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After hearing those words, Raven and Blaze only hoped that they wouldn’t be put against even more Rank-9 Beasts.

Fortunately for them, Ozul didn’t want them half-dead every day. He led them to places that were abundant in Beasts around Rank-8.

Though he only made them fight those Beasts in the upper levels of Rank-8. Anything less than that would be too easy for them.

They moved from places to places fighting peak Rank-8 Beasts. Their progress was slow, but they were improving at a steady rate.

What both of them needed now was power but experience, and they could only gain it slowly. There was no shortcut to gaining experience.

The more they fought, the more their bodies got used to fighting. Slowly, they had started to make instinctual movements during the battles as well.

.....

Ozul would only lead them to a city when he wanted to have a proper sleep. Otherwise, they spent their days in the wilderness fighting beasts and killing beasts.

Though Rank-8 Beasts weren’t so common either. So the duo wasn’t able to fight the Beasts all day long every day. On the days when Ozul didn’t find any Beast, he would oversee continuous duels between them.

While Blaze had the natural talent for Ice Element, so he wouldn’t have any difficulties regarding that most of the time. As for Raven, she wouldn’t find any better person to answer her questions about Darkness Element than Ozul himself.

Although Ozul tried to stay near the Neutral Lands, it didn’t go as planned since they couldn’t find any Rank-8 Beasts in groups. Although the duels between them were also fruitful, Ozul wasn’t satisfied with them.

Even when he would tell both of them to go at each other with the intent to kill, they would probably stop at the last minute. And deep down, they also knew that.

So they wouldn’t feel as much pressure as when they were fighting the Beasts who wouldn’t miss a single opportunity to take their life.

Just like that, the only time when Raven and Blaze were allowed to rest was the time when Ozul wanted to sleep as well.

Time started to pass with Ozul spending most of his time watching over the duo.

—–

Four years passed in the blink of an eye.

In the start, Ozul only made them fight Magical Beasts. But cultivation couldn’t be left alone either, so he also made them cultivate after the fight.

Although it was difficult to cultivate after they were exhausted from the battle, it had shown results as well.

Blaze’s advancement to the End Stage of Rank-8 was the proof of that!

It didn’t come as a surprise to Ozul when Blaze achieved a breakthrough. Since he would constantly examine their bodies, he knew that he was quickly reaching the bottleneck.

What surprised him was the fact that the usual bottleneck which took most of the Mages years to overcome didn’t even hinder Blaze.

His natural talent was finally starting to fully show its might when Raven only reached the bottleneck a year later!

As of now, it had almost been a month after she had reached the bottleneck. Ozul speculated that it wouldn’t take long for her before she also becomes an End Stage Rank-8 Mage, but it was difficult to measure just how long.

Raven finally had to face the reality that hard work alone couldn’t beat natural talent.

A hardworking person can certainly beat a genius, but it was a different matter if that genius also begins to work hard.

“Only the weak who gave up complain about fairness,” Ozul had told Raven when she once said how the heavens were unfair.

After that, although she still felt bad that her talent wasn’t as good as Blaze’s, Raven didn’t give up. So what if Blaze had left her behind? She would ultimately stand at the same Rank sooner or later.

What mattered was that she could help Ozul, even if a little.

Moreover, there was still one thing that Blaze didn’t have and that was her brain. No matter how much talent that ice demon had, he would never be as smart as her.

Only when Ozul had mentioned this did Raven’s mood finally improve.

“Let’s go. It’s time to return,” Ozul said, making Raven and Blaze perk up their ears.

They had also been keeping a count, so Blaze asked, “Hasn’t... it only been four years? Haa... There is still one year left... before the test starts... no?”

He had just finished killing two peak Rank-8 Beasts at the same time so he was almost panting while Raven sat crossed leg a few meters away. Both of them still lacked in combat, but Raven was way ahead of Blaze in that aspect, so she was allowed to cultivate while Blaze fought the Beasts.

“I have other things to do before that test as well,” Ozul didn’t elaborate. Raven nodded her head and stood up to follow behind while Blaze was left there panting on the ground,

“Hey! Wait for me,”

. . .

The three arrived back in the Neutral Lands on the same day. Blaze was breathing heavily as he still needed to catch his breath.

He could have used the healing potion for this as well, but Ozul had forbidden them from using the potion after finding out that a trace of his essence was always left inside their body.

Unless Ozul learned more about it, he decided that it was better to be on the safe side.

The trio could see the visible changes to the Neutral Lands in their absence. In the span of four years, thousands of people had already shifted their business to somewhere else, so very rarely would they see any crowd.

Those who had moved out earlier didn’t want to take any chances, but there was still a large part of people who held hope that they might not need to leave after all as they noticed how the big organizations hadn’t yet moved their headquarters either.

This included the headquarters of the Three-Eyed Strangers. Irvin, Haley, and Oliver had the most say in the matter of the organization, but they still needed Ozul’s permission for them to move the headquarters.

However, all this time that Ozul had taken Raven and Blaze to train outside, he had only contacted them twice. That too only to confirm their general situation and if there was any major problem.

Fortunately for them, everyone was too busy preparing for whatever was to happen after the 5 years of time ended for them to look for trouble with the Three-Eyed Strangers.

As Ozul arrived in the town, he noticed that rarely anyone entered the headquarters at this point. Many people were left in the Neutral Lands in the first place, so the fewer number of customers was understandable.

There were bases of the Three-Eyed Strangers all over the world now, so these people wouldn’t bother to come all the way over to this town of the Neutral Lands for some unimportant information.

As Ozul entered, most of the people on the first floor hadn’t changed, so they instantly recognized him and the duo.

And just like how he usually did, he nonchalantly ignored their whispers and murmurs before making his way directly to the seventh floor. That is where Irvin and Haley used to spend most of their time.

“But we can’t keep recruiting people like that!”

“Why do we give this bunch of people so many resources in the first place?!”

“I agree. They don’t help us in any way.”

Ozul heard people argue as he slowly made his way towards the meeting room.

“It is as Young Master had commanded me to do so,” Haley replied with a cold tone of her own. She didn’t like the fact that these bunch of Rank-8 Mages never seemed to learn.

Just when another person was about to argue, Ozul stepped in the room, surprising everyone as he said, “I told Haley to do so. If anyone has any problem, they can consult with me.”

In shock and surprise, the people who had previously been complaining suddenly shuddered as they felt Ozul’s cold gaze swept past them. Since their lives were tied with the organization, they naturally wouldn’t think anything bad for it.

However, they also had to understand that Ozul was the leader of this organization and they only worked for him. They could put their opinion on the table, but never force anyone to use them.

“Young Master!” x2

Irvin and Haley immediately stood up followed by the rest of the elite members as they simultaneously bowed towards Ozul.

“Hah! You are finally back!” Oliver spoke with a smile of his own. However casual he talked, he still bowed his head a little to show him some respect.

Ozul nodded his head, indicating for all of them to raise their heads before he immediately went to the topic, “I assume the people who you were talking about are the ones you recruited for the special unit?”

Although Haley was surprised that the first thing Ozul had said after coming back wasn’t about him going to rest, she still nodded her head and answered, “Yes young master. However, they were debating that I should lessen their funds as this special unit hasn’t done anything for the organization.”

“Hm? I have given her full authority on this. She can use as many resources of the organization she can to train this special unit,” Ozul explained as he noticed everyone’s confused gaze.

He then turned towards Haley and asked, “So, how many people have you recruited already...?”