Chapter 199: Marked

The magic was extending out of Raze's body, and it wasn't being constricted to one place. He wasn't trying to control it into one area, nor was he activating a spell of some sort; instead, he was just letting it seep out from his body.

It was growing in size and darkening the room around them. Slowly, it was creeping its way toward Liam and Simyon, who were off by the side. As they felt it touch them, a whole series of feelings were starting to overcome them.

The area was becoming more silent; their sense of feeling, touch, it was disappearing. But that's when Simyon noticed something as he waved his hand through it.

"It's not cold," Simyon thought to himself. "The magic, it's getting rid of the cold. Will it also get rid of what's taking control of Safa?"

Since Raze was unable to see what it was that was doing this to her, he was trying to fight back in his own way, but he wasn't sure if it would work. If it didn't, he had two more plans.

One was to use the Cultivation technique of life and death himself. If his guesses from before were right, maybe he could attract whatever it was that had gotten a hold on her and pull it toward him.

If that didn't work, then perhaps the extraction technique, since the energy he could currently feel didn't seem to belong to Safa either. However, as Raze held onto her, he could feel his magic was working.

"She's starting to shake less, and her lips, they're not moving anymore either."n)--)-.)(/-(.1--n

It wasn't just those things, but the general color was returning to her face. The blood mark was still visible on her head, but it had stopped, now just looking like a small line had been drawn.

Just in case, Raze continued to use his Dark magic, the magic that was known for its destructive powers, for a while. That was until he could see Safa slowly open her eyes. As she had done so, slowly, Raze started to retract back his magic.

He was trying to see if whatever it was that had a grasp on her would return. Both Simyon and Liam could feel the sensations coming back around them. They could feel like they were able to breathe, and something wasn't right at their throats. When they moved their hands through the air, they also noticed that the chill had disappeared.

Finally, Safa had fully opened her eyes, and she could directly see her brother staring right at her in the face. How long had it been for her since she was able to see the features of her brother like this? She actually thought she might be dreaming, that was until he let go of her cheek and her wrist and leaned back a bit away from her.

"You only need to nod or shake your head," Raze said. "You might be shocked about what just happened, but were you cultivating just before this?"

Safa immediately nodded.

"Did you hear a voice, a woman's voice?" Raze asked again.

To which Safa nodded.

Raze couldn't ask in detail about what Safa saw, not unless he had a book or some type of writing tool. But with one more question, he was sure he knew what was most likely to have happened.

"Did you see, blood... a bloody body part, a bloody figure, anything?" Raze asked.

To which Safa's whole body reacted as the hairs all over her body stood up, and she nodded her head.

'That blooded hand woman,' Raze's eyebrows furrowed inward. 'Who is she, and why is she targeting me and Safa? Is it really something to do with our past lives, maybe the death of our parents as well?'

'No, that was done by a human. I can't rule out the possibility that I might have attached myself to something in the Demonic Faction, and now it's after those around me? But when I used the technique in the Dark Faction, nothing happened.'

It was confusing for Raze, and he didn't have any idea how to figure out a solution for it all, so he could only do one thing.

"All of you, especially you Safa. While you are here, none of you are to use any cultivation techniques. Practice your martial arts, play games with each other, or whatever, but don't use any cultivation techniques while you are here, got it?"

The three nodded in synchronization, and Raze hoped it would be the end of it. As far as he knew, summoning the blooded woman was linked to cultivating, so as long as they didn't do that, they would be fine.

"So, are you going to say what happened, or?" Liam asked as he saw Raze seemingly just ignore the whole matter and head over to the crates to look at what had been delivered.

"I don't like to give answers to things I don't know much about. Right now, I just know that she was affected by cultivating, so you guys shouldn't either," Raze answered with a smile on his face.

With all the ingredients here, he could get to work. With the remaining amount of money, he had bought level 1 power stones.

He would then use those power stones to create the three and possibly a fourth different pill now that he had another attribute.

After that, he would use the level 2 power stones to enhance the strength of the items he had gotten. Lastly, after that, he would create higher-tier Qi pills similar to the level 1 power stones, keeping some for himself in dangerous situations and selling the rest.

He had a plan in sight, and he needed to get to work.

"Don't worry, I will be in here for a while now with the rest of you. Just to note, if you see any signs of a portal break happening, you should let me know," Raze instructed the others.

Liam was extremely confused, wondering how Raze could be so calm in this situation. Didn't his sister just escape death? Or did he already figure out that there was nothing to do about it, so he had moved on?

It looked like Simyon and Safa had taken Raze's words, and after what they had been through, the two of them had just returned to their bed to rest and sleep for the rest of the evening.

"Are they not scared about what he just said either, about a portal break opening?" Liam mumbled to himself.

Maybe the others didn't believe Raze or trust him, but after seeing what he could do and all the crazy things happening, Liam decided to stay awake and keep watch, because the last thing he wanted was a portal break to happen while he was sleeping.

With a piece of chalk on the open floor space, Raze was drawing not one but multiple circles. He then moved the crates so they were easy to gather ingredients from. After drawing one circle, he soon drew another one on top of it.

Then, he placed the level 1 power stones in the circle as well.

"When watching Reno, it made me realize something, a way to create and mass-produce stones at once. Since I'm a three-star mage, I have enough mana to do this now."

Raze placed his hands together, ready to activate, until there was another knock on the door.

Opening the door, Raze noticed a strangely well-clothed man, and they were in the same type of uniform as the ones he had seen outside the auction.

"I have come to make a delivery," the man said as he handed over a large, long object wrapped in a red velvet-like cloth.

Handing it over, the man quickly left the room without saying much. Raze then closed the door and untied the red cloth, revealing three more swords on the ground.

"With this and the other items I obtained, I wonder what exactly I will be able to make out of all of this," Raze smiled.