Chapter 27 Guilt?
As the memories of every single fight inside the Melind dungeon flashed past his eyes, Melvin involuntarily shuttered.
Goosebumps appeared all over his body, and it was only then that Melvin noticed how Nial's parents were staring at him worriedly, anxious about his answer.
Because of their expressions, he didn't even think about tweaking his answer a little to appease his parents.
Neither did he plan on exaggerating, to begin with.
Instead, Melvin was beginning to grow envious of his friend, which was not something he was ought to do, not in this situation, and not about his best friend!
Thus, he answered truthfully without holding back.
"I don't know about the dangers he will have to face once he fights alone but he...is definitely talented. Without being blind and the restriction of his mana core's limit, Nial would definitely turn into a true monster.
He might have awoken his origin late, but his reaction speed, in addition to the way he perceives his opponents and remembers every single habit of theirs...it's frightening!
To achieve something like that without any previous combat training, or a long adjustment period in which he learned how to perfectly control mana makes him no less than a freak… and even that is definitely an underestimation in my opinion."
Nial's parents had already assumed that Melvin would exaggerate their son's progress, but seeing the sincerity in his voice coupled with the faint trace of jealousy in Melvin's eyes, made Miles feel flabbergasted.
'Is Melvin… really jealous of Nial? Melvin has everything, yet…' Miles was not even able to finish comprehending the reason behind Melvin's envy.
That was how confused he had just become.
However, Maline didn't look any better. She was not sure what she had hoped for, but hearing her transform into a freak was the least expected.
Thus, she turned quiet for some time, trying to digest the information while figuring out a way to help her son in the best possible way.
She didn't like or support that he wanted to enter dungeons on a daily basis, but there was nothing she could do about it.
As such, Maline figured that it would be best to support him instead of holding him back from experiencing the dangers of the world.
At the same time, she wanted Nial to clearly understand that he should not overestimate himself.
However, Maline doubted that her little kid wouldn't know that! She had raised him and knew that he was responsible and reasonable enough to understand the consequences of his actions.
Because of that, she voiced out an idea she just got, astonishing both Miles and Melvin, unsure if her idea was truly as good as she thought it was.
Yet, Melvin couldn't complain as he smiled brightly before taking a look at his bracelet as a semi-translucent holographic screen emerged in front of him.
**
Scrubbing himself well to get rid of the soot and blood, Nial left the shower, and quickly brushed his teeth before putting on some clothes.
Afterward, he walked downstairs, only to notice that his parents and Melvin had suddenly quieted down as if they had a secret he shouldn't know.
Frowning, Nial wanted to talk about going to a merchant tomorrow because they had to sell the [Shockwave Barrage] ability crystal for some good money.
However, before he could even say something, Nial was interrupted by Melvin who sounded quite happy.
"I will be staying here for the next few days! My father agreed too!"
Even though Nial was suspicious about his mother's behavior before, and the fact that Melvin was now suddenly staying with them with the permission of his father at that, he couldn't help but feel even more confused than before.
"What the hell did you even tell your father to make him agree?!" Nial thus asked, clearly recalling the day on which the secretary of Melvin's father had barged into their house, and threatened them.
In that sense, Nial was not in a mood to care about his friend's privacy, at all! His family's well-being was much more important than a little bit of privacy, at least to him!
"Eh…"
That was all Melvin said before the room went completely silent once again and Nial realized that Melvin didn't want to answer him.
However, seeing Nial's serious expressions, he seemed to have changed his mind, as he heard him answer reluctantly.
"I just said that I will stay out for a few days...and hung up afterward..."
Somehow, Nial felt that Melvin was brave to not fear his father's wrath, but that didn't mean that he was not worried about the aftermath that may come forth with his friend's decision.
However, after averting his attention to his parents, he realized that they seemed to be aware of what his friend had done.
He could easily sense that because they were quiet and their mana fluctuations were stable too.
As such, they didn't seem to be surprised, enraged or anything like that even after hearing Melvin.
Thus, Nial simply shrugged his shoulders, deciding that it was Melvin's business of how he dealt with his father and that he should take responsibility for everything that may happen before replying,
"In that case, we should sell the ability crystal and origin crystals first thing in the morning tomorrow, before purchasing some more of Sabrina's medicine. After that, we can either enter another dungeon or spar a little bit.
I still feel my movements are too stiff, and I have no idea how exactly I should move in some situations! I can visualize almost everything, but the more opponents I have to fight against, the more sluggish my movements become owing to the focus I have to use to even visualize every single movement."
There were many more things that Nial was still lacking, and he was fully aware of this.
But that was exactly how the first step was taken- accepting that one was flawed and that one could always improve.
Nial's situation was obvious, and even if he knew that he had improved quite a lot during the last few hours, his combat prowess was far from being average, let alone great.
What he had done was simply fighting against a few of the weakest possible beasts in the dungeon.
And, the fact that he had already been exhausted after fighting a few beast groups like them showed clearly that not only his mana core was of a low rank, but also the amount of movements he wasted while fighting was pretty high.
Sparingly using his stamina was important inside a dungeon, even more so in unknown dungeons that could be larger than estimated.
If one were to waste their stamina unnecessarily, death was inevitable.
As such, Nial was determined to fix his mistakes as quickly as possible, and Melvin noticed this.
"If you really want to change something, you'll need to learn a combat technique, also known as a martial art technique.
Right now, you might think that they're a waste of precious money, but they will clearly show you how you can use every muscle in your body to fight properly.
Your current physique is pretty good, but the way you use it, makes you look like a stiff log that is unable to move.
Your movements were more smooth and refined towards the end of our dungeon trip, but it was still far from good.
As such, I would recommend that you apply for a copy of a basic body movement technique. A single copy may cost tens of thousand of dollars, but it's definitely worth it. All of you can use it together too, so it's not wasted if you want your parents' combat prowess to increase as well.
If I could, I would just give you the technique, or one of the few I'm currently learning, but I cannot share them with you, and if I do...well, it won't end well...let's just say that...sorry!"
Melvin gave him a forced smile after ending his short explanation, and Nial realized that Melvin had changed a lot during the time he hadn't been in Katu.
However, he knew that he, himself, had changed a lot too.
As such, there was nothing to say about that. Instead, Nial began to think about his friend's words.
Shelling out tens of thousand dollars didn't sound nice, but Nial had also heard a lot about martial art books, and that everyone sought rare techniques.
Such techniques were extremely expensive, and could apparently only be found in unique types of dungeons.
Because of that their price was enormous, and in comparison being able to get a copy of a basic body movement technique for only a few tens of thousand dollars could be considered to be a gift.
Even though the technique was bound to be one of the weakest possible the government possessed, it would be much better for Nial than having nothing.
Nevertheless, Nial shook his head as he suggested,
"First, we will have to tend to Sabrina's illness. I'm not selfish enough to prioritize small gains that may increase over a long duration with the possibility of Sabrina's illness that might backlash! Even if the possibility of her illness becoming worse is infinitely small, it's never zero, and I don't really want to take that risk...not anymore…"
Melvin didn't know what Nial meant with 'not anymore' but his parents clearly understood what Nial meant.
'Is he really feeling guilty because he used the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability crystal on himself?'
They felt that Nial was being too harsh on himself by thinking of the benefits they had missed by letting him use the 15,000$ the ability crystal he had absorbed would have gotten them.
And that was the highest possible price they would have received. With Nial's business proficiency, it would have been at most 10,000$ if he would have sold it.
Adding the gains he got from binding the ability to the Odyssey seed, there was no way that the benefits didn't outweigh the cost.
Nial and Melvin had gotten their hands on a Rare type of Low Common ability crystal, and they were unscathed!
Who knew if that would have been the case without the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability?
Miles and Maline were not sure about that, and even Nial would never be able to find out whether or not it had been luck or his ability that had saved their lives.
Because of Nial's words, both his parents and even Melvin realized one more issue Nial had to face in the future- He worried a lot about past events, and if the decisions he had taken had been correct, or not!
However, due to this, Miles had something to tell his son, even if he hadn't been asked to.
The responsibility of a father was to take care of his children, and to turn them into better people than he and their mother was.
Thus, he said a few simple words to his son.
"Don't let the past haunt you! You are living in the present and you do everything in the present to create a better future!
Always remember that, Nial!"