Unsealing Emptiness

Take me!

Waking up early in the morning, Ozul took the blanket with him and went inside his room.

Just as he opened the room, Ozul saw that the Raven girl was occupying it. Seeing no other way around it, he went near the bed, pushed Raven down, and then collapsed down on it.

Raven, who woke up due to suddenly dropping on the ground, stood up, trying to look for the source of her suffering.

When she spotted that Ozul was instead lying on the bed, she looked at him tearfully.

Ozul, noticing that the Raven girl was starting to tear up, hurriedly stood up, and went in front of her before he began to pat her head to stop her from crying.

‘If she began to cry out loud, Grandma Carol will lecture me to no end,’ Ozul had no other choice but to pat her head. He had seen parents on the streets pat their children’s heads to stop them from crying. So, he thought that it might work.

Fortunately for him, his pat worked wonders.

Raven, who was the victim of the situation, went bright red. Her ears and cheeks seemed even redder than a tomato! Though her thoughts remained unknown.

.....

Raven was in bliss when she noticed that Ozul had removed his hand from her head, and was now going back to sleep.

Now Raven, who had just woken up, could not go back to sleep since Ozul had seized the bed.

Luckily for her, Grandma Carol was also awake. So, she just went to help with her gardening.

. . .

The next time that Ozul woke up was when Raven came to call him for breakfast. He stood up and freshened himself before eating breakfast.

After finishing the food, Ozul told Grandma Carol,

“I will probably be late. Don’t worry.”

“Take care of yourself and don’t wander deep into the forest,” Grandma Carol thought, still worried as no matter what, Ozul was still just a ten years old kid.

Ozul left the house, but just as he was about to move through the gate, Raven came rushing at him.

“Wait! Can I go with you?” – Raven could not help but feel anxious that he would be gone for the whole day.

“Hm? No.” – Ozul simply found it a bother to bring the girl with him.

“W-why?” – Raven was startled with his direct rejection but probed the reason.

“Are you a Mage? No. A Fighter? No.” – Ozul asked her the question knowing that she wasn’t any of that. If Raven were a Mage or a Fighter, she wouldn’t have been in a situation where she needed Ozul to help her.

“I c-can be a Mage!” – Raven showed her determination to tread the path of the Mage just to come with him.

“Hm? You know how to?” – Ozul was surprised that Raven knew the practice to become a Mage.

“Yes! My father was the village leader; he had told me many things!” Raven cheerfully replied, noticing that for the first time, Ozul had an interest in the conversation.

She then continued,

“He had taught me a rare technique. I know it all! Father said that it was from my mother, who was also a Mage!” Raven explained how she could become a Mage.

“When you do, I will take you.” Ozul simply told her the case.

Before waiting for her to reply, Ozul took his leave. Not caring about the dejected Raven as she kept staring at his back.

‘I will get stronger!’ – Raven resolved herself before she went back to help Grandma Carol.

– – – – – – – – –

Walking into the woods, Ozul was vigilant because the area that he was hunting in also had some Rank-5 Beasts. Even though the forest was vast, finding individual sections where only Rank-4 Beasts reigned supreme was difficult, not to mention that those areas could be hundreds of miles away from him.

Hence, there was nothing Ozul could do but pick the region where the least amount of Rank-5 Beasts were seen.

Rank-5 Beasts in this area were pretty rare. Ozul could only depend on his luck to not encounter one.

‘No need to bother about it now,’ Ozul thought as he began looking for Rank-3 or Rank-4 Beasts.

Only fifteen minutes later, Ozul found his first target.

It was an Earth Bear, a Rank-4 Beast. From the name, you could tell that the beast had Magical Spells related to the Earth Element.

It would be a new experience because his opponent, this time, had Spells.

Ozul tried to sneak in on the beast to finish it quickly, but the Bear’s senses and instincts were sharp!

The Bear quickly turned around and prepared himself as he sensed that someone ambushed him.

Seeing that his attack had failed, Ozul did not panic. He quickly created several jet-black blades from Ball of Purity and directed some of them to thrust towards the Earth Bear.

But the Earth Bear generated a mud wall that blocked the blades. The Bear then roared before it directed a big rock nearby to surge towards Ozul.

Ozul could not direct the blades stuck in the mud wall as it would be too late. Fortunately, He had kept half of the Ball of Purity with him.

Ozul created a shield in front of him to block the rock while commanding the blades towards the Bear.

The Earth Bear was confident in his attack that he never thought that those blades stuck in the mud wall would suddenly thrust towards him.

Before it could react, The blades already split open its head, and with a thud, the Earth Bear dropped on the ground.

All the fight took was about half a minute! In nearly thirty seconds, the Rank-4 Earth Bear was dead.

Ozul arrived next to the corpse to collect his prize. He willed one of the blades to cut open the chest of the Bear.

Immediately, Ozul could see the little ball holding refined Mana. If the Core obtained from the Rank-3 Beast was only the size of a nail, this Core of a Rank-4 Beast was only slightly bigger.

If you were not concentrated enough, you might not even be able to differentiate between them.

Ozul again had two choices,

1: He absorbs this Core—increasing his strength even just by a little bit.

2: He stores this Core and sells it when he has enough of them to buy a Spatial Ring.

‘It’s not like I’m in an urgent need of money. I should just get stronger...’- Ozul contemplated in his mind and chose the former option.

Wealth was essential, but for now, he does not need it. Maybe soon, but not now.

Ozul just put the Core in his mouth and swallowed it. Only the next second, Ozul could feel the changes in his body when suddenly, a burst of raw Mana released from him to enter the atmosphere.

Rechecking his body, Ozul concluded that maybe he could even fight with a Rank-1 Beast, only using his body.

But it was useless for him, though. The Reason? It’s because Ozul never uses his body in a fight.

The benefits were that a more durable body could take more damage. A Sturdier frame will stay in the fight for longer than a frail body even if the participants only use Spells.

Moreover, if you are fast enough, you could dodge attacks that you could not be able to block.

They were negligible now, but in the long term, there were only pros to the upgrade of his physical abilities.

The density of his Ball of Purity also increased. Ozul guessed that it might require about 15 or so Cores of Beasts at Rank-4 for him to be able to fight a Rank-5 Beast easily.

Ozul again started to look for a target.

Unfortunately, even after 3 hours, he did not encounter any other Rank-4 Beast.

All he could encounter were Rank-3 beasts.

Ozul found 5 of them, but he discovered that eating a Core at Rank-3 provided no gains for him this time. Ozul stored the other 4 Cores to sell for a Spatial Ring.

It was no use for him to absorb them, but selling them will earn him 40 Silver Coins.

Ozul needed to head back home now. He had spent about 4 hours in the forest and walking back to the town from this area will take another hour.

His hunting area this time was quite far away from the town. So, Ozul decided to end the day.

Heading back, Ozul encountered only Rank-1 or Rank-2 Beasts; he effortlessly dealt with them.

When he was back in the town, it was already past noon. Ozul sped up his pace, and in several minutes, he was back home.

This time, Ozul could see not only Grandma Carol but also that Raven girl pacing around the front door with anxious expressions.

As explained earlier, Ozul was proficient in perceiving the emotions of others. That Raven girl was not pretending—she was genuinely worried for him.

When he entered through the gate, Both the ladies sighed in relief as Grandma Carol finally sat on the wooden chair at the side.

Ozul watching Grandma Carol resting, narrowed his eyes while he began to think,

‘She physically became tired after worrying about me... her health is only getting worse... the physician also said that it was only due to her age and he could not do anything,’ Ozul and Grandma Carol had already consulted a reliable physician.

‘Maybe I should not go to the forest every day? It’s not like I am in a hurry to increase my strength. Actually, I always feel like I have all the time in this world to get my ‘parts’ back,’ Ozul, at last, decided not to hunt every day.

Ozul then arrived next to Grandma Carol as he faced Raven and said,

“Get her a glass of water,” Ozul plainly said, pointing towards Grandma Carol.

Listening to Ozul order, Raven did not blink an eye before rushing inside. She then brought the water for Grandma Carol.

Grandma Carol took the glass from Raven. After drinking it, she started talking,

.....

“Fufu... You don’t need to worry about this frail old lady, Ozul. It’s not like I can liv...”- Grandma Carols’ words were stuck in her mouth as she received a glare from Ozul.

The sun was still up. So, Ozul walked back into the house to get some sleep.

Walking back to his room, Ozul closed the door and collapsed on the bed before entering the dream world.

His dreams, though, were only for him to dream and for others to guess.