Chapter 294 No Escape!
"I received the permission already?" Nial asked, stretching his tired body. The couch in the living room was very cozy but Nial couldn't afford to waste more time resting.
His body was brimming with energy, his mana was completely replenished and it was time to reunite with his parents!
Nial's head turned over to the small mountain of Origin crystals that he had perceived the moment Gianna released it from her spatial ring. He didn't comment on the huge pile of Origin crystals but he didn't expect to receive so many in such a short time at that.
'She really did a good job at bargaining,' Nial thought, ignoring the possibility that Nial might be the first human to sell Tier-0 runic armaments in Liondra.
A few merchants were known for traveling between the Forest of Life and the eight human shelters but the prices of their goods were enormous. They made huge profits despite the exorbitant prices the Elves demanded from the merchants.
Not being loved or adored by mana meant that the Elves wouldn't even think about giving the merchant's a discount. Nial would receive different treatment in this regard but he was not in the need of any Tier-0 runic armaments. He could create them on his own and his cost-performance ratio was much better than the Elves as well.
Each of his Tier-0 runic weapons cost him less than 500$ in raw materials and roughly an hour to create but it could be sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. All of that was because of the high demand that existed for runic weapons.
Ordinary weapons and Myth weapons were still regarded highly but the price of runic weapons was lower than Myth weapons despite the high demand, while their efficiency was exceptional and the same as long as the correct runic constellations were engraved with a high perfection grade.
Nial's perfection grade was at 100%, which was why he ended up being rich once again.
"The Governor of the Liondra shelter didn't even hesitate to give you permission to use your mana inside the shelter. He told me that you should do whatever you want… In my opinion, this is a stupid comment, so just do what you need to do to find your family," Gianna said, feeling a bit weird about the attitude of the Liondra shelter's governor.
It was not as if Nial's behavior was less weird. He could just ask the Governor to make an announcement to seek his family or search for them by telling the guards that he was looking for them. However, that was not what Nial did. He was trying to find his family by choosing one of the most difficult ways.
In her opinion, this was stupid and nonsensical. Gianna knew that Nial was not an idiot, which meant that he had his own reasons for acting the way he did.
[Maybe, he doesn't want anyone to know who his family is? But I doubt that because it will be known the moment he shows up with them somewhere…] The voice resounded in Gianna's mind once again.
'Maybe…he fears that they will be taken somewhere. If I remember correctly his family was kidnapped by the Heaven's Gates organization…' She answered the voice calmly as she clearly recalled the incident where they had entered the black market to get their hands on some information about both the Eclipse Assassins and the Heaven's Gates organization.
[The Heaven's Gates again…aren't they a bit too bothersome?] The voice asked in irritation which caused Gianna to smile faintly.
Nial saw this but he didn't really understand the meaning behind her smile. He couldn't hear the voice in Gianna's head either, which was why he chose to spend the awkward silence between him and Gianna by storing the Odyssey crystals.
"I will go to the Central tower. If you want, you can come with me. If not, have a nice day," Nial said, trying to break the awkward silence. However, Gianna was not even listening to him. All her attention was on her conversation with the Spiritual Weapon.
Nial left her, feeling a bit awkward after getting ignored.
"Looks like she found a talkative Spiritual Weapon," He thought after a while, trying to ignore the gazes on him as well as possible.
He used the shuttle to be driven to Liondra's central area where he ended up being one of the most interesting things to look at. Nial felt like he was an attraction in the circus, which was definitely not a good feeling.
A few minutes passed before Nial reached the shelter's central tower. It was a huge building with more than 20 wings. Nial clearly perceived it using his range of perception.
Without wasting any time, Nial entered the building to use the elevator that brought him to the highest floor. He opened the window by tightly grasping the window frame and jumped outside the building.
Using only his bodily strength to reach the rooftop of the central tower required him to have precise control over himself. It was necessary for him to have enough strength in his arms to push him in the positions he took while his core muscles had to be strong enough to allow his body to end up in a position, where his stretched body was high in the air, legs-first.
His legs pointed into the air, while his head was around the same height as the window. Using some force in his arms, he propelled himself into the air until he was able to pull his legs closer to his body. The gravitational force pulled him down but that didn't matter as his legs touched the rooftop he wanted to reach.
"I really need to work on my calisthenics skills…" Nial cursed out at that moment before he released some dark energy through his legs to pin him down to the rooftop.
He let go of the window's frame and frowned deeply as he pulled his body backward.
With the sole use of dark energy, it would have been no problem for him to reach the rooftop. However, even if it was important for Nial to be proficient at controlling his dark energy, he also knew the importance of being able to control his body perfectly.
He had seen some Elves jump through the Forest of Life in an extremely flexible manner, relying on their physical strength and nothing else. This had impressed Nial which was why he had tried to copy the Elves once or twice. Sadly, the final result was that he smashed into the ground as his reflexes were not as sharp as the Elves.
Their reflexes had been trained well and they never ignored training their body as well. This may not be necessary because their strength would increase the higher their rank advanced. But by staying fit and focusing on training to control their strength precisely, they were able to use the vast majority of their physical strength accurately without losing out on anything.
Others, who had not trained their body would never know what it felt like to use their entire strength.
Physical training was important and Nial would focus on it in the near future, but not now.
He released his Mana a bit to perceive the top of the tower and nodded his head in satisfaction.
'Perfect here is enough space to lay out the crystals,' Nial thought as he reached a small flat surface.
With a wave of his arms, all the Origin crystals inside his spatial ring emerged in front of Nial.
They were spread out evenly, leaving a small space in the center for him to sit down.
If the Origin crystals Gianna brought him where a small hill, the entirety of Origin crystals Nial had accumulated could definitely form a mountain.
"The more the merrier. With that many Origin crystals, I will have more than enough mana to supply [Mana Sense]!" Nial mumbled before he sat down in the center with folded legs.
He was a bit nervous, not because he was unsure of whether his plan would work or not but due to the small chance that his family was not in Liondra anymore.
'Even if they're not in Liondra, I can still search through the other shelters. Calm down, you idiot!' Nial knew that he could not risk losing his cool.
He had to remain calm and focused, otherwise, he wouldn't be able to find his family even if they were in Liondra.
'As long as I can find them without attracting too much attention, everything will be fine…as long as the Heaven's Gates organization doesn't find out what I'm doing…' Nial thought without actually worrying too much about the Heaven's Gates organization.
After they lost some of their Prometheus Originals in the fight against the Mutant Minotaur, the Heaven's Gates organization used plenty of its resources to make up for the loss.
They had invested most of their human resources in the Forest of Life when the battle against the Dryx occurred. The Heaven's Gates organization was of the opinion that they would earn a huge profit by supporting the Elves with all their might.
While this was true, the organization didn't expect the number of casualties on their side to be even worse than the losses they had incurred when fighting the Mutant Minotaur.
Nial doubted that anyone would be able to focus on finding his family, especially his parents, who were not exactly very powerful and natural combatants. They were ordinary citizens and could quickly get lost in the crowd.
Their mana core's potential was not very high either, which was another reason for Nial to doubt that anyone would bother taking time to look for his family too much.
That would even be the case if the woman Hana was speaking about was his sister, which was something that Nial presumed to be the case.
'Sis, please be fine and healthy when I come to get you, mom, and dad!' That was Nial's last thought before he closed his eyes.
Upon activating his Innate ability [Mana Sense], Nial accessed all the Origin crystals around him.
There were more than a thousand Superior grade Origin crystals and Nial unleashed the pure and high-quality mana within all of them!
The flat surface Nial was seated on began to crackle and the roof, followed by the highest floor of the central tower began to tremble as well.
The tremor passed through the floors as long as the mana within the Origin crystals was unleashed. The mana flowed through the building freely and uncontrolled which was why the surrounding area entered a state of hypertension.
It was frightening for everyone who noticed that something was off. However, even before anyone could react the tremor had finally stopped. Nial absorbed all the mana in his surroundings. He devoured it easily as it was naturally drawn to him and immediately used the absorbed mana to increase his range of perception.
His natural range of perception expanded quickly, while [Mana Sense] increased the range even further.
[Mana Sense] allowed him to perceive everything around him with more precision. It amplified even the smallest strands of mana, which made it possible for him to make out details that were much farther away than his ordinary range of perception could detect.
Instead of the crudest facts, Nial was able to make out much more about his surroundings than ever before.
This was an exceptional feeling but Nial quickly realized that his mana was being quickly drained. The strongest form of his [Mana Sense] allowed him to visualize everything in his surrounding area like a 3D map.
However, the amount of mana it absorbed was far higher than anything Nial would have expected.
"A bit more, just a little bit!!" Nial screamed at the top of his lungs, activating the Symbol of Life as well.
Streams of mana from all around Liondra were suddenly pulled toward Nial, providing him with additional mana. This didn't solve Nial's problem but it gave him more time to further expand his range of perception.
With a second scream, he forced his range of perception to reach a range of more than 20 kilometers.
The vast majority of his mana was used up and Nial became desperate because he didn't get to see a glimpse of his parent's familiar mana fluctuations.
At that moment two overly peculiar mana fluctuations emerged right in the middle of his range of perception.
They appeared out of nowhere and it was just a moment later that they seemed to have disappeared. However, Nial had already locked their mana fluctuations in his range of perception before he gave them their share of attention.
All his mana was directed and used on continuing to perceive the two particular mana fluctuations.
"Mum, Dad…don't run away from me. I found you!!" Nial exclaimed with a childish smile on his face as he began to visualize the bodies that harbored the overly familiar mana fluctuations which he focused on.
His expression was that of utter joy, a type of joy he hadn't felt for a very long time.
"Finally! Now, you cannot escape from me anymore, never again!!"