218 Nine Petals Sect. (1/2)

He had come here to ask him about any possible way to use the artifacts and formations without Mana because he didn't know what type of formations would be set up in the royal palace of Silverbird Kingdom.

If he had a way to use the artifacts without Mana, then it would give him a little more confidence while searching for his arm. Now, he could only hope that the defensive formations in the palace were weak enough.

After a while, Ozul forgot about it and hurriedly made his way straight towards the Nine Petals Sect instead.

———————

Nine Petals Sect, it was one of the few Sects on the continent that didn't discriminate against their disciples on the basis of their Elements.

Not just the Sects, but most of the factions in this world held prejudice against certain Elements and the Darkness Element was the only commonly-hated one among all of them. Some of them even looked down on the Water Element.

However, there were only a few numbers of factions that accepted people on the basis of their merits and strength; the Nine Petals Sect was one of them. And because of this, such factions have always been an eye sour among the rest of the prominent groups.

Nine Petals Sect had allied with the Ashin family due to these reasons as well. The Ashin family didn't care if one had a weak Elemental affinity or if they even chose the Darkness Element.

The Sect's reputation wasn't the greatest among others, but they were a force to be reckoned with. And despite their reputation of housing and nurturing Dark Mages, many talented individuals joined under them every year.

Though that was only the case before the Church had created and started selling the miraculous potion to heal injuries, no matter how fatal or life-threatening.

The Sect's stand to accept the Mages even with Darkness Element had naturally made them an enemy of the Church, not to mention that they had also allied with the Ashin family.

Because of the Church of Light's newly created healing potion, many Mages who were planning to join the Sect decided otherwise. The people with Darkness Elements couldn't change sides, but others were drawn towards the Church like bees are to the nectar.

All who could think a little knew that the Church only released a little number of high-quality potions while the rest are stored only for their members.

These people, though didn't want to join the Church and start spouting nonsense about the God of Light everywhere, couldn't resist the temptation of the healing potions. They were like extra lives, and none of them wanted to die early.

Many of the Elders didn't agree to such a tactic, but the Sect Leader's orders were absolute. And their dissatisfaction all vanished when Elder Michiko had brought in two individuals that even the Sect Leader praised and commented that they had high chances to become a Rank-9 Mage.

And the fact that both of them had chosen such complex Elements only made them more formidable.

One of them, a black-haired woman who looked around in her early 20's, with a stony face, stood near the cliff as she watched a group of teenagers surrounding another girl...

. . .

The short-haired girl, who was surrounded by the teenagers, suddenly spun around and flashed between them, leaving a black trail behind her that disappeared immediately after.

There were a total of 11 teenagers including 3 girls and all of them began to fall down on the ground, holding their stomachs as they squirmed in pain.

After just a few seconds, only the short-haired girl remained standing. Even as she was out of breath, the girl smiled brightly while looking in the direction of the cold beauty observing her from a distance.

”Big Sister Raven!” the girl shouted before she ran towards Raven. Her short brown hair were drenched in sweat, but it didn't seem to trouble her.

”You know what you did wrong?” Raven asked while shaking her head as the girl was looking at her with expectant eyes, seemingly asking for praise. The girl's smile immediately disappeared and she lowered her head before answering, ”I didn't want to use the Shadow Way, but I had no choice...”

”You are exhausted after that last attack. If it was a real fight in some wild area, many unknown factors would be included and there was a high chance that you'd end up dead as well, Alda.” Raven reprimanded her.

”I know...” Alda muttered in a quiet voice.

Looking at her sorry figure, Raven couldn't keep her cold face for much longer and sighed before petting her head.

”If it was him, I am sure you would be crying by now...” Raven stated while shaking her head again. Although this girl was already a peak Rank-4 Mage at her age, Raven thought that she was quite lacking in teaching.

'Haa... I can never get myself to be strict with her,' Raven sighed internally.