Odyssey of the Blind God

Nial was not sure how many days had passed since he had defeated the Keltia Heligav and bound the Swirl of Chaos ability to his mana core.

However, what he could tell was that his mind was much clearer than ever before. His body was overflowing with vigor, and there was no sign of drowsiness, or tiredness left within him as he opened his lifeless, milky-white eyes.

"You became a lot stronger as well, didn't you?" Nial said all of a sudden when visualizing the finest details of everything inside his room.

Millions of crumbled Origin crystals were scattered through his room, and Ryu was resting his head on top of his chest, waiting for him to wake up.

The Gryphon's black eyes stared into Nial's soul and he chirped out in joy.

"But why do you look so tiny…?" Nial may not be tired anymore but his mind required a few seconds to digest all the changes that had occurred within his body and around him.

Ryu's three meter tall figure had disappeared and the loyal companion of Nial had become a Gryphon youngling, who was as big as a small lion cub.

The Gryphon continued to chirp in his high-pitched voice and he snuggled up close to Nial's and began rubbing his head against it.

"Did your bloodline evolve?" Nial tried to understand the chirping of his loyal companion using their tight-knit connection, which was how he comprehended the most important things mentioned by Ryu.

After he digested the Darkness Myphelia crystal, Ryu's bloodline seemed to have shown signs of advancing. However, as the wingless Gryphon didn't have enough power and potential to evolve his whole bloodline as a mature Gryphon his body chose to discard itself, much like a snake that would shed its skin.

Nial was able to perceive the 'shed body' of Ryu next to the bed. If not for Ryu sitting in front of him, there would not have been a way for anyone to assume that the wingless Gryphon was still alive.

Everything hinted that Ryu had died, and not that his body had been reconstructed, and 'reborn' in a youngling state, where his advanced bloodline could come into existence.

'But to think that our connection is still intact,' Nial thought, feeling slightly astonished. He hadn't expected his bond with Ryu to still be intact, let alone as strong as before. After all, the wingless Gryphon had basically been reborn.

'Well…calling him wingless is not correct anymore, as well!' Nial figured and a bright smile appeared on his face when he realized that two small pairs of wings had grown out of the youngling Gryphon's back.

"You got your wings!" He exclaimed in joy and Ryu responded with exhilarated emotions that swept through Nial's body, and loud chirping that rang through the young Original's mind.

Nial kept smiling while he caressed tiny Ryu.

'Where is the Little Oracle, though? Did she leave?' He wondered while using his range of perception and Mana Sense to figure out if the Little Oracle was still nearby.

The little girl had enamored him right in their first meeting and if Nial were to be honest, it was hard to believe that everything was a mere coincidence.

But then again, she had proved to be a useful ally and he was very lucky to have her by his side, whether they met by coincidence or not.

She had helped him a lot, and Nial was grateful for that.

"Oh, there you are," He blurted out, lifting his blanket when his perception perceived the little Oracle sleeping soundly under his blanket.

Even Oracle's body had shrunk to the form of their first encounter, and she now looked like a six-year-old girl.

Nial didn't think much about it, he patted her head and diverted his focus to something else.

'The Power of Chaos is really weak…looks like I failed in absorbing everything?' Nial thought after his mind gave him a full-fledged report about the condition of his body and the changes that had occurred within him after absorbing the Swirl of Chaos ability.

"My body adapted to the Power of Chaos by devouring traces of Chaos into every single cell of my body…is that why the ability feels weaker than expected?" Nial scratched his head in confusion.

​ He could easily tell that his fifth and final ability was weaker than before. That was only obvious because Nial was merely at the Prometheus rank while the ability was something a being that only Gods were capable of defeating had dropped.

Thus, it was not that worrisome that the ability's power was weaker than expected. But what Nial was conscious of was pretty much the fact that Swirl of Chaos had become a linked ability and that its name had changed as well!

Nial was oblivious to the additional functions the name change brought his final ability, but it was not actually something he could be bothered about right now.

He was just happy to have finally bound his fifth ability. Now it was time to become stronger, absorb lots of mana, and advance to the Deux rank as quickly as possible!

The Universe wouldn't wait for him to become stronger, after all!

'Whether the ability is called Swirl of Chaos, or Vengeance of Chaos doesn't matter!!' Nial shouted in his mind and he clenched his fist, showing that he was ready to rumble.

However, only when he was mentally prepared to start training his mana core once again did he recall something he had nearly forgotten during the last few months.

"I have to finish the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia before advancing to the Deux rank to make full use of my body's potential…what a hassle…" Nial was not actually bothered about the last mission that was still pending before advancing to the Deux rank because it would allow him to create a much more durable and larger Mana Sea upon advancing in the rank.

The potential of his entire being would be evaluated upon advancing in the rank, and Nial had always given his utmost to make sure that he was taking the path with the highest difficulty and the best rewards!

If he were to ignore the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia now, it would mean that he gave up on achieving the best results as an Original, meaning that his future wouldn't be as bright as it could have been!

'I can use the Elves' wealth and connections to provide me the necessary nutrition, that shouldn't be an issue,' Nial figured quite quickly. But the thought of Elves reminded him of yet another pending task.

He knew that it was necessary for him to return soon.

Master Crevian seemed to have called him again, indicating that the situation around the Forest of Life, and the newly constructed shelter had worsened a little bit, but Nial was not yet worried.

'As long as dad doesn't call, everything is fine!' He told himself while thinking about returning the call to Master Crevian nonetheless.

Yet, before he could do that, Nial had to figure out the current situation in Alliance City. Considering that he hadn't been taken into custody while he was asleep, Nial could tell that nobody knew that he was currently in the Pagoda of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo, or that he had been the one to kill the Keltia Heligav.

There shouldn't be many traces leading to him, and even if there were some clues that pointed at him, nobody would actually believe that he was strong enough to defeat a being two ranks above him!

Nial knew that he wouldn't have been strong enough to defeat the Heligav all by himself, either.

Only with the help of the Little Oracle, creating an isolated space, and the help of Ryu, Kaeldur, and Tyrant had it been possible for them to overwhelm and kill the Keltia Heligav.

The use of Broken Peak Tier-2 runic weapons and armaments had allowed their group to make the seemingly impossible possible. Without them, Nial couldn't tell for sure how high their survivability would have been in a fight against the Keltia Heligav.

After all, the Keltia Heligav had been unique, in multiple ways at that!

Nial smiled at the thought of defeating the Heligav and stealing the Swirl of Chaos, but his expression changed all of a sudden when a rather unexpected memory flooded his mind.

'Mom?'