Odyssey of the Blind God

The three friends spent some time observing the magnificent view of the Ocean, unsure of when they would be able to feel such calm and ease again.

Having been forced to live in the shelters since their birth, even the view of a natural forest was something they could only expect to see inside dungeons.

However, the same could be said about the appearance of monsters.

​ In Katu, there hadn't been a single dungeon breakout for the last ten years.

That meant it was uncommon for the group of three to sleep in the wilderness, knowing that beasts could attack them at any moment.

They were fully aware of the dangers they had to face, but the Ocean had calmed their anxious minds and fueled them with renewed confidence.

After a long time had passed, Nial was the first one to fully regain his senses.

"How about we search for a good place to rest? Or should we just stay at the beach for the time being?"

He knew that some beasts lived inside the water because his mana perception had already sensed a few weak marine beasts near the beach.

But that didn't worry him, at all.

Instead, he began to wonder if he should just try to hunt a few marine beasts in order to procure food for themselves.

He had never tasted fish before so when he could clearly sense them swimming in the ocean water, Nial was eager to catch a few.

Unfortunately, Bella shook her head upon hearing his questions.

"Let's search for a place that is a little bit more secure. After resting we should also think of a plan because I don't think it will be that easy to find the Teradan military camp.

As for advancing straight through the forest, I don't really think that we should do that either.

If there are more Goblin Wolfriders or possibly even Goblins with other engravings on gemstones, we should try to procure them too.

I think that the Instructors of the military camp either intentionally allowed the Goblin Warriors to get hold of the gemstones, and the government is secretive about the existence of runes with which one can control weak-willed beasts, or they really don't know about this, and we'll have to face lots of trouble in the future.

If it is the latter, we should be rewarded with many merit points once we reach the camp and report everything!"

Mathias just nodded his head, without sharing his opinion on the suggestion, leaving Nial no choice but to also agree.

"Alright, in that case, I saw a pretty large tree earlier. It had a dense network of branches and leaves, and I didn't sense the presence of even a single beast that might inhabit the tree.

So we should be safe there, and rest on the branches comfortably!"

Once again Mathias just nodded his head, causing Bella and Nial to frown lightly.

"Alright, let's do that!" Bella thus said before eyeing Mathias for a moment

Both Bella and Nial noticed that their friend had turned quiet once again.

This was quite a big difference to how he had behaved during the battle against the Goblin Wolfriders.

Even afterward, he had spoken quite a lot, until now.

They thought it was a little bit weird, but at the same time understood that it might be difficult for some people to open up to others.

Giving Mathias a few days, or even weeks was no problem as long as he wouldn't suddenly change his behavior during fights.

While they were busy thinking of ways to make Mathias speak more to them and make him feel more comfortable, they didn't even realize that the young man was perfectly fine with being quiet.

He might be timid, but at the same time, Mathias felt very comfortable right now.

If he had something against their ideas, it might have been difficult for him to speak up, but he would have done so nonetheless.

Bella and Nial were worried for no reason but neither of them said anything as they returned to a specific part of the forest that lay between the hill on which they had emerged, and the beach.

Though it was still dark, Nial could keep up with them both easily. This was revealed by the fact that when they took a small detour towards a different location, Nial's mana perception and the range of his visualization allowed him to follow them.

After walking for slightly more than 10 minutes away from the Ocean, they had finally reached a large tree, whose trunk was quite wide.

Mathias doubted that they would be able to reach around it even if the three of them were to hold hands.

While this was what interested Mathias, Bella could only see the deep gashes on the tree trunk that seemed to have been inflicted by a powerful beast with razor-sharp claws.

Nial also noticed the gashes, and before his friends would start worrying, repeated himself once again.

"From what I can sense, there are no remnants of mana fluctuations anywhere around the tree, so you don't have to worry too much about the gashes.

As for the possibility of a beast that conceals its mana fluctuations to live on the tree, I can smell that the last time a beast was here has been a few days, which you can probably also tell based on the gashes carved onto the tree that are not freshly made!

If my senses aren't failing me, the tree seems to be healing already, so it has been a few days!

I can provide a few more pieces of evidence to prove that no powerful beast has been here for quite some time.

Just trust me…due to the Curse I bound to my mana core,  my senses were enhanced to the extent wherein I sometimes wish I would never smell anything ever again…"

No sooner had Nial said the last sentence, Mathias instinctively lifted his arm before moving his nose towards his armpit to smell if he was reeking of sweat.

This caused Nial to smile lightly as he said,

"Don't worry, you don't smell that bad. Your Earth elemental affinity seems to cover the natural stench of sweat.

Upon hearing him, Bella began to look at him intently, not sure whether she should also smell herself to figure out if she was reeking.

However, that would be quite unladylike, and rather tough for her to do.

So she could only stare at him, not even daring to say something.

'I don't smell, right?!?'

Momentarily, she had forgotten about the fact that there might be a powerful beast in their surroundings.

The possibility of being smelly was much more horrifying to her than the existence of a powerful beast!

Sensing that Bella was suddenly fidgeting with her hair in discomfort he averted his attention to her.

Unable to suppress his smile anymore, Nial felt like teasing her, only to recall that one should never joke about certain things with a woman.

'I nearly forgot that…thanks mom!' He could only think, clearly remembering how often he had been lectured about how sensitive women were about their smell and looks.

"Don't worry Bella, you smell good!" Nial reassured her without going too much into detail.

After all, if he were to add a few more words, he feared that he might sound creepy, and like a pervert, which was certainly not what Nial was working towards.

In the end, he didn't lie either because Bella smelled really good.

Nial presumed this to be the case owing to her Innate trait that prevented impurities from entering her body, to begin with.

If that were to be true, it meant that she had a powerful Innate trait.

Unfortunately, now was not the right time to inquire about this.

Bella sighed in relief upon hearing him and stopped fidgeting almost instantly.

This caused even Mathias to smile lightly before he quietly muttered,

"So…are we climbing up…or not?"

Bella wasn't paying attention, but Nial just nodded his head as nobody had opposed the idea.

If either of his teammates were to be uncomfortable about staying on the said tree, they would have searched for a different place to stay.

Yet, given the fact that they only wanted to rest for a few hours, they readily agreed.

"Alright, let's go up!" Bella said while dusting her hands.

Moments later she placed a foot on one of the crooks caused by the gashes and pulled herself up the tree, which she swiftly climbed.

According to her technique, Bella seemed to be proficient at climbing a tree efficiently too.

This made Nial wonder if she was bad at anything.

But then it was certainly better to be good at everything than be an expert in one thing and know nothing about the rest.

Thus, he just shrugged his shoulders before starting to climb up the tree too.

It took him far longer than Bella.

Nonetheless, Nial was still faster than Mathias, who seemed to be struggling.

Yet, he didn't ask for help as he was embarrassed about the fact that his team could do something relatively simple as climbing a tree only for him to fail.

"It's quite slippery, I almost fell earlier! Here, take my hand!"

It was true that the bark of the tree trunk was quite slippery.

However, Nial lied about the fact that he nearly fell earlier, but it had been a necessity.

After hearing him, Mathias decided to grasp his hand, and accept his help when he heard that Nial nearly fell.

Pulling him up, Nial smiled lightly while Mathias breathed heavily, feeling as if he had overcome a huge hurdle.

This made Bella feel as if she had to react in some way, which caused her to give Mathias a thumbs up.

However, the young man couldn't help but sigh when he saw this, shaking his head a bit.

'Why do I feel like she is humiliating me without even trying?'

Feeling a little bit bitter, Mathias thought about something before trying to distract them.

"Will it be more important to arrive at the camp fast, or to kill and procure information before reaching the camp?"

At first, Nial didn't understand why Mathias would say this all of a sudden.

However, Bella could grasp what he was trying to say.

"You mean that the camp Instructors of the Teradan military camp want us to procure information about the happenings on the island such as the sudden appearance of the red gemstone necklaces?

It is true that it's unlikely for the Instructors not to know about the Beast controlling runes…but still…Wait!"

Halting in her tracks for a few seconds, she seemed to be excited, only to calm down before she added,

"I don't think that many participants of the military camp were ever forced to survive in the wilderness while being surrounded by beasts.

Because of that, we are likely to be tested on every single characteristic we show during the entire first test.

This includes our combat prowess, the teamwork we display during the following days, how we procure information and far more!

As such, rushing ahead will only harm us…I believe. Rather than pushing ahead without a plan, let's try to work on our teamwork, on procuring more intel about the Goblin Wolfriders, and fixing the flaws we figure out while fighting other beasts!"

Nial was not sure if he understood everything Bella said, but he couldn't find fault with her words.

Rushing to find the camp right now would be pointless. After all, they didn't even know for sure if it would give them more bonus points if they were to be faster than others.

In fact, improving their flaws and fighting in a team was likely to be the best for them to grow accustomed to the given situation.

With that in mind, Nial was more than willing to start creating a plan, while Mathias had once again turned quiet, turning into an observer instead of a doer.

This caused Nial and Bella to smile dryly, feeling that it would be the most difficult to adapt to the behavior and personality of their new friend!

**

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