A sharp glint appeared in Elias's eyes, his expression turning slightly grave.
He knew his professor wasn't speaking for the sake of instigating fear, but was merely presenting the facts as is—facts that were backed up and proven by multiple generations of research data.
Even while being an Apostle whose Echelon seemed to be primarily focused on the utilization and control of ether, Elias was very open about the fact that his wisp and soul body needed the presence of divine blood to aid with balancing the chaotic etheric nature of present within his blessing.
If he hadn't participated in the Ceremony of Blessings and absorbed the blood of the Benevolent Mother that day, Elias instinctually knew that he would have been ripped apart by the ether absorbed within his first seal, potentially turning into nothing more than a mad abomination seeking endless blood and death.
Even with the presence of such a precious divine catalyst for stabilization, just using his Innate Blessing which allowed him to sense and see the forms of ether would put him under unimaginable strain, inflicting him with pain that made him feel like his head was being split apart by a sledgehammer.
It goes to show just how catastrophic and dangerous a vessel made up of pure raging ether would be, especially without any form of equilibrium or balance.
Most of his fellow Apprentices also had equally grave expressions etched onto their faces, as if they had all similarly drawn up mental images of such a benign scenario.
Only Damien still had the same aloof expression on his face, as if he didn't care enough to be bothered by the alarming nature of the topic.
Even the usually book-drawn Ne'em had put down his novel and was paying attention to the lecture, causing Elias to inwardly lament about his best friend's unseriousness.
'This guy doesn't even seem bothered at all. Doesn't he know that we will be dealing with these unconventional entities in the future? How can he be so disinterested?
'Sometimes I don't know if he is very brave and daring .. or if he just has pigeon eggs for brains!'
As Elias was about to criticize Damien for his unseriousness, the cold voice of the professor sounded out, pulling him back to reality.
"You must realize where I'm going with this, Mister Nor. Even if the mutants and Oddities share similar foundational principles, they are vastly different when it comes to their structural and paranormal makeup.
"I guess you could say it's the same way both a pigeon and an eagle are birds, yet one is docile and approachable, while the other is domineering and is the king of the skies. They are similar but different. They are the same, yet not the same at the same time. Does that answer your question?"
Elias nodded in understanding, causing the cold professor to reveal a hardly-seen smile, before shifting back to his lecture.
"Now I'm sure you all must have questions on the exact way these paranormal entities are created, after all, just saying they are born from oversaturation is such a vague answer and doesn't touch on the specific process. Coming into contact with high Ether concentrations is such a hardly seen experience all around the world, because according to a paper published more than a decade ago by a leading researcher in the field of Ether Geometry and Mechanics, Dr. Lehmann of the Council of Uncommons, Ether is a naturally dispersed resource and isn't focused onto a particular point.
"So how then do these creatures and objects come into contact with such intense concentrations of this energy? Well, the answer is a bit more straightforward than you would think."
He then took off his glasses in between his explanation, before continuing with a more casual tone.
"There have been two main observable methods linked to the creation of Odd entities and objects, one being much more natural while the other being a bit more artificial than the former. But before I get into both of them, I'm sure most of you are aware of the Solstice Shower phenomenon which is celebrated in various nations and territories?"
At the mention of the well-known topic, a majority of the students nodded, signaling that they were aware of it.
It was almost impossible to be unaware of the Solstice Shower, as it was a natural phenomenon that was linked to various festive celebrations within numerous nations and states.
The Solstice Shower was an event that existed as far back as historical records could go, seeming to exist as naturally as the rise of the sun and the presence of the azure blue oceans. Some enthusiasts of faith even labeled it as the blessings of the gods onto their people and were used to back up the presence of gods in various religious and scriptural debates.
The Solstice Shower existed as a hardly seen hour-long event, in which the dark sky pales noticeably, becoming faintly illusory and leaving in its place a dense sparkling aurora of colors that stretches throughout the heavens like a sea of divine water.
The vibrant aurora then reflects numerous beautiful color hues, making the sky feel like a white canvas that has been splashed with various shades of beautiful colors by an artistic painter.
The dense stars would then sparkle in this colorful oasis like gems on a rainbow, adorning the sky and making it seem like heaven on earth.
Depending on the time of the day, the moon or the sun adds a layer of mystical beauty to this sea of colors, bathing it in their respective golden or silver shades.
No one is capable of tracking the timeline of the occurrence of the natural occurrence beforehand, with the most reliable predictions being from the Cardinals and Pope of the Church of Providence by pathing the way of the stars prior to its arrival.
This supernatural phenomenon was accepted by the general public as a divine miracle, an act of the gods announcing their presence to the world to remind their believers that they would always be watching over them.
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This caused the day of the solstice to be celebratory in almost all of the Imperial Kingdom territories while being encouraged by the five churches and royalty of the respective nations.
Elias placed a hand on his chin, reminiscing about the last solstice of his childhood.
It happened to be on one of such days that Elias had found out about Father Bernard's disappearance, as well as the day of the awakening of his ability to see spirits and lingering souls.
This caused the usually eventful and happy day to be quite sad for him, causing him to display a rare look of melancholy.
Seemingly understanding what his friend was thinking about, Damien placed an encouraging hand on his shoulder, causing him to force out a smile.
Only Damien knew just how important that day was for him.
Not noticing the downcast mood of his top student, Professor Windsor nodded to their acknowledgment, before proceeding with his lecture.
"Historical records explain that the first experience of this natural phenomenon was at the very start of the Old Testament Calender, making it older than even the formation of the five churches, possibly even as old as the gods themselves.
"Back when we weren't as developed as we are now, the Solstice Shower was a phenomenon that first opened our eyes to the possibility of the supernatural, as well as served as a beacon of encouragement for our survival and growth."
He then paused, his voice turning cold and grave.
"Little did we know that the eye opener would in fact be the very first cause of the multitude of disasters that would ravage the physical world for years to come."
Their professor's grave tone caused all of their emotions to stir, causing them to lean forward slightly.
"The Solstice Shower is not some beautiful festive holiday as it is depicted to the public, but is instead a ravaging cancer, a cancer that might be the death of us all in coming years.
"During the Solstice Shower, the Spiritual Sea is bombarded with large amounts of ether leaking from an unknown location beyond our reach, causing it to fade and slowly seep into the physical world. That beautiful aurora you see for an hour is actually the manifestation of the Spiritual Sea, a manifestation that does much more harm to our lives than good.
"As you all must know by now, the Spiritual Sea is densely occupied by ether, causing it to be a very dangerous location for our physical bodies. Only our Inner Body of Truth can survive there, which is why no one tries to physically travel through the Spiritual Sea with their mortal bodies. After it phases as a projection in the sky, large amounts of the ether present within it leaks into the real world, causing a lot of inexplicable consequences that threaten our mortal lives."
He sighed deeply as if thinking of past troubles, before resuming his lecture with a straight face.
"This is one of the main ways in which Oddities are formed, as the excess ether is then absorbed by various entities and objects that fulfill specific conditions."
The students remained silent, their expressions unreadable.
They couldn't imagine how an event which they all took as celebratory in their normal lives, could end up being the source of a lot of trouble.
This made them once again experience the dangers lingering at the precipices of their fragile lives, causing them to feel weak and powerless in the face of it.
Elias's thought ran much deeper, his expression tight and disturbed.
He had a feeling that this was linked to him in a certain way, but couldn't quite put his finger on as to how it was.
Maybe he had absorbed part of such ether which ended up giving him his spiritual sight?
But if that were true, how then was he able to retain his sanity and not transform into a biological Oddity on the spot, especially after having such a close encounter with it at such a young age? After all back then, he was only a child and had not developed the ability to wield the uncanny energy source.
He recalled the professor specifying that the absorption of the excess ether happened under specific circumstances, causing him to once again think about what conditions he had fulfilled to be able to absorb it.
Elias felt like he was having more and more questions surrounding him as the days went by, with his quest for answers only producing much more, causing him to feel quite helpless in his current predicament.
He didn't think it would be this hard to find the answers he was looking for, causing him to feel quite troubled.
Before Elias could attempt to ask the professor about some of the specific conditions, Ezra beat him to it, once again causing Professor Windsor to dive into a lengthy lecture.
Apparently, the top research institutions such as the Council of Uncommons, Silverbell Tower and the Church of Truth were not able to draft out a proven condition for oddity transformation even after hundreds of years of research data, causing all of the various geniuses to feel quite troubled and disturbed.
This was vastly due to their inability to interact or even see the ether present around them, a limitation that stunted most of their research efforts.
According to the experimental papers published by these research institutions, any biological entity in close proximity to large amounts of ether would mutate into either a mutant or Oddity, but that was not the only way.
The papers also explained how items or entities that possessed a strong enough supernatural bridge or conduit could also resonate with ether, causing it to slowly seep into and change them as time went by.
An example used in his explanation was an Oddity he described as the Flower of Bewilderment. This was a type of lily native to the southern coast of Lorraine and was originally just an ordinary flower up until about twenty years ago.
An Apostolic Bishop had been killed on a meadow of these flowers, causing the blood that seeped into it to resonate with a large amount of Ether and mutate into a lower-class Oddity.
The then-modified plant was then capable of inflicting extreme cases of hysteria and confusion on its victims, either through entering their bodies with its blooming pores or through direct consumption.
Another case was a mother and her child who were burnt to death on a boat while trying to flee from robbers, a pair whose corpses mutated into the Wailing Duo of Cerf on the night of a solstice, an Oddity which went on to terrorize the Cerf transportation ports for almost 10 years before they were sealed.
In this case, the conduit seemed to be their lingering attachment to life, as well as the pain they experienced within their souls before their death.
It seemed like their grief and indignation were twisted and mutated by the excess Ether in the environment, causing them to gain supernatural abilities while channeling their resentment onto any boat that tried to leave the port.
Professor Windsor also went on to give other various examples pertaining to Oddity transformation, which included a lot of scenarios that went beyond conventional mortal logic.
But even with all these examples, no concrete explanation could still be put forward to explain the exact process of selection, as everything till now only existed as hypothetical theories that had yet to be proven.
Downing a glass of water after the lengthy explanation, Professor Windsor seemed a lot more refreshed, his throat no longer hoarse.
He had a double class with his students today, and he planned to make the best out of it.
Looking at their tense expressions, he smiled in reminiscence, seemingly seeing his past self in those fearful eyes.
He remembered how he too had realized just how insignificant his life was in the face of mortal disaster, realizing that the depths of the abyss were just one step away from consuming the world whole.
That was why he had decided to walk on the apostolic path—to have a chance to fight for his life, to protect everything he holds dear and to not be in a position where his life or death would be decided by others.
The world beneath the morning was dangerous and full of peril, but only by stepping into its open maw would one have a shot at defending themselves.
What a sad but poetic irony it was...