Five months passed in the blink of an eye and many things had changed.
Several huge buildings had been constructed on the piece of land Nial had purchased with the help of the Heaven's Gates organization and numerous people could be seen working on it.
Nial worked relentlessly and improved a lot as Runicier, learning from his mistakes and trying again and again. Due to his efforts, it was no problem for him to create accurate prostheses anymore. As long as he had all the required information and special remarks of the Original in question, it was possible for him to create a Tier-2 Runic prosthesis in less than 24 hours.
However, Nial had not only worked on his talent as Runicier. He had also created his sixth Advanced Origin ring, which enhanced his strength drastically.
Creating Top-quality Tier-1 runic armaments was now even easier than ever before. This was not only because his mana perception increased drastically by advancing to the 6th Ancient Mirae rank but also because Melheim had gotten his hands on several great blacksmiths and alchemists.
They were already pretty advanced in age but that was not something Nial was concerned with right now. For the current situation, they were perfect because they allowed him to focus on his occupation as Runicier, and not as an all-rounder.
This was great, and it made him very happy because it allowed him to improve much more than before.
He became more proficient and had enough time to share some tips of improvement with all the Runiciers, who had joined the Orion Artisan Guild.
His advice was extremely helpful, and so was the knowledge he shared through books and words.
In the end, Nial had accepted a total of 1000 Originals in the Onyx Association, and more than 200 Artisans in the Orion Guild. Both were the limit Nial could currently fund, whether it was to procure resources to nourish their mana core, or to improve their knowledge and practice!
Nial would love to further expand his group but that was not possible for the time being. Everyone was learning and advancing quickly but Nial had to avert his focus on other goals for now.
In the last five months, Nial had conquered a few dungeons to prevent getting rusty, but he noticed that his martial art techniques were not very helpful anymore.
He was in need of new techniques but none of the few suitable ones he found was actually something he liked.
This made things a bit more difficult, especially since Jundra's planetary mana awakening could happen any day.
All the Elves in the Forest of Life were ready to face the chaos that was likely to occur when Jundra would awaken. Meanwhile, the ordinary citizens were rather scared of than expectant of Jundra's mana awakening.
As for the rest, they were fully prepared, especially in the new shelter that had been fully constructed.
With the Forest of Life around, it was highly likely that many new dungeons, more powerful dungeons, would manifest shortly after the planetary mana awakening.
Everyone expected that the biggest trouble for the human race would be around the Forest of Life and the new shelter. Thus, most of the strongest Originals were stationed around the new shelter.
However, that didn't mean they could abandon the other shelters.
And this was where Nial's Orion Artisan Group came into the picture!
Numerous organizations had realized that all of the Onyx Association's members wielded powerful runic armaments.
Nial had equipped them with these runic armaments to make everyone realize that his runic armaments were the best.
Even the Elven's runic armaments couldn't compare to his, or so it looked like because Nial had created customized top-quality Tier-1 runic armaments for everyone.
This didn't require much of his time because he was only required to know all information and to engrave the runic constellations on the forged weapon by using the runic solutions that had been prepared for him.
The organizations from the remaining eight shelters had made a beeline to commission thousands of weapons altogether from his group, but Nial only accepted a few offers.
For his group of 200 Artisans, it was not possible to create thousands of weapons in a matter of days.
In fact, only Nial was able to engrave the runic armaments the organizations had asked for.
That was why Nial ended up accepting only a few requests, including the request of the new Governors of Katu. A particular sister-duo had become the Governors of Katu when their father retired.
Mara Lyx and Kira Lyx had used their connection with Nial to become the new trusted Governors of the whole shelter, whether that was necessary or not to get what they wanted, and they asked him to help protect the shelter before it was too late.
Nial had numerous memories of Katu, but one of the best memories was definitely his time with the sisters, who had given him the recommendation to join the Teradan military camp.
He was still thankful for their help, and he wanted to repay the favor, which was why he had messaged them to create customized weapons for them in whatever quantity they required.
Nial had ignored all the other commissions he had wanted to accept earlier in order to prioritize the sisters' demands.
Initially, Nial wanted to deliver their runic armaments personally but he didn't really have the time to do so because he had plenty on his plate.
"I really wonder how they're doing…well now that they're governors, it shouldn't be too bad…I guess?" He mumbled lightly at the thought of the Lyx sisters. They were really kind and he gave his best while forging their runic armaments to make sure that they would have as many means of protection as possible.
He hoped for the best while returning his focus on the creation process of more and more runic armaments.
After a few days had passed, Nial gave himself a break, while all the runic armaments were delivered to the different shelters.
"Everything will be fine, right?" Melheim asked, wearing a full armor that had the insignia of the Onyx Association. It was just a rough-looking Onyx that resembled the insignia of the Association but the message behind it was great.
The thought behind choosing the specific insignia was not because he was too lazy to create a 'cooler' insignia but because he truly felt the meaning behind it to be true.
-Life will never be easy, but hard times can be a blessing in disguise. Embrace the difficulties of life, just like your mistakes, and become a better self. Difficulties are created to be overcome, not to fail, and to give up!-
The rough Onyx resembled the flaws of being humane and the hard times of life, and everyone, who had listened to Nial's explanation of why the Insignia of the Onyx Association was so simple couldn't help but agree more to their leader's decision.
"Of course, we will be alright!" Nial declared with a confident smile on his face.
All the powerful Originals were ready for battle. There were more than 400 Originals at the Mirae rank, and close to 20 Prometheus Originals, who were willing to follow Nial wherever he wanted them to go.
These numbers didn't even include the Nightshadow Elves and the Dark Elves, who were also now under him.
The Elves told him that the Queen would send over more troops from all the Elven races the moment Jundra's planetary mana awakening had been completed.
Other, similarly impatient Gods were likely to follow suit. Everyone understood this quite clearly, especially since the number of Dungeon portals manifesting all around the Forest of Life had already increased in the last few months.
The number of dungeons was quite annoying but the resources one could get from conquering the dungeons was pretty amazing.
It allowed many more humans to awaken their Origin. In the end, it was only a matter of time before everyone would awaken their Origin.
And from that day onward, mankind's growth would either skyrocket, or they would be annihilated by other hostile races.
Nial didn't think about the latter because he wouldn't allow it to happen, either way. He gave free reign to the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves to do whatever they wanted as long as they would focus on killing the dungeon beasts that would emerge from the various dungeon portals.
During the last five months, Nial had never demanded a lot from them. He just asked for resources, which they procured without delay. Many Dark Elves and Nightshadow Elves stayed around him as long as possible because they felt that their strength increased at a greater speed by being close to him.
Thus, a large wooden hut had been created in the center of the town-like piece of land that belonged to Nial. One of the bigger trees of the Forest of Life had been replanted there.
Nial had no idea how exactly they received the permission of Valvian to remove that tree from the center of the Forest of Life but they had done it.
More than 200 Elves lived in and around the huge wooden tree in huts. They were glad to have Nial near them as it allowed them to gain far more than they had expected to gain by emerging on Jundra before its planetary mana core had awoken.
They were in a symbiotic relationship, with Nial giving them something without even doing it as a conscious effort while they handed over various resources.
Now, however, they had returned to the Forest of Life because something about Jundra was changing.
"It's time…" Nial mumbled all of a sudden when he sensed a surge of mana passing through the ground. It moved through the ground to the surface, and Nial with his range of perception and [Mana Sense] fully unleashed sensed it first.
He took a deep breath and accepted the impact of the first mana wave that reached the surface.
The ground trembled and the buildings all around them began to shake heavily.
While the eyes of everyone widened when the high density of pure mana swept past them, Nial left the building.
He knew what was going on around him now that the entire shelter and the surrounding area were shaking heavily, but he felt the need to breathe in some fresh air.
After all, the entire world, Jundra, was currently facing the exact situation. Wave after wave of mana blasted through the inside of the planet to reach the surface.
The moment the mana reached the surface, it could expand even faster and freely. Nial adapted to it quite easily but everyone around them was shocked if they were able to endure the high pressure of the mana without passing out to begin with.
"Like a heartbeat…" Nial mumbled as he took a few deep breaths as his ears perked up.
It was almost as if he could feel Jundra's heartbeat and the planet's joy to reawaken once again.
At this moment, the Ankh and the Fairies' Blessing began to shine brightly. However before they could even influence Nial in any way, the Odyssey seed began to vibrate strongly.
Numerous pieces of information flooded him, and a stinging pain pierced into his mind, nearly knocking him out.
He was not sure how much time had passed but his voice sounded eerily calm as he began to speak,
"Welcome back…Origin of the Universe…"
**
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