Odyssey of the Blind God

Was it really necessary to accelerate mankind's development speed drastically?

Nial didn't think so if he were to be honest. Especially, he did not see the point of doing that through means such as an ancient ruins dungeon…

It was quite weird to learn that certain existences were trying to hasten up the mana awakening process of the surrounding lands.

After all, there were Incarnations and inferior Replicas of Gods amongst mankind.

They would gain the most if the surrounding mana were to become rich in purity.

He could gauge and foretell to an extent, the level of threat such existences would pose to humanity, even if he had not encountered either of them yet.

It had been more than enough for him to see some memories of the late Darkness God.

Thus, Nial couldn't help but think that even the 0.01% possibility he had in mind was a bit far-fetched.

'If a human-like God found out about our existence, he or she might have chosen to support us…'

Nial was not sure what to think about this theory, but it would certainly be good if it were to be true.

However, the resultant situation arising from the existence of the ancient ruins dungeon was bound to become even more uncertain if the said theory were to be true.

After all, everything would become even more complicated. Terrifying wars might erupt with the human race in the center of the devastation!

It took everyone a while to understand this, and from the looks of it Mathias was the most horrified about the information Nial revealed.

Of course, Nial could not be certain if everything was true, or how high the chances were that the ancient ruins had been sent by someone amiable.

But he knew that the next few years were bound to become even more dangerous than the last few centuries had been for mankind.

This was only obvious because they wouldn't be able to hide the information about the runic armaments for long.

The books he, Bella, and Mathias would collect in the tower were only a tiny fraction of the knowledge the others might find out sooner or later.

With several towers surrounding the palace, and the ruins of the palace being left behind, Nial was pretty sure that it was for the best to ride on the wave of popularity of the runic armaments and to gain a vast fortune first.

By making use of this fortune, it would be possible to improve their strength as quickly as possible and possibly counter the dangers that were to come forth with the appearance of billions of runic armaments.

'Well, it's not like we stand no chance. As long as we're able to use the runic armaments properly, we can advance just as fast as the dangers around us rise.'

The stronger the runic armaments mankind were to be able to create, the higher the prowess of the individuals that would wield the said armaments.

As long as they could make use of the majority of the runic armaments' true potential, they would be able to clear more dangerous dungeons.

In return, this would accelerate mankind's progression in strength as they could absorb Origin crystals with a higher quantity and purity of mana inside them!

Additionally, there was the factor about higher-ranked dungeons rewarding powerful abilities, and the possibility of procuring better ingredients to create potions, equipment, special devices, and to strengthen the human shelters' defenses!

When Nial thought about this, the only issue he could think of was the fact that all of this would result in the surrounding adapting even faster to mana.

However, it was necessary to keep advancing in order to survive the dangers that emerged due to the existence of the dungeon portals.

That simply meant mankind had to keep advancing, the faster the better until the day the environment around them was fully enriched by mana.

Once the surrounding lands reached their limit, both the advancement of mankind and the constant increase in the dungeon portal's dangers would start stagnating.

But until that day was reached, a very long period would have to pass.

'Why the hell is everything so complicated again?!?'

Nial cursed in his mind, feeling as if all hell broke loose. His brain was fried, and one could clearly see that he was trying to think of a way to solve the situation ahead.

But there was nothing he could do as long as only one team was able to leave the ancient ruins with a handful of books from one of the towers.

That was also why it looked like the development path of mankind had already been sealed.

'Ungraded and Tier-0 runic armaments don't release that much mana. That means it will take months, or even years to create billions of runic armaments, and for them to nourish the surrounding area…

That means we would have years to advance and to exploit the knowledge we have received in order to make use of the Gods' schemings…'

Nial's mind was a mess, but he tried to not show it and forced a smile on his face.

"Nial, how about we try to clear everything we can before exploiting the knowledge we have?" Mathias asked all of a sudden.

He was still baffled about literally everything he had just gotten to know.

However, Mathias was even more worried about Nial because his expressions looked bad, to put it nicely.

It was obvious that Nial was trying to shoulder all the responsibility of mankind by himself.

But that was something foolish. It was only obvious that a single individual wouldn't be able to protect everyone, even less for someone at the 3rd Origin rank.

Nial might be stronger than Mathias and many young Originals, who were deemed as prodigies, but he was still weaker than a lot more Originals than he presumed.

Miranda was a great example if they were to talk about the peak of mankind's strength.

She was powerful, knowledgeable, and had a vast range of connections.

It would take a while for Nial and the others to reach her level. Maybe they would never attain her strength, to begin with.

Too many prodigies had lost their lives in their pursuit of power and strength, even more so young Originals, who were too arrogant, thinking that they were destined to become the rulers of the world!

Some succumbed to their fate and met their demise while conquering dungeons, while others were simply killed or crippled owing to unforeseen incidents.

There were even a handful of Originals that were killed by the government because the said prodigious Originals showed signs of being vile and treacherous.

But none of that was of Nial's concern. Despite Mathias' attempts to give him some reassurance, Nial was still worried.

That was also why he looked at Bella with an unsure expression, not knowing what he should do with Nial.

Mathias' eyes were begging for help, 'Don't stay idle, and help me please!'

Thus, Bella thought of something before saying,

"You know Nial, Miranda might be considered as the current peak attainable for mankind, but you shouldn't forget that she already belongs to the older generation.

I have heard of quite a few rather young prodigies, who are bound to reach higher realms than her! As long as they receive some runic armaments, their progression speed will accelerate even further.

According to the rumors, some of them have been able to create Superior Origin rings as well. They will soon become stronger than Miranda, that would further strengthen our shelter's defense, okay?"

Bella tried her utmost to reassure Nial, and it was somewhat helpful.

However, even then, Nial thought that these beings who created Superior Origin rings might as well be reincarnations or replicas of Gods.

But as this thought was not helpful, he averted his attention once again.

"Alright, I understand…" Taking a few deep breaths, Nial felt that his tendency to overthink everything was simply too bothersome.

As such, he forced a smile on his lips before stepping towards the door that led back to the hallway of the tower's third floor.

"In that case, shall we plunder the entire tower, and amass a huge fortune?"

Once Nial had been able to clear his mind, the tension within his body started to disperse.

This was a great feeling, even more so because it was necessary to be calm and vigilant to identify and avoid all the traps around him.

He couldn't allow himself to be distracted by something else than the information gathered by all of his senses.

After all, he would be able to prepare for the activation of specific traits as long as he could feel, hear, smell and sense his surroundings properly.

By being fully focused, Nial's earlier worries turned insignificant. He didn't even give them another second of his time.

This drastic change in Nial's stance and demeanor astonished Bella and Mathias a little bit but they were rather happy about it than worried.

They followed Nial while keeping their eyes and ears trained on their surrounding area to perceive everything.

Using their eyes to see what Nial may be unable to perceive, the two supported Nial.

That was not necessary but it allowed them to be more efficient in plundering the remaining rooms on the third and fourth floor.

It took them seven days to achieve this, but that was perfectly fine, and a much shorter duration than they presumed to require.

What they had found were mostly ungraded runic armaments similar to the ones they already owned.

In addition to that, they found quite a few blueprints for the creation process of different types of ungraded and Tier-0 runic armaments.

There were also a handful of blueprints for Tier-1 runic armaments in their possession, followed by several hundred books that provided profound knowledge about Runiciers, the materials they used for runic constellations and so on!

Nial was slowly gaining interest in runic armaments. He comprehended that he would be able to become, at least, twice as strong as he was right now, just by using a bunch of Tier-0 runic armaments.

As long as he used them properly, it was not unlikely for him to be able to increase his prowess even further.

Thus, he was looking forward to creating runic armaments by himself, or together with Bella and Mathias.

'Creating runic armaments by myself would allow me to comprehend more about the armaments I craft, their use, and their limitations!'

All three of them were quite intrigued about becoming Runiciers. However, in order to produce runic armaments, one required more than just a Runicier.

One had to concoct the correct runic solution to inscribe the runic constellations on the armament that had to be freshly forged and while it was still being tempered!

That was also why he, Bella and Mathias were currently contemplating what to do in order to be the most efficient in the creation process of runic armaments.

They didn't even realize that they had already reached the fifth floor, and when they looked around, they were stunned to find that the entire floor was completely different to the third and fourth floor!

"Just…what is this?"