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He then added, “I skimmed through it; mostly the basic details are recorded here.”

Ozul picked up the file and also gave it a read. As Oliver had said, there weren’t many details on it other than what he already knew about it.

One thing that he wasn’t told before but could already guess was the fact that the number of Magical Beasts in that area was a lot more than in any other part of the continent.

That was also one of the reasons that it was unbearable for humans to create settlements there. The harsh environment made it so only the strong could live there, and the Beasts thrived in that part of the continent since there were almost no humans to destroy nature.

It naturally went on to show that this uninhabited part of the mainland had many natural resources and Magical Beasts lurking around. It was also suspected that there might be more than just a few of Rank-9 Beasts there!

“There is nothing else?” Ozul asked with disappointment. He had thought that he might be able to learn something, but it turned out to be just a waste of his time since he already had such a general idea about how things worked in that place.

.....

Although he couldn’t figure out what these ruins held in store for him, it would have been better if he knew about the environment in depth.

What he had in his hands only explained how there were occasional teams of Mages sent there to explore and find anything of value to bring back. Whenever the exploration went as planned, those organizations reaped heavy benefits.

But seven out of ten exploration plans ended up failing miserably. Not only would the entire teams be annihilated, but they wouldn’t even be able to find their fallen comrades’ bodies afterwards!

They could only speculate that the collective strength of the herd of Beasts in those areas required teams consisting of at least Rank-8 Mages.

But even the most prominent factions couldn’t bother themselves to send teams of Rank-8 Mages for exploration. They had too much on their hands in their respective territories already, why would they reduce their main force on something so trivial in their eyes?

Still, other organizations might have some more information about it in their records, but Ozul didn’t have so much time. There was only a single year left before the test after all.

“I will just find it out myself then...” Ozul muttered to himself. He then looked at Oliver and inquired,

“What about the details on the organization’s expansion over the past four years?”

“Oh, I have them here as well,” Oliver said while carefully opening the diary-like book with a dark-brown leather cover in his hands.

“Haley didn’t want to mess anything up, and we all agreed to take this slowly but with high efficiency,” Oliver spoke, getting a nod of approval from Ozul.

Following that, Olive started giving him a summary of everything they had been doing till now.

Although four years were barely enough, the Three-Eyed Strangers had already infiltrated the low-level factions to at least one of their important positions.

And just like Ozul had instructed, Haley had stopped there for the low-level factions. He only wanted for them to be able to get their hands on the crucial pieces of information that these factions wouldn’t leak outside otherwise.

It was the same for the relatively stronger factions, though Haley was still working on them. She had picked a number of people based on their merits to oversee all of this as well.

Those members sent as a spy to the other organizations were also required to take oaths of secrecy, but they were given a lot of compensation for taking the risk as well.

It turned out that infiltrating those low-level factions brought them a lot more benefits than they had calculated.

They would have never known these unknown groups of people spread all around the continent sometimes would occasionally get their hands on a lot of precious stuff if not for Haley and Oliver skimming through all the reports for the whole week.

Only because of this, a few of the core members had once even proposed a very bold idea of absorbing these small groups completely!

However, Haley, Oliver, and those who were a little familiar with the politics had immediately rejected the proposition. If the giant factions ever got the wind of them taking over all those weak groups, they would surely think that their information-gathering organization was amassing strength for their ‘future plans’.

There was a clear and delicate balance formed between all the factions on the continent. They would all readily join hands against those who showed even a hint of ambition.

Haley and Oliver certainly didn’t want all the factions on the continent to suddenly turn against them with a united front.

They might not be able to do anything with Ozul’s presence, but their business would take a fatal hit and might even crash.

There was no mercy for those who suddenly grew a lot more compared to the others.

‘However, there is a solution to this,’ Ozul had a thoughtful look on his face.

He didn’t have any interest in making the Three-Eyed Strangers fight for supremacy against all the other organizations, but it would certainly be helpful the more eyes they had around the mainland.

“Although taking over those small groups would turn all the attention to us, Haley didn’t completely reject the idea. I think she wants to proceed with it as well, but discreetly,” Oliver added, making Ozul give another nod of approval to Haley in his mind.

He was thinking about the exact same thing.

If getting ahead of others would make everyone turn against them, all they had to do was hide their tracks and not be found out!

So what if they wouldn’t let anyone grow above others’ pace? There was a simple solution for this, just do it silently.

Once they had enough strength, they could very well flaunt all of this in front of the masses, and they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

An example would be Ozul himself; if those factions back then all knew that he would one day become so monstrous and also build an organization rivaling the four strongest organizations, they would undoubtedly have him killed to avoid their future’s main cause of headaches.

However, now that he had already grown into a known powerhouse, no one dared to mess with him.

“As for the factions that were relatively stronger, we have already infiltrated their ranks as well. Some of our people have even succeeded to get themselves important positions, but there hasn’t been such success everywhere,” Oliver narrated everything like a story.

It turned out that infiltrating the top organizations who had Rank-9 Mages leading them was not only risky but also the real focus of their expansion.

Unlike those factions led only by some Rank-8 Mages, these groups had plenty of resources and could very well use them to have all of their important members swear oaths just like the Three-Eyed Strangers.

Hence, Haley had ordered everyone to be as efficient as they could be and not to reveal a single flaw.

The spies had to slowly build their trust and reputation, that is everything they could do for now.

Oliver briefed Ozul a few more minor details, but the latter was already bored out of his mind.

He would occasionally think about these matters, but it required him to use his brain. And sleeping was always better than running his brain like a slave all day.

If he hadn’t just woken up, he would have already gone to the bed again.

A cold chill invaded Ozul’s nostrils as he looked towards the staircases on the opposite corner.

Just then, Blaze and Raven were seen making their way up. The chill that Ozul just felt was not only limited to himself. Rather, it was a lot harsher for everyone else on the floor.

‘He needs a better control over his own Element...’ Ozul contemplated as noticed Oliver’s creased brows.

Blaze was subconsciously releasing his aura right now. It wasn’t anything alarming, but others still felt uncomfortable because of it.

Unlike Raven, they wouldn’t so easily get used to the chilling aura.

Not surprisingly, the duo immediately noticed Ozul’s presence from all the way over there. It had almost become a habit to not solely put all of their trust in Mana to observe the surroundings after living with him for so long.

They quickly made their way towards him, but Blaze stopped just a meter away when he noticed Ozul’s squinting his eyes at him.

‘Uh... did I do something wrong?!’ Blaze immediately looked over everything and only a moment later did it hit him, ‘Shit!’

He quickly retracted his bone-chilling aura that soon turned the atmosphere on the floor back to normal.

“H-hehe...” Blaze laughed nervously while scratching the back of his head.

“You see, we just came back from sparring, and I... didn’t notice it,” he explained himself but Ozul’s face remained unchanged.

Only after a few seconds did Ozul speak, “You need proper control over your Element.”

Although he said it casually, Blaze knew that it meant trouble for him. But he still seriously nodded his head.

Seeing that he was finished here, Oliver took his leave. Ozul didn’t move back to his room since he was waiting for Haley to come back.

As bored as he was, Ozul turned towards Raven, “Stop sparring with him from now on. It wouldn’t do any good if you harmed yourself.”

Raven nodded her head while feeling a little warm in her heart as she noticed his concern.