Elias sat still in contemplation, a look of understanding briefly making its way across his face.

'So that's how it is...'

He slowly focused on the swirling torrent of information within his head, information that existed as a basic outline for the lantern tattoo symbol on his right arm.

This exercise had made one thing crystal clear to Elias, and that was the foundational nature of his second Runic Invocation—Identification.

The invocation seemed to be able to identify and point out the nature of anything that was a bearer of ether, which was evident from the information currently embedded into his brain.

Identification made it possible for Elias to extract information from unknown paranormal forces, mitigating a lot of risks and giving him the prime benefit of information control.

He would be able to glance at the true supernatural nature of the subject, identifying not only its name and nature but also its supernatural abilities, making it so that he wouldn't ever be caught in a tough spot due to unknown variables.

This opened up a lot of possibilities to Elias, possibilities that made him conclude that this particular blessing was immensely more useful than his first Invocation—Finger Lines, even if it wasn't as battle centered and versatile as the latter was.

Elias swiftly analyzed multiple possible scenarios to which he could apply this Runic Invocation, causing a rare glow of anticipation to appear in his eyes.

Lars swiftly noticed this observable change, prompting him to pull Elias back to reality, asking him what he had found out to make him look so excited.

Elias awkwardly cleared his throat, before reporting his findings to his twin brother.

Lars thought for a bit in silence, before nodding his head in understanding.

"I thought as much. When you first reported the Invocations to me, I already felt like this ability would be closely related to this. Even if its contents were pretty vague within the Wisp, it still points back to this conclusion once thought about further.

"This is an immensely beneficial ability to have, and one that would make sure that we aren't caught off guard by unknown variables, especially when dealing with supernatural entities in the future."

Elias hummed, sharing the same thoughts.

"It's almost like you've read my mind. This is an incredible blessing to have, and one that I plan to make good use of in the future."

Lars nodded affirmatively, his gaze becoming thoughtful.

"From what you've told me, your hypothesis is that it seems to be able to draw out the information from anything imbued with ether. Does that mean it doesn't only apply to paranormal entities and objects, but fellow Apostles as well?"

Elias paused to think, a hint of skepticism hidden beneath his voice. "Theoretically, yes. Especially since we Apostles also run off the use of ether as a foundational catalyst. Aside from that, we also passively absorb ether from our surroundings to activate our Invocations, so there is no logical reason as to why it shouldn't work.

"Though this is just a conclusion after analyzing the current information at hand. Actual application may have a different result, especially since it involves a lot of other variables we do not know about yet. So we would have to wait and see."

Lars simply nodded in agreement, his mood relaxing.

"There would be a lot of opportunities to test this theory out in the future, especially with your commissions from the academy board, so there is no need to rush. If worst comes to worst, we can just subtly test it out on the day of your first commission in two weeks." He paused, thinking for a bit. "Anything else?"

Elias soon drifted into thought, tapping on his chin.

"It seems like right now, I can use the ability to identify three times per invocation, meaning that I can still use it twice before my body needs to be saturated by ether to use it again. Also, I feel like the ability hasn't shown it's full potential yet, and it would slowly unravel itself as I unlock the corresponding seals."

Feeling a need to clarify, he spoke once again. "This is just a hunch of mine though, so take it with a grain of salt."

Lars simply waved leisurely, indicating that he understood.

Elias then proceeded to invoke Finger Lines, using the ether strings connected to his fingers to shut his chamber blinds for added privacy.

His control over the web-like ether incarnations had become so much smoother than before, moving to his will in a much more fluid manner.

His discomfort at controlling them had also visibly lessened, an added benefit that came with daily practice since the first time he invoked it.

Lars floated at the side, gazing at the ethereal misty black strings as they moved according to his brother's will.

This had become quite a common sight for him throughout the week, causing him to no longer exhibit shock or fear whenever he materialized in a room full of black cobwebs.

He sighed softly, simply wishing Elias could give him a heads-up before turning their room into a dark spider cave.

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Elias, oblivious to his counterpart's inner musings, canceled the invocation after successfully closing the blinds, causing the illusory symbol of a silver lunar moon on his forehead to lose one of its three segments.

He beckoned for Lars to come closer, to which the latter obliged without any resistance.

He then took a heavy breath, before focusing on the lantern symbol on his right arm.

"Now to address the elephant in the room..."

Right after saying this Elias's perception flooded into the incorporeal symbol, willing for it to materialize to which he got an instant response.

The symbol suddenly shone with pale purple light, bathing the two onlookers in its glow which caused a shiver to instantly run down their spine.

The pale purple light suddenly rippled and cackled, making it seem like something was tearing through the space in front of them.

An ominous feeling instantly settled on Elias's mind, causing him to consider aborting the experiment before a noticeable change took place.

The cackling sound suddenly disappeared, taking with it the pale shade of violet indigo, leaving in its place a small purple ornate lantern.

The lantern had an archaic gothic design, with the atmosphere around it exuding a dense aura of death.

Multiple vine-like roots stretched across its rugged surface, twirling around its body and cap as if to make sure its lid was never opened.

The lantern was riddled with intricate letterings and calligraphs, mainly supernatural and very detailed, making both Elias and Lars come to the assumption that its carver must have been a master with detailed handling of the craft.

A small magical stone sat quietly in its center, giving off a seemingly harmless gentle purple glow.

The lantern greatly resembled an antique, with the only major difference being the unconventional method it had used to form.

Lars' gaze lingered on the lantern for a long time, before slowly shifting to Elias blankly.

Elias understood the meaning behind the glance, at first sight, prompting him to collect himself and share his earlier findings.

Through the use of the Runic Invocation of Identification, Elias was not only able to find out its name but also the nature and ability set of the seemingly harmless glowing lantern.

The lantern was named Ebonshade, and it was apparently a paranormal object that exhibited a supernatural nature due to its high ether density.

In simpler terms, it was basically an Oddity, an actual paranormal object that existed beyond the limits of mundane laws!

This revelation caused Lars to instantly become anxious, as he couldn't imagine the predicament they had found themselves in.

What in the five gods' names were they doing in possession of an Oddity?!

Elias simply continued to sort through the mesh of information, not showing any type of reaction.

It seemed like he had gotten used to these bizarre occurrences, or maybe he didn't even know how to react in the first place.

In any case, Elias remained calm, his focus on sorting through the information jumbled up within his head.

Elias's composure served as a wake-up call for Lars, causing him to temporarily discard the trepidations within his heart.

Apparently, Ebonshade was a lantern with a seemingly peculiar nature, primarily its ability to ward off the aura of death from its immediate vicinity.

As long as someone stayed within the proximity of its pale purple glow, it seemed that they wouldn't be affected by the infectious aura of death, a useful ability that gave Elias a lot of questions.

He half turned towards Lars, noticing the latter mirroring his expression.

It seemed like he too was confused by the current predicament.

Lars was the first to speak, his voice uncharacteristically shaky.

"I-I think we need to have a word with that seer nun from before."

Elias nodded with a grave expression, sharing the same sentiments.

One didn't have to be a detective to realize that the emergence of the lantern tattoo was tied back to the hallway altercation from earlier.

The symbol had mysteriously appeared on Elias's hand immediately after bumping into her, making him almost 99% sure that she was involved in its appearance in some way.

This gave room to a lot more questions, as he didn't understand why a sister from the Providence clergy would gift him, a random academy student, with such an important object out of nowhere.

Especially something as rare and dangerous as an Oddity, a supernatural entity that could do a lot more harm than good when in the wrong hands.

Elias decided to go look for her first thing in the morning, as he desperately needed a reasonable explanation for the whole occurrence.

He was getting tangled up in more and more cobwebs of mysteries, and it would honestly be a lie if he said he wasn't getting tired of it all.

Ever since he arrived on the neutral island he had felt like a worm thrown into the vast ocean, leading a lot of hungry fishes to swim out of nowhere for a bite, excited to take part in the feast.

It had started to feel suffocating for the young man, making it hard for him to maintain his facade of maturity and composure.

Only he knew how much the recent events had been taking a toll on him.

And it was a heavy toll... to say the least.

...

Elias walked slowly towards the academy gates, gazing at the two stationed guards who were the same male and female duo from the day of his orientation.

This made Elias heave a sigh of relief, as he walked closer to the two with a respectful expression.

He had decided to come and ask the guards about the whereabouts of the Sightless Seer delegates, mainly because he didn't want to seem suspicious to administrations with his questions.

It would seem quite odd for a fresher student to come asking about delegates from one of the five orthodox churches, especially having no prior connections with said delegate beforehand.

Elias desperately wanted to maintain a low profile, keeping up his persona of a 'good student' as long as he could.

This was why he had decided to come to ask the guards, as they wouldn't be as suspicious about it as the academy admins.

This was a plan screened and reviewed by both him and Elias, and one which they both felt had the lowest chance of risk.

The female guard noticed the young man approaching them from afar, causing her to nudge her counterpart in his direction.

She clearly remembered Elias, which was evident by the soft smile on her face.

"Wow... The uniform looks a lot better on you than I expected. I like it."

She winked at Elias playfully, causing him to feel a bit awkward.

The male guard noticed this and smiled lightly, before coming to Elias's rescue.

"You seem to have something to ask us, young apprentice... Is everything okay? Shouldn't you still be having classes by now?"

Elias nodded with a calm smile, before stating the reason for his visit.

The female guard listened to him in silence, before shaking her head with a wry smile.

"You missed them by a little over 30 minutes. The delegations from the five churches, who had been here for over a week now, just took their leave a while ago."

Elias's face dropped, an expression of regret making its way onto his face.

He swiftly thanked the two guards before he lost his composure, before proceeding to hail a coach back to the main academy building.

In the coach Elias looked out onto the passing vicinity listlessly, his gaze deep and empty.

He felt a dangerous premonition settle onto his heart, causing him to feel quite disturbed.

The delegation of Sightless Seers, who had remained in the academy since the day of the assessment for some unknown reasons, had seemingly decided to leave the day after one of their clergymen left Elias with an ominous gift.

It felt a bit too much like a coincidence, a coincidence that embraced Elias with a sense of fear.

Elias slowly tried to contain his emotions, clenching his fists with closed eyes as the coach slowly moved through the academy estate.

As always, he had to find the answers himself, and no matter how grave and complex said questions may be, he would always strive to find the answers.

It was a gift, as well as a lingering curse.