"Little Princess, it looks like you decided to help me out, and do the hard work that I, the old woman cannot do anymore, right!?"
Even though the Old Medic spoke in a calm manner, the suppressed fierceness in her voice left Captain Clara no choice but to nod her head.
"...Of course I will help you…"
Agreeing to help her, Clara mentally chided herself.
Even though she was sure that she didn't say anything weird, the mind of the old Medic was way too confusing for her.
In fact, she was an eccentric old lady who wouldn't accept any kind of bullying, let alone someone making fun of another person.
She didn't tolerate it even as a little joke or a casual statement.
This not only included herself but also others.
And asking Clara to help her was beneficial to her as she was always in need of more attendants to work for her so as to be able to work on quite a few things.
Being not only a Medic, but also a Mystic Alchemist, there were too many things she wanted to research and was always in need of rare and exotic ingredients.
Procuring them, or simply carrying them around was supposed to be the task of the small team of workers that usually followed her.
But oddly enough, every single time she hired someone, they either resigned or absconded only a few months later to escape from her strict work schedule.
Knowing this, and the way many of her workers would try to run away, she always grasped those that seemed suitable before delegating a few tasks to them.
Ignoring the scarcity of working force in her small hut, the Old Medic refocused her attention on the remnants of energy she had sensed from the broken bones of the young blind man!
Thus, she pointed at him, fully aware that he had used his mana to perceive his surrounding as she suddenly announced,
"And you! Don't you dare to believe you'll escape my clutches! I still want to know how you injured yourself that severely, and what type of transmutation of mana held your arms together!
It tried to devour the mana I inserted into you…"
It was obvious that the Old Medic wanted to know more, but Nial was not willing to reveal anything about the dark energy currents.
Because of that, Nial behaved as if he had not even heard her.
Turning around, Nial began to make use of his non-existent acting skills as he got off the bed before grasping the edge while standing up.
"Are the healing expenses included in the treatment of the government, or do we have to pay for that by ourselves?"
Nial was not sure about the exact service the government would provide them.
The Teradan military camp seemed quite weird to him from the get-go which was quite apparent based on the way they were just thrown on the nameless island without any further information.
Other than that, Nial had yet to figure out the rules of the camp, but that shouldn't take long.
After all, he could already guess that every service provided came at a cost owing to the fact that it was forbidden to bring any type of currency with you, including origin crystals.
In the end, this clearly pointed out that nobody had an external advantage, and that one had to use their innate talents to accumulate wealth to fully use the Teradan military camp's benefits and services!
"Well, usually you would have to pay for every single service you make use of.
But considering that Lieutenant Junades told me that you saved several Originals from the Armored Giant, the military will pay for it…or rather the Guardians that neglected their work."
While talking about the Guardians, Captain Clara seemed to recall something as she added while cursing,
"What are these idiots doing?…Can they not even protect a few thousand youths…?"
She couldn't believe that some Originals had died at the backside of the small mountainside, right at the camp's exit.
This was a huge disgrace, and something every single staff member would be held accountable for.
As such, it was only obvious for her mood to be bad.
At this moment, Mathias, who had been silent for the entire time, unintentionally blurted out.
"It was a Lesser Titan youngling though…"
His voice had barely been a whisper but owing to the silence in the entire hut, everyone had heard him.
Nial just smiled at his friend's sudden exclamation, understanding his frustration about the fact that they had to keep correcting others who would repeatedly take a wrong name or state incorrect facts.
Both the Old Medic and Captain Clara had momentarily forgotten about Mathias' existence.
As he was standing near the entrance of the hut, and away from everyone else while acting as a silent spectator, nobody had even realized that he was around.
In fact, it would have been possible for him to slink out of the door at any moment without anyone's notice.
And now that he had blurted out, all the eyes turned to him, making him want to disappear into thin air. As he was no magician, he simply held the door and swallowed nervously while enduring the stares.
It was because of this reason that both Captain Clara and the Old Medic looked at Mathias with squinted eyes.
They had heard about Titans, but only in fairy tales, and that was already more than enough for them to know that an encounter with any kind of Titan should be avoided, by all means!
"Why do you believe it's not an Armored Giant? Well, I did not see the corpse of the beast, but Lieutenant Junades was pretty sure that the appearance of the beast was that of an Armored Giant.
And it had one Origin ring, marking it as an existence at the Prym rank, so that fits the description of smaller Armored Giants too!"
Captain Clara doubted Mathias' words which were why she stated her point of view.
Not only was it unlikely for the youth to have ever seen an ordinary Giant, she doubted that he knew the difference between a Giant and a Titan.
Even Clara had no idea about that as she never seen a Titan before.
As such, it might just be a slip of his tongue, owing to his lack of knowledge.
And while thinking about his slip of the tongue made her realize that she had erroneously stated the words she shouldn't have.
"Prym rank? Origin ring?"
Repeating the few words over and over again, Nial racked his brain to recall something the sisters Kira and Mara had told him.
However, just as the memory of Kira and Mara flashed through his mind, he started to get bombarded by more and more memories that he was not even trying to reach.
In fact, these memories were once again from something, someone, and someplace he had never been to before.
Before he knew, a hoarse voice spread through his mind, filling it in its entirety.
"When a certain amount of mana has been accumulated within the mana core, it can be liquified and shaped into a hollow ring.
This ring revolves around the mana core and accelerates the mana circulation, the accumulation, and purity of mana, which in return strengthens the output, and much more.
Keep in mind that the more mana is used, the stronger the hollow 'origin' ring will be, providing stronger effects, and leading to a more prosperous future!
A total of nine hollow origin rings can be created, with each hollow ring marking one rank. The fourth and seventh origin ring will lead to a new rank that has the following names.
First comest Prym, then Se-...NOOO!!"
Fighting against the voice in his head, Nial was oblivious to the fact that he had been mumbling what the hoarse had said, repeating it word by word out loud.
He was extremely uncomfortable with the memories, words, and knowledge of a strange being resurfacing in his mind.
And, this was only obvious which was why Nial had given his utmost in order to get rid of the voice.
Only when he was finally able to dispel the voice, which was supported by his outcry did he finally regain his senses.
This allowed Nial to become himself once again, without anyone spying or infiltrating his mind.
Taking a few deep breaths, he wiped the droplets of sweat that formed on his forehead while groaning a bit owing to the high pressure he had just endured.
Mathias appeared next to him, and stopped him from falling down as he was swaying dangerously,
"Are you okay? What is happening to you?!?" He asked in a worried voice, only to recall that there were two outsiders behind him before he leaned forward to add in a barely audible whisper.
"Has it something to do with what you did to the Lesser Titan youngling after we killed it?"
Mathias knew that Nial's hearing sense was exceptional, so he could speak as quietly as possible, and he would still hear it.
This was great, and certainly enough to prevent anyone else from hearing him…or so he thought.
Unfortunately, he didn't know that the Old Medic's hearing sense was even better than Nial's.
As such, even though she remained unmoving and acted as if she didn't hear anything, she was able to understand every single word!
Her only reaction was a glint that appeared in her eyes as she stared at the utterly exhausted young man, whose expression couldn't be worse.
Nial noticed the gazes on him, but he couldn't care about that at all, right now.
'Am I really turning into the vessel of some creature that wants to possess me?!?'
In the current situation, it was only possible for him to question whether his theory made sense, or not.
However, even if he wanted to say that it made sense, it was, by no means, logical.
As such, he couldn't even answer Mathias properly as he just shook his head.
It was not a lie though he needed some time to say it verbally.
After all, it was his Odyssey seed that acted weird and was doing all the things. Meanwhile, the fact that he devoured the heart of the Lesser Titan youngling served as a catalyst to accelerate the things that were happening to him.
This would usually be considered extremely bad, but Nial was, in fact, thankful for that.
It allowed him to improve the state of his body, and existence, after all!
Before, the transformation and the doings of the Odyssey seed had been rather…shallow and inconspicuous.
Thus, Nial had never really noticed that anything was off.
The things that had occurred to him were weird, and only when the dark energy currents had begun to infiltrate his mind had everything started to spiral out of control.
That clearly indicated a few things, for example, that something was weird about the nameless island, or that the Odyssey seed had sensed the proximity to the Lesser Titan youngling since they arrived on the island!
Because of that, Nial could indirectly say that his journey to the nameless island had already been beneficial.
After all, he was able to figure out more about the Odyssey seed, its intentions, and how it was possible for him to postpone the progress of the possession, or what he presumed to be a possession!
At least, Nial hoped that he had found a decent way to do so.
But for this, he had to do many things, which caused him to stand up and wipe the sweat from his forehead.
He was ready to leave and was about to turn towards the door when he perceived that everyone was staring at him.
"Instead of this feeble woman working for me, I want you!!" The Old Medic suddenly pointed towards him, the glint of interest in her eyes shimmering brightly as she looked at the blind youth.
She had expected to hear an overjoyed exclamation from the youth, but her joy of having found a perfect assistant deflated like a balloon upon hearing his answer.
"Eh, no thanks…?"
**
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