[200 Blood Essence used]

[Blood Seal would take effect on the intended target..]

Everyone saw how a thin red mist was emerging from Tristan's body and slowly began to drift towards the tied-up Borin. Layla, who clearly saw it, proceeded to question her brother.

"What are you doing Tris?!"

The target of the mist, Borin himself, was terrified as he saw it slowly but surely make its way to him, touching his skin. The mist broke into several clumps with some of them going directly into his skin, while the largest clumps gathered together like smoke and invaded all the orifices on his face.

"What's- !? FuK!brh!!"

Barry, as well as Seth, became dead silent as they watched the sight of Borin being overrun by those mists. Seth was terrified beyond belief.

As for Tristan, just like what he previously experienced with the white tiger, he could feel as if there was an invisible string that connected the two of them, him and Borin.

Next, a torrent of thoughts came into Tristan's mind as he could 'see' all his inner thoughts. He could clearly feel the despair Borin had for the death of his brother, and the blazing rage towards him as well.

With a slight displeased feeling from Tristan, he could sense that the thought was gone from Borin's mind.

A notification came into his mind.

[You have a successful Blood Seal]

At the same time, Borin's expression, which previously was filled with rage and despair, turned into a calm one, as if nothing had happened and his brother's dead body was not a few feet away from him. He just silently sat there, still tightly bound by the ropes.

Borin's sudden, 180 degree change brought shock to everyone.

"Tris! What did you do?!"

Tristan turned around towards his sister, and said, "Honestly, I am also not sure."

He then began to take off the ropes that bound Borin's body. After what they saw previously, none of them dare to comment on what Tristan was doing to Borin.

After being released, Borin calmly stood there, looking at Tristan as if nothing happened. The previous crazy, rage-driven man was gone, exchanged with this eerily calm man.

Seeing how Borin was currently, Tristan nodded his head inwardly. He then quickly tried to see how the skill affected the man. He began by asking questions and Borin appeared to answer everything he was being asked without hesitation, calmly and truthfully.

Seeing all of this happening right in front of him, Seth became terrified and fell into a state of panic. Pointing his shaking finger at Tristan, he stammered, "Yo-You!! You are! A demon, aren't you?!!"

Seth quickly tried to run away, and Tristan used this opportunity to test Borin's potential.

"Stop him."

With two words from him, Borin took off as he gave chase to Seth, intercepting the man who ran towards the exit.

"What!! ..What are you!!? What do you want?!!" Seth hysterically screamed as he saw Borin was getting closer and closer to him.

Borin leaped to the air and tackled Seth, making the two of them crash to the ground. Then, a brawl happened between the two as they struggled and wrestled with each other.

With his lower Battle Power, Seth found it hard to resist Borin. He became even more panicked and took out his spear. When he saw that, Tristan swiftly threw a sword to Borin, the one the man previously used.

The fight quickly escalated further, as the two of them fought against each other like they were nemesis. Tristan watched all of this with a smile hung on his lips.

Layla quietly approached the smiling Tristan, her expression speechless. Looking at her still confused about what happened, Tristan decided to tell her about the skill he has. Upon hearing it, Layla became silent.

Noticing her silence, Tristan asked, "Would you rather me to kill him instead?"

"No... Of course not, brother. This just seems really cruel.."

When he heard that, Tristan ordered Borin to stop through their connection. In an instant, Borin stopped fighting Seth.

"Seth, don't go! I am sorry, I'm just playing with you. Please Stay"

Tristan's apology said in such a calm manner terrified him even more.

Seth, who was already sweating buckets, immediately hit the ground on his knees, "Ye..Yes… Mister elf, I will not go... Please, please spare me."

Tristan walked towards Borin, who once again was calmly standing still. He grinned, satisfied with the Blood Seal effect. However, he still wanted to know the extent of the skill.

Standing in front of Borin, Tristan was delving deep into his own mind, and trying to use the [Blood Seal] skill on the guy again. In an instant, a notification appeared on his mind.

[Will you remove the Blood Seal from the target?]

"Aaah!" Tristan suddenly exclaimed, confusing Layla, Barry, and Seth.

Oblivious to their current thoughts, he was extremely delighted to have such an option. Although he knew that he would probably waste his Blood Essence because of this, he felt it would be better to understand these skills as soon as possible.

"Yes."

Moments later, the familiar mist was coming out of Borin's body and returning to Tristan.

[Blood Seal has been removed]

[Your Blood Essences has returned]

[You have received 100 Blood Essences]

[Current Blood Essence 255]

Even though only half of his initial Blood Essence returned, this was actually much better than what Tristan expected. After all, he had prepared for the worst case, where he got nothing at all.

A few seconds later, Borin finally snapped back to his usual self, but this time, it wasn't anger that appeared on his face. It was an overwhelming fear.

Looking at the pure horror on Borin's face, Tristan smiled again. He realized two things about his skill from this experiment.

First, the removal of the skill did not kill its target. Second, the target seemed to remember what had happened, either partially or fully. Whatever it was, Tristan did not really care.

Tristan closed his eyes, and a new mist quickly entered Borin's body again.

[You have a successful Blood Seal]

[200 Blood Essences used]

[Current Blood Essence 55]

The main reason he used the skill on Borin again was mainly for further experimentation. There were still many questions that remain to be answered. Like, how long he could hold his influence over Borin, or how many targets he could have with the skill; all of this would take a lot more trial and error to figure out.

After making sure that Borin was under his control, Tristan casually turned around and spoke toward the group.

"I guess we are done here. Let's go back to get our reward."