Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 439: Findings.

Seeing no reaction whatsoever, Ozul forgot for a moment what to do next.

At least he had established that he could inject the Scent into people’s bodies without any apparent harm.

He had a long-running suspicion that the Scent made people comfortable around him, but it could only be tested if he had two people to compare.

His suspicion stemmed from the fact that all those people who stayed near him had the Scent roaming inside their bodies and they never questioned any decisions made by him.

He had never seen Raven, Blaze, or even Zier reject any order he may have given them. Zier would have a few questions, but that too remained to himself and he complied nonetheless.

’And that could be because he has less Scent than the other two, so he is less agreeable.’

Such were his thoughts and if they were true, he had to decide whether it was okay for him to brainwash people like this.

’Even Ember has traces of the Scent in her body. Is that why she behaves differently with me?’ He couldn’t help but think and that thought alone would render people of this realm speechless.

But to test his theory, he needed multiple people. And even then, he couldn’t affirm his thoughts based on the reactions of just a few people. He had to test as many people as he could find.

Sighing, Ozul found this solution a little impractical.

His only saving grace was the fact that he could perfectly read the emotions of other people. If he didn’t have that particular ability, it would have been impossible to determine if the Scent affected emotions.

’Let’s just test if I can remove the Scent willingly or not...’

From behind the walls, he focused on the Scent which circled around the man’s body and carefully guided it all out. Trace by trace, the Scent seeped out of him, and once again, there was no apparent reaction.

The man didn’t even feel it as the Scent was excreted out of him.

Until now, he was satisfied with the results. Although Raven and Blaze had the Scent for a very long time, it still gave him some confidence that he could remove it without serious repercussions.

’Since it isn’t hurting him...’

He thought, and injected the man with the Scent again. This time, he carefully increased the amount of Scent as well.

Yet again, there wasn’t any reaction.

And so, while patiently waiting for other people to cause trouble in the estate, he started practicing his control on the Scent with that man.

The man threw a tantrum more than once, but Ozul confirmed it wasn’t because of the Scent.

...

As promised by Ember, Ozul didn’t need to worry about the people.

In the coming days, multiple people tried to infiltrate the estate in futile hopes that they wouldn’t be caught amidst all the commotion.

Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t escape Ozul’s notice who himself had a hard time diminishing his ability to sense emotions.

When Ozul brought the second person, he left him in the same room as the first man.

He observed their interaction for a few moments, as they both remained vigilant of each other.

It didn’t take long before the first person started shouting at the new one. He had been here since yesterday and had no human interaction since then. An unknown fate awaited him, and it would be a lie to say he wasn’t afraid.

"Free me this instant! You don’t know my backing-"

In the face of his hysterical barrage, the spy Ozul had just kidnapped remained confused before it slowly dawned on him.

After all, this one was a trained spy sent to infiltrate the estate; he was in perfect control of his nerves.

He too was walking down a path in the estate when the scenery around him suddenly blackened and when he opened his eyes, he was standing here in this room. Yet, he remained calm while assessing the situation.

Having observed them enough, Ozul guided the Scent in the first man’s body and entered the room as well.

He calmly read the emotions of the two people and it quickly became apparent who among them showed more inclination to trust him; it was the man who had the Scent.

It was just as he had predicted. The Scent really made people trust him more.

But he wasn’t convinced just yet. He removed the Scent from the first person and injected it into the second one. Again, his suspicions were proven true as the man began to approach him kindly even though he hadn’t uttered a single word.

He sighed before exiting the room and executing both men. That’s what Ember demanded of him after all.

As days went by, he confirmed again and again that the Scent made people more agreeable to him.

To his dismay, that was the extent of this ability. It only made them mildly more agreeable, nothing more. He couldn’t brainwash people as he previously thought.

Increasing the amount of the Scent did make the ability stronger, but there was a limit to that as well.

The effect also diminished if the person in question was stronger.

It was to the point that someone like Ember only had a favorable impression of him. And that too was mostly because he brought her the Mind’s Eye. If it wasn’t because of that, even that favorable impression might not have been possible.

As for the weaker people, he tested several times the extent of this ability and found out that he couldn’t make them do anything extremely unreasonable either.

"It’s still better than nothing..." he muttered, imagining the possibilities of this power.

Just injecting people with the Scent, he could make them like him without making any effort.

It also confirmed why Raven, Blaze, and Zier followed him so blindly. They had the Scent for the longest amount of time and naturally trusted him. No matter what he did, the Scent probably didn’t allow them to think negatively about him.

And so he had an important decision to make: to remove the Scent from their bodies or leave it be.

It didn’t take long for him to decide on the former option.

’It doesn’t matter if they leave afterward...’ he thought nonchalantly. It would be a pain to find people to work for him, but it somehow felt beneath him to gather people using the Scent.

Shortly after he had made the decision, he called the three into a room and explained the situation.

...

"You’re saying we are only following you because you unconsciously emit this thing called Scent?" Raven asked with clenched fists.

The sudden hostility took Ozul off-guard as he didn’t expect them to lash out before he had extracted the Scent.

Blaze shook his head in disappointment as well.

"Take it out, but you are mistaken if you believe that’s the only reason we follow you..." he stated with an unshaken resolve in his eyes.

Zier, on the other hand, remained silent throughout the whole ordeal. He was questioning all of his decisions until now. Whether all the decisions that he made were because he was injected with the Scent or if they were his own decisions.

Ozul started with Raven. Unlike those people he was testing on, the Scent was within her body for the longest time. If anything could go wrong, it would go wrong with her.

So, he knew he had to be extra careful. He slowly guided the Scent out and paused after every few moments to check up on her health.

Fortunately, there were no adverse effects on her body either.

"It’s done," he said and Raven stood up.

Stretching her body, there was a feeling of emptiness in the back of her mind, but she couldn’t pinpoint it. "I feel like I’ve lost something," she told him.

But Ozul ignored her comment, thinking she was just being stubborn.

Having extracted it from Raven, he was more confident with Blaze and Zier.

But they too expressed their genuine feelings that there was a feeling of loss deep within them.

Ozul was perplexed as he didn’t have any explanation for that. Having read their emotions, he knew they weren’t lying either.

In the end, he could only attribute this feeling to the amount of time they had the Scent.

"Well, do you want to leave now?" He asked innocently, not really expecting them to stay.

"Not before I die," Blaze muttered, going back to the cultivation. He hadn’t decided to follow him that day because of something stupid like the Scent.

Raven too expressed her discontent at being doubted, but she went back to comprehending the Scarlet Eyes.

Zier contemplated for a few moments on what to do, but once again, he was stumped. Just like the day he had decided to follow this enigma of a man, he decided to follow his heart. So, he too went back to cultivation, not caring about the intricacies of life.

’Well... That was unexpected,’ Ozul stood there not knowing what to do.

Turned out, it wasn’t because of the Scent that they were blindly following him into doing whatever he said.

’Are they just stupid?’ he thought, ignoring the fact that he had saved two of them and had charmed the third with his overbearing charisma.

Shrugging his shoulders, he decided to take a nap. The past week had been hectic for him as he had to find spies among thousands of people while experimenting with the Scent at the same time.

Before he could plop on his bed, however, he heard a voice,

"It’s not just me, right?" Blaze stopped cultivation and asked the other two.

Raven too stopped comprehending the Scarlet Eyes and nodded her head at him.

But it was only confirmed when Zier too affirmed with their comments, "It’s as if it’s become difficult to breathe?"

All three looked in Ozul’s direction in unison.

"Huh?"