Odyssey of the Blind God

"Looks like many foreign races are putting out feelers to assess the humans of Jundra. That\'s pretty annoying," Nial mumbled as he kept walking through the newly constructed shelter.

Everything around him could be visualized clearly, giving Nial the intel about the shelter\'s building style. Everything was constructed in a blend of modern architecture along with bits of the style of the middle ages. It was completely different from the highly technologically advanced style of Alliance City.

However, Nial liked the style of the shelter a tad bit better than Alliance City because he felt out of place in Alliance City.

But, of course, that was of no concern right now as Nial continued to curiously investigate the vast majority of humans all around him.

Every human in the shelter seemed to have awoken their Origin. This was no surprise to Nial as the surrounding mana was much denser than it had been in the past.

What interested him more was the obvious fact that a bunch of races had ascended on the planet and turned millions of humans into their pawns. The humans, who accepted the deals of other races might not have noticed it yet, but it would be very difficult for them to practice martial art or spellcraft techniques that were incompatible with their altered mana.

The moment mana was altered to suit a certain element, the alteration process would change every bit of mana inside the practitioner\'s body. Even the mana stored inside the mana core would be altered, and so would the new mana which the host would inevitably absorb in the future.

That was also why one should be careful when making a decision to practice certain techniques because they would alter one\'s neutral mana if one was not in possession of the required energy.

Trying to use Water Elemental based Martial art techniques while being in possession of Fire attributed Mana was impossible if the wielder of the Fire attributed Mana was not able to rewrite the entire Martial Art technique. And that was basically impossible if one didn\'t practice a Martial Art technique to perfection.

Of course, there were still other ways, but Nial couldn\'t help but pity the human Originals, who had been too greedy and wanted to hastily try improving with their own talent. They trusted Originals of foreign races, strangers they didn\'t even know, and accepted deals that forced them to keep in contact with the said Originals.

If they wanted to get their hands on stronger Mana Training, Martial Arts, or Spellcraft techniques they would have to be dependent on the Originals, who could provide the specific techniques they required.

In the end, the Originals of foreign races would get their hands on cheap laborers the moment the humans fell into their trap. They would show signs of addiction upon realizing how much of a difference it meant in a fight to use no techniques and low-ranked techniques.

It would only be a matter of time before their greed would force them to strive toward getting their hands on high-ranked techniques in order to attain even higher combat prowess.

By then, they would become true laborers or rather slaves without actually realizing it. Nial shook his head when he realized what had happened in the last few months and he began to rub one of his spatial rings with his free hand.

He sighed once but chose to give up the thought of educating the humans of Jundra on the traps they had walked into willingly.

Instead, he left the shelter, picked up the Little Oracle, and charged toward the Forest of Life.

The Forest of Life had grown a lot and it had changed tremendously as well. Nial could clearly tell that the Forest of Life was adapting to the mana it was exposed to, meaning that its environment was adjusting to the different mutations of Elves, who were scattered all over the wide area.

Being in need of different types of environments, many sub-races of Elves couldn\'t live together. They thus lived in separate groups, using certain treasures in an attempt to create an artificial environment that suited their needs perfectly.

The Forest of Life adjusted to this and it changed, which made it seem as if a dozen or more types of forests had grown together in the center of the Forest of Life.

From the center outward the changes in the forest\'s environment became clearer. While the center looked like a colorful place, the outskirts of the forest didn\'t seem to have any change in color.

Of course, Nial had no idea about the actual color of the Forest of Life because he could only determine what he was able to perceive with the use of his range of perception and [Mana Sense], and that was a lot more than some might think.

After stepping inside the territory of the Dark Elves and Nightshadow Elves, Nial felt as if his mana absorption rate would skyrocket. This was a great feeling and something that made him want to halt in his tracks and start absorbing mana right at this moment.

But Nial did not give in to the urge.

"Woah…how did you get your hands on a True Dryad Princess\' Tear?" The Little Oracle asked all of a sudden, and Nial froze in his tracks for real this time.

"How do you know?" He was astonished that the Little Oracle figured the most important part of the Forest of Life\'s growth; the use of the Reinforced Dryad Princess\' tear!

"Because it\'s me?" The little Oracle answered, brushing her hair backward with a proud expression on her face.

"Yes yes, you are amazing," Nial responded, patting Little Oracle\'s head without listening to her any further.

The Little Oracle was truly an existence of unfathomable power and knowledge. He was becoming increasingly convinced that thinking of her as a small child would turn into one of the stupidest mistakes one could make. The past few days had given him ample proof of that.

He may not be aware of her combat prowess but that was not necessary to know that the Little Oracle was terrifying.

"We\'re almost there, behave properly in front of my father," Nial issued a quick warning to the Little Oracle and he averted his attention toward Ryu for a moment as well.

The Gryphon had been silent for quite a while and he was currently absorbing the darkness attributed mana inside this part of the Forest of Life. Ryu was far from able to do something troublesome, which Nial noticed with relief. Hence, he focused his attention on the little troublemaker and grasped her hand once again.

He had the feeling that the Little Oracle would create trouble, but he hoped that she would prove him wrong.

Taking a wooden suspension bridge that was constructed all around the humongous trees, Nial was slowly finding his way toward the large wooden hut where his father and the Royal Princess were currently seated with a bunch of other Elves.

Nial knocked on the door of the wooden hut when he reached it a few minutes later, and it was his father, who opened it slowly.

"Who is the–..." Miles couldn\'t even finish his sentence when a small figure shot forward, hugging his leg.

"Grandfather!!" The Little Oracle shouted out loud, hugging Miles\' leg tightly.

\'This little…\' Nial nearly cursed the Little Oracle but he bit back his tongue and smiled at his father.

"She is joking."

Miles looked at his son before his gaze settled on the tiny, silver-haired girl.

Both his son and the girl had silver hair, and she called him \'Grandfather\'...Just what had his son done while he was away??\'

"You…what…since when? How?" Miles\' brain felt like it was melting. He bent down, held the Little Oracle by her shoulders, and took a proper look at her.

"Purple eyes…is Hana her mother?!?" Miles shouted out, making Nial want to beat up his father, for the first time in his life…but definitely not the last.

"Did you hit your head when I was out?! I said that she is joking!" Nial declared, his hands reaching out for the Little Oracle, whom he picked up.

The Little girl reached out with her hands to coil them around his neck when he was holding her tightly.

"Is she my mother?" The Little Oracle asked all of a sudden, pointing in the direction of the small group of Elves, who was just staring at the unexpected visitors.

Yet, they grew further bewildered when they realized that it was the Royal Princess, Evalyne, whom the Little Oracle pointed at.

The Elves around the Royal Princess looked at her, confusion and a trace of interest gleaming in their eyes. They didn\'t even wait to consider if it was possible for Princess Evalyne to be the Little Oracle\'s mother and began to make wild assumptions!

"I am your mother?" Princess Evalyne stared at the girl before her eyes flicked over to Nial.

\'Don\'t look at me like this?!?\'