Unsealing Emptiness

Though Rina was confused because of his question. In her mind, why would someone want to use formations without any Mana when it is present everywhere? Wouldn’t it be the easiest way to use them?

However, she still answered his question, no matter how weird it was, “I haven’t heard about any formations being used without the use of Mana. But theoretically, it should be possible with any different energy that acts like Mana...”

Ozul realized that this was all Rina’s expertise could tell him. She sounded unsure if the formations would really work without Mana or not. He could only sigh as he thanked her with polite words and went out of the room, planning to avoid Hana as much as possible. It wasn’t hard to avoid her since he had locked onto her Mana signature.

Before long, he was out of the Auction House.

. . .

What Ozul understood from Rina’s hours-long lecture was that formations could basically be used for anything and almost everything as long as we have sufficient materials and Mana to back it up.

.....

At least his understanding of formations had slightly improved, but Ozul wanted to know if there was some way that he could use them. Since he did not wield Mana, he wanted a method that could work without it. Well, there was another way, but Ozul didn’t even think about it. For that, he needed to start cultivating like normal people did and create a Mana core inside of himself.

‘I will just have to ask someone resourceful if there is a method, if not, then I will just have to drop the idea,’ Ozul could only give up if there was no other way.

“Another form of energy, huh...” Ozul muttered while gazing at the unfeeling Ball of Purity. But it was not some energy or force, as far as he could tell. It always felt like a part of himself; not something foreign.

Just when he was thinking about this, another thing hit him. From the time he had born, everyone had assumed that he used Mana as well but used some rare technique or spell to hide its traces.

Maybe he had been doing it all wrong from the start. Maybe he should have inquired about other energies or matters that are magical but not because of Mana. There had to be some records about something like that previously. He couldn’t just believe that he was the only one who was born different from the start of history till now.

However, he stopped his line of thoughts there. It was a big world, and before the organization had been completely set up, the chances of him to stumble upon something related were unlikely.

He arrived back in the town, deciding to ask Raymond or Alver if he ever got a chance later.

This time, he noticed that the people were setting up one of the most important defensive measures, the energy field. Once activated, it would take spells that could erase mountains to even start forming a crack at them.

When Irvin noticed his arrival, he hurriedly came to his side to ask if he needed anything like a diligent butler, but Ozul dismissed him just as quickly.

Ozul spent the next few days working on improving his control over Ball of Purity and lazing around. It felt like filling an endless abyss with water that you knew must have an end, so he felt himself improving but he couldn’t feel any end to it. This was actually a good thing since that meant he could improve to an alarmingly skillful degree that he couldn’t even imagine right now.

Would he really be able to master it to such an extent that he could turn all of it into a gaseous state and spread it to hundreds of meters around him? Turning any small part into solid and back to gas instantly, with just a thought?

Although Ozul did not know its limits yet, he perceived that at least that much should be possible.

Fortunately, there hadn’t been anyone from other organizations directly coming here to inquire which gave Ozul all the free time to do whatever he wanted.

He had given Irvin all the permissions to instruct people however he wanted.

———

A month and a few days passed after they had started to work on the headquarters.

Opposite to Irvin’s nature of depending on Haley to decide all the complicated matters, he did an excellent job in assigning everyone their task and then overseeing it all.

Today they had finally completed everything that needed to be done.

At one glance, the unimpressive tower seemed to be around 20 meters tall, but Ozul didn’t care about the appearances. What he wanted the most in it was the mechanism of ‘disappearing’ with the formations that he had seen in the headquarters of the Order of Dusk.

They were an information-gathering organization, and such organizations operated discreetly.

They had already been improving at such a rate that almost everyone knew about them, but Ozul wanted to correct this in the future. They could either choose speed or efficiency, and he had chosen speed first.

Since almost everything was set up, Ozul told Irvin to contact Oliver and Haley. Alver did not order his men to come because Irvin had told him that their men had yet to arrive. Needless to say, Alver didn’t want to trouble his nephew.

There were a total of 8 floors with the last one reserved solely for Ozul. There was more than enough space on the rest of the 7 floors.

Ozul hadn’t asked for it, but Irvin insisted on it. He could guess how much Ozul liked his personal space and how much it annoyed him when someone disturbed him.

In the days that followed, many of the people informed in the organization started to travel straight towards the Neutral Lands. Haley, Irvin, and Oliver had handpicked these people. Not all of them were loyal, and not all the rest of the people were unfaithful.

Haley wanted loyal people in the headquarters, but not at the cost of crippling the branches everywhere else. These branches also needed some competent men or women to run.

Oliver had proposed that he would stay in that part of the continent, but Haley strongly opposed the idea and Irvin had no choice but to follow his wife’s decision. Meanwhile, Ozul didn’t care wherever he did his work, so it was decided that he would have to move there as well.

A month or so later, the first team of Three-Eyed Strangers was in the Neutral Lands.

It consisted of Haley, Oliver, and a few of the most trusted people. Haley didn’t leave Dibly behind either. He couldn’t travel with his strength alone, so a person had to help him along the way.

Everyone showed different reactions to the rich-in-Mana atmosphere and how even the average men on the streets were at least a Fighter.

When they arrived in the town, Oliver was about to merrily greet Ozul as he always did before, but he couldn’t even start when he heard,

“We are already running a year behind from what I had planned. Adapt to the new environment quickly, and start the work as soon as possible,” Ozul said, making everyone solemnly nod their heads.

One entire story of the building was reserved solely for communication which had already been set up with the major branches in that part of the continent. Putting together this complicated thing proved to be the hardest task.

Had it not been for Alver and Raymond sending them the men who were experienced in this, Irvin would have taken many more months figuring out everything.

Oliver’s face was a sight to see when he had first seen the ‘giant crystal room’. First, there was confusion, it changed into surprise and wonder when Irvin told him that it was the communication crystal. Shortly after, everyone in the building except for Ozul resting on the top floor could hear his mad laughter resounding everywhere.

“Just a second required to talk with a person on the far ends of the continent! Haha!” Oliver was already starting to think of all the shady deals he could do in a matter of seconds across the continent.

Only Ozul hadn’t heard his shouting because his whole floor was made soundproof with his room having an extra layer of it. Irvin had professionally performed his duties as the butler, even taking care of his discomfort because of noise.

The trickiest part for Irvin to perform was still the matter of erecting a giant tower in the middle of the town without letting everyone know about it. The prominent organizations wouldn’t be fooled by the camouflage formation, but this would save them from standing out too much in this town.

. . .

It took half a week for everyone to get accustomed to the environment and get the work going.

“Who is mainly in-charge back there?” Ozul asked, being in the meeting room with every trustable member of the organization. The people he trusted were only Oliver, Irvin, and Haley. So he was curious who they decided to leave in that part of the continent.

“We all decided on Sir Bernard-” Haley was about to explain but stopped in the middle as she noticed that Ozul didn’t seem to remember who this person named Bernard was.

She stopped to change her words, “It was that Rank-8 old man who you had said was trustable.”

Only then did Ozul remember the old man who had heard about the organization and wanted to be a part of it. Ozul had asked him some simple questions and felt his emotions.

The old man was Rank-8 Mage; he said that he wasn’t a part of any other organization and like others, wanted to be a part of something big, but with as little bloodshed as possible. Since the Three-Eyed Strangers had declared themselves to be neutral, he had decided to join them, provided that he wasn’t sent on killing missions. Though he wouldn’t hesitate to kill if he was only protecting.

Ozul read that the old man wasn’t lying, so he had left the decision to Haley after informing her that he was telling the truth.

Haley, of course, wouldn’t let go of a peak Rank-8 Mage. She would have hesitated if not for Ozul telling them that he had no hidden motives.

“Alright. This will be the hardest part,” Ozul muttered making a few people in the room curious. He continued, “Getting our men to every corner of the Neutral Lands...”