Chapter 393 Linked Abilities
After all the beasts had been taken care of and there was no imminent threat, Nial spent some time caressing the wingless Gryphon. The four Gryphons that had attacked him before didn't mind him anymore and they simply left.
That was something Nila couldn't really understand but he accepted it. After all, it was something positive if he wouldn't have to trouble himself by looking after the four Gryphons as well.
The four Gryphons ran through the forest because their wings were injured and they left the proximity of Nial and the wingless Gryphon.
'Weird…' He could only think when averting his focus back to the black, wingless Gryphon, whom he continued to pat.
What Nial didn't know was that the wingless Gryphon had turned him into his Chosen One. Having a Chosen One was not something many beings had and most didn't even know that something like this existed or what the reason for its existence was but Gryphons were one of that kind!
The wingless Gryphon hadn't known Nial long but it had observed him intently and followed its wild instincts by accepting Nial as his Chosen One!
A fragment of the wingless Gryphon's essence was broken off and etched on Nial's soul, creating a connection between both Nial and the wingless Gryphon.
Nial sensed that something was slowly changing the longer he caressed the beast but he couldn't know that the fragment of the wingless Gryphon's essence was being transferred to him. Not even in his wildest dreams would Nial imagine something like this to happen.
That was especially weird now that his emotions were clearly in a disarray and that he had become someone, who could kill with far more ease than ever before.
"Let's leave, otherwise, we will have trouble with more beasts," Nial suggested and the wingless Gryphon, who chirped out in joy, followed him without hesitation. 'Did he understand me? Wait…is the Gryphon even a he?' Nial was pretty sure that the wingless Gryphon's behavior was different from before but in a good way.
He didn't mind the change and he could slowly feel that something deep inside him was changing as well. It felt like he was getting a better understanding of the wingless Gryphon.
Upon visualizing the beast in his mind, he figured out that he was a male.
"If we're traveling together, I should give you a name, right?" Nial mumbled while trying to think of a name for the wingless Gryphon.
[Ryu]
'Hmm?' Nial frowned as he felt some pain spreading through his mind.
[Ryu!]
Blood trickled down his nose and he felt nauseous. His stomach was rumbling and Nial felt like he would vomit at any moment.
[Ryu!!!]
A scream rang through his mind and Nial turned instinctively to the wingless Gryphon's direction as he began to chirp once again.
"Your name is Ryu?" He asked and the beast nodded his head as if he could understand Nial.
'Am I getting crazy or can I actually talk with Ryu?' Nial began to wonder just to hear the same voice ringing in his head for the fourth time.
[Talk! Me understand!]
'Is that for real?!' He thought, slowly digesting what was going on.
The changes within his body had only begun after Ryu had rubbed his head against his chest and Nial thought that it had initiated some sort of link with him.
Nial was pretty sure that the connection he had with Ryu was a bit different as it was the case with Yggdrasil but he liked it nonetheless.
There was no reason for him to reject Ryu's connection, especially since he needed the beast to travel around. He was powerful as well and with enough time, Ryu would be able to fly as well.
Nial wouldn't make a single loss while the exact opposite seemed to be the case with Ryu. For now, Nial was not sure about all the effects of the link Ryu had initiated but he was pretty sure that Ryu wouldn't be able to disobey Nial's commands.
As long as Nial wanted Ryu to follow him, the wingless Gryphon would have to do so, whether it was suicidal or a walk in the park.
"Why would you do that?" Nial couldn't help but ask. He was pretty sure that he couldn't understand Ryu's reasoning.
It was pretty amazing to be able to communicate with each other but if that was the only benefit both gained from their connection, Nial was pretty sure that it wasn't worth it.
[More Good! Me trust! You decide!]
Even if the connection to Ryu allowed them to communicate, Ryu had yet to learn how to communicate fluently with someone, who was not a Gryphon.
Thus, their communication was not yet easy. However, Nial could roughly understand what Ryu wanted to convey.
"There are more benefits, and you trust me enough to let me decide what we're going to do? Okay…" Nial concluded, not sure if the Gryphon was dazzled by the opportunity to be able to fly in the near future, or if there was something he couldn't perceive yet.
In the end, the truth shouldn't really matter to Nial because he knew that Ryu would follow his commands and that he didn't lose out on anything.
Thus, Nial resumed his journey to the Alliance City with a new companion by his side. Ryu acted as his mount and Nial had a much easier time traveling around without the need to neglect to become stronger and more knowledgeable.
His Heart of Darkness was beating rapidly, pulling the purest mana out of the surrounding area for him to absorb and become stronger.
They were able to leave the mountain range behind in only three days and Ryu hadn't cried even a single time. It didn't feel like Ryu was sad to leave behind his family but they had never treated him nicely, either way.
Nial was the opposite. He may seem cold on occasion but deep down he was a softie and cared for others. Nial always made sure that they had enough delicious food and that Ryu would be able to improve his control with the darkness affinity by releasing the Darkness Essence a little.
Several weeks passed in the blink of an eye and Nial had gotten a lot closer to Ryu. The Gryphon could communicate with him much easier than before and they could properly talk to each other by now.
The nine Ancient Origin rings had been fully connected, through multiple links, and the crystal was slowly forming around the Mana core.
Simultaneously, the Origin seed was slowly forming as well, which posed more of a problem than Nial had initially expected.
The creation of the Origin seed would destroy the mana core slowly, and the Stigmata of his abilities would be removed from the Mana core.
He thought that there was no need for him to worry about his remaining abilities until he would advance to the Deux rank but that didn't seem to be completely right.
It was a bit troublesome but Nial got to know that he would have to bind three more abilities to his mana core in the next few months or a year.
Knowing this was better than being oblivious to the shocking truth. As such, Nial's mind would always think about binding abilities rather than worrying about other things.
Nial was currently thinking about what type of ability would be most suitable for him.
He was searching for something that was compatible with the Heart of Darkness because he didn't want to go through the trouble of spending too much time improving these abilities when they could be linked to the Heart of Darkness and thus be enhanced whenever the Heart of Darkness improved.
Linked abilities were abilities that had extremely high compatibility with the user.
They would usually fuse with the mana core of the user and create a symbiosis that augmented the abilities. Even after the abilities would be removed from the mana core at the Deux rank, a trace of the mana core's Essence would remain with the ability, creating the function to grow along the progress of the wielder's mana core.
It was extremely difficult to find some under normal circumstances because any ability crystal could evolve into a linked ability when bound to the perfect match.
Nial's chances to find linked abilities were at least twice as high as for others because he was not only in possession of a highly adaptable mana core but also the Heart of Darkness.
His mana core and Heart of Darkness would also vibrate or pulsate while holding a suitable ability, which made things even easier.
Thus, the only problem was to find these abilities, get his hands on them and bind them at a place no unwanted soul would be able to see him.
That was Nial's plan, especially to find other means of attack than using his dark energy, the Darkness Essence or to destroy the Blood Eclipse Moon whenever some powerhouse attacked him.
But Nial didn't only want something to attack his opponents mindlessly with. He was picky and wanted nothing but the best and that didn't make things easier for sure.
During the entire last week of traveling, Nial had gotten to know many new places. The lush environment was interesting to travel through and so was finding new places on the planet that had once been considered overcrowded with monsters.
This couldn't be further from the truth!
The number of monsters seemed to be perfectly controlled with respect to the ecosystem of each region he passed through, which was something nature regulated on its own.
In most regions, one would find one or two Overlords ruling over the territory that was further distributed to inhabit the weaker beasts.
The weaker beasts would have to heed the commands of their lord or try to defeat him in a territorial battle.
And that was what happened quite often in regions where new dungeons had manifested, releasing powerful dungeon beasts that wanted to become the new overlords of the region.
Nial had witnessed many territorial battles and whether they were powerful beasts or weak ones, he would always gain insights from their fights.
That was because he focused a lot on trying to understand the beasts, their fighting style and how intelligent they were.
Some higher-ranked beasts were almost on par with the intelligence of humans, while others didn't seem more intelligent than ordinary beasts.
Their fighting style varied a lot according to their intelligence, and so did their strength.
The higher the intelligence of a beast, the more power it could utilize.
Thus, Nial could occasionally witness the death of a higher-ranked beast when its opponent had been more intelligent.
Analyzing the data he had collected based on his observation, Nial learned how to quickly adapt his strength whenever he and Ryu were attacked.
But it was not only Nial, who had learned to observe and adapt!
Ryu's intelligence had improved a lot since Nial became his Chosen One, and he had become a lot stronger!