Invitation.

Ozul and Raven woke up a little late. The Sun was already up and annoying as ever. Even Raven had also started to think that the Sun was irritating after spending so much time with Ozul.

Well, the real reason may be that it forced her to wake up instead of snuggling with Ozul.

Ozul stood up and did not notice that Raven was awake. He picked her up and brought her to the room before he went to freshen up.

Since the Viscount had died last night, they had no enemy. So, Ozul was planning to absorb at least two more Rank-4 Cores. It will bring his Ball of Purity and physical strength a qualitative change.

Half an hour later, Ozul stood up and informed Raven about his departure, who had woken up during that time.

Raven looked gloomily towards Ozul before she shut the door and went back inside.

Ozul being Ozul, did not care and just went alone. Midway, Ozul remembered something.

'Dammit! How could I forget the Core from the Viscount? I had told Raven to store it in her Spatial Ring. And here I was going to hunt for Rank-4 Beast Cores when I have a Rank-5 Mage Core.'

Last night, Ozul did not forget to cut open the Viscount's chest to obtain the Core. It will be the first time that he will absorb a Mage's Core.

He did not stop and just took a U-turn back to his house.

Knocking at the door, Ozul had to wait for quite a bit before Raven slowly opened the door. It looked like she was ready to fight any foe!

Seeing his face tho, she relaxed her posture. But then she remembered that he had refused her just a moment ago to bring her with him.

'Did he change his mind?'- Raven thought as she was thrilled to have an adventure with him!

Raven thought that Ozul might speak any minute saying that—he changed his mind. But...

Ozul extended a hand towards Raven as if asking something from her. Raven tilted her head a little—thinking what this gesture could mean.

Seeing no response from Raven, Ozul again looked at her as if looking at an idiot. He spoke;

"Core from the Viscount."- This reminded Raven that Ozul had taken the Magical Core from the Viscount and gave it to her for storage purposes.

She took out the Core from her Storage Ring and put it on Ozuls palm. Raven again waited to hear the response she wanted, but Ozul walked past her and went into the living room.

Raven stood frozen at her spot and only moved when she realized that Ozul did not plan to go out.

In the dining room, Ozul did not have any hesitation in swallowing the Core.

Again, a burst of impure Mana was released from his body, and the rest nourished his body and Ball of Purity.

Raven came running in when she felt the burst of Mana. Ignoring the worried Raven, Ozul was checking his improvements.

The result tho was not so satisfying. Only his physical strength had a considerable boost; his body was as powerful as a Rank-4 Fighter. But the density of his Ball of Purity had stagnated.

It improved a bit, but after that, it seemed to be missing something. Ozul felt as if it wouldn't advance any further if he did not provide that missing thing.

'What can I be missin- Of course... What could it be but my arms and my leg,' Ozul realized that the only thing he missed was, of course, his limbs.

They were his emptiness, but removing them—emptied him. It is a confusing concept, but he liked the comfortable feeling brought by them. But the void left behind by separating him from his 'emptiness' was agonizing.

One emptiness 'filled' him, while the other left a painful void.

But if he cannot improve, he will not be able to get his 'self' back.

'This is going to be a problem,' Ozul did not know any other way to increase his strength.

Unlike Ozul, all the other Mages take years, if not decades, to reach his level. No one in the history of this world had advanced this much in a matter of only weeks.

Ozul would be the enemy of the whole world if people knew about his feat.

Then again, Ozul did not follow the general cultivation route. The Mages took years because they needed to refine each bit of the Mana. The Fighters took years because fusing with the Mana takes years!

But Ozul? He just needed to eat some 'crystal balls'.

However, he had met his first bottleneck. Obtaining his 'pieces' would require him to be stronger while becoming stronger needed him to get his parts back—it was just an endless loop!

Ozul suddenly had an idea and looked towards Raven with narrowed eyes.

Raven, who was the target of Ozuls' 'narrowed eyes' had a shiver run down her spine. Ozul's look contained complicated emotions.

Raven felt as if she was caught in some hunter's trap. She was right though. Ozul only had one other way to obtain his 'parts' back, and it was to use others.

Ozul only had Raven in his arsena-....*cough*... as his friend. He needed more weapo-....*cough*... friends to 'help' him in his 'endeavors'.

'It seems like it is time to move out,' Ozul planned to travel. Even if he did not find any people to do everything for him, it was his only way to spend the time.

I mean, what could he even do except for that? Never give up and never forget the fire of revenge burning inside him to fuel his determination and keep working towards his goals like some stories' protagonists?

It was just not Ozuls thing. He would instead pass the time while counting the fireflies than work hard.

Just as Raven and Ozul were lost in their own thoughts, there was a knock at the door. Both of them went on high alert; no one would visit them. It could only mean trouble.

Ozul slowly opened the door, but he was surprised to see a middle-aged man standing there with a smile on his face.

He emitted no malicious aura. Instead, Ozul could feel a friendly gesture from the man's smile.

Before he could ask anything, the man spoke first;

"You must be Ozul?"- The man asked while his smile reached to the ears.

"What do you want?"- Ozul did not bother to confirm anything. If the guy came for him, he wanted to know the reason.

"Oh, where are my manners! I am a subject to Lord Oliver. He sent me to invite you to his Manor in the afternoon for some discussions."- The man said while bowing his head a little. He did not show any arrogance in front of this kid who did not even exude a tint of Mana.

"Okay."- Ozul simply said before he closed the door on the man's face. There was no use in talking to someone who was just here to send an invitation.

The man on the other side of the door did not mind it and just turned around and left.

Ozul came back to the living room with Raven—who had a concerned expression on her face.

"Could it be that the Count knows?"- Raven anxiously asked Ozul. Even though Ozul massacred the Viscount the previous night, she did not know if he could do the same with the Count.

"Of course, he knows! You think the Count; the top authority in this whole City wanted to discuss with two random children about their hobbies while at a tea party?"- Ozul again looked at Raven as if he was looking at an idiot.

Frankly, Raven was quite annoyed whenever Ozul gave her this look. But she could not refute anything as she was asking obvious questions.

But the thing that irritated her the most was; that Ozul does not speak so much in ordinary talks, but when it comes to scolding her, he never lacked any words.

Raven pouted as she asked her next question;

"So, what are we gonna do?"- Raven wanted to clear her doubts.

"We will attend, of course. The Count does not have any evil intentions, at least towards us."- Ozul explained. He could feel that the man was a Mage, yet he bowed towards him. It can only mean one thing; he received orders from the Count to be respectful.

Raven still had her doubts, but she knew better than to ask any further. It will only start Ozul's long speech about how she is a complete idiot.

Ozul also did not bother to explain any further and just went towards the room to sleep. Since he will have to attend the 'discussions' in the afternoon, Ozul decided to sleep extra to compensate his body for the afternoon.

In the meantime, Raven trained to grow stronger. She was not Ozul, who would go to sleep even after waking up from sleeping the whole night.