Chapter 260: 258: Independent.

Kure then suddenly turned towards Ozul, and with a glint in his eyes, he spoke, "You... are you also a candidate this time?"

Ozul didn't try to hide it and simply nodded his head.

There was no point in hiding something like that anyway. Quite the opposite, he also wanted the Church to know that he was a candidate.

"Haha! Indeed, how could you not?! Good! Good," Kure laughed in delight and asked, "You will surely be the only Rank-9 there! Ah, I really want to look at that old witch's face when I tell her that you are my descendant."

Though when he said those words, he noticed Ozul's stare and only then remembered that he wasn't in the family. So he couldn't boast in front of anyone that he was the descendant of the Ashin family.

His body drooped like a deflated balloon as he tried asking him once more, "You sure don't want to-"

"No, I don't," Ozul didn't need to think twice about it.

"Alright... at least I know it in my heart that you have the Ashen family's blood running through your veins," Kure relented with a sigh.

Ozul didn't bother to correct Kure that he didn't have their blood either. He could guess that this old ancestor would start to bother him to join again.

"I wonder who the other candidates would be this time. And will they compete in the same thing?" Alver muttered to himself while feeling apprehensive of Old Gu's methods.

Ozul also had the same thought, but he could be sure of one thing; Raven and Blaze were also chosen.

He remembered that Old Gu had given him the 'advice' of training these two under him to the fullest of their ability, or things would get difficult later on. After listening to what had happened previously, Ozul was sure that Old Gu had chosen those two as the candidates as well.

"It all depends on that old man's mood, to be honest," Kure replied after a little while.

Ozul, Alver, and Raymond turned to him with questioning faces.

"Don't look at me like that. That old man is really an oddball. He had answered some of our questions after the tournament. But he only answered the most trivial questions," Kure said, making Ozul nod his head in agreement.

Alver and Raymond realized the severity of Old Gu's eccentric behavior, looking at how even their nephew and grandfather, a Rank-10 Mage, agreed on it.

Kure then went on to explain, "He had told us that he could even select someone random on the road and let them proceed to the next stage without having them go through any test. He only does it for his own enjoyment, that sick bastard..."

Being a Rank-10 Mage, Kure had seen his fair share of blood and killed hundreds if not thousands. However, he never made anyone fight to the death for survival, only for some entertainment.

Unlike him, Ozul didn't care about it. Old Gu had the strength to make people do what he wanted, and that is all it mattered.

Cursing Old Gu wouldn't get them anywhere. If these people had such strength, he was sure that they would probably commit more atrocities than that.

"What about you, nephew? Didn't that old man come with you? How did you meet him?" Raymond asked as Alver had told him about how both of them had appeared together in the tournament.

Ozul didn't hide anything and told them about Luthien, his father, and the fight between them. He then told them how Old Gu had saved his life at the crucial moment.

Hearing his words made even Kure appear surprised and suspicious at the same time. He couldn't believe that this great-grandson of his was even able to kill a half-step Rank-10 Mage.

Even with help, it shouldn't be possible for a Rank-9 Mage!

If only he knew that Ozul was already close to reaching on par with him, Kure would have been coughing up blood.

"That old man saved his life? Heh..." Kure muttered to himself with a mocking smile. He would never believe that 'demon' would ever pity someone enough to save their life.

After all, he had seen it with his own eyes when tens of the previous candidates had begged him to get them out of there, and his only response was a cold glare that spoke volumes of how he didn't give a shit whether they died or lived.

After they discussed a couple of other things and Kure again trying to hint at Ozul that he should join the family, a silence reigned in the garden.

"Ha... there is one last thing I have yet to mention," Kure said in a low volume just when Ozul was about to stand up and take his leave.

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Raymond and Alver also perked up their ears when they noticed their grandfather's soft tone.

"Even a Rank-10 Mage, like myself, has a limited life span. At most, I can only live around 70 more years," Kure dropped the bomb on the two brothers, who stood up in shock.

They didn't know that their grandfather only had this much time left in this world.

"Haha... Don't be so worried, brats. The other three are of the same generation as me," Kure referred to the other three Rank-10 Mages and continued, "It wouldn't be long that this generation of the Rank-10 Mages would completely disappear. The next generation will have to take our place, but it will take decades if not centuries."

Ozul didn't know if he should leave now or wait for Kure to finish his speech. After a few moments of contemplation, he decided to stay since he remembered to ask another thing that had been bothering him for years.

"Don't you think you can break through to the next Rank?" Alver asked worriedly.

The absence of all the Rank-10 Mages would create a power vacuum!

Not to mention how the tension will rise if the other factions knew that no Rank-10 Mages were protecting them, the biggest threat would be the Magical Beasts.

The ordinary people had always wondered why the stronger Magical Beasts never attacked any human settlement. They didn't know the reason behind it was the presence of the Rank-10 Mages.

If these ancestors suddenly disappeared, they might be able to hide this fact from the humans, but those Rank-9 Magical Beasts had keen senses. They wouldn't miss such a significant change.

"It is easier said than done. Sigh... Even when I have been in seclusion for so many decades, the next realm is nowhere in sight," Kure sighed while shaking his head.

"But don't worry about it now. With how mysterious the next realm appears to be, I am confident those other old bones won't get anywhere either. Also, I still have around 70 years," Kure hit the back of Alver, who was looking down at the ground, contemplating about their future.

Raymond didn't comment, and nor did Ozul say anything for a while.

Only when he felt the atmosphere had turned back to normal did Ozul speak, "You should be fairly knowledgeable, yes?"

Kure raised his eyebrows and answered confidently, "Of course. I haven't lived for so many centuries for nothing, kid."

Ozul then began to ask him if he had heard of anyone using some other energy instead of Mana. Kure only laughed at this question as he didn't think there was any energy other than Mana in this world.

Ozul already expected it as such and then asked if there was any method to use artifacts without Mana.

"Using artifacts without Mana?" Kure made a thoughtful face and spoke after a few moments, "I do remember a renownedphysician searching for a method to be able to use artifacts without using our own Mana."

A little bud of hope rose in Ozul, but his excitement was short-lived when Kure said, "There were no positive results during his research though. He wanted his wife to be able to protect herself in his absence using artifacts, but she was only an ordinary person and didn't have Mana."

It turned out that even a few centuries back, someone had tried finding a method to use artifacts without Mana.

The idea was to store Mana in an object and use a way to supply that Mana to the artifact, which should have logically solved the problem.

However, it didn't happen for some reason, and that renowned physician couldn't achieve any results at all.

"Why do you wish to use artifacts without Mana, though?" Kure asked curiously. He didn't think for a second that the reason for him not being able to sense any Mana from Ozul was because the latter didn't have any in the first place.

"I have my reasons," Ozul guessed that it wouldn't matter even if Kure knew about his peculiar condition given that the latter hadn't encountered anything like that in 900 years of his life.

Kure didn't probe any further either and looked on as Ozul stood up to leave.

He had learned everything he could here. Further chit chat would only be a waste of his time now that he had so many things to do.

After he left the estate, Alver turned to Kure, "Grandfather, are you sure you don't want him to join...?"

Raymond was surprised by Alver's words and was about to say something when Kure spoke first, "What can I do? Force him to become a member of the family? Even if I did, would he truly be a part of the family?. .. At least he has the guts to be independent."

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