“All these Schools are likewise dubbed the Schools of Life by the University of Divinity since most are unwilling to waste their time differentiating the three. So, starting with the School of Thought. Honestly, just consider the School having humongous libraries converging in one place. For them, its books, quills, scrolls, and the pungent smell of decaying souls. They have an extensive collection of texts in ancient scrolls on various subjects. What they do before the Night of Immersion is studying, studies, and more studying. They are tight arses that are obsessed with paper.

“I am not being rude, young Gin, I’m just stating matters as they are. Settle down now, do you think I would do this for free on a whim? Moving on... after the Night of Immersion, their information processing capabilities are increased by twice their original abilities, and their power of memorization is heightened as well. They are then placed in the Divinity Research Department in the University that is ruled over by the Divinity Court.

“These descendants or better yet, Archivers, would then deal with researching the Divine Art and its texts. These Archivers work exclusively on the history of the Art as well as documenting its latest developments. The short version is ‘Divine Art plus the School of Thought equates to Archivers’.

“School of Martial Arts is consistent with mainly what you are doing, exercise, exercising, and more exercises. Yes, more and more stances, too, and weapons wielding, etc. It's a place with a strong stench of sweat and miserable souls of questionable characters. Your mocking smile has not gone unnoticed, young Gin, do keep it up. Ahem! As they go on training, data is gathered for every individual, and they are then focused on what fits them. If they are good in speed, strength, vision or stability, endurance, and flexibility, they will focus on these things. And each of these has its class of fighting.

“Of course, a well-rounded routine to keep the other attributes in shape will still be in effect. After the Night of Immersion, these particular attributes will be increased, and the training will be based on improving their fighting style, as well as their Divinity usage and physique. Hmm, here we would then say, ‘Divine Art plus School of Martial Arts equates to… well, Flower and Kiri’.

“Now then, the School of Crafts is a rotten foliage of artistic messes that think they know all about the world and the heavens. May their souls rest forever in the Hells of the Underworld. As the name states, they study the Crafting Arts, painting, sculpting, knitting, smithing, etc. Painting and smithing are the most preferred methods of expression. However, don’t for a second think that all they do is make things, which they do, but they have a more crucial purpose.

“They work very closely with the Divinity, than any other School. This is also the reason why they get paired together with the School of Thought for research on the Divine Art. But in most cases, they tend to lead these studies. They create weapons and handle the final processes of things Divine Art users would use in their day-to-day lives. And they research the application of the Divine Art to the body and its enhancement on various other things.

“Oh yes, some items they make can be short-lived, especially when they make them purely from the Divinity. But, the items that are infused with ordinary, earthly materials, say Ash Metal or Wood, tend to last, and some of these can only be used well when infused with the Divine Aura. Well, well, here we can say… ‘Divine Art plus School of Crafts equates to an impending disaster’. Oh, they are also jealous that the descendants of the School of Thought have their own name ‘Archivers’, so they decided to dub themselves ‘Divinities Revelations’. Ha!”

Gin didn’t register the last bits of Spear’s mocking as he muttered absent-mindedly, “Message birds…”

A disgustingly fake gasp of surprise escaped Spear before he muttered, “Hoo, he can use a bit of his brain power, huh?”

Scrunching his face in exasperation, Gin ignored Spear with all his heart. He instead refocused the topic, “So, I’ll take a wild guess here and say that the servant, no, the spy was a Crafter? His fighting wasn’t all that… especially if placed side by side with yours, Flower, and Kiri’s abilities...”

“Yes, he was. But, don’t let his fighting abilities deceive you. Crafters can likewise be crafty and dangerous. Their items lend them a lot of advantages if handled right. On this point, I want you to know that the Schools build one's foundation. These foundations are essentially doing actions in one's body to the point of imprinting them to mind and muscles. When you absorb the gods' dust at the Night of Immersion, the dust will focus on which signature you left on the body when building up your foundation.

“No, young Gin, that doesn't mean that other Schools are available. The only signatures that the gods' stones are interested in providing are those of fighting art, scholarly arts, and crafting arts. Let's take you as an example, if the Master had decided to not train you and had you go through the Night of Immersion, you have a high chance of being a descendant of the School of Thought in the University of Divinity.”

Spear paused to turn to look at the table with the neatly arranged scrolls and bound books, some of which Gin owned.

“Oh, I see… that makes some sense, but what if I had wanted to be a descendant of the school of Martial Arts?”

“Ah, yes, the old millennia question. Gin, what we are working with here are verified assumptions. Not stone cold facts. However… yes, with your background in farming and how labor-intensive it can be, yes, you also have a high chance of being a descendant in the School of Martial Arts,” Spear smiled as he looked pleasantly at the confused Gin.

“So… the schools and foundation building…”

“It's the greatest ‘I wish you the very best of luck’ put in physical form I've ever seen. Ha ha!”

Gin groaned at Spear’s answer, but he was eventually dissuaded when Spear told him that the cases of people not getting what they desired from the gods' stone was rare. Rare but nonetheless real.

“But how did you not know it? With the spy I mean? Are Divine Art users hard to pinpoint?” Gin furrowed his brows.

“We aren’t, actually. It's one of the drawbacks of the Divine Art, the Aura that every user has. It's not individualistic as you standing next to a person and thinking, ‘Hmm, this person has a rather gentle air about them’ or ‘Wow, how majestic’. This mostly comes from the accumulation of information in your brain, things you paid attention to, consciously or subconsciously. How the person walks, talks or stands; their subtle actions. When all these mix and match you can build up a quick first impression or profile of a person. Divine Art users also have this, but instead of it being as steady and individualistic, it's practically screaming in your face.”

“Hoo...” Gin nodded in mild understanding.

“Yes, but, there are rumors that Crafters have too many secret creations. Items that haven’t seen the light of day, you understand? I believe the servant used such items, specifically, one that could cover his Divine Aura. This makes it very hard to figure out whether someone is a Divine Art user or not. Message Birds on the other hand are well-known items, and they are one-use items, but very powerful at that. They can not only be used to send messages, as they were intended, but they can be used to attack. Do note, items by Crafters can come in as everyday items like canes, bracelets, or a simple long arrow tip design, like the Message Bird.”

Gin exhaled from his mouth, he found that following Spear’s explanations was relatively easy. Though crude, the introduction given by the Master had its uses and overall effects at that moment. “How do you use a birdie?”

“Hm, simple really, the birdie is inserted with a note at the flat bottom and sealed. It’s then inserted with some Aura and it will direct itself to the intended owner whose Aura had been preinstalled. Indeed, the Divine Aura does vary from individual to individual. If you want, you can say that it's the best form of identification compared to someone's biology. The term ‘signature’ can be adopted for this too in the Divine Arts.”

“I see… But hold on, that would mean the concealing item was also able to conceal the birdies preinstalled Aura?”

“Correct, some are, as I've come to learn, able to do that,” Spear responded with a sharp nod.

“Apparently and rumors?” Gin raised his eyebrow.

“Most research on the Divine Art is kept in the University, or, for those incredibly rare and likewise unknown items, with the Royals. Don’t forget, the ones that were his sponsors were the King and Prince, so getting his hands on those items was as easy as making fermented honey and garlic. If I was to be bolder with my assumption, I believe he was an experiment.”

Spear shrugged seeing Gin’s shocked expression, “It's nothing new, and I best not hear any grand humanitarian speeches from you. This Art wouldn’t have reached where it is without some most despicable acts. I too hate it, but I'm not one to say I disapprove wholeheartedly. In a sense? Better them than me. Ugh, spare me your childish glares. Stepping aside from this, this spy fiasco has just solidified the fact that such rumored items exist, and that would mean Divine Art users have taken another step to be being deadlier.”

Gin sighed and buried his head in his hands. A few seconds later, he resurfaced and, “Alright, so he concealed himself all this time… but you hired him from the orphanage as you had told me before right?”

“Yes, he did come from an orphanage, which, by the way, is under my name,” Spear saw Gin roll his eyes till the whites of his eyes became visible, so he scoffed before he went on, “What I know though, young Gin, is that he was, most definitely, hired way before I took him into the Distant Jade. I was outmatched in this regard, and I will now have to do a thorough sweep on anything involving the Master and us. Tsk.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Wow! That is awesome!” Gin grinned from ear to ear.

“Oh aye, I’m sure it is, lest you forget that this has to do with you, young one.” The quick clamping of Gin’s mouth made Spear happy. “Ah, yes, by the way, worry not about the whole killing business, we aren’t as cold as you think. We believe that the ones to do most of the labor will be us 5. You… hm, maybe that brain of yours will be put to work instead.”

Crossing his arms, Gin stared at Spear, the sudden change of topic catching him off guard. He had had a question that had been gnawing at the back of his head for weeks, and Spear’s reassurance just brought it to the forefront. However, he placed that question aside and asked instead, “Then why am I learning how to fight?”

°°

“To know how to defend yourself, obviously,” this answer came with a light, but still painful smack to Gin’s backside of the head. How this happened when he was a good distance away from Spear, Gin didn’t know, but: damned Divine Art users!

“Ow! Why?”

“Because I'm starting to lose my patience with your sad boy theatrics,” Spear spoke in a deadpan attitude.

“What… I’m not making any theatrics and, for your reminder, I’ve seen and learned some life-changing things today, so I believe some sobriety is important!”

“Fantastic, now get over it,” With a fabulously disinterested look, Spear stood up from Gin’s bed.

Not knowing whether to get angry or simply frustrated, Gin chose to sigh long and heavily. When would Spear ‘waste’ time to come give him peace of mind? He bet that Spear had reached his quota of ‘being nice and helpful’ to Gin. Also, his Master wouldn’t do what Spear had done, so this meant he would have been left alone to wallow in his misery if not for the man in front of him.

Feeling a slight appreciation, Gin took a step back and inquired about Spear’s business ventures. How it all fell into his plans while dealing with the spy. He gave a quick rundown of his hypotheses and Spear confirmed that his business had indeed been failing. The only difference was that he would have been able to solve the situation but after what happened, he went on with the ‘Failure Equals Angry Spear’ ploy to corner the spy.

Since Gin had poked at a rather sour spot on Spear—who wore a murderous expression as he explained things to him—he took the opportunity to tell Spear how very sad he was. Spear couldn’t be his actual senior in training anymore! Gin questioned Spear on whether it would have been so bad for him to continue where he left off with Master. Honestly, would it have been so bad?

Without further ado, Spear had left his room, but not before throwing a few threats at him. Gin had to settle with his losses since he knew Spear would most definitely work on said threats one way or another. The shrew.

As Gin looked at the closed door, he only wanted to know one thing: if the 5 were to do all the labor… Did that mean they never planned to abandon the Master's wish? Were they still the Master's avengers?

Should the young one place his hopes on this? The very best and cheapest get-away cart was dangling right in front of him, and Gin was very tempted to hope. Or, organize himself for that unsuccessful escape.

On the other side of the door, Spear stood still as he stared into space. His thoughts were on whether or not it had been a good idea to raise the young boy's hopes. He wasn’t entirely lying when he said the 5 of them would do most of the heavy lifting, but that all depended on whether the 5 of them were around the lad at all times. Knowing himself and the other lot, it was highly unlikely. The 5 just felt the need to protect Gin so he would be the bearer of the heavy torch their Master kept handing over to them.

Shrugging, Spear started to make his way to the various corridors that would eventually lead him to the steps of the third floor. As he walked he thought to himself how Gin was indeed the best candidate for this endeavor. The main—and only—reason that he liked best about it was, it wasn’t him. He had worked too hard to get out of his Master's raider to be swerved back into it again. The enemy in question being the Prince of Yerek had made his shivers of self-preservation go full throttle!

He was a Legend, yes, but unmatched? Ha! Look at how the gods would align the stars to prove that wrong. He had met the Princeling, and the pressure that beast exuded was dastardly! Their Master knew this and thus had gotten five students to fight such a scapegrace. Well, the five smartly made their choices and bounced. Their newly acquired freedom from the Master's training shouldn’t be tainted by their deaths. What sense would that make if it had happened?

“Hah, the Master sure is legendary…” Spear muttered as he neared the door to said Master’s library. He paused before the door at the thought of the old man.

The matter of the spy still irked him and sent shivers down his spine every passing second. It would have cost them their lives. It would have cost him and the other 4 their Master’s life. Spear had been the source of the grapevine specifically created for the 5 Legends. He had orchestrated the key components of their strength, which was true to some extent, and, the one he knew that all the students would agree with was, the lengths they would go to protect the old man. The old man’s safety was something the 5 of them never doubted they would slaughter and haunt Nations for.

His heavy and equally light-hearted excuse that he gave Gin about the King's people dying every day, was simply that, an excuse. He had been and still was angry, and he wouldn’t have left such a risk to continue to live. The Master’s and Gin’s life had been on the line far too many times. Throughout his altercation with the spy, and as he cleaned up, he had imagined all the possible outcomes. All the scenarios ended badly, terribly, for them due to the one rat that managed to sneak in. An Aura blast catching them unaware… Spear closed his eyes and breathed in deeply.

He had little qualms with the King, but the Prince! Though it wasn’t a drive to face off with such a man, he still had to admit that he was being pushed over the deep end perfectly. The man was indeed dangerous, leaving his path didn’t mean that he wouldn’t leave yours.

Tacking all those thoughts away, Spear didn’t hesitate to open the door and enter. His main destination was the study. It was time for a show and tell, and he had procrastinated enough.

He made sure to place his words right. Be quick, efficient, then run. No, then leave. He would exit the study calmly with measured footsteps of a person sure of themselves, inside and out. Just like he was doing as he entered the study. Precise movement, efficient!

“I hope you have been well, Master.”

“Is the boy fine?” Il San inquired, not bothering with pleasantries. Ever since Spear had entered the study, his sharp eyes had never left the student.

“Yes, Master. He is alright. He should be getting some sleep right about now,” Spear spoke with a bow.

Grunting, Il San stayed silent as he continued to look at Spear. He was waiting.

Without much delay Spear spoke up, “The spy has been disposed of accordingly. A detailed sweep by Flame’s subordinate and my second hand have shown that the spy had been the only one. I believe it was to avoid any slip-ups. This search will be ongoing, of course, and I have tightened the security around the Distant Jade.”

“As you know, the spy was a Crafter, and I believe he only got the basics of training in his craft, and his Fighting Arts was overseen by me. The encounter we had before the confrontation, he had had the sword in possession. The material used to form the sword had been in liquid form. I also believe that the other items he used were in the same state. It was very strange, Master… the breakthrough by the research teams at the University must be greater than we can anticipate… The liquid had solidified when he infused his Divine Aura, which then formed the sword.

“As I had mentioned, the other items may have been formed much the same way as well. The fight with the spy would have been swift, but I dragged out the fight the best I could to know what more he had on his person. During the fight, I had only seen the chain and birdies, and from his body search by my second we only got said two items. Where the liquid was stored is a mystery, the spy’s body provides no insight on this. When we had hired him, his belongings were searched thoroughly, and nothing had been out of place. He had had nothing heavy, water-absorbent, or anything in liquid. This may be an area Elder Mali could address.

“On the characteristics of the items themselves, firstly, the birdies were unique. They were inlaid with densely packed Aura that was the likely cause of them being able to penetrate the estate's barrier… The last intercepted birdie had, unfortunately, been destroyed. The impact caused by the dagger I threw must have caused significant damage or a self-destruct mechanism was triggered considering it was metal and not the Aura that took down the birdie.

“The chain is what I attribute the reason of his Divinity being unnoticeable, and likewise the cause of the Aura discharge during the fight. The sword made enhancements in his defensive and offensive powers. When I attacked using my spear without any Aura, the defense became stagnant and the sword would seem to dim from lack of interaction between Auras.

“Another characteristic of the items would be that they are made of metal. As the liquid hardened, it had the same metallic sheen as normal metal. The origin of this could be from mines, man-made, or both and very ancient.”

“Crafters, haa… Your observations are…” Il San started as he turned his gaze to the shelves of books adorning his study.

“I would grade my observations to be 28 out of 100. Admittedly, the Royals got us nicely this time. Maybe we should thank them for using one spy as our safety was guaranteed by their clashing objectives,” Spear smiled bitterly. “However, to get what they could on Gin of all people... it's understandable, but difficult to believe whichever way I spin it.”

Il San looked back to Spear but otherwise remained silent from the student’s musing. As he stared at Spear’s face, he saw a clear question mark drawn there, and he didn’t like the look, “What?”

“I was wondering about our way forward, Master.” Spear laughed sheepishly.

Not having to mull over the response, Il San told Spear to prepare for any eventualities. This drew Spear’s curiosity even more, and Il San could sympathize. In his bid to appear unbothered, he became stiffer than usual. His true feelings of apprehension were sipping from his well-woven seams. The questioning looks from Spear had begun here. He had debated whether or not to tell Spear what he knew, but the idea had been thrown out the second it made its appearance. Until things went how he speculated they would, he would keep what he knew to himself.

Aside from this, Il San wanted to admit that he was angry about what had transpired. He also wanted to admit that he was scared of the said eventualities. However, such admittance would only be a lie within a lie. His anger had burned and taken its course through his being with his previous involvement with the Royals. He knew little could shake him from their actions, especially the Princeling’s. He knew this and had prepared himself thusly for the other eventualities, losing his life, or losing his students' life, to carry out his revenge. He knew this but… he still prayed.

He prayed to the gods that the matter regarding Gin was only due to his association with him and his rotten students’. He prayed that nothing more would come out of it. He prayed for the damnations that carried his last name ‘Jabal’, would stay safe, and likewise be his swords in the victory against his foe.

Yet, he knew… he knew that the gods that had stopped listening to his prayers from times long gone wouldn’t listen to any one of his pleas now. Not even a single one of them. Not even his worship could have them turn onto him just once.

So he waited.

His old emotions, his old friends… the bitterness, the anger, and the suffocation of apprehension writhing anew.