“What kinds of complaints?" Ethan asked tentatively. He could understand why the young ones, barely out of adolescence, would latch on to these rumours if only to break the monotony of their training. However, for the faculty to do so, there should be something more.

  "What do you think?" the man shrugged. "It's about your sister, like always. They feel threatened by her presence. These idiots thought they were finally rid of her when she graduated, but now it's even worse. She never does anything by half measures. They do not want to see the Academy return to the time when she ruled over them."

  Somehow, Ethan could understand their worries. While the Academy was a place of learning, it was also a means for the progeny of the most influential people in the Imperium to connect and mingle. However, for most of Gloria's attendance, none of her peers were a match for her, allowing her to run rampant. Not even the teachers could keep her in check.

  By the end of her last year, the Academy had become her own kingdom, which she ruled as queen. None dared cross her for fear of retaliation. For those who tried to oppose her, it was nothing more than hell on earth, while those who had chosen her side early had prospered.

  Still, there were a few Gloria didn't cross, like the man currently facing Ethan. They got along surprisingly well as the man never seemed to bother with the small stuff, and none of the other faculty members could get him to do anything against his will—all except one, the Dean. She was the only one who could ever reign Gloria in.

  “Once again, it comes back to her,” Ethan sighed as he shook his head. “Well, there’s nothing to it. I didn’t have much choice to begin with. Better get this done.”

  "I assume you are here to check on the armoury?" the man asked, slightly smiling.

  “Precisely. I can’t afford to fail this assignment.”

  “Then, come with me,” he said as he rose from his chair.

  Somehow, Ethan could almost feel a breath of relief from this inanimate object as it was finally released from its suffering. The cushioning had been so compressed that it didn't even bounce back, and the metal support seemed to have been bent in an unnatural way, leading Ethan to wonder how much longer it could endure this treatment.

  Following behind this mass of muscle, Ethan looked around familiar halls yet saw none of his former acquaintances. Back then, most had been in their senior years and had graduated alongside his sister. From what he had heard, most went straight into the military, distinguishing themselves throughout the numerous minor conflicts occurring each year alongside the border of the Imperium.

  However, not all were so successful.

  The Imperium hadn't been at war for a long time, yet this didn't halt deaths from occurring. Every year, new recruits would be thrust into minor battlefields, only to emerge maimed or worse. It wasn't rare for recruits to perish of their own inexperience. Even just last year, Ethan attended the funeral of one such acquaintance.

  "How's the crop this year?" Ethan asked, merely to make small talk, yet this giant of a man seemed more than happy to answer this query.

  "Good," he said. "While it doesn't compare to two years ago, there are a few promising ones. Given time, they might make something of themselves. There's this one girl... I forget her name... Anyway, she mastered the bow in almost no time and uses her water spirit instead of arrows. Its destructive power is quite impressive."

  “I saw,” Ethan said nonchalantly, yet the man turned to face him, looking incredulous. Ethan merely shrugged as he added, “I almost got skewered by one of her arrows by taking the secret path. She thought I was the intruder, and if not for a blind student, she might have killed me on the spot.”

  “A blind student?” the Division Head repeated, looking rather pensive, yet his gaze soon darkened. “I don’t recall a blind student. Are you sure he’s a student of this division?”

  “He seemed to be,” Ethan answered, slightly confused. “The girl you spoke about seemed to know who he was. Why would you think he wasn’t one?”

  “Because this is the Martial Division, remember?” the man added with a deep frown above his eyes. “Only the best of the best in the martial way are ever admitted. No matter how good a blind man can be, there’s no way he can compete with someone possessing all his senses. Are you sure he was truly blind?”

  “Well, I didn’t really test him. Do you think he could be the intruder?”

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  Ethan didn't really believe that man could be an intruder, not with the way he carried himself. He possessed way too much confidence to act in such a brash way. In his opinion, the blind man may have simply been a student from the Main Division or another out there. There probably was nothing to worry about, yet the Division Head seemed slightly concerned.

  “Forget it,” he said after a while, shrugging. “I’ll have my people look into it just to make sure, but I doubt it will result in anything substantial, not with all the newcomers we’ve had recently.”

  “I’m sorry about my sister,” Ethan said. “She just has to have it her way.”

  "No worries!" the man exclaimed, bursting into a hearty laugh. "Things were getting rather dull around here. It's a good thing to keep the young ones on edge. They might even learn what discipline is by watching her subordinate do their duties."

  I doubt it, Ethan couldn't help but think, yet his expression betrayed none of it. He retained merely a slight smile as he walked down the hall, following slightly behind the large man.

  Ethan could feel the floor tremble slightly under each of the man's steps, creating a large echo that resounded throughout the ground floor where they stood. Yet none of the classes now in session or the numerous training rooms showed any signs of interest, almost as if this was but a common occurrence.

  The rest of Ethan's inspection was mostly uneventful. The armoury was stocked to the brim with every kind of weapon imaginable, just waiting for them to be used in battle. Some were even artifacts, enabling its wielder to use magic without the use of a spirit. While the effects were much more subdued than if they tried to use proper magic, it still enhanced those weapon’s destructive power.

  Once Ethan double-checked that the inventory was in order—at least the weapons meant for this operation, as he hadn't been given access to the more restricted part of the armoury—Ethan returned to the Endless Library for the first time in what seemed like forever, although it had only been over a week.

  Ignoring all the stares from his colleagues, Ethan went straight to find the black wordless tome and entered it, only to be stunned by what he saw. Although merely slight, the sky had indeed changed. While most of the countless dim stars forming the starry night remained, two of those burned with a peculiar shine.

  One was pure white, raining down its light straight into Ethan’s retina. He could barely sustain its power for more than a second before he had to look away for fear of becoming permanently blind.

  The other one was dull black, contrasting against the void of the sky up ahead. Surprisingly, it seemed to shine just as strongly as the white one, except that its light was black instead—something that Ethan could hardly understand.

  What happened here? What could have changed?

  Feeling slightly rattled and confused, Ethan rushed toward his desk, extracting his copy of the black tome from the bottom drawer before opening it. He skipped the first few pages until he reached the double spread located right in the middle.

  It depicted the starry sky shining above him, yet represented onto paper. The same two stars seemed to be burning on the page, yet the black paper they were printed on didn't seem to care much. It resisted their heat with nary a problem.

  On the other hand, Ethan could barely stand to face the heat generated by this page. The heat rose, creating an updraft in this world devoid of wind as it escaped past the non-existent roof, ruffling Ethan's long robes. Still, his gaze didn't shift, remaining riveted onto the page, with many thoughts swirling in his mind.

  What could this all mean?

  It wasn't until he turned the page that he was faced with something he hadn't seen before. One of the countless pages that used to be blank now offered a description and picture of a spirit Ethan was intimately familiar with. Except the picture looked nothing like what he thought he knew.

  The picture was one of a humanoid spirit wearing a long white dress. Her long hair was like the sun, blinding despite being but white ink on a dark page. However, the single strangest thing about her figure was the lack of features on her face. It felt like a fog was hovering over her face, making her features indistinguishable. While it resembled a human in almost all aspects, Ethan could feel in his guts that it couldn't be further from the truth. This was the depiction of a spirit, no doubt about it.

  A humanoid spirit? Ethan frowned as he looked at the page. How rare. Even Beth’s snow spirit hasn’t even reached that level yet. Which one could it be?

  However, the subsequent realization shocked him. Written slightly below the image, Ethan could see its name in a big, bold but adorned letter: Lux of Convergence, Spirit of Light. Ethan's eyes narrowed, switching back and forth between the image and the character written on the page. He almost couldn't believe his eyes, even though he knew they weren't lying.

  Is that its true form?

  Without wasting another moment, Ethan furiously flipped the pages, hoping to find something that might validate his hypothesis. It took him until almost the end of the tome—near the last pages— to find what he was looking for.

  On the dark page was an image of a being that shone slightly. However, its light wasn’t blinding but the light of a dark abyss—a contradiction Ethan couldn’t make sense of, yet he couldn’t ignore it. It was in front of his eyes.

  The dark light depicted a bare-chested man. He was slim, yet his muscles were highly defined. Once again, Ethan couldn't see his facial features, but he instinctively knew they would be stunning. There was no doubt in his mind.

  He knew if any woman were to look upon him, they would instantly become a prisoner of his charms. In fact, even Ethan, being a man, couldn’t help but be drawn in. Fortunately, he was able to extirpate himself before it was too late. He closed his eyes and shook his head.

  What does it all mean?

  Looking slightly below the image, Ethan saw the familiar characters he shouldn’t be able to read, yet he knew they spelled out: Nox of Blending, Spirit of Darkness. Slightly below was a paragraph written in the same language, but this time, Ethan could barely read it.

  From what he could decipher, this seemed to be an explanation of the spirit's powers but also a description of its personality and preferences. Still, all the relevant or essential information was blurred out as if purely to keep him in the dark. Still, one last detail caught his attention.

  At the very bottom of the page was a long strip with enough space to accommodate exactly ten characters, yet only one was illuminated. This was a character he had seen before as it was on one of the two bands he had seen in his dreams—the ones that were wrapped around his heart.