After successfully making it back to the academy, Professor Windsor split off from the group with the excuse of wanting to swiftly make a report on the evening's accident to the principal.

He promised to have their commission graded and scored by the following Monday, as he urged the three teenage boys to go ahead and get some much-needed rest which they had truly deserved.

This left Elias, Damien, and Ne'em alone with each other, as the trio could be seen walking together towards the dormitory section of the estate under the silent watch of the silver moon.

They continued to walk on in silence, making the atmosphere seem almost as tense as the journey back to the academy.

Each of them had different things weighing down on their minds, as was obvious from the various expressions etched onto their faces.

Damien was walking with his hands in his pocket and could be seen stealing hesitant glances at Elias.

Ne'em had his eyes closed and wasn't reading from one of his fantasy books like he usually would be doing. He seemed sour, tired, and maybe a little bit... sad.

He appeared to be contemplating something, yet nobody could guess what it was.

Whereas Elias was moving forward with a straight face and would occasionally gaze at the moon with listless eyes, before straightening his expression once again.

The ambiance between the trio was quite awkward and uncomfortable, but nobody said anything as if there was nothing to be said.

They walked for a fair amount of distance in silence before Ne'em suddenly spoke out,

"I'm angry."

His abrupt statement caught his two friends off guard, prompting them to turn towards him with confused expressions.

Ne'em continued with his monologue as if not even expecting a response.

"I'm really angry. How stupid must one be to willingly sacrifice yourself for someone you just met? Is it a sense of responsibility? or the naive goal of wanting to be a hero? I don't understand... It makes no sense to me.

"So now... now I'm angry. Very very angry."

Ne'em's sudden outburst came as a shock to both people present, prompting them to stare at him blankly while being unsure about how to react.

He seemed quite different from how he normally was, as his usual calm and indifferent face was now replaced by frustration and a little bit of confusion.

This change caused Elias to unknowingly burst out in laughter, to the point where his eyes started tearing up.

Damien observed all of his incredulously, feeling like both of his friends had suddenly lost their minds.

It took a whole two minutes for Elias to get over his laughter, as he turned to meet the stern and annoyed face of Ne'em.

"Would you like to share with the crowd what you find so funny?"

Elias waved his hands in a carefree manner, all the while still wiping away the tears that had formed at the side of his eyes.

"Oh nothing, nothing. Don't worry about it. It's just that you seemed so different from your usual self, it caught me quite off guard."

Ne'em didn't get offended. Instead, he thought over it, feeling like Elias's logic was quite sound. He was acting a lot differently from his usual self, so he accepted it without starting an argument.

"Hmm, well... I guess you aren't wrong."

Damien was shocked at how readily he accepted the sloppy explanation while Elias finally regained his composure.

"Ha... What are you so mad about anyway?"

Ne'em slowly gave a rundown of his experiences during the banquet attack, specifically the varying acts of self-sacrifice by Captain Edmund and the other officers.

He became visibly agitated when he got to the latter part, and Elias could even detect a hint of pain hidden beneath all of the annoyance.

This caused him to smile softly, as he could somewhat understand how Ne'em was feeling.

"So you don't understand why they were so quick to lay down their lives for you, and that makes you angry?"

Ne'em nodded in relief, as if glad that his point was understood.

Elias stopped in his tracks as if measuring what he was about to say.

"I dare not say I understand their reasons for making such a selfless decision, but I can sort of see where they are coming from." He then turned towards Ne'em, his gaze sharp. "Hasn't there been anything in your life that you have so wanted to protect? Something that you value much more than yourself?"

Ne'em seemed confused, not quite understanding what Elias was getting at.

"No, there has not. Is there supposed to be something much more valuable than one's self?"

Both Damien and Elias looked at him with a smile, a smile that seemed to contain a lot of unspoken words.

"Well that there is your problem. Everyone has something they want to protect Ne'em, something we can't stand letting go of no matter how dire the odds may be against us, be it a person, ideals, goals, or values.

"You seem to not know what is yours, but maybe when you find out you'll come to better understand the actions of those noble officers better. " Elias walked towards Ne'em, poking his chest with a finger before pointing to his head. "You might even come to know how it feels to think with the heart, rather than the head."

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Ne'em was stuck standing in place, staring at the part of his chest that housed his rapidly beating heart.

'Thinking with the heart... Is that even possible?'

While Ne'em was busy contemplating Damien was smiling proudly at the side, thoroughly satisfied at how Elias handled the situation. Elias simply shrugged, before walking off casually.

"I'm a bit surprised though. Don't the stories you read sometimes represent stuff like this? I'm pretty sure it's a common troupe for a selfless hero to lay down his life while battling against the villain. How come you don't understand this?"

Ne'em looked at Elias incredulously, as if he was saying nonsense. "But that's fiction. Shouldn't fiction remain in fiction while what's real should remain real?"

"Pfft"

Damien let out an uncontrollable laugh, while Elias just stared at Ne'em suspiciously.

"Uhm... You do know that stories are meant to communicate some sort of message to the reader? Most of these messages can be impacted in real-life scenarios as well."

Ne'em adjusted his eye frames, his tone straightforward.

"Well, maybe to some people. I simply read as much as I do to escape my boring and bothersome life, not the learn values or anything else. I learn enough as is, I can't allow that to leak into my favorite pastime as well."

Elias and Damien turned to look at each other, suddenly feeling that this guy wasn't as smart as they previously thought he was.

It was much too bothersome to dive into philosophical arguments about how wrong Ne'em's viewpoint was so Elias simply brushed it off with a casual wave, before continuing his walk to his dorm.

Damien and Ne'em swiftly followed suit, the latter still contemplating what Elias had said while the former was focused on teasing him.

The previously tense atmosphere had now been relieved, as the young men now seemed to have gone back to their usual mood.

Elias saw his dormitory in the distance and decided to ask about the girls before leaving, as he didn't have a chance to talk to them before they vacated the villa.

"Oh, Aamiya, and hmm... what's the other girl's name again?"

"Yves."

"Oh yes... Yves. I heard from the professor that she had gotten some minor injuries so her sister took her to get patched up, while Aamiya will be spending the weekend with her worried father."

"I see... It's all good then."

Elias said his goodbyes before walking into his dorm, while the other two split in the direction of their student quarters.

It had been a really long night, and they all deserved some rest.

...

Elias walked into his room, taking note of how chaotic the entire place looked since he hadn't had the time to clean up before the banquet.

He sighed and decided to leave it for next time since he was feeling quite lazy, before walking to his window to bask in the light of the moon.

"How did you know I can carry out external possession? I'm quite sure I haven't mentioned it to you yet."

Lars's presence slowly materialized beside Elias, his presence quite faint and weak.

Elias kept his gaze on the sky, smiling at his brother's sudden question.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice all the books you've been reading on soul externalization and possession for the last week or two?

"Just as you know me best I also know you best as well, Lars. It was a given that you would have an idea of how to execute it since you've been studying it for that long. I believe there is nothing you can't do once you put your mind to it."

Lars chuckled in amusement, "So essentially, you placed a risky bet?"

Elias kept his face straight, not denying it at all.

"Yes, yes I did."

The two brothers went silent, sharing a rare instance of unspoken understanding.

They relished a moment of peace before Lars abruptly spoke up.

"Are you really alright?"

Elias kept his eyes on the twinkling stars in the sky, before closing them quite calmly,

"Yes... yes, I am."

...

The following Monday class commenced as usual, with the atmosphere in the first-year academy building remaining as bright and cheerful as before.

Only now some of the young Apprentices seemed a lot more mature than before, as if they had now grown into their respective roles as future Disciples and Apostles.

One of such students was Elias, who was now making his way to his lecture hall.

His eyes looked a lot more resolute than before and his entire person radiated a subtle air of maturity, almost as if he had gone from a naive teenager to one who was now ready to face the throes of the world head-on.

He calmly walked into his lecture hall, which brought about a tense air of silence as all of the attention was instantly directed at him.

Elias noticed all of this but decided to ignore it, as he was most likely aware of why they were casting him such odd glances. He made his way to his seat, where his group members were already seated waiting for him with Damien waving enthusiastically.

'This guy... He really can't read the room huh.' Elias offered them his morning greetings while taking his seat, before turning towards Aamiya with worry.

"I didn't have a chance to check up on you this past weekend, but are you alright?"

Aamiya offered him a thankful smile, showing him that nothing was wrong with her and that she was quite hale and hearty.

Elias nodded before suddenly glancing towards her side, where the ice-cold princess was seated as inconspicuously as before.

"Good morning Yves. I heard about how you fought to keep everyone safe. I'm glad you are okay."

Yves nodded absentmindedly, before suddenly jerking back in her seat with confused eyes. She eyed Elias suspiciously, thinking that she must have heard him wrong.

'He—he can see me?’

Similarly, Aamiya also noted something was wrong, gazing at Elias with a slight bit of shock on her face.

However, before the two of them could confront him Professor Windsor made his way into the hall, looking as stern and indifferent as before.

This brought about an immediate silencing of the entire seminar room, as he immediately dove into teaching his class.

The class was focused on detailing the differences between Innate Blessings and Runic Invocations, topics of which Elias was already mostly aware.

He stated that Innate Blessings were the natural changes that came with the unsealing of one's Wisp, further stating that they were as normal to an Apostle as sleeping and breathing.

The Innate Blessing arises as a result of genuine evolutionary progression and bodily mutation into one's divine authority, meaning that they are seen as abilities born from the body's natural acceptance of the path of their Echelon and Apostolic Seat.

This allows them to be limitless and unrestricted when it comes to usage, unlike their highly advanced counterparts.

Runic Invocations however are limited and quite restricted, owing to the fact that they are externally implanted by the wisp as well as the vast amount of ether needed for their activation.

Professor Windsor explained that the Runic Invocations are runes directly engraved into the Wisp of Blessings by the gods, so they exert a lot more influence than the Innate Blessings are capable of doing on an equal scale.

This makes them immensely powerful and destructive, leading to them being limited in usage by the sheer amount of ether needed for their invocation.

Apparently, it was said that this was a conscious decision made by the five deities, as they aimed to control the amount of divine authority harnessable by their mortal followers.

So in summary the Innate Blessing were the basic abilities while the Runic Invocations were the advanced, larger scale ones.

He also talked about how both the Innate Blessing and Runic Invocation carry on to the next level, meaning that an Ash Priest would be able to use all of the abilities of an Arms Deacon in addition to their own. This also applied to the higher Apostolic Seats as well.

Professor Windsor decided to end the class there, as he tidied up his teaching materials while moving to conclude the class.

"In the next class, I will be teaching about some of the other important Apostolic terminologies such as what exactly the Trial and Tribulations of Faith are, and how exactly the Trial Qualification ties into the entire process. That might be an unsettling class for some, so prepare yourselves sufficiently in advance.

"Groups that did their commission assignments from Monday till Saturday can come for their grading after lunch, I should more or less be done with it by then."

He took his instruction manuals and moved to leave, before stopping at the door after remembering one last detail.

"Before I forget, throughout this week you all are allowed to send one letter back home. Make sure you do it before Friday though, as all the letters would be shipped out of the post office by Saturday morning. See you in the next class."

And with that Professor Windsor exited the hall, leaving behind a series of shouts and cheers.