Chapter 71 Overwhelmed

Everything felt weird around him, and all of his senses made him hyper-aware of the surroundings, whether it was his sense of hearing, touch, taste, smell, or mana perception.

Not only did it feel like all of his senses were in a disarray, but his muscles were aching as well.

'Just what is going on with me?' He looked at his hands and feet and placed the back of his hand on his forehead to check the temperature but Nial didn't sense any differences, which was slightly reassuring.

Yet, he knew exactly what was happening just now.

'It's the curse, right? Looks like I will have to adjust to it over time…I hope I didn't make another mistake…'

While rushing outside the house, he was oblivious to the fact that he was sensing everything down to the last detail which boggled his mind wasn't used to the sensory overload.

Standing in the middle of the street, he took a moment to catch his breath as his loose clothes were fluttering in the faint breeze that brushed past him.

It was oddly calming, giving him the time to recall what exactly had happened.

'So, this girl, Bella, helped me when she found me unconscious, and she is the daughter of the house owner…great… Either way, let's go back to the main topic.

[Hodur's Heir] has been bound to the mana core, and only my eyes were cursed…I think.

Other than that, I feel a little bit stronger, which probably is the reason for this weird itching all over me.

But that's not everything, my senses…they're…odd…'

Nial was unable to describe what had happened to his senses, but he knew for sure that there was something going on.

Nevertheless, he didn't really think that it was something bad.

Instead, it felt like his senses were strengthened, tempered, and enhanced multiple times, over and over again.

This was, in fact, exactly what was going on, as the enhancements of the Curse amplified all of his senses while giving him an additional boost in his physical strength.

Nial couldn't say that he had expected all of this to happen, but he was glad that it happened!

Yet, despite feeling the changes in his body and being able to roughly gauge what aspects of himself were enhanced, Nial felt incapable to be certain about literally anything that was going on right now.

The whole 'binding the curse to his mana core' had gone a little bit wrong and spiraled out of his control before he could reverse it, which was impossible, to begin with.

What it had left him with was a destroyed flat and a huge bill to pay for the damage.

With that in mind, he quickly opened the holographic screen, where Nial almost immediately perceived the message icon and saw the message of Bella's mother waiting for him to be read.

Before opening the message, Nial realized that he was able to perceive mana much better once again, causing a subtle smile to brighten his mood.

It was great to be in control over his own mana once again, while his mana perception allowed him to sense everything around him down to the finest detail.

In fact, the surroundings felt much more vibrant than before, and Nial was relatively sure that it would be possible for him to expand his range of visualization and mana perception further.

Sensing that this was possible made him happy, and he didn't even care about the lecture of his landlord as he answered her message.

The first thing he did was to wire the money she wanted in addition to the advance payment for one more month's rent.

Afterward, Nial thought carefully about what to write, before he decided to reply in a calm manner.

[Hello Miss Morningstar,

I hope nothing major happened to you, and that the little incident I caused was the worst that occurred. I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience I caused, but I didn't expect that binding an ability to my mana core would cause such a terrifying reaction.

The next time, I will search for a safer place to bind a new ability to my mana core. I'm sorry for the mishap.

I would like to rent a similar flat for a month and have already sent the additional payment to you.

Once again, I would like to apologize for the trouble I caused!

Kind regards,

Nial Orin]

He felt like adding a few more sentences, but after reading through it again, Nial understood that he had apologized often enough in the mail.

With that in mind, he pressed the [send] button before sighing in relief.

However, just as he sent the message that included the wired money she demanded the repairs, a pungent smell hit his nostrils as if something was rotting.

It was just a second later that Nial realized it was his own sweat which he smelled due to the breeze that carried it to his nose.

Lightly lifting his shirt, his fingers began to tingle, and the moment his nose touched the shirt, he took a deep breath.

Oddly enough, it was not him who was reeking of a stench.

As he looked around in confusion, he realized that his entire body felt the tingling sensation of his shirt rubbing over his body.

All of his senses were drowning him in information, befuddling his mind but thankfully his pain receptors were relatively subdued, which Nial figured by pinching himself.

Yet, even pinching himself felt weird.

It was an indescribable feeling, but these few changes in his senses were not even the worst.

Rather, it was the overwhelming loud voices that would almost tear his eardrums apart the moment he sensed that a bunch of people was walking past him.

From the vibrations he could suddenly perceive, Nial knew for sure that they weren't shouting.

Instead, they were talking to each other normally, but that didn't make a difference to him because even the normal breeze of wind began to sound like a thunderstorm.

Unable to withstand the noises that seemed to become even louder and louder, Nial's legs gave in as he lost his balance.

Quickly lifting his hands, he tightly shut his ears, but that was not enough to protect his ears from hearing the thunderous noises all around him.

His breathing grew erratic, and it was clear that Nial was hyperventilating, and panic began to overwhelm him.

The people all around him were staring at him in confusion, and some even with disgust owing to the foul smell, yet nobody seemed to want to help him, though a few hoped that someone else would rush to his aid.

Yet, in the end, he was alone and had to figure out how to protect his ears from the deafening sounds.

Suddenly an idea popped in his head which caused him to control the mana within his body, and circulate it to his ear, covering it with a faint mana membrane.

This required precise control of mana, and it was quite difficult to maintain it under normal circumstances.

However, Nial was able to do it well on his first try which confused him just as the noises all around him became bearable.

'What the fucking hell was this…All of my senses now have an unimaginably high perception level. Or did they become stronger?'

Unsure of the correct answer, Nial could only assume things.

Unfortunately, none of the assumptions were really great, and he wondered how she should live normally with the hearing sense.

Covering his nose and mouth with a thin membrane of mana as well that blocked off the majority of air supply, Nial was still able to breathe properly, but the reeking stench was filtered partially.

This was quite helpful, but the amount of mana he had to consume to maintain all of this was quite high and the process was burdensome.

It was not much, but enough to prevent him from using his entire combat prowess, including his focus to fight other beasts.

'Should I just try wearing earplugs and a specially crafted mask that filters the air?'

Nial felt that this idea was the best for now, and even though he hesitated to move and be attacked by the sensory overload once again, he couldn't simply lie in the middle of the street.

Telling himself that he would get adapted to this quickly, he dragged himself up to his feet.

Unfortunately, he couldn't really say the same about his other senses.

'I don't mind wearing earplugs and a mask all the time, but will that really be helpful?'

In the end, it was an exceptional feat to have his senses enhanced to the extent that he could smell the sweat of people that were more than ten meters away, while his hearing sense had become even more extraordinary.

However, receiving an enhancement to the extent that it restricted him was certainly not great.

Rather, it was disadvantageous, which caused Nial to feel as if he didn't know whether he should be frustrated or happy.

When he summarized the disadvantages and advantages received, there was, by all means, no way that Nial would complain.

After all, there were more than enough means that could restrict one's hearing or smelling senses!

With that in mind, he couldn't help but test out his mana perception, with and without the use of the [Mana Perception(poorest)] ability.

Releasing his mana fluctuations up to the range at which he could visualize everything, Nial was more than stunned to witness the changes.

Yet, the further he released his mana fluctuations, the greater his shock became.

'I…can visualize the entire length of the alley?! Isn't that more than 10 meters? That is an increment more than ten times that of before!!"

Nial was bewildered by this, but he predicted that his mana perception was around ten times higher than that.

And this was without the use of his ability!!

Digesting this information, a vibrant smile emerged on Nial's face as he murmured,

"I…balanced out the disadvantage of my ability with the curse…didn't I?!"

Earlier, he had always felt restless and wary of visiting unknown places for the fear of getting ambushed or attacked from further away.

However, this wouldn't be a problem anymore because the beasts inside Rookie dungeons were unlikely to attack him from a range beyond 100 meters.

If that were to be the case, he would still notice an attack the moment a projectile would enter the range of his mana perception.

Understanding this was important, and it made him feel even more excited than it was the case just a few moments ago.

After all, he had not only outbalanced the disadvantages of his disability right now, but his physical strength and other senses had enhanced too.

As such, if required, Nial could hear anything in a certain range, or even smell or touch.

Other than that, his control over mana increased even further, causing him to feel even more excited to start practicing the technique he had received from Master Junades.

He hoped that the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique would allow him to gain a better understanding of the properties of mana.

This and other factors were supposed to strengthen his control over mana, guiding him to being able to control mana for good.

Nial wanted to do exactly that because utilizing mana properly could further enhance his senses, and with the additional help of the enhancements he received owing to the Curse, everything seemed to be possible.

'Wait…if I can hear and smell everything, followed by sensing the vibrations every time a person or thing moves…doesn't that mean, It should be possible for me to use all of that to predict my opponent's move?

At least being able to sense my opponent and how far they're from me should be possible even without my mana perception, right?'

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