Unsealing Emptiness

When everyone was informed of the new orders, they were back to their initial excitement to complete the task. This time, they had more confidence as they didn’t have to hold back to hide anything from the rest of the world.

Leaving them to deal with everything, Ozul decided to spend these days trying to familiarize himself with the new power.

He had thought of naming it but then decided to leave it for later until he had a better understanding of it.

Every day he felt his control over that shadow increase, albeit just a little.

Unlike with the Ball of Purity, he would easily get tired of manipulating them. As a result, his progress was far slower than he had anticipated.

At the same time, the anticipated day drew nearer, and everyone in the organization was busy looking for clues about the symbol.

.....

Anything related to the Three-Eyed Strangers was regarded as highly important by all the other organizations because of the sudden speed at which they had risen to their current position.

Except for the Church of Light, which was too busy stabilizing itself to care about external matters, this new action from the renowned neutral organization drew the attention of many, if not everyone’s.

Within a day, everyone around the continent had their own copies of the pattern being spread everywhere.

Including the Merchant’s Guild and the Leonhard Dynasty, they asked their own experts but found nothing related to the pattern.

Unfortunately, that was all they decided to do for now since the upcoming event was more important to them right now. While they kept their eyes out for whatever the Three-Eyed Strangers were doing right now, none interfered as they were busy with their own preparations.

Weeks quickly began to pass while thousands of files started piling on the desks of every higher up in the headquarters.

Although Ozul made it easier for them this time, their work had undoubtedly increased many times over.

The pyramids of reports were the proof of their best efforts and the results of the expenditure of their enormous resources every single day.

Sadly, most of these reports contained nothing but disappointment for them.

The rest of the reports only contained vague hope which they had to verify every time. These were mostly from the people who would do anything to get some rewards; even making up their own clues regarding the pattern.

Overall, they had it easier to gather information now but they still weren’t able to bring any good news.

As days passed, all the organizations keeping an eye on the Three-Eyed Strangers began to have doubts. They understood more than anyone how much resources were being spent and they still continued to do it while the deadline given from Old Gu was only days away.

They began to assume whether their decision to not pay much heed to this unusual behavior was alright in the first place. It had become clear to them that the importance of this pattern to the Three-Eyed Strangers was invaluable, hence they should have investigated it a bit more.

However, with the deadline in their view, they could only choose to conserve their forces. After all, most of them were clueless about what would really happen.

****

In an inconspicuous corner of the continent, an old man walked through the busy streets with an obscure presence.

He didn’t seem out of place yet there was something different about him.

At one point, he suddenly paused as a series of words reached his ears.

Making a slight turn, he walked towards the corner and noticed a few men discussing a strange pattern with a painting of it in their hands.

The Sun seemed to rage on the sky but the gentle cool winds helped calm the burning heat.

Just then, a gentle breeze hit the area and the next moment, the man holding the painting of the strange pattern found himself with nothing in his hands.

Outside the town, the old man sat on the roof of a building with the painting of the pattern in his hands as he tilted it a little and deeply stared at it for a moment.

“So this is what that boy’s been looking for? Hm...” Old Gu muttered, his interest in Ozul increasing even further.

“... I can’t seem to make out anything from this... but I get the feeling that it is not just any casual pattern.”

Old Gu continued to tilt the painting and stared at it from all possible angles. Unfortunately, he couldn’t figure it out in the end.

Standing up with a sigh, he looked at the horizon, colored half with the blue of the sky and half with the green of the forest with a glint in his eyes and a grin stretching across his face.

“Come to think of it, I hadn’t told him where to come... Gahaha”

The old man then vanished from the town. Although his laughter echoed there for a time, frightening the townspeople in broad daylight.

***

Only a couple of days were left before the day arrived when Old Gu had announced to the world to leave the Neutral Lands.

At first, everyone had thought that the forces residing there would surely retaliate, but to everyone’s surprise, they witnessed no protest. Even the Rank-10 Mages stayed quiet and shifted their headquarters outside the Neutral Lands.

With all the big shots complying so easily, even normal people started to anticipate what Old Gu was going to do in the Neutral Lands.

Did he want to create an organization of his own there? Was he a sage who had previously lived there and now wanted to take his home back?

Countless rumors were spread among the common populace.

While everyone on the continent was looking forward to the day, the members of the Three-Eyed Strangers were still desperately searching for any clues about the pattern.

They had yet again failed to bring about any results even after a month had passed just like that.

Again, contrary to their fears, Ozul kept calm while receiving the reports occasionally. After all, unlike what they thought, he had already anticipated it.

But that didn’t stop him from feeling depressed, knowing that all his years of hard effort had been for naught, and that he would have to seek an area infinitely many times greater than this continent for answers.

This fueled his motivation to improve his control over his new power.

‘I have to become stronger since I don’t know what I will have to face out there.’

He was currently in his room alone with Jinx.

Raven and Blaze both oversaw the entire process.

They were the only two people among the ones chosen by Old Gu to have no care whatsoever for the upcoming tournament.

While all others were practicing all day and night, they were more worried about giving results to Ozul.

Everyone was as busy as usual today, and no one seemed to notice the appearance of a strange old man who had not only strolled through the main entrance, which was currently closed, but was also heading up the stairs, with everyone seemingly ignoring him.

As the old man reached the top, he stopped at the floor where he felt the presence of Raven and Blaze.

He had only taken a few steps when he coincidentally came before Blaze.

“...Uh...”

Suddenly coming face to face before Old Gu made Blaze pause in his footsteps, making him doubt whether he was seeing things.

But his doubt didn’t remain for long when others present also started noticing the old man’s presence one by one. In a few seconds, Old Gu found himself being stared at by all the higher-ups of the Three-Eyed Strangers.

Those who recognized him were all weary while others threw annoyed glances at the old man.

“Gahaha... look at all of you staring at me like I am some monkey. Where is that heartless kid? Tch! he is the only one I cannot feel the presence of...” he grumbled the last sentence to himself.

Immediately as he said so, a few shot a few glances towards the stairs but all kept their quiet. Everyone knew that no one should disturb the leader, so they were reluctant to say anything.

Unfortunately for them, their actions did not escape Old Gu’s eyes.

“Gahaha! I will see him for myself,” saying that, he turned around and was about to walk towards the stairs when he noticed a shadow coming down instead.

“There is no need.”

Ozul came down the stairs and stood before Old Gu, staring suspiciously at him from head to toe.

What the old man failed to notice was the slight quiver in Ozul’s eyebrows.

‘He is still stronger than me...’ he internally sighed. His only consolation was in the fact that he was at least able to detect the old man’s arrival unlike before.

There was no doubt that Old Gu was still stronger than him because he wasn’t able to feel his strength at all.

A sense of disappointment washed over him as he suddenly had an urge to fight with him and test his own strength against him but he stopped himself from doing so.

He didn’t know what this old man would do if he were to lose the duel which was the most likely scenario.

While he was pondering on whether he would be able to match against Old Gu with the help of his newfound power, the latter continued to stare at him with an ever-stretching grin.

It was as if he was staring at an invaluable jewel...