Chapter 138 I’m Back!
After the Darkness Doppelganger died, the primary Trial of the Gods ended.
Nial sensed that now he was able to leave the darkness domain whenever he wanted.
He could also perceive that he wouldn't be able to return to it for quite some time.
This was because it would take time for him to meet the requirements for the secondary Trial of the Gods.
Nial was not even sure what the requirements were, but he could not think about it for long as a weird sensation crept through his entire being.
The sensation was the most intense around the Odyssey seed, the Mana core, and his heart.
It itched a lot, and only after an unknown amount of time had passed did the sensation disappear.
Upon perceiving his own body with his mana perception, Nial quickly understood that the range of his mana perception had increased and that he could sense everything with much more clarity than before.
There was not a single thing that escaped his perception, which was not exactly difficult because the darkness domain was just that- darkness.
Nial was not sure how much his Innate ability must have been enhanced, but it was certainly a huge enhancement.
With that in mind, he tried to perceive his Innate ability that was imprinted on the Odyssey seed, only to notice two particular things.
First of all, Nial could tell that he was able to create dark energy currents whenever he wanted and that he wouldn't need to wait for the Odyssey seed's pulses before the dark energy would react to him.
However, this was possible only inside the darkness domain, and not something that was permanent.
Because it was not ought to be permanent, Nial felt that it was an exceptional achievement to be able to manifest dark energy as long as he had enough mana!
It was highly advantageous, and Nial was happy about it.
But even if the information about the dark energy was already great, the second thing Nial noticed was that the name of his Innate ability had changed!
His [Mana Perception] had now changed to [Mana Sense]!
Inside the darkness domain, it was difficult to figure out the true extent of the upgraded Innate ability, but Nial was able to tell that it was very powerful.
And this made him quite happy because it would always be advantageous to be able to sense everything in his surroundings at a wider range at that.
He was happy about the changes his Odyssey seed underwent because all of them were advantageous for him.
His Innate ability's enhancement and the changes in the dark energy's requirements to be utilized were great, which led Nial to avert his focus to his Mana core and heart.
Something should have changed about them. At least, Nial felt so.
However, other than a semi-translucent paper-thin membrane of darkness around both his heart and the Mana core, Nial was unable to sense anything.
The semi-translucent darkness membrane could be perceived within his entire body, along with his mana veins.
Thus, Nial presumed that the membrane enhanced his mana circulation and everything related to mana.
It was not as if Nial was sure about that because the darkness domain was void of mana for him to absorb, but he felt like testing everything once he went outside.
But before going out, there was something Nial wanted to test out first.
It was not often that he received the opportunity to spend five times the time within a specific space when the time coursed at its usual pace on his lovely home planet.
Because of the 5:1 time ratio, Nial decided to spend 5 more days within the darkness domain.
There would still be one day left before the Teradan military camp was to start, which was more than enough for him to get to know everything he had to understand.
In the said five days, Nial wanted to digest the intel he procured while fighting the Darkness Doppelganger for 20 days without much of a break.
He had yet to figure out the reason behind the odd behavior of the Darkness Doppelganger before he initiated the last attack.
It had been quite weird, but Nial didn't believe that it had something to do with the fact that he injured the Darkness Doppelganger seriously in the second-last battle.
Nial knew that it didn't really matter at the end of the day, but it still confused him.
However, instead of thinking too long about things that were incomprehensible for now, Nial focused on processing every single bit of information that he procured inside the darkness domain.
It was also important for him to test out replicating a few amazing techniques and movements of the Darkness Doppelganger.
Some of them had helped his opponent overwhelm him easily, and win the fights of two equal forces easily.
Through the fights of the last 20 days, Nial gained lots of combat experience and he comprehended that it was important to know a few tricks, including specific techniques if he wanted to fight and win against powerful opponents.
Nial took this into consideration and put his time to good use with meticulous work.
Unfortunately, most techniques were not something Nial was able to recreate, such as the jumps through the darkness.
It was quite sad but Nial had already expected to encounter failure in this regard.
That was also why he decided to leave the darkness domain with a free mind and heart after the five days had elapsed.
The same darkness portal as before manifested in front of him, and Nial stepped through it, just to return to the same place he had entered the darkness domain through; his room and that of Bella and Mathias.
It took only seconds for him to emerge on the other side of the darkness portal.
However, instead of being able to sense everything instantaneously, his entire being took a few seconds to accept the sudden change in his surroundings.
Nial was overwhelmed with the fact that he could hear, smell, feel, and perceive everything, which was why he was standing in the room like a petrified statue.
Once he could perceive his surroundings, Nial tried to find his friends.
But Nial quickly figured that they were not around, which was why he chose to figure out how strong his [Mana Sense] was.
Thus he spread out his Innate ability and increased its range as wide as possible without using a single trace of mana to supply it.
The final result was quite shocking because Nial presumed that he was able to perceive everything within a radius of 500 meters.
And that was without using even a trace of mana.
With that in mind, he used some mana to expand his range of perception.
The result was just as shocking. This led Nial to slump down to his bed as a smile appeared on his lips.
"I think I won't have problems with perceiving archers and other long-range fighters anymore…"
He subconsciously mumbled while his mana was being replenished passively.
His mana veins were passively absorbing mana. This had already been the case since the day he had awoken his origin.
However, right now, the mana veins' passive mana absorption was several times higher than before.
Nial sensed that the passive effect of his Innate ability [Mana sense] had something to do with this.
But that was not all because the semi-translucent darkness membrane around his mana core and mana veins seemed to accelerate his circulation and absorption of mana.
Even the process of annexing mana was accelerated. This was amazing and widened Nial's smile as he noticed one more change that had occurred thanks to the primary Trial of the Gods.
'My mana core's limit increased as well??'
Nial had just realized this, and it would have caused his smile to get even brighter if it were to be possible.
He was not sure what his mana core's limit was right now.
But even if he was not sure about this yet, Nial was pretty confident that he would be able to expand his mana core even after reaching its limits!
Anything below the 9th enlargement was too little because it would mean that he was unable to unleash his mana core's potential to the fullest.
It would be a waste to create his first Origin ring before the 9th enlarging, even more so because it would restrict his future potential quite a bit.
On the first glance, one might not notice the difference, but the more time passed, and the higher ranks he reached, the wider the gap between an Origin ring created after the 8th enlarging and the 9th enlarging would be
Nial understood this precisely, which was why the darkness mana membrane around his mana veins and mana core was exceptional.
It would help him a lot, both now, and in the future.
Due to all the enhancements and changes he had undergone after participating in and passing the primary Trial of the Gods, Nial was happy to have entered the darkness portal.
His initial worries disappeared, and he didn't even bother about the fact that the Odyssey seed, or Fragment of the Darkness God, wanted to hit two birds with one stone.
Its goal was to strengthen Nial and to transfer the Darkness God's strength to him. At least, that was what Nial made of the situation.
However, the outcome could either be that Nial was able to endure the potent and raging power of the God of Darkness, or that Nial's soul would be torn apart in the attempts to integrate the Darkness God's power with his body!
After his soul would be torn apart, the Darkness God would reincarnate, whether he wanted to or not.
Nial believed this, even if the truth could be a little bit different.
There were too many possibilities with what the Fragment of the Darkness God would do to achieve what he wanted.
But Nial chose not to mind it anymore.
He had already wasted too much of his precious time thinking about unnecessary scenarios that might or might not occur.
That was why he began to absorb the mana that gathered in the Teradan military base.
The mana originated from the dungeon portals that were deep down in the cave, only to pass through the Teradan military base before it would be released outside the mountain.
Nial wanted to enter a few dungeons to procure Origin crystals in order to absorb mana even faster.
This thought made him recall his merit points, and that he should consider learning a Martial art technique, preferably a movement technique first!
At that moment, Nial's focus averted to his quantum bracelet, where he was able to perceive the screen that showed a five-digit number.
[Merit points: 12.572]
Everyone in their group of three had the same amount of merit points.
As such, Nial was quite interested to figure out how much stronger the others became in the last week.
The merit points were quite valuable and beneficial after all!
And it was exactly when Nial thought about this, that the doors of their team's room were pushed open.
He had already sensed the arrival of his team members which lead him to smile brightly as he gave them a peace sign.
"Hey guys, I'm back!"