Chapter 22 Nobody Is The Same

In the following minutes, Melvin had calmed down before sharing his intel about the Miland Dungeon, which was the name of the dungeon they were currently in.

Apparently, the dungeon was divided into four layers, with the weakest beasts living on the lowest floor which was the one Nial and Melvin had entered.

All four layers inhabited the same type of beasts, but the difference in them was the amount of mana they had accumulated in order to strengthen themselves.

As such, the first layer was suitable for young children who had just awakened their origin, or those who were already at the 2nd Origin stage.

Afterward, they would enter the 2nd and subsequent layers, where the inhabiting beasts were much stronger.

However, corresponding to their increase in strength, either the drop rate of origin crystals would increase, or the quality of the dropped origin crystal would be better.

Thus, many would decide to make quick money once they reached the required rank.

Nevertheless, the dangers were not to be underestimated because there was a wide variety of beasts.

Amongst them were the Lesser Earth moles, Melvin and Nial had already encountered, followed by Slimes, Goblins, Kobolds, Ferocious Dodos, and Vine Wolves.

Vine Wolves were said to be the strongest owing to their racial advantage as agile predators, but Nial felt that Kobolds and Goblins were much more dangerous.

Much like humans, they built their societies, hunted in large groups, and had a decent combat lineup with archers, or those who used blowpipes with poisoned arrows!

As such, after Nial digested the information provided by Melvin, he could roughly gauge what opponents would be the biggest threat for them, and who he could finish off without even the slightest issue.

While the Moles and Slimes were easy to fight and kill, possibly also including the Ferocious Dodos, the remaining three types of beasts were slightly more problematic.

And, the human-like beasts were the most annoying of all.

However, Melvin said that he would take care of them, and Nial believed that his friend would be able to do this.

They would remain in the open plain after all not giving attackers any chance to hide and launch a surprise attack.

Because of that, even smaller groups of Kobolds and Goblins should be easily visible.

There was only one thing that caused Nial to feel a little bit confused.

Instead of taking out a bow and arrows to launch a long-range attack, Melvin wielded a wand that looked similar to his Viper spear.

The only difference was that Melvin's wand was much shorter than the Viper spear. Furthermore, there was a sphere at the top of it, marked with unique runes, and materials that were rich in mana.

Through the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability, Nial was even able to perceive tiny electric currents within the wand's sphere, which caused him to open his mouth in astonishment.

Melvin noticed this, only to smile proudly.

"The Electra wand is a Myth weapon, just like your Viper spear. The only difference is that it has a lightning sphere embedded into it with a special type of engraving that enhances lightning.

They're enhancing my [Lightning affinity(Comprehension)] ability!"

The more Nial heard, the less believable his friend's words became.

"Your family is really… rich and generous, I guess?"

Smiling ruefully, Nial didn't even want to imagine how expensive a common grade Lightning ability crystal of the poorest quality was.

Yet, his friend had a Lightning affinity with the [Comprehension] tag, which meant that the limit of Melvin's ability was directly related to his understanding of Lightning.

Thus, the more Melvin would learn about the essence of Lightning, the stronger his ability would become.

This also meant that it was a limitless affinity without any restrictions, and had an infinite potential, which, in turn, meant that it was extremely foolish to underestimate it!

After adding the price for a Myth Wand that was solely focused on enhancing a single, rare ability to this sphere, Nial's head began to spin.

Calculating the price for both the wand and affinity was simply impossible, and he felt slightly jealous of his friend's luck and impressive family connections that made him have the best of the best.

However, shaking his head, Nial decided to nip the issue in the bud.

He had long since known that everyone was born with different family background and fate.

Hence, there was no way someone would be the same as others.

As such, it had been forever since he had accepted that some were more fortunate than others, and were born with a silver spoon in their mouth while others had to work for years, tirelessly, to just hope to receive the same benefit.

If he were to be unable to accept such a simple fact, Nial knew that he wouldn't have overcome his disability that would have otherwise crippled him along with the fact that he had been unable to even sense mana.

Those who said the world was fair, had never been at their lowest, and it was only obvious that they would believe and trust the fair world.

However, it was because Nial knew that no fairness existed in the world that he was able to accept killing living beings, much easier than expected.

While Melvin was bragging about his affinity and the Electra wand, they were walking over the plains.

He was making use of his eyesight which was further enhanced by small traces of mana he circulated through them.

On the other hand, Nial was walking with his eyes closed almost entirely.

He was unable to see but didn't really like closing his eyes.

It was simply uncomfortable because something seemed to strike on the back of his eyeballs the moment he closed them.

This sensation would vanish when he was gathering mana or going to sleep which was odd.

Initially, he had tried explaining to his parents who had taken him to the best doctors they could afford, but there had never been someone who could answer his questions about his blindness.

There was no reason for him to be blind, everything was perfectly fine with his eyes...or so Nial had been told.

At least until the Originals association had tested his limitations, and traits!

It was only then that he figured out that the incident that had occured15 years ago had caused an irreversible mutation in his eyes.

However, even the Originals association couldn't give him a reason for this, or any kind of solution that would help Nial figure out what had caused the mutation.

In the end, he alone had to figure out what was happening to his body, and it would take some time to procure the necessary pieces of information to solve this mystery.

But for now, this was unimportant because Nial was more worried about his sister.

,m Healing her was a priority over finding faults in his own body, and possible issues that could occur by not knowing what was going on.

Her pale face with a bright smile would keep flashing before his eyes which made him determined to stabilize her current condition, before improving it slightly.

Afterward, Nial would start with his own research, even if Melvin said that he would help in finding a cure for it.

Nial knew that two researchers were better than one, and even if it was his friend, he never knew when his family would get to know what Melvin was doing.

As such, trusting that he would find a cure, without his family's intervention was something he shouldn't do.

He was already happy enough that his friend had given him the opportunity to enter the government's dungeon, and hunt alongside him with the aim to help his sister.

With that in mind, Nial's entire focus returned to the dungeon as he heard faint sounds from a particular direction while Melvin cautioned him.

"A group of Goblins seems to have rushed outside the forest. There are at least fifteen in total! Four of them are archers."

Having understood everything, he nodded his head, as Melvin materialized a small ball of lightning.

However, it was just a moment later that he could hear his friend's labored breathing.

It was a strong indicator of the fact that controlling an affinity that relied on the wielder's comprehension was extremely difficult.

Nial had not taken this into his calculations while designing his plan because he had assumed that Melvin was a genius at using the lightning affinity.

Everything he did always worked out, after all.

Unfortunately, Nial's overestimation of Melvin's capabilities was his own fault, and he immediately entered a combat stance.

Gripping the Viper spear tightly, he held the pointed end towards the Goblins that gave a high-pitched squeal in their grotesque voice, making the hair stand on the back of his neck.

"I'll stall the close combat units, just kill the Archers first please!" Nial stated clearly before catapulting himself towards the Goblins. At the same time, he inserted a tiny trace of mana into the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability.

Rushing towards the Goblins, he was ready to fight with his life on the line, just as Melvin roared out. A fraction of a second later, an immense amount of mana was suctioned towards him.

Nial felt this subtle change, and his body instinctively moved towards the left.

He felt a sting of heat on his right arm for a short while as a bolt of lightning shot past him with a shocking velocity.

This caused Nial's eyes to widen, and he cursed out loudly.

"What the fuck?! Don't kill me, but the Goblins!" Nial had reached the first Goblins while exclaiming angrily.

He was about to raise his Viper spear and stab them, only to realize that three of them had already been pierced by the lightning bolt Melvin had fired.

As he watched in shock, the bolt continued with its advance before reaching its final target- one of the Goblin archers.

'Is he unable to accurately control it, or is he an insufferable show-off?!'