Mrs Richardson calm voice resounded in her office. Metello and Jeffrey listened to her desperately.

“What you can do, is what you planned to do before the [Duke]'s speech.”

The [Rogue] words barely left enough time to let her finish.

“But, we can't even go hunting.”

“As I said Metello last cycle, absorbing cores is not always the fastest way to grow stronger. Upgrading your class is really important too. You can always work on your class blessings. You can practice more with weapons too, or read a bit about monsters.”

“Okay. I...will look for Carl and Isobel for now. I'll be back to your home for lunch if you agree with that Metello.”

“Yes, yes. Do that. I need some time to think too.”

Once Metello and Mrs Richardson were alone, he spoke again.

“What can I do to avoid these mind...things again ?”

The old lady looked at the young man with sad eyes.

“It's not easy. Two statistics help to resist mind alteration: Mind Resilience and Social Comprehension. The subtle effects are more easily resisted. The blunt ones are more noticeable but more powerful too. For you, the easier is to simply level up as you already have a high base Mind Resilience, if I remember well. It would bring you more divine energy too. That is always good for prayers, so it would be a double benefit for you.”

“OK. Thank you very much. I think I will try to find Brorne once more before lunch. He surely has more information about the prophecy as he had been in meetings for the whole last cycle. I hope he will tell me some of it. See you later.”

“Goodbye, Metello. Take care.”

Once again, Metello walked out in the streets, a golden robe on his body and a cheap rat-leather hat on his head. While moving his legs mechanically, the same thoughts came again and again to his mind. The speech made him think about the prophecy, which made him think about the family he wanted to find, which made him want to hunt monsters to be stronger, which again made him think about the speech that announced the gate closure.

When he arrived in the training area of the House, he was pleased to find Brorne teaching a two-handed hammer wielder, finally. He waited for the hour to finish to be able to talk a bit with him and listened as he said goodbye to his pupil.

“Be sure to keep on with your training even if I'm not here anymore, understood?”

“Of course, Brorne. Thank you.”

As the wannabe monster hunter left, Brorne turned to Metello.

“Hello there. How have you been ?”

“Hi, Brorne. It's...complicated. But first, have I heard that you are leaving ?”

Brorne released a heavy breath before answering.

“Yes. As a golden-ranked hunter under fifty years old, I have to go with the convoy tomorrow. I am due to defend John Saint Walls.”

Metello dropped his head. He asked while looking at the ground.

“Are you going to be safe with the [Nox Apostle] ?”

“Wow. You know about it. You surprise me.” After a few silent seconds, he added. “If the scholars are right, it should be more or less safe for some time. The real problems would come in a few years. It's the time needed for the [Apostle] to grow enough to be a serious threat.”

Metello felt relief wash over him. He had a few years.

“How many years ?”

“There are still debates among the scholars. The most pessimistic estimate is only three years, while the most optimistic say the [Nox Apostle] won't be a problem for the next ten years. I hope that you'll have the time to find your family before chaos comes into the Enlightened Lands.”

“Thanks.”

As his next pupil arrived, Brorne added.

“I have to fulfill my job, even if I leave tomorrow. Train well with your rapier. A last tip for you: if you manage to hit all the numbers of the rotating target in order in under ten seconds, your rapier blessing should level up. It's a good exercise for Agility Hand and Perception Sense too. We probably won't see each other for quite some time, so good luck and train hard champion!”

After a pat on Metello's head, he turned and walked toward the sword-wielding girl. She was ready to practice.

The hunter's heart sank. It was a farewell.

“Good luck to you too!”

After that, he went out on the streets toward the poor market district. He stopped at his usual food seller first as there were no beans left at his home, but he needed to eat another thing for his lunch. The cycle was far too emotionally testing for him. For once, he felt like buying some street food.

Then, he walked back home. Before Jeffrey came back, he spent time thinking about his objectives as he learned new information from Brorne. In the worst case, he needed to get strong enough to leave the city for good in two years to have one year left to look for his family. For now, he couldn't hunt, which left him with training his blessings.

The two he needed to level up the most were Prayer to Lux and Rapier Handling because they were his two main tools against monsters. But, this cycle, he needed something different, something to wash his spirit. He remembered what Mrs Richardson had told him the previous cycle, that he should sometimes relax while working toward an upgrade to his class. When Jeffrey opened the door a few minutes later, he had decided to go to the Lux temple and visit the drawing and painting room.

The Lux follower crossed the streets in his [Acolyte]'s golden robe without an issue to arrive at the once more almost deserted Gods Square. Like the last time, he looked at the statues of Petrus and Aqua when walking by and stopped by Lux's temple. For a few minutes, he admired the three sculptures at the entrance. He tried for the first time one of his newer blessings.

"Identify Art Quality"

Without much of a surprise, the three goddess statues were very high quality, more precisely of Epic Quality.

Identify Art Quality

Name : Time to relax for the beauty goddess

Type : Sculpture

Quality : Epic

Identify Art Quality

Name : The art goddess in battle against ugliness

Type : Sculpture

Quality : Epic

Identify Art Quality

Name : Beauty

Type : Sculpture

Quality : Epic

Once in the main hall, he went for the walls as he was even more interested in paintings than statues. He used his blessing, but he spent time enjoying the art pieces too. After looking at the five first paintings, he noticed the same three themes as the statues in the front: the pure beauty, the artist, and the monster huntress. Often, Lux was depicted as coming down from the sun. In the hall, all the paintings he identified were of rare quality.

He was admiring a painting depicting his goddess punching her rapier toward a horde of zombies with light radiating from her weapon when a voice behind him interrupted his reverie.

“What are you doing here, you ugly black-haired thing ?”

He turned around to face a [Lux Priest]. He recognized immediately the first golden-robed one he ever saw as he spoke his hatred further.

“Don't think you'll fool anyone here with just a fancy robe you've been given. In this temple, we know what beauty is. We know that you'll never be a part of it. Just give up your class so you won't bring any more shame to our Pretty Goddess.”

Metello was surprised not to feel afraid of [Priest] at first, but the situation was not the same as the last time. Metello had been a child who had just started practicing with the rapier facing a group of eight adults, and now he was a monster hunter, even if still a beginner, facing a sole [Priest] thinner than himself. The [Lux Acolyte] was more intrigued by something the man had said than afraid.

“We can give up our class ?”

“I dunno. I'm not a scholar. Just do it if it is possible. Or even better, kill yourself. I don't care.”

The orphan had some experience being told this kind of thing, so he wasn't hurt much by it anymore. He even chuckled before this proof of stupidity.

“The head [Miracle Maker] invited me to visit the drawing and painting room, so I'm here to follow her demand. Sorry, I don't have much time to speak with you now.”

After saying that, he went his way toward the art room, leaving the speechless [Priest] in the main hall.

He exited the small corridor and entered another large hall wrapped in paint smells. He walked by, eyes wide open. About ten people were training their art in every area of the room. Half of them wore a golden robe like himself, but the other half were dressed in more mundane but refined clothes. To Metello's estimate, most of them were under thirty years old, but he still noticed two really old women chatting while working both on the same sketching.

As they were the only ones who weren't totally focused on their doings, he approached the two wrinkled ladies. Unlike most old people, their age didn't seem like a weight on their shoulders but more like another reason to be joyful for them. The happiness to be there sharing their art and their words side by side made this couple of women pretty to Metello's eyes. Their magnificent womanly hats that sported colorful flowers and tasty fruits were another reason for Metello's eyes to be attracted to them. Hats.

He walked toward them and spoke softly.

“Excuse me, ladies.”

While the smaller one only looked at him with curiosity, the taller one turned to him and replied without care.

“Ow! See that young man Mathilda, a hatted Lux follower. How rare. What do we have to excuse you for ?”

“Well, I just hope I don't disturb you too much from your work by talking to you. All the other people here seem too focused to even try to talk to them.”

“So, you came to talk to us because you had no other choice. Sad to hear that.”

“No! No, it's just that I didn't want to disturb too many people, so...”

The old lady chuckled.

“It was a joke young man, don't worry too much! And you're excused for interrupting our great talk about my neighbor's baby that seems to be making his parents crazy. So, what do you need from us ?”

“Well, it's the first time I'm coming here, so I don't really...”

“Grandma!”

Metello couldn't finish his phrase. He turned toward the room entrance to see the ambush specialist [Priest] shouting again.

“Don't speak to this filthy bastard! He is the one who stole uncle's goods!”

Metello's eyes went round. He turned back toward the two old ladies and saw replying the smaller of the two, the one wearing the strawberry hat.

“Since when do I receive orders from my grandchildren? I obviously recognized the poor boy my son accused of stealing some swords. Black-haired young people are rare in the city. But I don't care. It is not as if my greedy son had lost even a cycle's income.”

“But! Look at him! Look at his hair color! It is the color of the Everlasting Night like all the Nox touched. More of that, he is hiding from the sun with a hat, and a really disgusting one, one more thing a Nox touched would do. It is not because he tries to impersonate a Lux follower that he is a real one.”

“Are you finished, Mr I-know-all-better-than-you? I heard your point, and I disagree. Now you can go.”

“But!”

“Go! Now! You're disturbing everybody's work!”

The priest gritted his teeth and exited the room. Around the hall, everybody effectively stopped their work, and all the eyes were on Metello and Mr Moore's mother. Metello was still in shock when she spoke to him.

“Sorry for that, Mr Black-haired, if I remember well. My sons are all stupid out of their area of expertise. It seems their children are stupid even in theirs. Nice family. They don't know from where they come these... Well, what were we talking about before, Rose?”

“I think the young boy was going to tell us why he came to talk to us. But, I don't know if he is still able to talk when I see his face now.”

Metello came to his sense when he heard her few last words.

“Sorry. It was just a lot to take in. So, you're Mr Moore's mother, and he is his nephew ?”

With a little disgusted smile, she replied.

“That's it, yes. But, let's stop talking about that. If you wanted to speak about them, I'm sorry but I won't be chatty.”

“Ah, no. Well, I... It's been several months since I didn't have much time to draw. It dates back to when I decided on my class choice. And it has been a month since I didn't even touch chalk. Thus I would like to know if there are some slate and chalk to borrow.”

Rose replied half-jokingly.

“A month without art? I couldn't last that long unless somebody jailed or tied me. Concerning your issue, I'm sorry, but I don't think there are slates and chalk here. But you can get some paper and pencil if it fits you.”

Metello had a pained face when he asked his question.

“Well. How much does it cost ?"

"Don't worry about that. It's free. It's on the temple funds. Come with me."

The tall old woman showed him where to get his tools and a table near them for him to work. He was pleased to get this for free. When he saw the amount of drawing and painting supplies they had here, it was obvious how wealthier the temple was than the orphanage. He had drawn on paper only twice until this cycle, and he was happy to be able to do it once again.

Metello went on with his favorite subject: heroes scenes. Usually, he just illustrated what he read. But with the prophecy and all the paintings he saw in the hall, he let his imagination go free. First, he drew the standing Saint John Walls with a breach in the middle. Then, he depicted an army of various species of skeletons facing a bunch of monster hunters. Finally, in the sky, he sketched the eyes of an unknown beast standing for the [Apostle] coming from the Everlasting Night while Lux was floating beside the Everlasting Sun. In a sudden urge, he put a sun hat on the head of the goddess.

The two armies were a bit crudely drawn. He had never depicted so many characters at the same time. Nonetheless, he was almost satisfied. He liked the scene he chose and the antagonistic nature of both sides. He was still frustrated about the lack of colors. Having seen a lot more art pieces in the last cycles than he had in his entire life, he couldn't stop himself but comparing his work with the paintings in the hall nearby and their bright luminosity.

“This young man has some talent. I see it even if his work requires some good amount of polishing.”

He turned around to see the two old ladies watching his work over his shoulder.

“I agree, it's promising. The details are a bit rough, but the lines are good. Next time, you'll have to work more on linking the different parts of your subject. You'll have to be more aware of how you're building your scene. It feels more like things put side by side than together. Despite this, we can understand your intent. It's not too bad.”

It was a bit hard to hear, but the positive points were good for his ears. As Metello was going to reply, he looked in the room. He noticed that everybody had left apart from a golden-robed painter.

“What time is it ?”

“The 17th bell rung some time ago. You were too focused to hear it.”

“Already! Thanks for everything, ladies. It was nice to meet you. I have to go.”

As he was leaving, he heard Mrs Moore from behind.

“You are forgetting your work, young man.”

He ran back to get it and thanked them again with a smile before walking home. He felt better after having spent some time like that.