"Do you think we'll be fine with only the Sacred Knights leader and his subordinate left to defend us?" A young Original at the Origin rank asked, visibly afraid.
"What else are we supposed to do? Trust the other 'true' powerhouses? Don't fool yourself. They're only able to defeat beasts at the Tritan rank. Beasts such as a Minotaur are on a completely different level.
You cannot compare them. If another one appears, we will definitely die, but it's not like we can run away either.
How do you plan to return to Liondra? Without the use of Juna's teleportation circle and all that?" Another Original asked in a disappointed tone while lifting his head.
He didn't look as afraid as the young Original to his right. However, even he had no idea of how they would survive if another beast as strong as the Minotaur were to appear.
"Powerful beasts have their own territory in most cases. So…we should be fine, right?" A young woman suddenly added in hesitation. Chills ran down her spine whenever she thought about the Minotaur, how it had killed the three members of the Heaven's Gates in a last, desperate attack.
The last attack had killed more than 300 Originals, and it had only been thanks to the early warning that so 'less' Originals had died.
That was why many were thankful to Nial, even if they had been envious of him before.
He had made huge gains from all the corpses he had collected, and many would love to get their hands on his spatial ring. But now that he saved their life indirectly, most were fine with Nial getting all the gains.
It was not as if they couldn't have collected the corpses of the beasts that had been killed by others. But for that to happen, they would have to separate from their group for a moment, leave the group's safety and enter the 'true wilderness' to collect the corpses. If they did so, they would have made huge gains as well.
However, they didn't do so. Even the 'true' powerhouses didn't collect the beast corpses, which was mostly due to the fact that they didn't want to fill their spatial rings with low-value corpses.
And when they saw Nial hire the Elite Junior Soldiers of the military to dissect the corpses of the beasts he collected, the same true powerhouses reconsidered collecting the corpses and hiring the Elite Junior Soldiers as well.
But if they would do all of this suddenly, the true powerhouses would have to have to acknowledge that they had been unable to think of the same idea a 19-year-old Origin rank Original had come up with.
To them, their image was worth far more than some gains. That was why they didn't even think of following suit and copying his actions.
"Even if only the Sacred Knights leader and one of his powerful subordinates are left alive, it's not like we can change anything either way.
Maybe the seven groups, who belong to the seven shelters, will have similarly strong Originals."
"Who knows if the others have even a single Original at the Prometheus rank, let alone if their strength can rival that of the Sacred Knights leader."
"If we manage to find the other groups, I will definitely feel better. I wonder if they've already arrived.
Oh, and by the way, what is this Prometheus rank? I have never heard of it before."
"Oh, that? I heard it from Mike before. And he heard that name from Sam Anderson, the Windbreaker. As for him, I don't know where he got it."
While the discussions of many Originals became intense, Nial and Mathias had long since made up their mind about what they should do later.
"We'll only clear the dungeons we are confident of clearing on our own. There is no need to actively approach dangerous dungeons. Let the others handle them." Mathias repeated their plan for the tenth time.
They had more than enough body parts and other stuff stored in their spatial rings to do whatever they wanted to. The only thing they might require to create runic armaments would be the ingredients for the runic solutions and possibly all the utensils to manufacture them.
But it was not as if they had planned on manufacturing runic armaments in the wilderness, to begin with.
Many true powerhouses were ashamed of the fact that they had been rendered useless in the face of the Minotaur's threat. That was why they went on a killing spree.
They were clearing the outer areas of the third shelter, which was definitely necessary because the beasts that had been imprisoned within Juna had finally mustered enough courage to dare to venture outside.
The Minotaur had been in control of every move of the beasts inside the shelter when it was still alive. It had killed numerous beasts but it had also ordered them around.
Now that it was dead, the dungeon beasts were finally free, but to their misfortune, they were annihilated by a few angered and frustrated humans.
"Let the others do some work now. It's not like we're actually needed here, and we haven't volunteered to be here, as well." Nial suddenly told Mathias, who had far more issues accepting the fact that they were not on a vacation, nor had they voluntarily joined in the conquest to reclaim Juna.
He was ready to conquer numerous dungeons in the following days, while Nial just wanted to take it easy, right now.
"Well, yeah, but no…." Mathias mumbled, not willing to accept Nial's reasoning.
At that moment, a sudden barrage of noises attracted their attention.
The two Originals turned their heads just like everyone else as they looked at the shelter's gates.
Some of the true powerhouses had already returned from killing all the freed beasts in the surrounding area. Afterward, they entered the shelter feeling fully motivated before pulling down the gates.
Through this, all the Originals could enter the shelter, but at the same time, the remaining beasts were able to move out as well.
It was the only proper entrance that had been opened, which many heavy beasts were willing to use to rush outside the gate.
"These bastards. Are they planning to release the beasts from within the shelter to force everyone to fight them?" An Original asked in a stunned voice. He was visibly angered when he saw how numerous beasts were trying to force their way to get through the gate.
They were squeezing through it, trampling on top of each other and using all their strength just to leave the shelter.
'Their mana fluctuations are overflowing with excitement and the thirst of blood. Just what did the Minotaur do to them that all of them are dying to leave the shelter? Their thirst for blood is not exactly normal either…'
Nial would be lying if he were to say that he was not slightly bothered about the beasts within the shelter.
However, he didn't move even after perceiving the first few beasts, who had successfully squeezed through the gate.
Others were already on the move and were ready to fight.
Nial kept observing everything, while Mathias left his side to join the forces of the fighting Originals.
There was no need for Nial to hold his friend back, but Mathias' help would do little to bring the situation under control.
"It looks like the other shelters' groups have not yet arrived. The others seem to be adamant about reclaiming Juna before they arrive. Do you think they are doing that only to gain fame, and so that they can proudly say that they reclaimed Juna all by themselves, without the help of any other group of Originals?" A familiar and calm voice reached Nial.
Sam Anderson appeared next to him all of a sudden. He took the initiative to speak to Nial, which was not the first instance.
It was unusual for Sam Anderson to speak to others first because he was said to be a prideful man, who was hard to approach.
But that didn't seem to be true whenever he spoke to Nial. It was not as if the young blind man was different than many people Sam Anderson knew, but he was certainly more likable than some bootlickers he wished to get rid of.
'Well whether I like Nial or not doesn't matter.' He thought as he pulled Nial in a conversation.
'I need to figure out more about the Prometheus rank and how to advance to it!'
"Their ego was hurt when the Minotaur's aura forced them to accept reality, the reality that their strength was laughable in the face of true power, and that they have a long way to go until they can label themselves as truly mighty Originals." Nial just answered, not acting as if he was surprised that Sam Anderson had appeared next to him and that he was suddenly speaking to him.
He had already expected this. After all, he could tell that Sam was highly interested in the Prometheus rank. This interest was even more apparent because he had been at the peak of the Tritan stage for quite a while. Sam Anderson was merely searching for the last piece in the big puzzle to understand how to advance to the Prometheus rank.
"Is advancing to the Prometheus rank not enough to be considered truly powerful?" Sam Anderson asked. He had planned to beat around the bush and slowly approach topics revolving around the Prometheus rank.
However, Nial's comment confused him quite a bit. Sam found Nial's words oddly interesting.
They worried him at the same time because it seemed as if Nial knew far more than he was letting on.
"Is the Prometheus rank truly powerful? Well maybe for now that's true but that won't always be the case. Once Jundra awakens its mana core, the strength of the dungeons will increase drastically. By then, we will see true power, I guess."
Jundra had yet to awaken its mana core. It would still take a while before that was to happen but it would happen, that was certain.
Sam Anderson had read the thesis about the planetary mana awakening. So he knew where Nial was coming from. But even then, he felt a little bit bothered by Nial's words.
'Looks like, I need to speak to him a little bit longer than expected… I never believed that I would return to the times where I would question someone else just like I used to with my teacher…'
The only difference from before was…that this time he was speaking to a 19-years-old Origin rank Original about topics he was curious about. He was asking that youngling questions even the old ones were unable to answer.
And the weirdest was that slowly but steadily, Sam Anderson began to think that it was normal to ask Nial these questions.
After all, he seemed to be extremely knowledgeable; far more than anyone else.
This was weird…or was it not?
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