Chapter 93 Instructors
Mathias Cartel was a timid young man, who was not good at conversing with others.
His socializing skills were even worse than Nial's, which made the situation quite weird the moment he finished his introduction.
However, instead of allowing the awkwardness to go on any longer, Nial replied to him with a smile.
"Alright, Mathias, I can call you like that, right?"
Nodding his head, Mathias agreed without saying anything and started playing with his spoon. Sensing his hesitation, Nial continued to chat as he asked curiously,
"If that is not something too personal to ask about, how come you have this refreshing scent of soil around you?"
Nial could guess the answer to this, but there were numerous possibilities.
Furthermore, he required a topic to speak about, which was why he asked what came to his mind straight away.
The question stumped Mathias and he looked at Nial, not sure if he was genuinely curious about him, or if Nial simply wanted to figure out his competition.
Yet, seeing the subtle smile on Nial's face, and the way he wasn't being too pushy or nagging him for an answer in an annoying manner, Mathias couldn't help but feel at ease.
"Refreshing…S-soil? Ma-ybe…it's my affinity?"
Struggling to answer because he was still not sure whether to trust Nial or not, Mathias stammered a bit while muttering an answer that was more of a question.
But, Nial understood what he wanted to say, which was everything he needed to know.
Mathias loved silence very much.
However, being enveloped by silence for the entire time was something even Mathias didn't adore.
After all, excess of something one loved would slowly wear off your liking of the thing and make you even despise it after a while.
This didn't apply to everything, but there were specific things one shouldn't give one's entire focus to.
Thus, Nial's slow advances in the conversation were refreshing as he was not too pushy, and neither was he annoying.
As such, Mathias felt that it might have been a good idea for his father to force him into joining the Teradan military camp.
At first, he had been annoyed by his father's behavior, but he had given his best to support Mathias, whose Innate ability was exceptionally rare.
Because of that, the moment his father had returned home with an Earth elemental affinity crystal that had the [Comprehension] tag, Mathias knew that he would have to attend the military camp.
Only a month had passed since that day, but owing to the [Elemental comprehension] innate ability he had awoken with his origin, the Earth affinity he had gained was something Mathias understood thoroughly.
As this gave him the chance to learn many new things he liked, Mathias didn't think about cursing his father, which he had done in his head months ago.
On the contrary, now he was thanked his father in his mind while smiling subtly at Nial, the first person he had ever thought about becoming friends with.
If Mathias knew that it was Nial, who had given his father the Earth elemental affinity crystal in exchange for the curse he had bound to his mana core, he would have been even more surprised.
However, this surprise would be to their advantage.
Despite that, both Nial and Mathias were oblivious to how fate had brought them together and they were simply talking to each other until Bella joined them easily.
Her participation didn't lead to any awkwardness and she adjusted her demeanor to the given situation pretty well.
Being good at moulding her behavior to make her seem approachable and a good team member, she could fit in every kind of group.
But, instead of faking being someone else, Bella was curious to figure out more about Nial, whose expression made him seem like a genuine person as he spoke with Mathias.
The young and timid Mathias was slowly warming up to both of them, and his expression had brightened up too.
However, he spoke in a low voice, forcing Bella to move closer to Nial, and pushing them together.
Thus, the three of them ended up in a very close space, forming their own small group as they befriended each other while waiting for the Instructors to arrive.
Everyone was eager to leave for the Teradan Military camp, after all!
However, rather than waiting anxiously, Nial and the two young Originals next to him focussed on getting to know one another, which included finding out one's bound ability.
Nobody exposed their Innate ability, but neither of them was truly scared of exposing the ability they had bound to their mana core, which was quite weird.
Nial was astonished about the elemental affinity Mathias had bound to his mana core but did not believe it was the same elemental crystal that he had bartered for the Curse [Hodur's Heir].
Meanwhile, Bella shared her ability with the two of them quite easily.
"My first ability is called [Outburst] and it can be utilized once every minute. It's nothing special, but the ability increases the output of my mana by 50% for 15 seconds!"
In the beginning, Nial didn't expect anyone to reveal their abilities because they could be compared to a lifeline.
If something were to happen, using one's ability as a means to save oneself was a person's ultimate move.
This included the possibility of teammates turning against each other.
Yet, oddly enough, both Bella and Mathias didn't even think about being secretive about their first ability.
In fact, Nial almost spit out the water he had been drinking when Bella announced that her ability is nothing special.
Receiving an increase in the outburst of mana worth 50% meant that her attacks would be strengthened by 50%.
This meant that its efficiency would never decrease even if she would use this ability now, or several years later,.
In fact, the stronger she would become, the higher the potency of the [Outburst] ability would be.
As such, even Mathias couldn't help but be astonished.
Both Nial and Mathias felt that Bella had a unique aura which was mostly owing to the Innate ability she had.
However, because Bella didn't say that she had an innate ability, neither he nor Mathias could be sure about that.
When it was Nial's turn to speak about his ability, he hesitated a little bit, which Bella and Mathias noticed.
While Bella had already figured that Nial's ability was something rather dangerous, and eerie, owing to their first encounter, Mathias became suddenly aware of Nial's discomfort.
'Did he expect us to reveal our abilities while being secretive about his own? Is he second-guessing his decision to befriend us?'
All kinds of thoughts churned through the mind that made him believe his earlier happiness about having befriended someone so easily had been for naught.
Yet, when he heard Nial's answer, he turned eerily silent, mentally cursing himself for jumping to a wrong conclusion.
"Well, I don't know if I should really say this, but as everyone can probably see, I'm blind… that's why I bound a Curse to my mana core…"
Nial knew how this must sound like, but he sensed Mathias' change in behavior and that he had scooted back a bit, and was eyeing him warily.
He was still seated next to Nial, but it was impossible not to notice Mathias' stiffness.
Thus, Nial had decided to be as honest as possible.
To his misfortune, not just Mathias but even Bella froze on the spot, stupefied about what they had just heard.
A few minutes of awkward silence passed by, and Nial began to wonder how they were feeling.
According to what he had sensed, their mana fluctuations had stiffened too as if they were unable to digest the fact Nial had thrown at them.
"You…bound what?!"
Finally, after some time had passed, Bella was able to regain her senses.
Nevertheless, she felt that his answer was still unbelievable.
After all, it was extremely dangerous to bind a Curse to one's mana core.
Even after hundreds of humans voluntarily agreed to bind a specific cursed crystal to their mana core in exchange for a massive sum of money, mankind had yet to find out if there were differences between the exact same curse or not.
Sometimes, it felt like a specific cursed crystal was different to another one even though they had the exact same name.
Adding the fact that the organ of the body would be cursed nine out of ten times, curses were simply too disadvantageous.
Because of that, both Bella and Mathias couldn't help but look into his eyes, while trying to grasp what was going on.
But that was close to impossible, and Nial had to help them out.
"The curse only affected my eyes, so there is nothing to worry about. Because I'm already blind one could say that the curse was more like a blessing because all of my senses have been enhanced manifold.
It's still quite uncomfortable, but one could say that I can clearly see the surroundings with my senses!"
In the end, Nial didn't know much about the Curse [Hodur's Heir] either.
As such, he could only reveal the things he knew for sure.
Thus, Mathias and Bella could only continue looking at him, confused and unsure about what the hell was going on.
Yet, instead of saying anything about his Curse or the fact that he bound one to his mana core, both of them remained silent, and tried to change the topic.
They felt uncomfortable interrogating Nial because his expression told him that he had been desperate enough to bind a Curse to his mana core.
He didn't look oblivious to the truth of Curses' dangers, which showed that he very well knew the dangers and risks of binding a curse.
As such, they were even happier when they were saved from the effort to break the uncomfortable silence by the appearance of two women and one man.
One of the women looked tough, as if she could tear apart all kinds of monstrous beasts with her bare hands, and was wearing an ordinary military uniform.
Meanwhile, the other woman was clad in a grayish skirt and a white blouse, smiling gently at the youths that eyed her in shock.
The vast majority of people seemed to know her, and their expressions clearly indicated that they were not sure whether to be happy or scared.
Nial was oblivious to the identity of either of the women, and he only sensed the young man's familiar mana fluctuations as he mumbled.
"Master Junades?!"
To his fortune, nobody heard him because everyone was eyeing the three Instructors with wide eyes, and excitement spread through their entire being as the beautiful-looking woman raised her hand.
This simple motion caused everyone to quiet down in an instant as she introduced herself.
"Hello dear participants, as some of you may not know I would like to introduce myself first. My name is Kassandra Blake, and I'm the representative of the Golden Crow! Nice to meet all of you.
Let's have a great time at the Teradan military camp!"
Nial had never heard about the Golden Crow, and neither about a woman called Kassandra Blake.
Yet, after hearing the thunderous applause that echoed through the small room of 100 eager entrants, Nial was able to figure out that she was quite popular.
Nevertheless, this was not something he could be bothered about.
However, when he sensed that Bella stiffened for a moment as Kassandra looked over the batch of recommended Originals, he could tell that something was wrong.
"Did she recommend you?"
Nial just blurted out without thinking too much, only to receive a nod from Bella, while Mathias looked at them in astonishment.
It seemed as if Nial didn't bother about Kassandra Blake, while Bella turned out to have been recommended by someone of much higher social standing and importance than Mathias, and, most likely everyone else in this room had.
'Just who the hell are you two?!'