Odyssey of the Blind God

The news about the appearance of Magnatit Crystals didn't leak outside. Timothée and his group were quiet, and Nial was focused on the creation process of runic armaments.

To create ungraded or Tier-0 runic armaments, one could use weapon and armor casts before inscribing them. The purity of ores used in this process was low in most cases because the ore was merely reduced with the use of coal to receive the metal.

The pre-forged metal would be heated to a near-molten state and then poured inside the weapon cast.

This was pretty easy and it allowed the Runicier to have close to no knowledge about actual forging, which saved him or her a lot of time.

It was only important to know how to initiate the reduction process, the heating process, to know how to inscribe the runic constellations and how to properly sharpen the casted weapons.

Nial and the others knew that it wouldn't be that 'easy' anymore once they would start creating Tier-1 runic armaments but that was something for the future. After all, they were still quite far away from feeling the necessity to become blacksmiths so that they could purify the ores before they would be shaped into the runic armament of their choice.

"No, something doesn't seem correct, right here…no two millimeters higher. The stroke is too thick, which means that too much mana will circulate through it. Your strokes should have the same thickness otherwise your thicker lines are like a highway with four to five lanes, while your ordinary lines are like a highway with one, or at most two lanes," Nial said calmly as he perceived what Mathias was doing.

Miranda had returned after purchasing the necessary ingredients to concoct the mana-dense runic solution not too long ago. She started concocting right away, and would only stop after her ingredients would be used up.

This would take some time, which was why Nial started to point out what mistakes Mathias did in the engraving process of the [Sharpness] runic constellation that was inscribed on the Black Iron Sword.

There weren't any major flaws, which would damage the runic constellation but the minor mistakes were much more than Nial would have ever expected.

'Once he learns to be a bit more thorough, his perfection grade will be much better than Miranda's. She will definitely dislike that,' Nial thought with a faint smile on his face.

"I know but I have no idea how to fix it. I mean I can tell that there is a minor difference but when I try to finish the circle in one stroke, I never seem to be able to create one with uniform thickness…" Mathias grumbled, sighing deeply. He looked at Nial in the hopes of getting some help.

However, his friend seemed to be trying to figure out where his problem was. Nial got his hand on a piece of paper before a refillable pencil that had a sharp metal tip appeared in his hand.

"Maybe showing you is better than telling you what mistakes you are making," Nial mumbled as he got his hand on the cheap mass-produced runic solution Mathias was using for practice.

To create the [Sharpness] rune, one had to engrave a one-layered runic constellation. This was much simpler than everything Nial had done to successfully complete his primary Ancient Origin ring.

He didn't have many problems showing Mathias how to inscribe the [Sharpness] rune in an extremely slow manner while pinpointing every single mistake Mathias usually did. Nial didn't start the engraving process with the creation of the core point of the [Sharpness] runic constellation; the perfect circle.

Instead, Nial focused on engraving the runic constellation from the inside out. The inner parts were intertwined in a rather complex manner. However, Nial engraved even the most complex part of the runic constellation seemingly without any issue, and Mathias' right eye began to twitch.

'He is not just trying to show off, right?' Mathias began to wonder the longer he watched Nial. He knew that Nial was not doing it on purpose which was why Mathias' focus on Nial's movement intensified whenever his friend reached the area of the runic constellation where Mathias made mistakes.

In a matter of five minutes, Nial finished the [Sharpness] runic constellation. He sweated a bit because the level of concentration required to engrave a runic constellation with the speed of a snail while copying it was much higher than by instinctively engraving a runic constellation.

"You…are a crazy old bastard…" Mathias blurted out as he looked at his friend in a stupor.

"Mathias…you do realize that you are not much younger than me, right?" Nial deadpanned before he visualized the runic constellation he had just inscribed.

"94% perfection. That is pretty good. Looks like I should be able to create Tier-0 runic armaments soon, even without the mana-dense runic solution," He mumbled without being too prideful of his work.

He knew that the [Sharpness] runic constellation was nothing in comparison to the final result he had created with his primary Ancient Origin ring. In order to be truly proud of himself, he would have to create truly perfect Basic runic constellations.

"How did you improve so much…and so fast?" Mathias felt that the world was unfair as he stared at the runic constellation Nial had engraved. Nial knew that he had comprehended something from observing him but Mathias was still in dire need of a final spark to reach the state of enlightenment.

"If your other runic constellations are of a similar quality as that of [Sharpness], how about you engrave them for me as well? That would be very helpful…I think," Mathias asked while his eyes gleamed brightly. He might be a bit jealous of his friend but it was not as if Nial didn't deserve to be better at engraving runic constellations.

Such thoughts would harm their great friendship and Mathias didn't want that to happen. That was why he would rather ask for help to improve as well rather than hide in a corner and sulk.

"I don't know if my perfection grade is on par with the [Endurance] and [Mana Membrane] runic constellations but I can give it a try…" Nial said calmly before he reached out for two new pieces of paper.

He started engraving the runic constellations and in a matter of 20 minutes, he finished the process. Nial had worked meticulously and handled the process as if he was carving a delicate piece of china but the results were obvious. By being more focused the quality of each stroke exceeded the norms, which was reflected in the final product.

"96% Perfection for the [Endurance] runic constellation, and a 93% Perfection for the [Mana Membrane] runic constellation…you are nuts…" Mathias could hardly believe what was going on.

As long as Nial used the mana-dense runic solution, each of his engraved runic constellations allowed him to create a near-perfect Tier-0 weapon.

Nial merely smiled in response. He was a bit baffled as well but it was definitely a happy occasion.

They were currently in the large movable custom-made 'factory' that Miranda had bought to mass-produce runic armaments wherever they were. It was a place near the Forest of Life, which was how they had absorbed and annexed lots of mana passively when working on the runic armaments.

Nial had yet to get to know everything about the factory that looked just like a huge two-story tall family house from the outside but he began to get to know everything to start the mass-production of Tier-0 runic armaments as soon as possible.

After three more hours of meticulous preparations and some teaching, Nial was a bit tired of doing nothing. He started the reduction process of the Dark Gold, which was the ore he wanted to use first to create runic weapons.

It was the most balanced out of the three ores Nial brought back from the Nightfall valley, which was also why it could be used very well to experiment a bit.

Nial wasn't aware of many Basic runic constellations, and it was not as if he could engrave the runic constellations which he had learned for the Ancient Origin ring into other runic armaments. These runic constellations were something that could only be engraved on something that was both made of mana and considered to be alive.

The Ancient Origin rings were considered both which was why the runic constellations worked on it.

"I need to learn more runic constellations. With these three, I won't be able to get far….my perfection grade is already very high with them…" Nial mumbled as he transformed more and more Dark Gold ore into metal.

The carbon dioxide was released through the chimney, filling the sky. Yet, before it could harm the environment in its surrounding, the smoke was pulled toward a tree that was planted there for that specific reason.

When Valvian heard that Nial wanted to start creating runic constellations, he immediately prepared a plot and planted a Smugi levandra muhil tree. The name of the tree was a bit odd but its use was quite simple.

It could turn carbon dioxide into oxygen much faster than any other tree. The other harmful substances in the smoke released through the chimney were absorbed by the Smugi levandra muhil tree and used as a means of nourishment.

Upon seeing the smoke outside the two-story family house, a bunch of Elves, who were standing near the outskirts of the Forest of Life, began to look at each other.

"Master, are you sure that this young man is worth being observed? I mean, there is no apparent reason for you to show interest in his talent as a Runicier. He might be powerful but that doesn't mean that he is a good Runicier…" A young Elf spoke, feeling clearly displeased.

Her emerald eyes glowed golden for a moment when her emotions surfaced only to quiet down the moment she regained control over her emotions once again.

"Meryl, dear disciple, don't underestimate humans too much. I know that our history with them clearly showed that we are superior in terms of our innate talent, knowledge, and survivability but I believe that it will be different this time. You will understand what I mean when you get to know him…" Master Crevian was standing next to the young Elf, and was lightly caressing her hair.

It looked like a doting father was lecturing his spoiled child. The only difference was just that the father had long since surpassed the age of 1000 years, and that the spoiled child was considered to be one of the youngest Elven at the age of 21.

Meryl was the youngest disciple of Master Crevian, and she was also one of the Elves, who came with the second batch of Elves that arrived in Jundra.

Her interest in the human race was not very high and her understanding of the great things the human Originals did for the Elven race was also beyond her comprehension.

In her opinion, the human Originals had only helped the Elves against the Dryx in order to survive on their own. They needed the knowledge, and strength of the Elves in order to be prepared for the future that awaited them.

Thus, it was only obvious that the humans had helped the Elves. It was not as if they would help anyone just for the sake of helping out. In the mind of a human, someone's values and the benefits of certain actions were always apparent.