Odyssey of the Blind God

Nial was pretty sure that there was something weird about himself because it was not normal for abilities to evolve upon getting bound to the Mana core.

It was still possible that something like that would happen every now and then, but Nial had faced this situation four times in a row. That could not be just a stroke of luck but there was no other logical explanation for it for now.

"Let\'s test it out then!" He exclaimed.

It was interesting to test out newly bound abilities and Nial started to hope that Awakening of the Prymal was just an enhanced version of Summoning, an ability that would summon wild monsters!

With [Dominion] by his side, there wouldn\'t be a problem to alter the mind of most summoned monsters. Nial wanted to make use of that and attempt to control the summoned monster the moment it was to emerge.

That way, he could counter the only downside of the Summoning ability; the possibility of the summoned monster attacking both foes and friends!

Nial inserted a large amount of mana inside the symbol of the Awakening of the Prymal ability but nothing seemed to change even after more than half of his Mana had been drained.

\'Why is it not working? Does the ability have such a high mana consumption?\' Nial wondered. He shrugged and began to test out a few things, such as inserting his dark energy, the crimson power of the Blood Eclipse Moon and bits of the Essence of Darkness.

Each of the other types of energies was more useful than mana because their potency was much higher, but even they were not able to accumulate enough energy to summon the first monster with the Awakening of the Prymal.

\'At least the energy accumulated within the ability symbol...\' Nial consoled himself when he noticed that the ability symbol was being nourished. It was only a matter of time before it would activate as long as he would insert bits of his energies inside it.

With that in mind, Nial averted his focus. He visualized both Ryu and the little Oracle, who was looking at him in curiosity.

"What\'s wrong? Do I look weird?" Nial asked while combing through his disheveled hair. It had grown much longer than before and he tied it into a man bun because there was no time to waste cutting it right now.

His schedule was filled to the brim, and now he had an additional responsibility to take care of. The little Oracle made things quite a bit difficult for him but she didn\'t seem as ill-mannered and noisy as many kids her age.

In fact, if Nial would have to guess her age according to the way she behaved, he would probably think that she was even older than him. Sometimes, he felt a lot more childish than the little Oracle.

Nial didn\'t really want to acknowledge this but deep down, he sometimes felt like a child. His childhood had been a little bit different than kids his age because he had faced some harsh realities of human society. Now things had changed a lot for him and those who had been neglected by society. But that was a thing of the past.

Now, he was more focused on himself rather than worrying about the opinion of others. That way, he could improve much faster as his mind was cleared of many doubts he had harbored in the past.

"Do you want to test out binding an ability crystal to your Mana Core?" Nial asked when he visualized that the little Oracle was still mindlessly staring at him.

She was sitting on Ryu\'s back and fondly cuddling with the wingless Gryphon, who chirped out in joy.

It felt like Ryu and the little Oracle had become besties within the last 24 hours and that was something to Nial\'s liking. It was better for Ryu and the little Oracle to get used to each other and to like one another rather than feeling hate.

"You do look weird because you changed...not your appearance but something inside you. As if you\'re preparing to unleash something that has been sealed deep within you...or somewhere else..." The little Oracle first said, answering Nial\'s first question. Her answer made Nial have many doubts but he couldn\'t think about it a lot because she was already answering the second question he had asked.

"As for binding an ability crystal to my Mana Core...I don\'t think my Mana Core is compatible with any ability crystal...after I saw what you did with the Summoning ability crystal I felt...weird, almost as if I will never be able to choose my abilities on my own," The little Oracle revealed in a mysterious tone.

"So you cannot bind an ability to your Mana Core? That\'s weird. Do you want me to send you to a specialist to figure out if there is something wrong with your Mana Core or your Mana veins?" Nial asked in a concerned voice. He might have not known the little Oracle for long but he felt oddly connected to the little girl.

She had indirectly helped him get his hand on the [Summoning] ability crystal, and her attitude was oddly similar to that of his mother\'s. Of course, there were a few things missing in the little Oracle\'s behavior and it was only obvious that she was not his mother, but Nial felt a connection to her nonetheless.

He wanted to make sure that she would be protected and well-treated before he bid her goodbye.

"No need of a specialist...I have abilities and can awaken more by advancing my rank," The little Oracle said, causing Nial to frown deeply.

"What do you mean?"  He thus asked.

"What I said..." The girl retorted, pouting at him. She was pretty sure that Nial didn\'t understand her, which caused her to manifest a huge clock in front of her.

Time was ticking and Nial felt a small domain of mana spreading through the surrounding area. It was not perceptible to the bare eye but that was not something of Nial\'s concern either way.

He could clearly visualize and perceive the things that happened around him, meaning that he could clearly tell what the little Oracle was doing.

The little Oracle began to sweat profusely and large droplets trickled down her cheeks. The clock burst open and a shockwave reverberated through the surrounding area.

No sooner than that, every living and inanimate existence in the domain of the little Oracle began to move backward until every single object and being was located at the same position as it had been when she had activated her ability.

"Time reversal?" Nial was confused and he took a while to come back to his senses, "...are you able to control time, little Oracle?"

He was pretty sure that he had never seen an ability crystal related to the control of time. If someone could influence and manipulate time, they could basically do whatever they wanted to.

\'What the hell is she?!\' Nial began to wonder and a shudder spread through his entire body.

He was not even sure anymore if the little Oracle was a human because she was simply too powerful. The amount of mana she had revealed all of a sudden was certainly not something an Origin Original was supposed to be able to wield.

Thus, Nial could only try to visualize the little Oracle and roughly gauge the power she was hiding.

However, that was not possible because his range of perception and [Mana Sense] was not powerful enough to assess her true potential.

\'Am I too weak to visualize her power??\' Nial realized in shock and it was not long after that his jaw dropped to the ground.

He could tell that there were certain powerful Keltia Originals that were strong enough to block his overwhelming control of Mana but the little Oracle was only a 6-year-old child, who had awoken her Origin not too long ago...or so it seemed.

Only now did he realize that he was actually not able to perceive whether the little Oracle was at the Origin rank or a higher rank, and the fact that he couldn\'t actually visualize it showed quite clearly that he was mistaken about many things revolving around the little Oracle.

"Are you sure that you\'re human?" He thus asked, only for the little Oracle to stare at him with her brightly shining purple eyes.

"I never said that I\'m human..."