Odyssey of the Blind God

"Why are these ability crystals so expensive?" Nial grumbled as he looked at the wide variety of high-quality ability crystals in front of him.

Every single shop had a corner with ability crystals and all of them were of great quality. There were lots of affinity crystals with the comprehension tag as well.

Their price was understandably high but Nial couldn't help but feel that he was getting scammed.

"Most of these ability crystals have been harvested from high-ranked monsters that are rare to find and hard to kill. Isn't it obvious that the price of their ability crystal would be higher than the norm?" The young human merchant asked in return with the same businessman-like smile on his face as all the other merchants before.

Nial could only frown when holding one ability crystal after another in his hand. Upon touching the ability crystals with his bare skin, Nial's Mana core and Heart of Darkness could react to them.

It was possible for him to tell whether it was feasible to turn the ability into a linked ability, which was not something others were capable of.

His Mana Core had reacted earlier just to die down after a while. Except that it didn't react anymore, no matter how many ability crystals he held in his hand.

This was quite frustrating but it was also something Nial had expected to happen.

'And here I thought I could decrease my worries by finding one suitable linked ability and buying it immediately. Not only am I too poor to buy most ability crystals but I cannot even find the ability that can be linked to me…' Nial thought in frustration. He sighed deeply and felt like punching the air for being unable to find what he had been looking for.

That way, Nial ended up spending more than six hours in the merchant alley and strolling through the shops without actually buying anything.

All merchants said that they would receive a new supply of ability crystals every other week but that was not enough to negate the sour taste in Nial's mouth.

"It was a good decision to complete a few Guild missions… I'm itching for a massacre…" Nial mumbled when he left the shop. Ryu chirped in joy though his reasoning was different. The wingless Gryphon was just happy to leave the Alliance City after such a long time!

Thus the two made their way to the Guildhall while people looked at them weirdly. With the mutated wingless Gryphon by his side, it was easy for anyone to put two and two together and comprehend who he was.

His battle against the Heligav Assassin had ended only a few hours before but rumors and shocking news spread through Alliance City like wildfire, even more so if many higher authorities of big organizations had witnessed everything.

The Heligav had planned to ruin the reputation of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo and the Valxian race, but the final result was the exact opposite.

Right now, the Heligav were facing a severe recession, especially in the organizations where members of other races had joined with the intention to become stronger than they could become by joining an organization of their own race.

Many lost their trust in the Heligav race, while the interest in the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo and Nial had skyrocketed.

However, Nial ignored the attention he received as he rode on Ryu to the center of Alliance City.

The Guildhall was quite big and Nial wasn't intimidated in the least when perceiving the whole building and the Originals inside.

Thus, he didn't put any pressure on himself as he visualized the details of the building in his mind.

When he was done and satisfied with what he had visualized, Nial approached the counter where they were already awaiting him.

"You must be Nial Orin if I'm not mistaken, or am I wrong, Sir?" the female receptionist of the Alcam race asked while sizing up Nial from head to toe.

"Huh? Yeah that's me," Nial answered with a nod, not hiding his confusion.

"How may I help you, Sir? Do you want to register as an Adventurer?" The female receptionist asked with a bright smile on her face, and Nial answered once again with a nod.

Before he could answer anything, the receptionist began typing quickly.

"In that case, do you want to register as an adventurer under your organization's tag, or do you want to be considered an independent Adventurer?" The attendant asked, confusing Nial.

"What is the difference?" He thus asked and the female attendant launched into a short explanation,

"If you become an adventurer under your organization, the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo, a small portion of the contribution points you earn will be deducted from every mission you complete successfully. That way you can solve missions, and earn something while simultaneously supporting your organization.

At the same time, you can join special missions that will only be given to organizations to complete. These missions are harder to complete but the rewards are a lot better than anything you can fathom.

On the other hand, you cannot easily join large-scale missions when you're an Independent Adventurer. However, there is a catch. Even if you can join, your reward will be less than what you would receive had you been a member of the same Organization that had been given the mission to solve.

However, as an Independent Adventurer, you won't have any contribution points deducted from your reward.

There are a few more perks of each choice and you can read about everything in the Guild Tome for Rookies if you're interested before coming up with a decision!"

Nial didn't really see why one side was better than the other one at first but upon giving it another thought he understood that he would make a big loss by becoming an Adventurer under the name of the Dojo.

He was thankful for their help but there were other ways to support the Dojo than giving them a portion of his personal rewards for every mission Nial completed.

Rather than thanking them by forcing himself to make a decision he didn't want to make, Nial would find a different way to repay the Dojo Master for the help he provided.

"I want to become an Independent Adventurer!" Nial declared, understanding that one could earn more contribution points by solving large-scale missions with the Dojo. But it was quite important for him to understand that he didn't even need to complete large-scale missions at the time being.

Thus, the only perk of becoming an Adventurer under the Dojo's name was negligible for him.

"Alright. Please let me proceed then… Please hold your hand on this Orb to let me measure your Mana," The female attendant stated as she retrieved a bluish orb from somewhere.

Nial frowned when he perceived the oversized marble and it took him a few seconds to get back to his senses.

"Do I have to let my mana be measured?" Nial asked as he stared at the blueish orb warily. He was pretty sure that it would measure the amount and strength of his mana by depriving his body of all its energy, including the dark energy that was tightly stored inside his Heart of Darkness.

Of course, Nial couldn't be sure about that but he didn't want to mess things up right now.

"That's possible, but you will be ranked as a G-rank Adventurer, and you won't be able to complete missions at a higher rank as well," The female attendant explained, much calmer than Nial had expected her to be.

'There are probably many, who don't want to expose their true strength to others…' Nial concluded as he listened to what the female attendant had to say.

"Ranking up as Adventurer in the Guild hall is a hassle for most Originals at a higher rank because it requires days, or even weeks until they reach the rank they would've achieved with a quick test, either way," She added, just to see that Nial shook his head.

"Please register me as a G-rank Adventurer, and allot the G-rank mission [Firal Flower Gathering], [Goblin Annihilation], and [Dungeon Forestry]. I will take them!" Nial said with a sly smile on his face.

"I can do that…but how do you know what missions you want to take? I didn't even show you the catalog of missions yet?" The female attendant completed the formalities of his registration and she did everything he had asked for, but she couldn't help but feel a bit confused.

The mission catalog could only be accessed by registered Adventurers and there should be no way for Nial to have seen it anywhere around, literally, whether he was blind or not!

"Even though I'm blind, I can see things others can only dream about!"