Chapter 188 Separation
Because Nial was young and considered weak, he didn't have enough authority to receive a constant influx of information, he was in the dark about what exactly had happened in the following two weeks that passed in the blink of an eye.
Not even Miranda, let alone Junades or Kassandra told them much. Nial and the others didn't even see them often, to begin with.
That was why they were not able to do much except return to undergo their hellish training once again.
After facing a near-death experience, they realized that there was no choice but to become stronger to be able to overcome troublesome events such as the incident with the Dryx.
Nial didn't want to rely on others to survive such incidents and his friends were of the same opinion.
Time passed quickly while training, and they only noticed that two weeks had passed when it was announced that the Teradan military camp was now functional after being fixed up, including the short-distance teleportation runic constellation.
It had been lightly damaged in the course of the Dryx's incident. Repairing it didn't take long but to make sure that no mistake would occur upon activating it, everything had been checked over and over again.
Everyone was allowed to return to their home shelter, or the Organizations and Guilds, who wanted to employ the young Originals, who had displayed a stellar performance and helped reduce human casualties during the Dryx's infiltration.
Returning to his home shelter was certainly not something Nial planned to do. He wanted to enter Liondra as quickly as possible.
Wasting his time in Katu was entirely useless, simply because he didn't have anything to do there.
Even after entering Liondra, Nial was not sure that he would find his family quickly. While Katu was already a large shelter inhabited by millions of citizens, Liondra was more than ten times larger.
The population of Liondra had long since exceeded 100 million, clearly indicating how big the shelter was.
"I didn't get as many invitations as expected…and none of the Organizations or Guilds is located in Liondra…" Nial realized when he finished looking through the few invitation letters he had received.
While both Bella and Mathias had received more than a dozen invitations, Nial merely received five. He felt that this was quite weird because he was the one to have fought and killed Low Prym ranked Dryx while officially being at the 6th Origin rank.
That should be impressive enough to make various Organizations fight for him. As long as he was nurtured, Nial was bound to become a powerhouse. At least, that was what he thought about himself, simply because it was logical.
"Eclipse Assassins…in Merc…"
Nial's dejection was momentarily driven out of his mind when he registered a particular invitation.
Yet, even before he could ask himself whether he should just join his enemies to find out what exactly had happened to his family, and why they had been brought to Liondra if the Eclipse Assassins hail from Merc, Miranda had already intervened.
"You don't need to bother to look at any of these invitations. I already looked at the recordings that were related to you.
In all of them, it looked like you were only able to defeat your opponents thanks to Bella and Mathias.
The recordings are certainly not favorable for you, even if a few of your strong characteristics were clearly reflected.
Apparently, these strong characteristics were good enough for you to receive a few invitations from some Organization's side branches."
Nial frowned while listening to Miranda. He felt that they were being biased and that the situation had turned out worse than expected.
But when he gave it another thought, he realized that he was not exactly sure if it may even be better for him to maintain a low profile.
If the Sacred Knights leader or some other believers of a hostile God were to take note of him while he was still weak, it might even be more dangerous than going unnoticed.
"Even if I don't accept any of the invitations, will it be possible for me to enter Liondra? I mean, I should have left a favorable impression on the military with my strength, so it shouldn't be impossible for me to get into Liondra even if I don't belong to any Organization or Guild, right?"
Entering Liondra was the most important for now. In fact, as long as he spent enough time refining his mana perception, he could run through the entire shelter and pinpoint his family's location.
This plan would be his last resort though it would be a futile attempt that would result in him wasting the time he could have used to become stronger.
However, it was still a possible plan, even if it was a bad one.
"It won't be a problem for any of you to enter Liondra or any of the other shelters. The three of you are my disciples. This fact has even been added to your Originals ID card's information. So as long as you choose to go to Liondra, nobody will stop you."
Miranda didn't say anything to force Nial to join an Organization. In fact, she was hoping for something else to happen.
"If you go to Liondra, I want to come along you! I need to become stronger as well, and I believe that this will be the easiest while being by your side!" Mathias suddenly announced.
He put the invitation letters he had received aside before approaching Nial. He grasped his shoulder and gave him a bright smile.
There was no sign of his usual timid behavior. He was extremely comfortable around Nial and wanted to stay with him a little longer.
Mathias knew that it would be the easiest to learn more about runic armaments while being next to Nial. It wouldn't be necessary for them to split the massive number of important books and manuals amongst themselves as long as they didn't separate.
Both Mathias and Nial were eager to learn about runic armaments, to learn the Elementus Mylee technique in depth, and to become stronger while using the Ciran taria technique.
Nial advanced to the 7th Origin rank the day before. His mana core was already larger than that of an ordinary 10th Origin rank Original.
But that didn't mean he had it easier than others. Rather, it would take him much longer to create his first Origin ring, let alone to reach the 10th Origin rank.
Nial clearly noticed that his expenses had gone through the roof while using Origin crystals to absorb more mana while his progress with the Ciran taria technique felt less owing to the terrifyingly high amount of mana he required to keep advancing.
Learning how to manufacture runic armaments would thus help in various ways.
"It would be great if we can stay together for some time. Even if our goals might differ, we need strength to achieve everything we want to attain in the future."
Nial was quite happy that Mathias chose to join him. There had only been short instances in his life, where he had been alone, and these times were certainly not pleasing.
That was why Nial felt great to hear what Mathias wanted to do.
"I guess our paths will separate then." Bella suddenly said. Everyone, including Miranda, turned to Bella, and a slight trace of disappointment flashed through Miranda's eyes.
'Sad. I hoped that they could stay together. It would have made things for me easier as well…'
"I want to return to my mom and stay with her for some time. Afterward, I will probably go to Urim to take care of some stuff."
Bella didn't sound too sad about their separation but Nial could tell that her mana was unstable. She was in turmoil due to her emotions.
Bella wanted to spend some more time with them. However, it was more important for her to return to her mother and solve her problems first and foremost.
Furthermore, her Innate ability was still hostile toward Nial. There was only one instance where the [Celestial transformation] had wanted Bella to follow Nial and to stay by his side for a short period.
But that period had long since passed, which was why the Innate ability was acting up once again.
"Even if we separate it's not like we will never see each other again. The human race's territory is not exactly big and powerhouses will always strive to have more fruitful encounters and to protect the places important to them."
Nial didn't think that they would be separated forever. They were bound to meet again in the future. That was something he was certain of.
However, the only thing Nial was unable to tell was whether they would be on the same side or if they would have to face each other.
He could clearly recall the Late Darkness God's words, that he should stay away from Bella before she would regain some memories from her Innate ability.
Nial hoped for the best but he was simultaneously expecting the worst. That was the only thing he could do.
"Nial, Mathias, if the two of you don't have a place to stay yet, how about you come to my place? After the recent incidents in the Teradan military camp, the appearance of ancient ruins harboring runic armaments, and the blueprints on how to create them, followed by the Dryx incident, I have a lot to do in Liondra.
I believe that my place is great for the purpose of researching runic armaments. In my library, you can find a lot of information from various ancient ruin dungeons and research made by renowned scientists."
Miranda's plan had been to keep teaching the three young Originals while joining their research on runic armaments.
Of course, she was also intrigued by the existence of runic armaments. Her curiosity increased even further when Nial and the others sold her the wand she had wielded during the incident with the Dryx.
Never in her life had she fought so many powerful opponents without entering Mana Fatigue that would weaken her for weeks.
Thanks to the wand she had used, her mana consumption had been reduced by 30%, and her spells' lethality increased drastically. The increase in her attacks' strength allowed her to use less mana and cast spells that were as powerful as attacks that cost lots of mana if used without the Tier-1 wand.
As long as it was possible to progress fast in the research of runic armaments, mankind should be able to change the tides of their fate and be better equipped to start fighting against the numerous beasts in the wilderness.
Of course, Miranda knew about the biggest downside of mass-producing runic armaments- that it would accelerate the mana awakening process all over Jundra.
But as long as mankind could leverage the advantage they had by owning powerful runic armaments, it would be possible to increase their strength exponentially. This in turn would equip mankind to prevent dangerous dungeons and dungeon beasts from destroying human shelters and their entire race.
That was Miranda's plan. It would have been perfect as long as Bella stayed with them. After all, a third of the books related to runic armaments would stay with Bella.
However, that didn't seem to bother Nial, or Mathias much.
They were a little bit sad that Bella was going to part ways with them. Mathias was the most affected, which astonished him quite a bit if he were to be honest.
After quarreling with Bella as much as with no one ever before, Mathias had grown used to her and it would be a lie if he were to say that Bella was a complete stranger to him.
He liked her company and would miss her.
Thus, he was a little bit sulky when they emptied their spatial rings to take a look at all the gains they made in the ancient ruin's dungeon.
They had already been forced to sell quite a few runic armaments in order to purchase more high-quality Origin crystals. Even a huge sum of 100,000 military merit points hadn't been enough to last them for more than three months.
But that was only obvious because their expenses had been horrifyingly high. Even some highly influential merchants would only gasp in shock upon finding out how much each of the three young Originals paid for a hellish training that lasted merely 3 months.
After they were done splitting up their remaining loot, Bella packed up her stuff before leaving the house. She felt that it would be the worst if she were to stay near her friends for much longer. Her heart was asking her to spend some more time with them but her mind was telling her to leave…and that was what she did.
"We will meet again." Bella just said, bidding them farewell when everything was done. She waved her hands and left to the Mainstreet without another backward glance.
Thus, nobody could see that a single tear trickled down her cheek as she clenched her fists.
'Since when did I become so weak? I've not even known them for that long…and it's not like I can ask them to help me…it's way too dangerous…'
"Of course, let's meet again…on the same side!" Nial shouted while Mathias took a while to find his voice.
"When we meet again, I will be stronger than you…so…don't even think about slapping me on the back of my head again!!" Mathias could only say before he quietly added,
"...take care of yourself and don't get hurt."