If his mana perception was not faulty, there were more than 30 slis in his imdiate surroundings.
But that was not all!
He could hear the sounds of many more slis beyond the radius he was able to perceive with his mana.
As such, Nial instinctively backed off, changing his stance the mont he felt that he had retreated far enough.
Listening intently, he heard that a few slis had toppled to the ground when they had attempted to charge at him and almost squashed each other.
A few of them smacked their slimy bodies on the ground, the sounds ricocheting off the cave walls, causing Nial's ears to twitch.
Yet, only a mont later, all the other noises got drowned as all he could hear was his wild thumping heart that sounded like mini-explosions.
At the sa ti, Nial grasped his spear tightly as he gathered his courage and tried steadying his heartbeat.
Taking brisk steps, he charged forward before piercing out, only to retreat a mont later.
Penetrating the core of the closest sli, Nial instantly killed it even before he had stepped back.
Since setting foot in the cave, he had already defeated more than 20 slis.
As such, Nial's senses were on high alert as he listened intently. It allowed him to gauge the distance between him and the slis based on how far or how near the sounds he could hear were.
This was sothing he had already learned to do during the last few years in order to avoid running into people when he was forced to leave his ho.
It had only been a handful of instances, but when his sister was still well, she had always wanted to play outside with him.
With ti Nial had learned to adapt to most situations, and it was only when he was in a very busy and noisy area that problems would occur.
However, with the [Mana Perception] ability, the disadvantage of being forced to rely on the noises around him was nullified.
His biggest limitation had now been removed, and the stronger he would beco, the less his dependency on the restriction would be.
Maybe, it was possible for the burden of being unable to see to disappear in its entirety.
That was sothing Nial couldn't imagine in his current circumstances. Though, now that he had killed so slis, he realized that it was not impossible to fight, despite being unable to see!
The slis might not be a threat to him, or even unawakened people, but that did not matter right now!
It all boiled down to how effectively he could visualize what he perceived through the surrounding mana!
He was still learning so his mastery over it was extrely crude, and inaccurate, but oddly enough, Nial had quickly adapted to his new state.
This was quite fast, considering that it had only been three days since he had awoken his origin, and regained the ability to sense mana.
As such, it was evident how fortunate Nial was, even more so because it was a sli dungeon that had manifested in their backyard, and not sothing more dangerous, like a dungeon filled with goblins.
They were more ferocious and would have attacked him with a much higher speed than the slis, without any hesitation.
This would have certainly endangered him, and had this dungeon been infested with goblins, he would have died long ago.
He was deep in thoughts and didn't even notice that he was attacking instinctively, using the simple advance-thrust-retreat movent sequence he had trained for years.
There were not many movent sequences Nial had trained in, but the one he knew was amongst the simplest of all.
But even then, it was extrely efficient.
Adding his exceptional senses and mana perception to the movent made him aim with perfect accuracy, hitting the target with most of the thrusts.
Only a few hits missed their target, but that was not a problem because Nial acted quickly enough to avoid being attacked.
This was not exactly difficult, thanks to his opponents' speed.
Nonetheless, Nial wouldn't dare to give the slis a chance to co even close to him.
Because of that, he would rather react too quickly and prevent any kind of tricky situation before it occurred.
In the end, this was the best he could do, and it worked perfectly fine.
However, that was only the case because the slis he faced were the most common ones. They were extrely slow had a weak mbrane around their body, and had no intention to attack him, to begin with.
As such, Nial had it quite easy to kill the masses of slis that were slowly moving towards him.
Though they appeared harmless, the visualization of their collective mass was terrifying. Despite the nervousness, Nial had a vibrant smile on his face as he couldn't help but feel happy.
It was not the fact that multiple origin crystals were scattered across the ground, providing him a small fortune, or the adrenaline that surged through his veins that excited him.
Rather, it was the simple fact that he didn't feel useless anymore.
The more he moved using the passive effect of the [Mana Perception] ability, the easier it was for Nial to move without feeling restricted.
During the last few years, he was always forced to pay attention to where he stepped, and avoid bumping into everyone else, who was in a hurry.
While being outside the house with his family, Nial had to be extra careful and focus on his senses to perceive what was going on in his surroundings.
He would always fear getting lost and never being able to find them if he were to get distracted.
All of these burdens were now slowly dispersing, and the accumulated tension in his body was gradually being released.
His stiff movents were now more fluidic while his attacks got swifter and more accurate.
This gave Nial the opportunity to focus on the surrounding mana with a free mind.
Now, he could sense things around him much better and his mind was fast in processing the data it was gathering from the surroundings.
Excitent was coursing through his body, while his entire body was sweating profusely. And despite the exhaustion, Nial felt truly happy!
It was the first ti in what seed like an eternity that he felt like this.
Nial's arms began to hurt because he strained his muscles to deliver the multitude of spear thrusts, and the fat drops of sweat that trickled down his back were a clear sign of his hard work.
Yet, all of this didn't matter anymore, as he smiled brightly while fighting the sheer and supposedly endless number of slis that were slowly reaching Nial.
Forced to retreat a little, he had to focus fully on every single step, but that didn't seem to be an issue anymore.
Cutting through the air while clutching the crude spear tightly in his hand, he sotis slashed out with it, killing several slis at once.
Afterward, he imdiately advanced ahead, forcing his way through the slis.
Increasing his pace with every step, he hacked, slashed, and pierced at the slis making him realize that all the hours spent in training in his backyard with the heavy stick, and afterward, with the crude spear had not been in vain.
It was now paying off and every kill gave him a renewed sense of confidence- of not being useless, of being strong enough to support his family financially, and of curing his sister.
Being a fast learner, Nial had adjusted to the given situation as quickly as possible.
He moved around, tried to search for the paths with the fewest slis, only to suddenly retreat.
This confused the unintelligent beasts that were solely following their instincts, giving Nial the chance to finish off the small army of slis in a matter of half an hour.
Afterward, his arms felt like they were on fire because of the hundreds of thrusts he made in a short amount of ti.
They were sore and it was almost as if they would fall off at any mont.
There had been two cases when he had almost slipped on the wet ground, that was covered in the slimy and gooey remains of his opponents.
Thus, his entire body quivered from the imnse pressure that weighed down on him while his heart palpated wildly.
Once the battle was over and he had killed all the slis, Nial just wanted to collapse on the ground and stay there. But, he forced himself to move ahead.
His rewards were lying on the ground, waiting to be picked by him. Thus, after taking lungfuls of air, he decided to pick up the origin crystals that dropped from the masses of slis he had slaughtered as if they were lifeless objects.
It was still hard for his mind to digest that he had gone on a rampage and killed living beings for the selfish cause of earning money, but at the sa ti, he told himself that everything had a reason.
The stronger would always exploit the weaker, and Nial was, in fact, the stronger party in the current circumstance.
In the end, the dungeon had manifested in their backyard, and had he not done anything, his parents would have cleared the dungeon anyway.
That was just an excuse, but everyone had to co to a consensus with themselves before killing beasts.
As such, Nial was trying to do this, only to ask himself if the slis would have spared him had they been stronger than him.
In the worst-case scenario, if nobody would have cleared the dungeon, the slis would have broken out of the dungeon and erged inside the shelter.
With dangerous beasts, a dungeon outbreak would be a ticking ti bomb and an absolute disaster.
And even if that was not the case for ordinary slis, it would change once they would mutate, or evolve!
However, that was not sothing Nial was worried about.
Instead, he bent down on the slippery ground, picking up the first of many origin crystals as he smiled lightly.
'Was I really an optimist all these years, or had I just been forcing myself to be happy enough to make myself feel that I was actually happy?' Nial suddenly asked himself as he realized what true happiness and joy felt like.
It was hard to explain, but he had always felt happy around his family, but at the sa ti, he couldn't help but question whether this happiness had been real, or just a portion of true happiness?
Nial knew for sure that he loved his family and that he would do everything for them.
Yet, he had always hated himself for having been a burden, useless, and weak.
'Just what had I been doing during the last few years?' He asked himself, his fingers curling tightly around the origin crystal he had just picked up.
On this day Nial changed in his entirety, writing a new chapter in his aningless life that was about to beco aningful for others, and most importantly, for himself!
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