Unsealing Emptiness

Not to mention, he had yet to test out his improvements after he had obtained his left arm.

“Only one remains...” he muttered as he looked at his lifeless prosthetic arm.

He was somewhere around 35 years old, as far as he could recall, but after he had turned 20, there were no visible signs of him aging whatsoever.

Although it was something similar to the Mages who had their aging slowed down the higher their rank was, Ozul understood that his condition was different.

He didn’t have Mana, and he knew for a fact that the darkness his body absorbed didn’t do anything except for keeping him alive without the need of consuming food. But he wasn’t sure about the Ball of Purity.

As far as he had tried to sense, the Ball of Purity only moved when he wanted to. So now his body had become yet another mystery because he couldn’t find any reason for it to have stopped aging.

.....

‘I am probably made from something different than humans,’ that was the only logical conclusion Ozul could draw before he sighed and went to lay on the bed.

For some reason though, he couldn’t muster up any feeling of joy after he had found out about his prolonged life.

Jinx also appeared in the room and jumped on the bed to lay beside him.

Ozul didn’t sleep, he was instead thinking about his decision to openly go against the Church of Light now.

All this time, he had only been going with the flow and tried to get his limbs back only when he found the chance to. However, it had already been so much time, so he had decided to take a bolder step now.

Spreading rumors of how consuming the medicine from the Church was the reason for their participant to end up in that fatal state would definitely have a huge hit on their reputation.

Along with that, people would start to hesitate when buying and using those healing potions made from his essence.

All of this only so he could somehow get back at the Church. This move of his wouldn’t make it any easier for him to get his arm back, but at least it would put more pressure on Archbishop Lammert.

As of now, he couldn’t try to get it back since the Church’s ancestor was also out of seclusion.

She wouldn’t just hand him his arm if he asked nicely either.

And about how he knew that the Church wouldn’t take any action against him openly? It was because he had sensed how all the ancestors were cautious of the old man and then how that old lady from the Church seemed to have been frustrated that Old Gu talked with him as if they were friends.

Looking at the situation, he was certain that although those ancestors knew the old man’s identity, they weren’t friends. Instead, the four ancestors seemingly feared him.

At least for now, he was sure that the Church wouldn’t make any move against him.

As for how he would obtain his arm from them, he would have to first test his new limits and learn about the complete situation from Alver or Raymond.

Ozul shook his head to clear away such thoughts and closed his eyes to sleep. At this time, he only focused on savoring this serene sense of fulfillment.

——

Ozul slept until it was already the next morning.

Before he woke up, the Three-Eyed Strangers had already started spreading the information that he had told them to.

Just a day had passed and the people on the streets only talked about the information released by the Three-Eyed Strangers. Most of them gossiped about the voice they had heard, but a small bunch was still more interested in the fact that using the medicine provided by the Church had reduced their own member into an almost dead state.

Many had doubted all these rumors going around on the streets, so they went to the organization to buy the information directly for them to confirm if it was really all true.

Word started to spread, and it was too late until Lammert got the wind of it. By then, the perfect reputation and the blind trust of the masses had already wavered.

Ozul was satisfied with the report that Irvin had given him, so he nodded in appreciation.

“Young master, should we make preparations to relocate the headquarters as well?” Irvin asked when Ozul was about to leave the room.

“It’s best to gather all the basic things, but you don’t have to hurry the preparations. We have five years, and let me have a talk with Alver and Raymond first,” Ozul answered and before leaving the room, he said, “Don’t let anyone bother me. It doesn’t matter what it is.”

Irvin respectfully bowed his head, indicating that he understood.

He didn’t directly go to meet Alver and Raymond since they would be busy with their own things, and he wanted to list down all of his improvements without anyone disturbing him.

As he entered his room, he noticed that Jinx was already in the room. He sat beside her and closed his eyes.

This time not for sleeping, but he was trying to sense if there were any changes inside of him.

He noticed no noticeable changes except for the improvement in his physical strength. At this point, he felt like he could very well pick up giant boulders without breaking a sweat.

Getting his arm back had also enhanced his senses for some reason. The most apparent change was in his sense of feeling the emotions of others.

It had gotten harder to ignore other’s emotions now because the radius in which he felt others’ emotions had increased considerably.

Although it would be useful in critical situations, it was annoying all the other times. More so when he was in a public place or surrounded by a crowd. An example was when he had attended the tournament yesterday.

He knew that if he had stayed there for a few minutes, he would probably get a headache.

‘I will have to learn to control this...’ Ozul started to make a list in his head for the things that he had to practice later.

Ozul could not help but think about how his eyesight had improved in an unusual way. And he had realized it when he had returned to the headquarters yesterday.

Though he knew where the building was erected, he previously would have a hard time sensing it if the invisible formation was activated.

But what had surprised him yesterday was how he was able to notice a thin outline of the entire structure together with the space in the middle being strangely distorted!

It was unexpected that his eyes would become capable of seeing things that he wasn’t even able to sense previously.

Next, he wanted to test the Ball of Purity. It was his only way of attacking and defending, so whether he could defeat a Rank-10 Mage or not solely depended on its improvement.

The headquarters was not a place where he could test anything of such sorts, so he went out and arrived in a barren place. He made sure that there was no one around before he started to release the Ball of Purity.

After he had released all of the Ball of Purity, Ozul nodded to himself in satisfaction with a half-smiling face.

The reason being the quantity of the Ball of Purity had significantly increased. Before when he created those giant spinning spikes for attacking, the insides of it would be empty every time, so the actual force behind those spikes was not as deadly as it looked.

However, with the amount he had right now, he could very well create tens of those giant spikes without having to leave them hollow!

Ozul couldn’t imagine just how destructive they would be considering that the previous ones were enough to deal with even the best spells of the Rank-9 Mages!

After that, Ozul began to test his control over that large chunk of the Ball of Purity. Sadly, it wasn’t as good as he had thought it would be.

Although compared to before, his control over it was tens of times better, it was nowhere near enough to effectively make use of the increased quantity of the Ball of Purity.

‘This also requires training... sigh...’ Ozul sighed as it was one of the most boring tasks on his list.

‘Overall, dealing with tens of those half-step Rank-10 Mages wouldn’t be a problem now. However, I am not at the level to defeat those proper Rank-10 ancestors...’ Ozul concluded with a sigh.

Those four ancestors were probably in the Middle or the End stage of the Rank-10, and he was only strong enough to hold his ground against any one of them for a few hours.

After practicing and getting used to his improved body, he would be able to extend those few hours to maybe even a day.

Ozul then separated a small part from the Ball of Purity and shot it in a random direction.

5 meters...10 meters... 12 meters... 15 meters... 20 meters... 25 meters!

He only started to lose control over that part of the Ball of Purity when it crossed 25 meters from him!

Again in a place with no one to witness, a mirthful smile appeared on Ozul’s face as he anticipated the day he would become complete again...