Chapter 15 Change Of Attitude
The first weapon Nial's eyes had visualised was a broadsword that was brightly glowing owing to the mana that coursed through the metal it had been made of.
Because of that, he could somehow accept that its price was extremely high.
Yet, when his eyes roamed through the prices listed and visualized the numbers written on the placards, Nial felt somehow lost at the blacksmithing shop.
There was not even a single weapon whose price was below 1,000,000$, which was overwhelming.
But the truly scary thing was that most of the weapons were tens, hundreds, and even thousands of times more expensive.
This made Nial believe that he should just turn around, walk outside the shop, and never set his foot in it again.
Yet, his gut feeling told him that if he were to look carefully, he might just find a weapon that suited him, in both price and combat style!
Nial also knew that the shop owner was present because he seemed to be forging a weapon in the open smithy when the smell of burning and melting had hit his nostrils before.
The rooms didn't seem to be separated because the sound of the hammer striking on heated-up metal was not muffled either. This made Nial wonder if he should just ask the blacksmith for help.
In the end, he decided against it because the blacksmith was still working, and Nial didn't want to interrupt him. At the same time, he wanted to figure out what he had to do by himself.
Unfortunately, he was having trouble testing things on his own.
The mana fluctuations radiated by every single weapon swept through the room, overlapping each other.
This prevented Nial from properly visualizing anything that was more than half a meter away from him.
Thus, the best option for him was to walk slowly through the shop.
Focused on the heated up ingot, and his forging process the middle-aged blacksmith didn't even notice Nial first.
And, and it was only when he heard the constant noise of muffled footsteps near him, that he spared a second to scan through Nial's body in order to figure out why he was loitering around.
"Brat, are you a newly awakened Original? If so, you will find some cheaper, used weapons in the right corner, next to the counter!"
Nial wasn't wearing any mana-intertwined equipment, and it looked like he was a late-bloomer because he was already a young man, yet the amount of mana inside his mana core was not worth mentioning.
As such, the blacksmith could easily guess that the young man did not possess much money.
Trying to find his way to the counter, and afterward the right corner, Nial took some time.
He had his hands outstretched to feel around for obstacles.
His mana perception was heavily influenced by all kinds of weapons and other equipment that released strong mana fluctuations.
This was noticed by the blacksmith who heard Nial fumbling through the shop.
It annoyed the blacksmith, who wanted to continue working without any disturbance.
As he shook his head and was about to strike the ingot with the hammer again, Nial's voice reached him from the corner of the shop.
"Am I allowed to touch the used weapons? I want to tes-...."
Yet, before Nial was even able to finish his sentence, and give a proper explanation for his request, the blacksmith yelled at him in a hoarse voice.
"You are not allowed to! I don't want anyone to touch my goods without the desire to purchase them. And it doesn't really feel like you want to buy anything!"
These somewhat insulting words frustrated Nial. It was true that he didn't want to purchase used daggers or similar weapons, but in order to understand the merit of a specific weapon, he had to understand the value of other weapons first!
That was something Nial understood, which was the reason why he wanted to test all kinds of things with other weapons.
Doing so would give him an idea if the prices for spears, glaives, and other weapons he could use with his meager wealth were even feasible.
There were all kinds of prerequisites one had to pay attention to when purchasing a weapon, and Nial had once been taught about them by his father.
Unfortunately, in order to figure that out, he would have to touch the weapons, and he was sure that the blacksmith knew it very well.
However, somehow, it seemed like the blacksmith either had something against him, newly awakened Originals, or just the fact that he might look poor!
What Nial didn't know, however, was that the blacksmith hadn't even taken a single glance at Nial, since he had entered the shop, which would have frustrated him only more.
"If that's the case, I cannot purchase anything. I will take your leave, I'm sorry for interrupting your business, mister."
Nial's sudden change in behavior was unexpected, and the blacksmith stopped working. He had just finished the shaping process of the weapon's blade and would have to work on something different now.
Yet, instead of starting the next task, he took a good look at Nial, only to see that he was walking past him from the narrow space between the two lowered shelves.
At that moment, the blacksmith saw a glimpse of something, which caused him to subconsciously blurt out.
"Brat...are you blind?"
Somehow, this question annoyed Nial a bit, realizing that the blacksmith had just looked at him for the first time since he had entered the shop.
As such, he couldn't help but frustratingly think,
'Why is nobody paying attention to others...like what the hell is wrong with everyone?! Am I blind or are they?'
Through this incident, Nial understood that the majority of Originals would simply be minding their own business, and not bother about others, which was something that baffled him.
He and his family were always supporting each other, and his parents were always attentive to him and his sister. No way would they just mind their own business as if it had nothing to do with them.
Because of that, Nial's mindset had been conditioned to think that others would pay at least a little bit of attention to others, which was evidently not the case.
This realization made him blurt out his thoughts which were filled with sarcasm.
"I certainly don't wear contact lenses…"
Afterward, Nial had almost reached the door of the shop, only to hear a loud voice ordering him, "Stop, right there!"
Trying to ignore it, Nial was about to turn the doorknob when he noticed that he had suddenly been rendered incapable of moving.
His waist was enveloped in a dense amount of mana that was shaped just like a fist.
'Ability?' That was the first thought to cross his mind as he felt that he was being pulled backward.
This was a bad sign, and Nial realized that he had almost thrown a tantrum, only to hear the blacksmith's voice once again.
"You probably had your origin awakening less than a week ago, right? Are you using a special ability to be able to walk through my shop, or do your mana veins have an extraordinary quality?"
Nial was confused to be asked these particular questions, but sensing that he might get punished for being rude to the blacksmith, he decided to stay honest...to some extent.
"I awoke my origin three days ago, early in the morning! So you can say it has almost been four days now. And my mana veins are extraordinary, yes...unfortunately that's the only unique thing that the Originals association found about me…"
Inclined to avoid talking about the Odyssey seed, Nial behaved as if he was frustrated that only his mana veins were great.
He had realized that it might be too dangerous to expose something not even the Original association could detect.
His revelation told the blacksmith that Nial's mana core's limit was not high, which seemed to affect him much more than it was for Nial.
"Low mana core limit, blind and great mana veins…" He just mumbled before continuing to pull Nial towards him with his affinity.
Meanwhile, Nial only felt how the heat around him increased as he was dragged towards the smithy, which made him want to avoid getting scorched.
"If it's not too much to ask for...can I be released, please?"
Not realizing what he had done, the blacksmith only now saw that he had activated his affinity to pull Nial, which caused him to dissolve the arm within an instant.
"Sorry, for that. I instinctively pulled you back. You reminded me of someone."
Nial didn't expect to receive an apology, but instead of throwing an angry retort he just nodded his head as a weird thought popped in his mind.
'Why am I reminding everyone of someone today? That's weird…'
However, what he heard afterward was even more confusing as the blacksmith continued,
"Without being able to look at the weapons, you obviously have to touch them in order to know what are they made of and what kind of engravings I've done on them. Feel free to test out everything!"
This statement was the most suspicious in Nial's opinion because the blacksmith's behavior seemed to have changed completely.
Because of that, he couldn't help but mumble to himself, apparently puzzled at the abrupt change.
"Why is everyone being so nice to me today? It's not like my blindness affects me a lot?! I thought crippled Originals would be bullied, but first Shana, now the blacksmith too..."
This was not exactly the truth, but Nial didn't like the way in which the blacksmith's attitude had changed.
He was not mistreated or looked down upon, but the pity which the blacksmith had for him annoyed Nial extremely. It was clearly noticeable based on the expressions he bore.
"How do you know…." The blacksmith stopped midway and left the sentence hanging and instead added,
"Don't overthink it, Brat! Just take a look at the weapons!"
Nial felt like the blacksmith had wanted to say more, but instead of pressuring him to speak his mind, he fell quiet. He was simply relieved to be able to take a look at the used weapons because there were quite a few weapons that seemed affordable to him.
They had been the worst of the worst amongst the batches of weapons, but even the worst was incomparably better than the crude spear he had used before.
Returning his attention to the weapons, Nial perceived one particular weapon he wanted to take a good look at, even if it would be too expensive for him.
There was something about the weapon that attracted his attention, and it might be something Nial was able to save up for!
Picking up the said weapon, Nial wielded it around, before inserting the traces of mana he had accumulated within his mana core to test out its capabilities.
Seeing him wield and inspect the weapon made the blacksmith ask him out loud.
"You...like that weapon?"