Nial knew intuitively that his secondary Godly Mission would start the moment he advanced to the Deux rank.
It was something he had expected since he had found out that advancing to the Deux rank was one of the most important advancements one had to undergo in order to find out whether one was truly powerful or if one was just an ordinary existence in millions of beings.
Nial's Ancient Origin rings had been combined, forming a large prismarine crystal around his Mana core when he advanced through the Prometheus rank. The Mana Core that was mantled in the prismarine crystal would then form into a seed, called Origin seed.
The Origin seed was created by using the Original's entire potential by using all data of the existence to create the most suitable size of a Mana Sea. Afterward, the Origin seed would slowly remove the abilities that had been bound to the Mana Core. It removed them without destroying even a single one of them, or their connection to the Original.
That was everything that was supposed to happen at the Prometheus rank, yet Nial's situation was a little different. The prismarine crystal that had erupted around the Mana Core earlier liquefied before Nial reached the Deux-rank.
Because of this unexpected event, Nial had been forced to find all five abilities he wanted to have bound to him before he continued to absorb mana to progress in his Cultivation.
Nial had been lucky that it worked out so well but he had put in a lot of effort to make it happen. Furthermore, he benefited a lot from postponing his advancement to the Deux rank as he was able to remove many of his imperfections by refining his body, using the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia.
Advancing to the Deux rank meant that the abilities would turn into stigmatas. They were supposed to revolve around the prismarine crystal that mantled the Origin seed until the Origin would transform into the source of the Mana Sea, which would then result in the liquefaction of the prismarine crystal.
But Nial's situation was a little different because half of the prismarine crystal had already liquefied. This made it a little bit more tricky to turn his five abilities into stigmatas and metamorph his Origin seed.
In the end, it worked out but Nial spent much more time with the process than he thought to be necessary.
Interestingly enough, most of the liquefied prismarine crystal couldn't be used anymore after it had liquefied even before the Origin seed began to metamorph. Thus, Nial would have to spend a while completing the formation of his Mana Sea and filling it.
But that was only obvious. After all, one would reach the Peak of the Deux rank once the Mana Sea was created and filled to the brim.
Nial was still far from reaching that threshold and he knew that his Mana Sea would take the longest to be filled. The size of the Mana Sea was equivalent to the Original's talent and the accomplishments he made with his own body.
That meant the state of his body, how close to perfect it was, how many purities were still inside his body, the number of enlargements his Mana Core underwent at the Origin rank, the quality of the Origin rings he had woven at the Mirae rank and how carefully the Origin seed had been created were considered the most crucial factors about how one could influence the size of the Mana Sea with sheer hard work and an unbreakable will.
After all, everyone had an equal opportunity to make the mana core undergo nine enlargements, which would thus allow the Original to create Superior Origin rings, and so on. As long as one worked hard enough, creating a large Mana Sea would be possible even for those with low talent.
As for the means that were decided upon birth or through miraculous encounters, they couldn't be attained with an unbreakable will or hard work. This included Nial's encounter with the Titan youngling on the nameless island, which allowed him to absorb its heart, then the encounter with the Mutated Treant through which he had gotten his hands on the Symbol of Life inside a random dungeon.
There were more encounters Nial had gone through such as his arrival within the Sacred Tree, his connection with Yggdrasil, and the meeting with the Fairy Queen that followed suit.
He was also in possession of the Heart of Darkness which changed things for him a little bit as well. All in all, Nial's whole Cultivation progress was bound to skyrocket exponentially, simply because he had too many factors that influenced the metamorphosis of his Origin seed.
As if that was not enough, he was in possession of linked abilities, which meant that he would never have to train his Ability Stigmas to improve the potency, efficiency, and lethality of his abilities as long as Nial continued to practice them.
And now that he advanced to the Deux-rank, he was willing to finish the metamorphosis of his Origin seed and fill the Mana Sea as quickly as possible. That way, he would be strong enough to start looking for his sister, Mathias and the bitch of a former friend who murdered his mother!
Nial was ready to take revenge, which was also why he accessed the two crimson streaks that had been engraved on his Heart of Darkness.
The streaks disappeared and two black portals manifested in front of him.
'Two? Why are there two of them?' Nial wondered before he heard a familiar voice resounding through his mind.
[You have two choices. You either follow the path of a conservative Godly Mission, which you would have to undergo under normal circumstances, or you choose the right portal and walk down a different path. However, that path will force you to walk closer to the Universe's Fate, and the happenings in this Universe!]
It was Damian's husky voice that resounded in Nial's ear. He smiled lightly upon hearing the voice of the Late God of Darkness because it had been quite a while.
He knew that it were just the remnants of the Late God of Darkness' voice that spoke to him and not the real deal when Damian was alive but it was not as if Nial expected some sort of wonder to happen.
"Will I get more benefits from the right path? What exactly will I have to do? Provide a few more pieces of information, will you?" Nial asked, in a somewhat teasing voice but also a little bit tensed up.
He was not sure why he was so tense but he could sense the longing of his dark energy. It was trying to influence him into choosing the portal it desperately desired. However, without knowing what benefits he would gain by choosing a particular portal, Nial wouldn't act, not if the dark energy was trying to force him into doing something he was not sure about.
[Looks like many things have changed for you since we met last time. I won't tell you all benefits you will gain from choosing the right path, but I will be able to tell you more about our encounter…and I can tell you the most likely scenario about how you lost your eyes!] Damian said, which attracted Nial's interest.
"You know who took my eyes?"
[When you advanced to the Deux rank, I saw a shred of your memories. That is also why I know that your human parents are not your biological father and mother!]