Odyssey of the Blind God

"Was that really necessary, Melvin?" Nial asked with a frustrated expression, knowing that his friend could have lectured him without inflicting dozens of light cuts on his body.

Melvin heard Nial's complaints but instead of acknowledging his mistake, he remained stubborn and made no effort to soothe the situation.

"Well, you now know what you are lacking Nial, remember that!"

Hearing this, Nial felt like punching Melvin, but being forced to focus on enveloping the dozens of cuts with his mana to heal them gave him no time to do so.

A few minutes passed and once Nial stopped the bleeding of all cuts he had sustained, he walked in his room to change his clothes.

Afterward, he felt like punching Melvin as he heard his teasing voice.

"Nial, are you afraid to spar with me now? Hehehe…did you finally accept that I'm stronger than you?!"

His friend's abrupt change in behavior confused Nial once again, and he was unable to understand how Melvin could switch from being serious to being childish that quickly.

However, if Nial knew that Melvin was trying to savor the days in which he was still stronger than his friend, he would think differently.

The more Melvin thought about it, the more terrifying his friend's natural instincts seemed to become.

His combat awareness, perception, movement, and so on were simply too fearsome and he was working on it tirelessly to polish himself even further.

And that was just a few weeks after he had awoken his origin.

Nial had yet to learn how to control mana as if it was something natural to him. At the same time, Melvin knew that Nial's first ability would be a crucial point in his friend's development path.

It could either open the pathways to a broad future or seal off his entire future, destroying the potential he had!

That was not something Melvin wanted, which was why he had planned to be extremely harsh and strict with Nial, while trying to feel happy about winning against his friend as long as possible.

Unfortunately, Nial was not happy with his plan, and instead of bothering to answer his question he simply asked him pointedly.

"Instead of trying to kill me by covering it up as training, how about we let several merchants take a look at the [Shockwave Barrage] ability crystal, and see who is willing to pay us the most?

The origin crystals have a standardized price, so it doesn't matter who or where we sell them, but I don't want to lose out on profit with the ability crystal!"

Melvin thought that Nial would comment on his harsh way of teaching things, but instead of doing so, he kept a straight face.

Thus, Melvin calmed down too, hiding his discomfort about the spar against Nial that was much more fearsome than he liked to acknowledge, as he smiled slyly.

"Why do we need to search for the best merchant, if you have me by your side? I have connections to the best merchants, and they won't dare to con us. Otherwise, they will have to fear the wrath of my family, which everyone avoids, and that has a good reason!"

It was not like the idea of approaching Melvin's father had not crossed his mind, but he had discarded the idea a moment later.

Even though he trusted Melvin, his family was extremely fearsome, and Nial felt that it would be best to avoid them.

From the looks of it, Melvin understood Nial's thoughts and the situation they were currently in pretty well, otherwise, he would have said that they should directly visit their shop.

With that in mind, he comprehended that his friend was probably not as oblivious to his family matters as he first thought.

At least that was what Nial assumed as he pulled Melvin towards the door of their backyard.

Melvin's family was far more foreboding than he had initially thought, and if Nial had even the faintest inkling of how the entire Tyr family was already looking for Melvin, he would feel even more burdened than it was already the case.

In the end, Melvin had just told his father's butler that he would not be home for the next few days before hanging up. He hadn't even called his father directly, knowing that he would throw a fit.

Because of that, the entire shelter was about to be combed through and turned upside down just to find Melvin, which was something neither of the two young men expected.

Only Maline thought that Melvin's father was a tad bit overprotective in a sense she was familiar with.

As such, she had decided to do something Nial and Melvin didn't know about yet.

Thus, without letting others know, she secretly wrote a message to the Tyr family that Melvin was doing fine, and that he was currently staying with her son in their house.

Because she assumed that Melvin's father would just storm into their house upon reading the note, she scribbled in the words stating that nothing happened to Melvin, and that he was just worried about his friend and trying to help him.

Afterward, she added a few more bits of information, including the location they lived, with the request to do nothing that would make Melvin hate his family because it looked like he had figured out what happened a few years prior.

Upon reading through the message his butler had forwarded to him, Melvin's father's first reaction was to become enraged, but the further he read, the calmer he became.

Recalling that in the past his son had made friends with a pair of siblings, he also remembered that he had sent his butler to them in order to threaten them.

This caused his expression to sour after reading about the incident of the Orin family's son that had occurred years before Melvin had befriended them.

He also clearly recalled hearing about another incident that happened a short while after they had threatened their family to bring hell upon them if either of them were to try exploiting his son.

Maline had clearly written that they never mentioned anything about the incident that had occurred a few years ago, but it was possible for her son to have been a little bit too emotional. As such, she couldn't promise anything that her son might do, for which she apologized multiple times in the letter.

Procuring more information about the Orin family, Serl Tyr, Melvin's father's expression turned grave, and the emotions depicted in the letter clearly showed how the writer's turmoil while writing those words.

Adding the facts written in the few sheets of information their information department had acquired in a matter of minutes, to that of the contents of the letter, Tyr grew certain of one fact- the financial situation of their family was not at all good. They were in huge debt.

And all of that seemed to be because of the expensive medicine they had bought to try tending to the son's blindness as well as their daughter's unique and unknown disease that seemed to be lethal.

However, even after their miserable situation and extreme financial crisis, they didn't ask for any help from Melvin, knowing that something worse would happen.

Serl had already been confused about why Melvin was so happy when they had arrived in Katu, only to call in the evening, saying that he won't come home for the next few days.

Yet, after recalling how he had threatened the Orin family while seeing the information about their current condition in front of him, Serl Tyr could already tell what his son had seen, heard, or comprehended about his family's doings.

Understanding this, Serl couldn't help but hold his head in his hands as he placed his elbows on the table he was seated in front of.

"What kind of mess is that even?! How can a family be so naive and selfless while facing so many tragedies…"

Serl was one of the merchant tycoons, who was sly and knew what he had to do in order to receive what he wanted, but the moment the situation switched from making business, to personal matters, Serl turned into a useless and clumsy man, who was known for saying and doing wrong things at the worst possible timing.

As such, he was currently trying to figure out what he should do in order to mend his relationship with Melvin, which he seemed to have almost cut off unintentionally,

In the end, Serl hadn't even thought about what he did years before to his son's best friend's family.

The only thought he had in mind when it was something concerning Melvin was to protect him.

Because of that, he had assumed the Orin family to be leeches, which was the first mistake he did, followed by the second, which was to threaten them without even knowing them.

Fortunately, an idea popped up in Serl's head, the moment he received a call from one of the merchants in Katu, who was a distant business associate.

At first, he had wanted to reject the call, but when the butler, who had forwarded the call told him that it had to do with his son, and a blind friend of Melvin, Serl received it without hesitation.

Even if Serl looked like a tall, cold man, with an athletic physique, short brown hair, and ice-cold brown eyes, his core was soft.

The only issue was that he had been betrayed and exploited too often, from every possible side, which made it difficult for him to trust anyone easily.

Other than that, he wanted to protect his family from all kinds of possible harm before anything could even happen to them.

That was also why he had special attention to Melvin's training and turned him into someone who knew how to fight, while having a calm mind in face of adversity, even if a friend, his family, or a lover were to betray him.

Melvin's only problem was his comprehension of the Lightning affinity. Other than that, there was nothing Serl could complain about because his son was simply perfect.

Yet, that was also the reason why his sudden announcement of him staying away from home irked Serl the most.

Trying to calm down, Serl looked at the holographic screen in front of him, where he saw a somewhat familiar chubby face of a craftily smiling middle-aged man who was shouting excitedly through the holographic screen.

"Your son, Melvin, and his friend are really unique kids. It looks like they obtained a [Shockwave Barrage] ability inside the Melind dungeons. Are you trying to let your farm team of Originals grind rare bosses in Katu?

What are you even teaching your son to not know the value of the [Shockwave Barrage] ability? Or did you try to lure me into your honey trap by sending your kid to make business?

Either way, if you need something, just tell me. I offered your son a price higher than most people would get, but I doubt he knows that other shelters would pay a fortune for the [Shockwave Barrage] ability crystal!"