Before the 8th bell of the next cycle, Metello and Jeffrey were on Main Square. A bit away from them, people from the town gathered in a crowd to say goodbye to the convoy's members that departed for Saint John Walls.

As the mayor said in his speech, it was composed mainly of a group of nearly 200 [Guards] and 50 [Soldiers]. Like an army, they were equipped in similar ways. The [Guards] wore the same leather armor with a long spear in their hands and an unstrung bow in their heavy-looking regulatory bag. Meanwhile, the [Soldiers], locked in their chainmail, wore a sword in their scabbard at their belt, an iron shield, and an iron helmet in addition to their bag.

Their [Commander], seated on his horse a the front, was wearing the same chainmail as the soldiers but had a white pennant flying from his iron helmet. Nearly all members of the mayor's army mingled with the crowd, saying their last words to their families before leaving for the dangerous mission.

A second smaller part of the convoy consisted of around twenty silver-ranked and a handful of gold-ranked monster hunters. They were all gathered at the back with their own little crowd around them. They wore more diverse equipment, going from the rare [Priest] robe to the heavy full plate mail of the [Shield Bearers], from the small daggers of the [Rogues] to the heavy two-handed axe of some [High Axemen]. All of that in varying colors. They had their family around them too. As Metello and Jeffrey were looking at the muscular silhouette of Brorne, they could guess the lady, the kids, and the young people around speaking with him were his wife and his children.

Metello and Jeffrey preferred to stay away from the crowd. Jeffrey had not known Brorne for much time, and Metello and the crowd had complicated feelings for each other. They managed to see each other from afar, and Brorne waved at them before the 8th bell was stricken and the commander yelled.

“Convoy, get ready!”

Quickly, ranks of [Guards] and [Soldiers] emerged from the crowd's anarchic organization while the people walked back. Ranks were formed among the monster hunters too, but far less strictly. Five minutes later, the march began. These armed people walked toward the main gate under the beady eyes of many unarmed people. Out of their sight, they continued toward the plains gate, then Saint John Walls.

After the departure, the two-man squad walked to the House with their stomachs in knots. It had been a bit like a funeral procession to Metello's eyes. Nonetheless, they had to know if there were news about the gate closure. As they were not the only ones to have the same idea, they had to wait a bit for Mr Morton to speak loudly for all to hear.

"Concerning the gate closure, as I guess many of you want to know, we have been notified that there will be no exception for monster hunter for now. Nonetheless, our people are still negotiating on it."

Like pretty much every hunter in the room, Metello made a disappointed face. As he started to walk out with the small crowd, he heard Mr Morton's voice sound once more.

"Mr Black-haired, come to the desk before going out, please!"

The young [Acolyte] turned toward the receptionist's mustached face and saw his usual smile. It was still weird to him to be called out like that. He waited a bit with Jeffrey for more people to go out and went to the desk as he had been asked.

"Hello, Mr Morton. What can I help you with ?"

"I have a present for you from Brorne. He couldn't give it to you directly, so he asked me to do it."

Then, the receptionist took out a golden-colored top hat with a dark-golden lower part from behind the desk, the same color as his robe. The brims were shorter than his usual

Metello's eyes bulged immediately, and he quickly let a few tears come out from them. It was not every cycle that he received a gift. It was even the first time apart from the headmistress.

“Thank you. Thank you so much. It is so pretty.”

After admiring it for some time, he put it in his head.

“How does it suit me?”

“Very well."

After some more chatting, Mr Morton excused himself as he had work. The two hunters went to the training area, but it was already full of low-level hunters deprived of hunting ground. As the House library was closed too, Metello walked home while Jeffrey went to the poor district to practice some other [Rogue] skills until lunch. Once he was alone in his room, he decided to change his status organization once more to see better how far from his class advancement he was. Once done, he kept his eyes closed and chanted.

“Nihil, great divine, please help me understand myself by showing your evaluation of me. Blessings!”

Blessings Bestower tier level Lux Blessings Lux Lux devotee 2 1 passive Lux Light artist 2 1 passive Lux Prayer to Lux 1 3 active Lux Sight sense 1 2 passive Lux Hiding 1 2 passive Lux Graphic arts 1 2 passive Lux Rapier Handling 1 1 passive Lux Spear Handling 1 1 passive Lux Light resist 1 1 passive Lux Identify Art Quality 1 1 active Battle and prayer support blessing Fulgur Ranged Prayer 2 1 passive Petrus Shield Handling 1 1 passive Other Prayers Fulgur Prayer of Thanks 1 3 active/passive Nihil Prayer of Status 1 3 active Aqua Prayer to Aqua 1 1 active Aeris Prayer to Aeris 1 1 active Calor Prayer to Calor 1 1 active Vegeta Prayer to Vegeta 1 1 active Anima Prayer to Anima 1 1 active Other Petrus Resting 1 3 passive Aqua Cleaning 1 1 passive Menta Reading 1 4 passive Menta Counting 1 3 passive Menta Writing 1 1 passive Menta Focus 1 1 passive Nihil Absorb core 1 1 active

“So, I need ten more levels for these ten Lux blessings, unless I get some more tier 2 blessings. In the training area, I can practice Rapier Handling and Spear Handling. At the Lux temple, I can surely level up Graphic Arts, Identify Art Quality, and perhaps Sight Sense. At home, I can practice Lucco and maybe Light Artist together. It could be good to know how to level up Hiding and Light Resist. All I know is I won't look directly at the sun like I did the last time for Light Resist.”

Looking again at the list, he remembered he had brought with him his drawing from the temple. He opened his eyes and fetched his work.

"Identify Art Quality"

Identify Art Quality Name : None Type : Drawing Quality : Basic

It made Metello laugh while compared to what he saw at the temple.

“Haha, my first basic quality art. And I didn't give it a name. I wonder what rank my first scribbles were.”

After thinking a bit more, he called Lucco and willed it into the bird shape.

"Identify Art Quality"

Identify Art Quality Name : None Type : Illusion Quality : Poor

“Ouch. It hurts. It was worth the try. What about the light show? If I gained a blessing with it, it could surely be identified ?”

He closed all the shutters of his room and made Lucco's form and color change smoothly but randomly.

"Identify Art Quality"

Identify Art Quality Name : None Type : Light Show Quality : Basic

“That's better!”

He went on with the light show for a bit. While doing it, he remembered the last time he performed before the head of the Lux temple and the mention of shadow play.

“Let's try it.”

Metello put Lucco in pancake form and darkened the part facing him while lighting its half facing the wall. Then, he darkened a circle on the lightened face and looked at the shadowed form projected on the white flat surface. Gradually he changed the shape of the shadow to depict a tree, a bean, then a bird, a man, his hat. They were pretty well recognizable. It was a lot easier as he just had to delimitate a silhouette with only one color. As he was looking for another idea to shape, his eyes stumbled on his drawing.

“Why not ?”

He started by shaping a rectangular frame with good proportions. Once done, he started drawing Saint John Walls with light. But he quickly stopped. Sadly, the “pencil lead” was not sharp enough for what he wanted to do. The Wall was recognizable, but he knew the skeletons and adventurers wouldn't be far better than the shapes for shadow play.

Metello started from scratch again, knowing he could not produce a very detailed image. He chose to draw a black and white portrait of Brorne with his light.

He was more than half finished when Jeffrey entered the dark.

“What the Night is this? Is it Brorne ?”

Metello grinned.

“Yes. I'm drawing with only light. It doesn't cost anything.”

“That's good!”

“Wait a bit. I have not finished yet.”

“I will cook the beans then.”

“Thanks.”

Half an hour later, they were both eating in front of a one-meter-high face of Brorne. The details were a bit misrepresented, but all was there: his messy hair, his small eyes, his angular chin, his slightly protruding ears. Metello had needed almost two hours for this.

“Wait a minute. I have one last thing to do. I will name this...art...work? I will name this artwork "Brorne's first portrait”. Maybe I should have thought a bit more about it first. Well, it's too late. Identify Art Quality.”

Identify Art Quality Name : Brorne's first portrait Type : Light Drawing Quality : Basic

“Can you, I don't know how to say it, but like hanging the thing on the wall like a painting ?”

“I don't think so. If I stop giving it divine energy, it will disappear.”

“Too bad.”

“That's good enough, I think. There are advantages, like that.”

Metello made Lucco fly away from the wall a bit, and Brorne's face grew in size to reach both the floor and the ceiling. Seeing that, Jeffrey drew back messily, and the [Acolyte] laughed out loud.

“Don't worry. It's just that I can change the drawing size easily. I can make it tiny too, like that. I can't make it possible to see through Lucco yet, so we can't see too much, but you can see that Brorne's face is smaller.”

“You're right. But that's weird. Are you going to show it to Mrs Richardson and Maria? I'm sure the headmistress would love to see it, and Maria bothered me because you left without saying hello the last time. Apparently, it's been too long since you came to teach her things for her.”

“I wanted to go to the temple, but that's true it's been some days that we haven't seen each other, and it would be funny to see her jealous face when I will show her Brorne's portrait."

Metello chuckled.

"I just need to find a way to take it there. Is she training outside after lunch?"

"No. Her [Rogue]'s skills training is always before lunch, and her flute lessons take place at the 16th bell."

Once they had finished their lunch, they prepared to go out, Metello to the orphanage, and Jeffrey had decided to try the House library for once. Metello opted to decrease the size of Lucco to put it in one of the leather bags he used for hunting. He put cooking wood in the bag for Lucco to have enough inside space. When the [Lux Acolyte] finished, Jeffrey asked.

"Can't you hide it under your hat?"

Metello didn't say anything and put down his bag. He willed the ball of light with narrow designs under his hat and adjusted it as best he could.

"Do you see any overflowing light?"

"Nothing."

"Great idea. Thanks. I only have to put back the cooking wood now."

With a big mocking smile, the [Rogue] watched the scene.

"You're welcome."

As expected, Mrs Richardson was pleased to see Brorne's portrait, and Maria was jealous. As the [Acolyte] explained to her how he came to do that, he mentioned the shadow play. Ten minutes later, he had been forced to improvise a poor show for the children until the 16th bell. He could say it was a poor one as he identified it.

He had not much time after that and before dinner to draw anything, but Metello went to the temple all the same. The last time, he had been interrupted when looking at the statues and paintings in the first hall. This time, it was not the case. He could look at each of them and identify them too. When there were only ten statues left to examine, he earned a level up for his blessing, which plastered a smile on his face. The next time he used it, the blessing gave him more detailed information.

Identify Art Quality Name : The sleeping beauty Type : Sculpture (Stone) Quality : Special (High) Originality : Basic (High)

As the monster hunters were not authorized to go out the next cycle too, Jeffrey and Metello followed a new routine. It included weapon practice one hour after breakfast and one hour before diner for both of them and individual training for the rest of the cycle. Jeffrey spent time with his brother, and his [Rogue] trainer every morning. After lunch, he trained his class-specific blessings on the streets or went to the House library. Meanwhile, Metello went to the temple every cycle after lunch and trained with Lucco for the remaining time.

During these cycles and in the city, all seemed well to Metello. There had been neither panic nor resistance to the lockdown. Most people went through their daily life like before. [Farmers], [Breeders], and [Merchants] were the only ones who could get out of the walls beside the [Guards], but apart from the monster hunters, nobody seemed that bothered. He heard only once about someone who had to be arrested as he tried to go out through the river to be able to attend his son's wedding in FarPort.

On the tenth cycle after Brorne's departure, he was in the temple drawing when he had a revelation that made him skip the late rapier training. Some [Artist], dissatisfied by his work, made a ball with the picture he had drawn and launched it to the wall next to Metello. It was the third time the young [Acolyte] witnessed something like that. But for once, he had the target of the [Artist] ire near him. He bent to pick it up and sit back. Then he undid the ball until he had a flat piece of paper drawn on it. That's when he thought about his own ball of light.

“Can I do something like that with Lucco?”

He stood up and would have run if it was authorized, but opted to walk rapidly, drawing attention to Rose and Mrs Moore.

“What is happening to you, young man?”

He didn't stop to answer.

“Nothing serious, but I have to go. See you next time, ladies.”

He ran home. As soon as he closed the door to his home, he called Lucco while going to close the shutters. Then, he sat on a chair and proceeded to undo his light ball as he had done with the paper one. He willed to open the ball at the top, and it followed his orders. Metello obtained a kind of empty leather ball made of light with a hole at the top. Then, he made the ball turn until the hole was facing him.

“Yes!”

He could see the lightened wall through it.

He willed the holey ball to open more, and more, and modified the shape until he obtained a lighting flat round shape through which he could see.

“That's better than the pancake form!”

The ecstatic [Lux Acolyte] played with it, testing shapes. He put his hand inside a light cylinder, then his head. He revised the pancake form to produce cones and beams of light. He tried shadow plays, but he lacked Faith Control to shape the silhouettes as well as before while maintaining Lucco's new form. When an hour passed like that, once again working on shadow play, a rush of divine energy came into his head, announcing a blessing bestowal. He laughed like a madman.

Before stopping all to look at his status, he went on with shaping shadows for a few seconds and felt it was much easier. Even a bit easier than in the pancake form. He couldn't wait too much, so he said a Prayer of Status.

“Nihil, great divine, please help me understand myself by showing your evaluation of me.

Blessings!”

Blessings Bestower tier level Lux Blessings Lux Lux devotee 2 1 passive Lux Prayer of Beam

2 1 (↑NEW) active Lux Light artist 2 1 passive Lux Prayer to Lux 1 4 (↑1) active Lux Sight sense 1 2 passive Lux Hiding 1 2 passive Lux Graphic arts 1 2 passive Lux Rapier Handling 1 1 passive Lux Spear Handling 1 1 passive Lux Light resist 1 1 passive Lux Identify Art Quality 1 2 active Battle and prayer support blessing Fulgur Ranged Prayer 2 1 passive Petrus Shield Handling 1 1 passive Other Prayers Fulgur Prayer of Thanks 1 3 active/passive Nihil Prayer of Status 1 3 active Aqua Prayer to Aqua 1 1 active Aeris Prayer to Aeris 1 1 active Calor Prayer to Calor 1 1 active Vegeta Prayer to Vegeta 1 1 active Anima Prayer to Anima 1 1 active Other Petrus Resting 1 3 passive Aqua Cleaning 1 1 passive Menta Reading 1 4 passive Menta Counting 1 3 passive Menta Writing 1 1 passive Menta Focus 1 2 (↑1) passive Nihil Absorb core 1 1 active

He could see the level in Focus he had earned in the last cycles, but more importantly, he had leveled up his Prayer to Lux and gained Prayer of Beam, a tier two Lux prayer.