After a lengthy discussion with his parents during dinner, Nial had become convinced that a basic body movement technique was necessary for him to become stronger.
Through this, he would be able to earn more money, protect himself better, and even more important, his parents could also use the technique he would purchase from the Originals association.
It was not limited to be used by just the buyer and the entire household could use it.
This was extremely advantageous, and Nial wouldn't be so worried about his parents either.
Both his parents would enter dungeons every single day without fail and would return home bruised and injured but they would still get up the next day and re-enter a dungeon.
At least, by purchasing this technique Nial could assure himself that his parents would be safe to some extent.
Because of that, his opinion had slowly changed from using the entire money they would receive from selling the origin crystal and the Low Common ability [Shockwave Barrage] for his sister, to using a majority of it for her.
As such, when both Nial and Melvin retired to their respective beds, they were satisfied with how the day had progressed and what they had achieved.
**
Waking up early in the morning the next day, Nial felt refreshed even though his entire body felt sore.
Getting up from the mattress he had laid on the floor, he perceived that Melvin was still sound asleep in his bed.
Based on the light snores he could hear, Nial could tell that Melvin was exhausted as well, even though the amount of mana Melvin had stored was much higher than his own.
Shaking his head, he decided to let him sleep a little bit longer.
Thus, he went out of the room without making any noise, freshened up, and entered the kitchen afterward.
Preparing a simple breakfast for himself and Melvin, Nial ate his own portion before placing the rest on the table for Melvin to eat.
Changing into a trackpant and a simple t-shirt, Nial thought it was best to train his spearmanship and learn how to improve the fluidity in his movements without being forced to have some short intervals in which he had to change his stance to attack from a defensive position.
This was what he had been struggling the most the day before, which was also the reason why he focused the most on it right now.
Fixing mistakes was important in order to prevent turning them into habits.
Thus, Nial wanted to make as few mistakes in the early stages of his practice as possible.
It was difficult, but attempting it until he perfected himself was important.
As such, Nial was determined to improve and didn't even care how early it was, or that his parents were still sleeping soundly.
This was uncommon because they were normally the first ones to get up, and Nial had assumed that they were already out, entering other dangerous dungeons while leaving him the slime dungeon behind.
Because of this assumption he had beforehand, he didn't pay attention to his surroundings, and only began to move around with the Viper spear.
Nial felt extremely comfortable while wielding the Viper spear, and did not want to let go of it even for a minute.
It was weird as he had gotten the weapon just days ago, but he felt comfortable holding the spear, knowing that he would be able to use it in order to protect himself.
Furthermore, when he retracted its blades to make it look like a simple rod, it was not even illegal to walk around the central district with it.
That meant, he didn't even need a storage device, such as a spatial ring for it.
Spatial rings were extremely difficult to craft, and the materials they were made of were rare too.
As such, only citizens with a high social status or wealth were able to procure them.
Not being one of them, Nial was even more glad that the Viper spear had the function to retract its blades, which made many things much easier.
Moving around with it made him feel at ease, and this exact feeling was something rare to encounter with weapons one wielded.
There were rumors that Myth weapons had a certain degree of compatibility with their wielder, meaning the higher their compatibility was with the wielder, the better one would be able to fight using that weapon.
However, this was just a rumor and not something Nial had ever believed.
Yet, perceiving the Viper Spear as an extension of his arm made him feel surreal as the hair on the back of his neck stood up.
It was a weird sensation, but extremely satisfying, and not something bad at all.
He didn't know how high his compatibility with the Viper spear was, but it was definitely not low, which was something that made Nial extremely happy.
Nial was so engrossed in his training, and the fact that he had to improve a lot because he was lacking behind everyone else, that he didn't even notice that it was not even 4 am. It was still dark outside, and his parents had yet to wake up.
The wind was chilly, but Nial didn't notice that at all.
Instead, he felt that the soft wind currents were showing him ways in which he could move better.
Trying to use every single means to his advantage, Nial began to sweat despite the chilly wind. There were many things Nial could comprehend from his surroundings.
Nevertheless, it didn't help him to fix his issues, which only practice could do.
He had yet to learn to read and understand all words, which was why Nial took short breaks between practicing spearmanship before using his Mana Perception to learn the written language.
In the end, learning to write and read was less difficult than he had assumed and the biggest issue was to link the written words to the respective object, or specific meaning of said words.
Fortunately, this was not much of a problem because he could speak and listen well, which was why he used the speaking function of the children's books in order to connect the written words to the spoken ones.
Hours passed and Nial's sore muscles were aching even more than when he had woken up from sleep.
What he didn't notice was that both of his parents had now woken up too, and Melvin had just entered the living room. Rubbing his drowsy eyes, he found Miles and Maline looking out of the window, staring into their backyard.
Confused, yet also curious, Melvin had an assumption about what they could see, but after thinking about it for a moment, he shook his head, thinking that it was impossible.
His arms were sore after shooting arrows for hours, and Melvin didn't think that Nial felt any better.
Yet, the moment he stood next to Miles, Melvin's jaw dropped to the ground, looking at Nial, whose clothes were already drenched in sweat.
Seeing his best friend taking deep breaths while gasping for air, all the sleep in his eyes disappeared.
He peered his eyes trying to ensure that it was in fact Nial who was clutching the Viper spear in its rod form tightly while his other hand was placed on his knee as his shoulders drooped a little.
Blinking his eyes rapidly, Melvin couldn't help but blurt out his confusion.
"How...long has he been training for?!"
Miles and Maline didn't even have to look at Melvin to know what his expression looked like because it was evident that he was as dumbfounded as they were.
By the time they woke up, it was 6 am and they had wanted to do their usual chores, preparing breakfast for everyone, and tending to Sabrina for some time before leaving for the dungeons.
Maline had wanted to enter the slime dungeon before paying more attention to Nial, Melvin, Sabrina, and the entire household.
Meanwhile, Miles wanted to enter the Goblin dungeon, where he had made an appointment.
However, after seeing a dish of breakfast that had gone cold on the dining table while crumbs of bread in the sink as if someone had gulped down some food in a hurry, they had a premonition.
Because of that Miles had looked into their backyard, only to see that Nial was practicing his spearmanship, trying to improve even the simplest movement.
But, weirdly enough, Nial was fully soaked in sweat and panting at that time, so Miles couldn't answer Melvin's question properly.
"We woke up at six, and he already appears to be exhausted...maybe a little bit less sweaty, but...well...I think I sort of agree with your evaluation of my son...without the blindness and mana core limit, he would definitely be a freak…"
Miles had never thought that his son would be talented. To say this as his father might be cruel, but that was how reality seemed to him.
Nial had never been a very bright student or interested in studying a lot, even if he had the necessary intelligence.
There was simply no need for Nial to learn because most well-paying occupations were already occupied by Originals.
As such, even without good grades, he wouldn't have been able to land a prestigious job as those were not awarded to cripples.
It was sad, but that was how the world had become, a sad place where Originals, and able bodied ones, received everything!
Because of that Miles had never seen his son being invested in anything which was sad, but not something he could change as he was occupied with earning money to improve his family's financial situation.
Thus, Nial's abrupt change in attitude was shocking to him, and even Maline couldn't help but be flabbergasted.
Initially, she had wanted to retort something to her husband's comment.
However, in the end, she remained quiet, reluctantly agreeing with her husband after she had seen how quickly Nial was improving.
But that was not all!
Not only was Nial quickly improving, but he was also working hard to reduce the amount of mistakes.
As such, Maline felt that the seemingly tireless will of her son was the most shocking attribute of a youth who had been mocked by society for his disability.
She had never seen him work so hard for something and was amazed to see his tenacity.
Nial was not even taking proper breaks because he was studying how to write and read properly using his mana perception.
As such, tears trickled down her cheeks seeing that her son, who had forced happiness and optimism upon himself since he had lost his eyesight, was finally blooming, and revealed a spark of interest in something he was eager to obtain!
'Finally!'