Odyssey of the Blind God

Comparing Katu and Liondra was like comparing a small lake to the ocean.

Liondra was gigantic, which did not only mean the size of the shelter but also the buildings' sizes, the streets' width, and everything else.

Far more Originals stayed in Liondra than in Katu, which was mostly owed to the mana density in Liondra.

Even if Nial were to compare the mana density of the Teradan military camp's surroundings with Liondra, he would have to acknowledge that Liondra's mana density was higher.

But this also meant that there were far more dungeons, whether it was their numbers or the dungeon's high rank.

Nial and Mathias made tens of millions of dollars in a few hours by selling various Tier-0 runic armaments. The tactic they adopted was to sell their treasures to different merchants to maintain a high sell-out price due to the extremely high rarity of runic armaments.

Simultaneously, the majority of the money they earned was used up in exchange for high-quality Superior grade Origin crystals.

The two boys were fortunate that they didn't have to purchase new equipment because they owned runic armaments that were much stronger than most Myth Common grade weapons and various other pieces of equipment.

Once they completed their purchase, it was time to go to Miranda's home. It was near the central district of Liondra and located in one of the luxurious areas, where large mansions and prestigious noble schools were located.

Most high-ranked families and authorities lived in this area, which was why one could see a few magnificent-looking yards that had been modified to train young Originals.

But that was only the case with most yards. Some were also solely focused on satisfying the eye and appearing grand, which was obviously not something Nial could tell.

He didn't bother about others all that much either way. That was also why his interest in the prestigious families living in the surrounding area diminished instantaneously.

"So, what are you guys planning on doing at first? Conquering dungeons? Advancing your Mana core's rank? Researching runic armaments? Gathering information?"

Miranda focused her attention on Nial as she spoke about gathering information. However, Nial didn't flinch, nor acted as if he wanted to do something suspicious.

Instead, he began to smile faintly before answering,

"I will probably start gathering information. If I'm not wrong, Liondra has a black market. I might as well use some of my runic armaments to exchange them with the information I want to get my hands on."

If his memories weren't betraying him, Katu had to have a black market as well.

In the end, the government was not supposed to know every single trade that happened between influential families.

Thus, numerous powerful families had created black markets in the various shelters to trade with each other, procure rare treasures away from the public eye, gather and distribute information in exchange for money or exquisite items and so on.

Even if the government or the military wanted to do something against the black markets to maintain higher control over the shelters and their people, it was not as if they had the capabilities to face the aftermath the moment they destroyed the black markets.

The powerful and influential families were the foundation of the shelter's safety. If a powerful dungeon beast would somehow barge into a shelter, or possibly appear within a shelter, the mighty military might not be enough to fend off the beast and save the citizens.

After all, the strongest human Original had merely manifested seven or eight Origin rings.

A single beast at the Peak of the Tritan rank was already enough to kill the strongest existence in mankind's rows.

Fortunately, this was only the case in the unlikely scenario that the strongest human in existence would face a Peak Tritan-ranked beast all by himself.

Under normal circumstances, one fought in large groups with numerous Originals, who had strengthening, healing, and other supportive abilities.

The large groups were supposed to make up for every single flaw of their strongest fighter and to strengthen him by working as a team.

Of course, it was possible to conquer high-ranked dungeons and defeat powerful beasts all by oneself but that was only feasible as long as one had the necessary strength.

And the human race didn't have the strength needed to fight alone, without anyone's help!

"The Black market? Well, it should be fine if you go there. Just wear a mask and use your weird cape-armor armaments concealment function. Even if Liondra is relatively safe, the alleys of the black market are not under much surveillance.

The shelter's guards don't really go there either, so anything might happen if you attract too much attention, or annoy some bigshot."

Miranda didn't really seem concerned about Nial. He was free to do whatever he wanted to.

However, there was still something Miranda wanted from Nial and Mathias, which was why she began to smile subtly before adding,

"How about the two of you leave your books about runic armaments here? I want to read them. No worries, I won't steal anything. If you guys want, I can even give you my notes later!"

Even though Miranda could easily take advantage of Nial and Miranda, she didn't feel the need to do so.

She was quite open with her desire to start researching runic armaments and Miranda even offered to show her notes to them in exchange.

This might help them a lot once Miranda comprehended something.

Thus, Nial didn't feel that anything could go wrong by leaving a few books behind.

He was about to reply when all of a sudden, he heard a knock on the office's door. The door opened a moment later, revealing the tiny frame of a young woman wearing the clothes of a butler.

"Welcome back, Madame. I am terribly sorry for the intrusion but the meeting about the future of the military camp begins soon. The lead secretary of the Irka household informed me not too long ago that it will be held this evening."

The young woman bowed deeply to Miranda while completely ignoring Nial and Mathias' presence.

It was almost as if the two young Originals didn't exist in the young woman's opinion.

But that was not really what worried Nial. He couldn't care less and asked foolishly,

"By the way, where is this Black market?"

The butler frowned deeply as she was interrupted from reporting more information to her master. However, after seeing how the corners of Miranda's lips curled upward, the butler refrained from saying anything.

'Just ignore this brat…just ignore him!!' She told herself while trying to regain her composure.

Unfortunately, the barely traceable mana fluctuations she released betrayed her. Nial could sense them quite easily, which was why he had to try hard to maintain his image of a naive and innocent youth.

"Gianna, can you lead Nial to the Black market? It will be easier if someone shows him where he has to go." Miranda waved her hand off, trying to send Nial away with a "Shoo."

However, Gianna was baffled at the sudden order and merely kept staring at her. She had yet to report everything to her master, who was oddly relaxed.

Miranda was oddly relaxed right now, despite facing such a terrifying incident which was one of the worst in mankind's history since dungeons had appeared. She was also behaving differently to her usual behavior, and acting 'normal' if one would put it like this.

But 'normal' was not Miranda's usual behavior, which was why Gianna's expression changed for a moment.

"What?" She blurted out without realizing it at first. Only when she realized what she had just done did Gianna's expressions return to normal once again.

"Of course, Madame. I will lead this young Sir to the Black market. Should I first remind you of the other appointments for the day…or lead him to the Black market?"

While saying 'him', Gianna's eyes stared daggers at Nial. She would have to be blind not to notice that Nial was unable to see.

His milky white and lifeless eyes were more than enough to indicate that he was blind.

'Am I a babysitter now?!' Gianna grumbled inwardly while looking at Miranda, who waved off her hand once again.

"Just give me a brief summary right now, and then leave." She answered nonchalantly.

"You want me to say everything…in front of them, Madame?" Gianna asked once again, feeling slightly confused.

'Who the hell are these youths, to begin with?!'

"Yes, go on, tell me. I seriously doubt that you can shock them in any way." Miranda replied with a smug smile.

'Eh…well, okay…' Gianna thought with a shrug before doing as told.

"Due to the horrifying incident that occurred all over the 10 military camps and the eight shelters, the government and military is under extreme pressure. The public wants a detailed explanation of how the military camps were unable to protect their participants.

Thousands of mankind's prodigies had died during this event, which is why everyone looked at the military in an unfavorable way for now.

The gathering I spoke about is being held to determine the camps' future.

After the first gathering, the Alliance of the Blacksmithing street, the Alchemy tower, and the Inscriber palace want to speak about the existence of runic armaments, and if it would be best to demand the young Originals from the Teradan military camp hand over their loot in exchange for certain benefits, and so on.

The exact details haven't been forwarded to me, so that's about it for the Alliance meeting.

Tomorrow, you have an appointment with the President's attendants to speak about mass producing Tierless runic armaments so that even low-ranked Originals can conquer Rookie ranked dungeons on their own.

The number of manifesting dungeon portals had increased by three times during the last three months.

Most of them are temporary dungeons that have to be cleared only once but there are more permanent dungeons as well.

If possible, the president wants the BAI(Blacksmithing, Alchemy, Inscribing) Alliance to create a tool that can distort the mana fluctuations of permanent dungeon portals to either remove them completely or to move them so that it will be possible to take advantage of them.

That should be it for today and tomorrow."

Gianna finished with a sly smile on her face. She wanted to see Nial's shocked expression.

However, the moment her gaze flicked over to him, Gianna could only see an unimpressed face. Nial listened to her attentively but the information Gianna had shared was actually not of much value to him.

He was already aware that more dungeon portals would emerge, even before the Teradan military camp had even begun.

Only the President's wish to create a device that could relocate and destroy dungeon portals was quite interesting, even more so because he was pretty sure that such devices existed.

"I have read about such devices before…" Mathias suddenly mumbled next to him. His voice did not reach Gianna, who stood a few meters away.

"Even if you have read about it earlier, they're runic armaments above Tier-3 and we only have bookish knowledge about them. We don't have their blueprint or anything like that."

Nial smiled faintly. Of course, he had hoped that it would be possible for them to create a Portal Eraser, or Portal Relocation device, but it was not as if they could achieve whatever they wanted to instantly.

Mathias subconsciously nodded his head, agreeing with Nial before turning to Miranda.

She had yet to read the books Nial and Mathias had already combed through. Thus, upon hearing their words, her eyes widened.

Miranda returned Mathias' gaze with her own stare, but she averted her attention shortly after.

'There is a device with which you can destroy the permanent status of dungeon portals?! Even if it is a Tier-4 or Tier-5 runic armament, as long as we survive, we might be able to create it in the far future!'

Miranda could tell that it would take years, possibly decades, if not centuries before they could create a device that could destroy dungeon portals.

However, that was not a thing to worry about as long as such a device existed, in the first place.

Giving her utmost to calm down, Miranda cleared her throat before her attention returned to Gianna.

"Alright, I got it. Please bring Nial now to the Black market!"

Gianna was slightly dumbfounded about the nonchalant behavior of both Nial and Mathias. However, she presumed that these two young Originals didn't realize how terrifying her information had been.

Thus, she flicked her hair back while motioning Nial to follow her.

'I guess, she is a fool.' Nial merely mumbled, without stating it out loud that he could not see her hand motions or anything like that.

'Well…I can still visualize her as long as she possesses some mana….Oh wait…what the hell is her rank?!'

**

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