Odyssey of the Blind God

The little girl tried to reach out to the Ability crystal Nial was holding but Nial didn't even think about returning the ability crystal.

He smiled as he flicked his index finger lightly against her forehead. The little girl squealed as her head flicked backward and tears welled in her eyes while she rubbed her fingers upon the area Nial had snipped against.

"You...hit me!!" She grumbled before she began to bawl out loudly. Nial was still smiling lightly and he patted her head, ignoring that the girl was sobbing bitterly.

"You don't have enough contribution points to buy the ability crystal, either way. How about I get you a different ability crystal instead? It will be my treat, so you don't have to worry about paying," Nial said lightheartedly. He was in a good mood because he had found his second-last ability to bind at last. That was more than enough for him to be happy, which was also the reason why he was being generous with the little girl.

Had she already absorbed the ability crystal, he would have been forced to wait for a very long time to get another opportunity to get his hands on a linked ability. Thus, he felt like rewarding her.

"You will buy me an ability crystal?... Really?" The girl asked doubtfully while tears finally stopped streaming down her cheeks. Nial chuckled when he visualized her reaction and he ruffled through her silky hair, nodding his head.

"Of course, I will buy you one. I've been searching for the ability crystal you've been holding for a very long time, so I have to reward you for not snatching it away from me!" Nial declared, ignoring the fact that he had quite literally stolen the ability crystal she had wanted to bind to herself.

"But bind an ability crystal to your mana core that won't kill you. The [Summoning] ability crystal is too powerful for you to bind at the Origin rank," Nial cautioned before he pointed to the other corner of the rather shabby merchant shop.

"There you can find ability crystals that are more suitable for you. If you have awoken an Innate ability, you should search for abilities that are compatible with the Innate ability. This will make things a lot easier for you in the future. Never mindlessly bind an ability to your Mana Core!" Nial tried to explain to the young girl, who was staring at him with greed twinkling in her eyes.

He felt a bit weird visualizing how awestruck she was, staring at him with a wide-open mouth. It was almost as if he was telling her something she had never heard before.

'Just who is this girl and where did she come from?' Nial began to wonder. He was pretty sure that most citizens of Alliance City had been taught well.

Their education in various subjects should be much more advanced than everything Nial had learned about a handful of specific topics, yet, the young girl in front of him seemed clueless about basically everything.

"Do you have an Innate ability?" Nial asked, just for the tiny girl to shrug her shoulders.

"What is an Innate ability?" She asked, causing two men in the shabby shop to sigh deeply. One of them was Nial and the other one was the merchant, who had been discussing the ability crystal for quite a while.

"You don't even know what an Innate ability is, yet, you wanted to bind a dangerous ability such as [Summoning] to your Mana core? Little girl, you shouldn't act recklessly!" The merchant warned, but his words caught the attention of Nial who turned toward the merchant.

"Why exactly is [Summoning] dangerous? I understand that it's a rare ability that requires the binder to have a powerful Mana Core, but I don't see any other dangers in the ability," Nial enquired, feeling interested rather than concerned.

He could tell what he could do with the Summoning ability because the name of the ability was self-explanatory. [Summoning] allowed him to summon monsters.

"The beings you've summoned are not tamed. Some will attack the user of the ability, while others might not attack anything or anyone. It's also possible that the beings you summon will die due to the drastic change in their environment. Imagine summoning a fish in the middle of the city. If the fish doesn't have the ability to breathe air or create water around it, it will die!" The merchant explained, slightly frowning at Nial's question.

Nial had just paid half a billion contribution points for an ability crystal whose effects he didn't even know completely. If that was not weird, the merchant was not sure what exactly could be considered weird anymore.

Nial noticed the expression of the merchant because he could visualize it clearly but he didn't really care about it. There was no need for others to know why he bought the [Summoning] ability crystal to begin with.

He hoped that the merchant would label him as a young master with a wealthy background rather than a self-made wealthy Original. This would make things a lot easier for him.

"So it's like that," Nial spoke slowly as he processed the information while the little girl kept looking at him.

"I still don't know what an Innate ability is..." She whined and Nial kept ruffling through her hair in an attempt to quiet her down.

He wanted to bind the Summoning ability crystal to his Mana Core but he somehow ended up picking up a tiny human girl. This was rather unexpected and not exactly what he wanted to do two weeks before the Alliance Auction started.

However, fate seemed to be playing against him because he couldn't even leave without creating a commotion as the tiny girl kept tailing him.

She didn't want to let go of him, which caused Nial to sigh deeply.

"Can you tell me where your parents are? I will take you to them..." Nial tried to sound calm but the merchant could clearly tell that Nial was far from satisfied with the given situation.

To Nial's misery, the merchant didn't want to intervene in the situation. He was already tired of the tiny little girl and was relieved that the crow-masked man had taken the responsibility to take her to her parents.

In fact, the merchant didn't really care what the masked man would do to the kid. The moment they left the shop, it was not his responsibility anymore and the merchant simply wanted to get rid of her.

"Parents? What are parents?" The girl asked, causing Nial's lips to twitch while the merchant of the shop looked at her with discontent.

"Eh...you know, the people who gave birth to you? The man and the woman who raised you..." Nial said, trying his best not to sound taken aback, but failed miserably.

The merchant looked at him with a weird grimace and Nial didn't really know how to respond to that.

"I have no parents then..." The girl replied, continuing to hold Nial's hand tightly as she asked him a question that stupefied both men once again,

"Are you my parents?"

Nial froze in place for a second before he shook his head quickly.

He figured that the girl was utterly clueless about what he was enquiring so he decided to change the topic.

"What is your name, little girl? Maybe we can make an announcement and find your parents as long as we know your name!" Nial gave his best to find a solution for the little girl but she seemed to ignore his words altogether.

Her hands had reached out for his right hand which she held on to tightly as if she was desperately clinging to her last ray of hope.

"Name...Name...Do I have a name?" The little girl wondered out loud and the merchant let out a frustrated sigh.

"If you guys do not wish to buy anything else, please leave! Please..." The merchant couldn't take this weirdness anymore and Nial could tell that it was only a matter of time before the merchant would use force to whisk them both out of his shop.

'What a jerk...' Nial could only think, but he didn't speak out loud. Instead, he picked up the little girl. He carried her on one arm, and she swung her arms around his neck while he walked outside the shabby shop.

"I remember my name!" The little girl squealed out the moment they left the shop.

"That's great! What are you called, little one?" Nial asked gently, just to perceive a unique type of energy circulating through the little girl as she revealed her name.

"Oracle! That's my name and profession...hehehe!"