Unsealing Emptiness

There were quite a few things that could have been the reason. It could be that he was too weak to notice anything, but also because the amount of the Scent inside that man was too small to make any difference.

It could also be that the Scent needed time to make actual changes to the body, and it had only been a few seconds for that man since he had it inside his body.

‘I will have to find someone else,’ Ozul doubted that he would be able to find a captive that had a substantial amount of his Scent.

There were quite a few things that he had to take note of before he could actually come to a solid conclusion.

Examining Mikol’s body would have been the most useful, but he would probably not see him until Old Gu’s test started.

“He can go away,” Ozul waved his hand to which Alver nodded his head and personally took the man out of the room again.

.....

It seemed that the man would probably not see the daylight for a long time now.

Ozul focused his attention back on the small bead of the Ball of Purity floating before him. It contained his Scent that he had extracted from that man’s body.

He slowly expanded the bead, lowering its density until Raymond could pretty much see bits and pieces through the black gas.

The strand of his ‘Scent’ just stayed there floating as if it had no purpose whatsoever.

Ozul created a small opening to let that trace of Scent out in the open air so he could have a closer look.

However, it proved to be a mistake because just when he had taken it out from the sphere of the Ball of Purity the small strand of his Scent immediately disappeared into thin air!

It was just like how he had seen it come out of his arm and then seemingly just vanish a few moments later.

Sigh...

If his Scent could affect the Mages as he had seen it did with Mikol and Luthien’s father, then why can it just fade out of existence so easily?

‘Could it be that my Scent actually does nothing on its own, but some reaction occurs inside the Mages because of its presence?’ Ozul could only think that to be the reason.

In the end, they were all assumptions and possibilities, he couldn’t be sure until he had done a few more experiments.

“So, what happened?” Raymond’s voice broke Ozul out of his thoughts. He was naturally curious about what was going on but hadn’t asked anything before so as to not disturb him.

But now that he was done with his ‘test’, Raymond couldn’t hold himself back any longer.

“I was trying to figure out the negative effects of the potions. I can’t be sure with just him alone,” Ozul only said what needed to be said. He didn’t go into details as that would only bring up more questions.

Raymond made a thoughtful face as if he understood a little.

When Alver came back, Ozul was ready to leave as he spoke, “If the Church causes any trouble for my organization, give them a helping hand... It doesn’t matter if they think that we are allies or not.”

“Also, do you guys know any solid reason why humans never made any settlements in that deserted part of the continent?” Ozul thought that maybe these two brothers would know the actual reason behind it.

He was pretty sure that harsh climate and the terrain couldn’t be the only reasons since those two things were easy to adapt to.

Alas, Raymond and Alver simultaneously shook their heads sideways before Alver spoke, “If grandfather Kure was here, maybe he could have given you a proper answer.”

Ozul nodded his head before he stood up to leave again. He could have waited a few more minutes or maybe even an hour for Kure to return, but that would have obviously not been enough.

It had already been more than an hour since he had come here, Raven and Blaze were still waiting for him in the forest.

Not to mention those spies sent by the Church of Light. He had no solid proof if they were really from the Church, but there was no one else who would dare to keep watch over the Three-Eyed Strangers’ headquarters except for the Church.

He didn’t know what their reaction would be, so he decided to leave as soon as possible.

“Take care, nephew. If you need anything else, just tell us,” like always, Raymond assured him that they were always there to help him when needed.

Ozul naturally wasn’t going to reject their goodwill. He was a little grateful to them as well since they had given him a helping hand on so many occasions.

Maybe if he could help them in the future, he might repay them. For now, he nodded at them and flew straight back to the team.

Only after he had disappeared from their sight did Raymond regain his cold face and asked, “What did you do with him?”

“He is in a separate room with five guards to watch over him,” Alver replied with an equally emotionless voice.

“Get rid of him,” Raymond didn’t think they had any use for that man and he knew that if he kept on living, he would start to spread exaggerated rumors.

“Alright,” Alver didn’t reject the idea. He had only isolated that man since he wasn’t sure that if they still needed him for anything.

He whispered something under his breath and a shadow flickered outside the room before Alver shifted his focus back to Raymond.

“Nephew sure does have a few tricks up his sleeve, huh.”

Raymond raised his brows and replied, “Tricks? I am not even sure if they are tricks or something else.”

He had a wry smile on his face. Them not being able to sense any Mana even from that black bead of smoke that expanded and contracted on Ozul’s whims proved to him that they weren’t just some tricks.

It was actually quite embarrassing for the both of them since they thought of themselves as someone who had to teach Ozul, but they couldn’t even understand him to begin with.

How were they supposed to guide him, who they knew not more than a stranger would? He was a total mystery to them.

Sigh... x2

Both of them simultaneously sighed before going back to their business. There was nothing they could do about it. Forcing Ozul to open up with them would only bring about negative results, so that was out of the question.

. . .

Ozul hurriedly made his way back to the forest where he had left the duo together with the Rogue Crew.

He didn’t know what the Church was up to, but he wasn’t afraid that anything dangerous might happen, at least for now.

With his speed, it didn’t take long before he found the group. They were all vigilantly examining their surroundings, no one let their guard down, fearing that there might be enemies in hiding.

When Raven and Blaze noticed him flying towards them, their eyes immediately shone as they could finally relax a little.

With him around, they didn’t have anything to worry about at all.

However, they noticed how Ozul swept his eyes all around them before finally approaching them.

‘They really are up to something,’ Ozul speculated that Lammert was probably planning something as he would never send a team of Rank-8 Mages to observe them from afar.

Being almost as strong as a Rank-10 Mage, Ozul naturally didn’t have any trouble in figuring out the location of all the Rank-8 Mages in hiding.

However, Lammert should have known that even for a Rank-9 Mage, as he thought Ozul to be, a couple of Rank-8 Mages were nothing. They would all be easily dealt with.

Noticing how all of them were trying their best to hide their presence, he realized that the team was only sent to keep an eye on them.

‘It is probably not just because he wanted to stay updated wherever I went,’ Ozul thought inside his head.

There was no way that Lammert would send a small team of Rank-8 Mages just for this trivial reason. He probably had ulterior motives, but one thing he could be sure of was that they were probably going to follow him.

“Alright. This part of the continent is mostly uninhabited, which means we won’t find any human settlements there. So, did you get all the necessary supplies?” Ozul asked in a seemingly casual tone.

He was addressing this to Raven who was the only person who felt that his tone was a little off. She thought about it for a moment before nodding her head as she replied, “Yes I did. I also got the necessary equipment for the exploration of the ruins.”

Ozul wasn’t surprised that she had caught on. He actually felt a little better knowing that there was at least one person who could use their brain.

Meanwhile, Blaze also felt something was amiss, but he couldn’t put a finger on it.

The Rogue Crew hiding in the vicinity also heard their conversation clearly and they had no comments on it.

If there was anyone under Rank-9 revealing their destination so openly, they would have thought that person to be an idiot. But Ozul, a Rank-9 Mage in their eyes, had nothing to worry about.

‘So it begins...’