Odyssey of the Blind God

'He is still talking?!' Nial was appalled after listening to the 10-minute speech of the Golden Armament Union's president that seemed to drag on.

The middle-aged man was definitely powerful, his voice was charismatic and his appearance was above average. Nial visualized him once, just to figure out that he belonged to a race that usually lived in mountains and other areas that had an abundance of minerals.

Card Melphy belonged to the Negiv, a giant sub-race. He was more than four meters tall, and near-indestructible stones covered his body. They had grown out of his body and were a part of his skin which was what usually happened when Negivs reached a certain age.

One could either let the stones be removed or use them as a means of protection. Card Melphy had someone grind the near-indestructible stones from his back, just to leave a thin layer that covered his body like skin.

Listening to the speech had been quite interesting for a moment before one's curiosity would die down. Nial felt like the tournament would never start, and it was only when the topic changed from talking about the history of the U21 Runicier tournament to the rules of the first round that Nial's ears perked up once again.

[I hope I didn't bore anyone to death with my short story….haha… if that happened, so be it. We won't stop the tournament, whatever may happen!] Card Melphy made a lousy attempt at a joke while he continued to laugh. He gave a sideways glance to his right, and the atmosphere changed for a quarter of a second before he cleared his throat once again as he continued to speak through the crystal that lay calmly in his hand.

[Because the number of participants exceeds the usual number of participating Runiciers, we chose to start the tournament with a simple yet interesting round.

In the next 48 hours, we want every Runicier to create various runic armaments to equip a total of 10 Originals!] Card Melphy announced with a feverish voice and when he finished his first explanation, a large holographic screen manifested in the center of each levitating platform.

A list with a total of 10 dark outlines, each of whom had specific information was revealed, attracting everyone's attention.

Nial could visualize the holographic screen in his mind but it was a bit more difficult to decipher everything that was stated in the information because his knowledge of the written language of Ximatra was non-existent.

However, instead of panicking, Nial just smiled lightly before he left his designated workplace. This was usually not allowed and only by following a specific path could he avoid getting disqualified immediately.

He approached the center of the platform and pressed the red button which alarmed all the support workers on the 9th floor before he turned his attention back to the President, who continued to talk, just like before.

[While one of your goals may be to arm 10 Originals that would reward you with 100 points, the judges will reward points for the runic armaments that will be created in the next 48 hours. Ordinary, Low Tier-0 runic armaments will be rewarded 0.5 points, while Peak Tier-0 runic armaments of exceptional quality will receive 5 points.

The list goes on and the detailed distribution of points can be found on the left side of the holographic screen.

As for the number of participants, who will advance to the second round, there will be—...] Card Melphy would have continued speaking, if not for his gaze that noticed from his high-up position at the VIP lounge of the Colosseum that the alarm on the 9th floor had been activated.

Someone already needed help!? Many spectators realized that something was going on, and all the participants on the 9th floor looked in the direction of the bright red light that flashed up every now and then. Nial stood calmly in front of it, waiting for the staff to help him out.

[Dear participant on the 9th floor. Why did you activate the alarm before I finished my speech?] Card Melphy's voice sounded calm and patient at first, but it was not difficult to hear the underlying tone that revealed his anger. Nobody dared to interrupt his speech, ever!

"Well, I cannot see the list because I'm blind. Would it be possible for someone from the support team to reveal what's written on the holographic screen? It blocks my mana senses," Nial blatantly lied about his mana being blocked by the holographic screen.

The mana of others might be restricted but Nial with his [Mana Sense] ability could clearly visualize the holographic screen. Despite that, he had a good excuse for not being able to perceive the holographic screen if he was not able to sense mana properly around it.

Nial's calmness while replying to the president astonished many, including the president of the Golden Armaments Union himself. He glanced in Nial's direction for the first time, just to find a blind human, who was still at the Lower steps of the Mirae rank.

'Did Siegfried send this boy to create trouble? No, he wouldn't do that…he wouldn't endanger a prodigious Runicier talent, though I doubt that this boy is good. If his mana aptitude is already that bad and he only managed to reach the Mirae rank at the age of 20, he shouldn't be a good Runicier…' Card thought and his expression changed every few seconds.

In the end, he sighed deeply, and chose to maintain his image as a generous, fair and kind man!

He cleared his throat delicately before he started to speak through the messenger crystal that acted like a megaphone.

[Of course, you'll receive all the help you need to ensure fair competition, dear participant. The staff will gladly assist you!]

Card Melphy pointed at the staff members, who were already rushing towards Nial to help him. Nial thanked the president before he ignored the Negiv entirely. Instead, Nial focused on the information the staff revealed to make sure that he wouldn't miss a single thing.

'This boy is a savage…and definitely crazy!!' Many spectators thought, especially an old man, whose lips were curled upward. Card Melphy noticed that the spectators started to gossip with each other.

He frowned for a moment but instead of giving into frustration and doing something that might tarnish his well-kept image, he chose to dismiss the incident as if it had never happened.

[Where were we? I think I was just going to reveal how many participants will advance to round two. Alright.] Card Melphy quickly regained his composure and he cleared his throat again.

[In the end, the 200 Runiciers with the highest points will advance to the second round! That means more than 9800 Runiciers will be eliminated…isn't that fun?]

The moment the participants found out that only 1 out of 50 Runiciers would be able to advance in the second round, the tension in the entire Colosseum increased drastically.

Even the spectators were shocked when they heard this. There were far more than 200 true prodigious Runiciers present today, yet, only 200 would advance to the second round.

This was simply too small a number but that was not the only problem. In the end, 48 hours was simply not long enough to create equipment for 10 Originals. It would require two weeks to create proper runic armaments to equip everyone with all the necessary pieces of armor and weapons.

This made it clear that the focus of the first round lay on the creation of perfect runic armaments. If every runic weapon was given points, one had to create high-quality Tier-1 runic weapons if possible. That alone was already difficult but to create 10 of them in 48 hours? That was basically asking the Runiciers to make the impossible happen.

When Nial received all the necessary pieces of information, he returned to his position. He was subjected to the contempt and ire of many but that was not something the young human cared about.

​ His mind was clear and he took a few deep breaths to figure out what exactly was going on.

'The first round is to create runic armaments for a batch of 10 Originals. The information presented of every single one includes their size, special abilities, unique features, mana core rank, and their 'occupation'. They probably won't need this for only one round, right?' Nial thought.

He had heard more than enough about the possibility of rounds having components of combat in the U21 Runicier tournament and the more he thought about it, the weirder the situation became.

Nial was unable to understand everything properly but he presumed that the information of the 10 Originals was something like a hint. Unfortunately, he couldn't be certain about the theories that formed in his mind.

It didn't help him so he discarded most of his thoughts as he averted his focus back on the huge Countdown that had appeared above the holographic screen with the personal information of the 10 Originals.

[I wish every participant good luck. Give your best and never back down against your opponents! Everyone, who wants to become a truly Legendary Runiciers has to trample the confidence of thousands of thousands of Runiciers before reaching that realm.

Never give up and strive toward perfection!] Card Melphy shouted out at the top of his lungs before he added in an even louder voice.

[Let the first round of the U21 Runicier tournament begin!]

As if the spectators were bewitched by a spell, they jumped up from their chairs and joined The Union President's shout. They cheered for the Runiciers of their respective race and turned into fangirls for a moment.

Nial frowned lightly but he couldn't dwell on it for long. The timer had begun to run which meant that Nial had to act quickly.

Without hesitating even for a second, he released his [Mana Sense] to create a domain in the small workplace that belonged to him. He could do whatever he wanted at will, which made things much easier.

"Do they have a cast? No…then I should make a bunch of them real quick, I guess…" Nial thought out loud while he moved the tables around his designated work space.

He was not the only one to do this, but there were not many Runicier with his level of affinity toward mana. He could control everything precisely, which was also how he ended up with a batch of 200 kilograms of Lithari iron ores thrown in the smithy's furnace.

Simultaneously a bunch of ingredients required for the most basic runic solution appeared on the concoction table.

Coal covered the 200 kilograms of Lithari iron ores and they slowly heated up.

However, instead of focusing on the Lithari iron ores, or the burning coals, Nial's focus turned to the ingredients that were required for the most basic runic solution.

"I guess we're doing this then?"