While the female instructor of the military pointed out at both Nial and Melvin to make an example out of them and show the trainees how one should not enter any kind of dungeon, the two ambitious young men were oblivious to what was going on.
They were fully focused on themselves and the dungeon in front of them.
Joining the queue outside the dungeon to allow interested folks to enter it, they found themselves right in front of the Military instructor and her young students.
The large group was busy discussing in excited voices, talking about all kinds of things concerning the mana gathering techniques, dungeons and so on.
At the same time, they were staring at Nial's weapon, which seemed to be extremely interesting in their eyes.
Their collective gaze made the female instructor curious and even she flitted her eyes to look at what her students were intently staring at.
Yet, before she saw the spear, her eyes were drawn to Nial's face because she sensed something from his mana fluctuations that confused her.
'There is not a single trace of mana around his eyes...oh! He is blind?'
From the way Nial had been moving, nothing indicated that he was handicapped in any way.
As such, she was a little bit astonished to find out that Nial was blind. However, this made her believe that her earlier assumption was correct.
'They will definitely die...he is blind and seems to be a late bloomer in his origin awakening, while his friend...I don't have high hopes from him either'
Melvin didn't show any signs of being exceptional, but to her eyes even he seemed subpar like his friend. In the end, he was just a blank piece of paper for the female instructor, who realised that it was the duo's turn to enter the dungeon.
But before entering, they had to pass the soldiers that governed the government's dungeons and complete the security check.
"Name, Originals ID card, and appointment certificate please!" One of the soldiers said in a dry tone.
He gave the two young men a quick onceover, before averting his attention to a holographic screen, manifested through the bracelet he was wearing.
"We don't have an appointment, but please take a look at this Sir!"
Melvin's first few words were enough for the soldier, who was busy looking through a list with all appointments, to send them away.
But, when he looked up his eyes fell on the token Melvin had taken out from his spatial ring.
It was a seemingly ordinary symbol engraved on the token in a platinum color.
'The government's emblem.' Nial realised as he perceived the token with his mana, and so did the soldier, who looked at Nial and Melvin for a moment before nodding his head.
"You guys can go in! Don't die and follow the government's dungeon rules!"
The soldier's eyes remained on Nial for a moment, while he said this which meant that the warning was especially for Nial. But without bothering about it, Nial nodded his head in a polite manner before following Melvin, who had already passed by the soldier as if he was familiar with the entire procedure.
Standing next to his friend, Nial couldn't help but smile as he poked his friend.
"I never knew you can act so shamelessly prideful, did you learn to walk around with your chest pushed out in Merc?"
Making fun of Melvin with the things he was able to visualize thanks to the mana he was able to control, Nial asked him cheekily.
Thus, he didn't even notice that one of the young awakened children from the group of the military middle school children, asked the female instructor a very important question.
"Ms. Melion, how come this blind man was able to move around like anyone else? Haven't we been taught that such Originals don't enter dungeons? Was that wrong?"
Looking down at the young girl, Nina Melion, their young instructor, maintained a neutral expression as she corrected her student.
"That's why you should listen properly if I teach you something. You've got it all wrong! Blindness may be a handicap, but with enough training to control their own mana and perceive the surroundings with unannexed mana, blind people can overcome their restrictions to a large extent, even if it's not a perfect solution!
In some scenarios, it might be a disadvantage, but sometimes, being unable to use one sense, can give you the proficiency to sharpen your other senses to a relatively higher degree. At least as an Original this is possible. It's hard, but not impossible!"
Nodding her head, the girl fell silent so as to not be subjected to a long lecture and embarrass herself more in front of her peers.
Her expression signified her thoughts, 'If only I had not asked…' before she turned around with a head that was filled with knowledge she would forget in less than half an hour.
While the female instructor lamented about the punishment of being forced to temporarily teach at a military school, Nial and Melvin had already appeared in the middle of a large plain.
Unable to perceive anything but the surrounding mana flow in addition to the loose soil that squished below his feet softly, Nial immediately figured out another big disadvantage of being unable to see.
'I will get lost in dungeons that lead me to big plains…what would happen if a dungeon throws me into the depths of an ocean...that would be even worse…'
Shaking his head, Nial wanted to prevent his mind from running wild.
He tried to get his act together and told himself to focus on the given scenario.
"Is the entire area a plain? If so, you'll have to provide me with intel, otherwise, I won't be of any real use!"
Quickly analysing the situation, Nial sensed the dangers that could crop up and didn't even hesitate to ask for Melvin's help.
Meanwhile, Melvin had already realized that the plain area they had emerged in, was one of the worst places to be.
At least if he were to consider Nial's situation.
"We have emerged on the first floor's plain area. More than a dozen meters above us is a wall, so they won't attack you from above that altitude.
There is currently no beast around us, and the forest, which is right at the center of the Instance dungeon's first floor, is approximately 100 meters behind you.
However, on the outskirts, we can find the weakest beasts, especially inside the plains…"
Nodding his head, Nial showed that he had understood his friend as he tightened his grip over the spear and replied,
"Alright, let's stay here. Just tell me when beasts appear around us. You will see them before I can sense them, let alone perceive them with mana!"
Yet, Nial's ears twitched and he instinctively turned around before the words had even left his mouth.
A fraction of a second later, he had launched himself in the direction he had turned to, and pierced the Viper spear into the ground as he stopped a few meters later.
Melvin frowned at this sight, only to hear a painful squeal followed by the sickening sight of blood splattering all around.
"Maybe...I can hear them before you can even see them!" Nial commented.
He then wiped his face which had turned ghastly pale with his free hand to get rid of the warm blood splattered on his face.
Killing a single beast that was made of flesh and bones caused different emotions to surge up within Nial than killing hundreds of slimes had.
Thus, he retched while feeling disgusted with himself.
Yet, only a few moments later, Nial realised that he was acting like a hypocrite.
'What is even the difference between slimes and beasts made of blood and flesh? Am I really acting like a softie right now?'
Nial was not sure how exactly he was able to calm down his mind that fast, but it was definitely advantageous.
Nevertheless, the disgust on his face didn't disappear immediately, and Melvin noticed that Nial was fighting with himself.
However, that didn't matter to him right now because he was too flabbergasted to realize that Nial was way better than him.
This fact made him ignore the fact that his friend seemed to have killed a beast other than slimes, for the first time in his life.
'His other senses are heightened and better than mine...by leagues!'
This was the realisation that shook Melvin made as he watched Nial nonchalantly pick up the origin crystal that had materialized the moment the Lesser Earth Mole disintegrated in a daze.
Afterward, Nial threw the crystal in Melvin's direction, indicating to him to store it inside the spatial ring, which he did.
At the same time, Nial cleared the negative thoughts in his mind, convincing himself that he had to kill in order to save his sister.
However, a small voice in his head repeated that this was just the excuse of a hypocrite.
He mercilessly shoved that voice down and concentrated on the task at hand.
Shaking his head, Nial realised that he had to come to a consensus with his mind that seemed to play a tug of war, pulling him back from doing what was necessary at the moment.
He knew he had to quickly come to terms with the fact that killing beasts without feeling guilty, every single time he took a life, was the best way forward.
If it had been before the awakening of his origin, even killing slimes would have been impossible because he was against violence.
It was already odd that his demeanor had changed, which Melvin had also noticed.
Despite that, it was a well-known fact that many Originals changed after their origin awoke, giving them enough confidence to turn into their real selves, without being forced to change for others.
Meanwhile, researchers stated that some Originals might change according to specific emotions that had been sealed within them from a young age, and that they were only released with the origin awakening.
Feeling these awakened emotions made those unique Originals stronger than the rest, particularly if they were feeling a specific emotion from the depths of their conscience.
Because of that, young children that seemed to be unable to respond with the use of emotions were observed by the government, unsure whether they would awaken their origin, how talented such Originals were, and if the Emotion-amplification theory was true!
Having watched Nial mercilessly kill a beast, Melvin stared blankly at Nial, not moving a single inch.
"Melvin? Is there something on my face? Can you stop staring at me? I'm fine now. Let's start our hunt!"
Dragged out of his thoughts, Melvin couldn't help but smile bitterly, thinking that his friend's disadvantage of not being able to see, might not be as bad as he had thought.
However, that was just wishful thinking because Melvin didn't want to accept that he hadn't been vigilant about his surroundings. On the other hand, Nial's body had been trained to hear his surroundings 24/7 because his life depended on it!
That was the big difference between Nial and Melvin- one of them used only a portion of his senses, and relied mostly on his eyesight to spot opponents, while Nial tried to maximize the utilization of every single of his senses!