even worse.

While the Ankh accepted the weird energy that swept through his body to assess every single aspect of his entire being, the Odyssey seed was doing the exact opposite.

The two powers of the Odyssey seed and the Ankh were clashing against each other within his body. This caused tremendous damage to the oblivious Nial, who felt unbearable pain without knowing why.

Time passed slowly and Nial started to question whether or not he could escape this mess alive. Ever since he had arrived in the Elves' territory, he was attacked twice and Nial felt that they were doing this intentionally.

He started to feel anger toward the Elven race but quickly realized that it was not actually their fault. He was the one to have traveled down to Yggdrasil's roots and it was both Yggdrasil and the Symbol of Life that was playing him.

As for the Elven youngling, who had attacked him, Nial couldn't care less about Jilas anymore. In the future, Nial would beat him up if Jilas were to try taking revenge because of the punishment he deserved, but other than that, Nial didn't think about going out of his way to seek the youngling.

"Why….are you…doing this to me?" Nial asked with gritted teeth. He was barely able to speak because his brain felt like mush. His body was beyond exhausted and he was lying on the ground, bleeding from his ears, eyes, nose, and mouth.

"I'm just trying to understand why Yggdrasil would be so interested in you. You're not dead so don't be such a pussy…" the voice admonished him before it finally let go of his head.

His head smashed into the ground, which caused Nial to groan deeply.

"Why couldn't you just…ask?" Nial asked weakly, while holding his head in his hands. He was trying to sound more energetic than he actually was.

"Why should I? I wouldn't believe your words had I not seen your little defective Lesser Divinity Fragment of Life myself," The voice spoke lightly and Nial felt like it was making fun of him.

"Lesser Divinity Fragment of Life? You mean the Symbol of Life, don't you?" Nial slowly regained strength in his body. He pushed his upper body off the ground and got back on his feet. His legs felt like jelly but Nial still managed to not slump again.

Nial tried to sense his surroundings but that was still not possible. The Dragonflame spear was lying around him, but Nial had no idea where it was right now.

Energy spread through his body and Yggdrasil's vigor swamped him. Nial noticed that the mana around him was being pulled closer to him at a rapid pace and it was only at this moment that he realized something.

"Did you…change something about my Mana core and mana veins?!"  He asked in shock, nearly forgetting what the voice said before.

Too many things had happened in a short time and his mind was riddled with pain and information. He was still weak but Yggdrasil supported him directly.

Nial was grateful for that but it was also the least Yggdrasil could do after forcing him to go somewhere Nial never wanted to be.

"The Symbol of Life you're speaking about belongs to the Divinity Fragment of an existence who attained Godhood. I have no idea who he or she is but it's definitely a Lesser Godly existence related to Life itself. The Divinity Fragment is also defective because it is connected to something tiny within your body that even I cannot fully grasp.

I guess, you know what it is but I won't pry any further. After all, I figured out what I wanted to know." The voice explained the intent of its examination calmly just like before.

Nial's ordinary senses were still fully unleashed and he could sense that the being had appeared in front of him. Several weird voices reached his ear and he was flooded by the giggling of numerous childish voices.

Nial didn't expect this, which was why his head turned around in all directions as if he was trying to smell, hear, or feel the vibrations of other existences around him.

"Looks like you can hear them now. I wonder if that's what Yggdrasil wanted…" The voice sounded melancholic and Nial's anger about being injured subsided almost instantly.

It was weird and he couldn't tell why but he felt sad for the voice.

'What the hell is going on with my mind?!' Nial wondered but something else was of much more importance!

'My mana core changed…and my mana veins were enlarged as well…the mana stored in my mana core has a higher potency and I can absorb mana much faster…' He quickly concluded but that was not everything.

The vigor of the nature around him was not only useful as the Symbol of Life but also for Nial's body. He noticed that the more invigorated his body was the faster his mana absorption and annexing became.

There didn't seem to be a limit to how much mana he could absorb at once as long as he could control it, hold it inside his body and make use of it.

"What did you do to me?" Nial asked once again as goosebumps sprang up on his entire body.

"As per Yggdrasil's wish, everyone who enters this place will receive the Fairies' Blessing as long as they're worthy," the voice answered him calmly while moving backward. Nial could hear every move she made but his mind was occupied with something else.

"Fairies' Blessing? So you are a Fairie, just like all the voices I can hear right now?" Nial asked to make sure that he understood correctly. His mind was a mess but he was slowly getting to a solution.

"I am Aine, and a Fairie, yes," the voice, Aine, acknowledged as she started to flap her wings as if she wanted to give him a piece of evidence. A gust of wind whirled around Nial's head all of a sudden before water splashed in his face.

Nial instinctively retreated but he couldn't avoid the water balls that were thrown at him every now and then. The annoying giggling sounds resounded from all around him and only when Aine lifted her hand did everything around her turn quiet again.

"I apologize for the behavior of my children. They rarely see someone new, let alone a human being. You should be the first human they have seen since they were born, so please forgive their childish behavior," Aine apologized meekly.

Her behavior seemed to have changed a bit after Nial received the Fairies' Blessing from her. It was a bit unexpected, including the sudden attack of small Fairies, who had begun to play around with his shoulder-long silver hair.

Nial's body was overflowing with tension because Aine had caused him unimaginable pain but the shower with cold water, the gust of winds, and the tiny Fairies playing around with his hair calmed him a bit though the giggling irritated him a bit.

His tension was slowly released and his expression changed for the better.

"The Fairies' Blessing is located on your mana core and you are lucky because it will be far more effective than ordinary Fairies' Blessings because you possess an interesting Symbol of Life. It is transmuted and allows you to be loved by both nature and mana despite your existence as a Destroyer…" Aine informed him.

She didn't prevent the smaller fairies from having the time of their life while playing around with Nial and Nial didn't do anything against them either. They calmed him, which was exactly what he needed right now.

Nial hadn't been inclined to be here from the beginning but now that Yggdrasil had forced him to be with the fairies, it was not that bad. He would have loved to avoid feeling unbearable pain but the Fairies' Blessing seemed to be worth the effort.

"What exactly is the Fairies' Blessing…like what does it do and will it bring me any disadvantages?" Nial asked in a concerned voice. He could tell that one 'advantage' of the blessing was that he could hear the Fairies. He would probably be able to perceive them as well using his mana but that seemed pretty difficult around the lake.

The mana density around the lake was extremely high and lots of mana was pulled in his direction, which was great because his mana core was always filled, while his mana veins were overflowing with mana as well.

Unfortunately, Nial was not able to use mana in any way right now, which was why he could only compress the mana in his mana core to create droplets, making space for more mana.

"Disadvantage?... Maybe all Fairies will know that you can hear them? But other than that, your mana core and mana veins have been strengthened. But that is something you should have already noticed," Aine said before she calmly added the most important point.

"The more invigorated your surroundings or the higher the amiability of mana and the nature is around you, the faster you'll be able to absorb mana. Your mind should be much clearer than before as well. The nature around you will help you to comprehend things at a much faster rate!"

Nial listened intently and he nodded his head excitedly.

He had already gauged most effects of the Fairies' Blessing but it was certainly better than expected.

His mind was clear and when he visualized the text and content of the books he had imprinted in his mind, Nial quickly understood that he was able to read much faster. He didn't need to spend much time trying to comprehend the various words and relations of certain components to each other.

Runiciers needed high comprehension ability, especially when they created new runic constellations and when they made new links between runic constellations, whose overlapping effect hadn't been studied properly.

The ability to comprehend something quickly was one of the biggest reasons why some Runiciers would never be considered master Runiciers, let alone talented!

"Amazing!"