"Thank you for the tea, Frey." Reivan smiled as he stood up. "It was wonderful."

The Saintess giggled. "I'll be sure to send you a few bags then."

"That would be great, actually." Reivan reached forward and shook hands with the most important religious figure in Aizen. Then he nodded to her one last time and walked toward the door.

"Yes. Oh, and usually, we priests say that we hope people would never have to come here again, since that would mean they were either sick or injured. But I do hope that you come from time to time, Reivan."

"Of course. Let's work together to make better medicine."

Frey smiled widely and clapped her hands. "Oh my. That really has a nice ring to it. Yes, please come by whenever you can."

After the Saintess gave Reivan the sacred symbol imbued with her power, they talked a bit more about what to do moving forward. Although Reivan's ability was miraculous, Frey did not see too much value in it because only Reivan could produce those high-quality drugs. What she aimed for was the creation of medicine that just about anyone with enough skill and the right materials could produce.

It was a bit strange to Reivan, but according to Frey, she wanted a world where their powers weren't needed anymore.

'She's a weirdo... but I think she's an okay person.'

Still, according to Frey, there were still some benefits to studying how the medicine Reivan produced interacted with the body. And so Frey easily agreed to Reivan's favor of looking for rare medicines in exchange.

Reivan was just about to leave with the ever-silent Valter, but then he couldn't hold his curiosity and turned around. "Frey."

The Saintess tilted her head, she had been just about to clean the table with a cloth. "Yes? Is there something wrong?"

"Not really. I just wanted to ask something."

"Well, ask away then."

"Why would you wish for a world where your powers aren't needed? Wouldn't that mean people might not believe in the Sun God anymore?"

'That's how it was back on Earth, so...'

With the advancement of science and the rise in standard education, faith in the gods eventually diminished. Reivan thought that the same thing might happen here too.

The Saintess looked at him with wide eyes before understanding seemed to dawn on her face. "Ah. It seems that there is a misunderstanding here, Reivan."

"A misunderstanding...?"

"Yes, a misunderstanding." Frey continued to put away the empty cups and wiped the table. "It seems that you believe that our church's goal is to increase the number of people that believe in the Sun God."

Reivan frowed. "Is that not the case?"

"It is not."

'What?'

"Then what is your goal?" Reivan couldn't help asking.

Frey sent him a glance as she worked. "Our goals are the Sun God's goals."

"I'm very confused..."

The Saintess laughed, her tinkling voice tickling his ears once again. "Reivan, to me, and those who followed me back to Aizen, the Sun God is just the pioneer of the path we walk. Sormon showed us the way. But that's it."

Silence hung in the air before Frey stood up and walked to the window, where the rays of the sun were shining brightly.

"Don't get me wrong. I respect the Sun God greatly. If he were to come down here, I would kowtow just like those fanatics from the Pope Faction."

Reivan tried to wrap his head around what the transcendent was saying. "So if you don't worship the Sun God, then what do you worship?"

"His ideals. His way of life. His dreams."

The Saintess closed her eyes and bathed in the sun for a moment before continuing.

"I do not know if you've read our scriptures, but Sormon once traveled the world to cure the sick and heal the wounded. And when he stopped his travels, he would instead pore over books or study the local fauna so he could impart knowledge of medicine wherever he went."

Reivan nodded. "Yes, I read a bit about that, actually."

"Then to answer your question, Reivan. That is what I admire. Sormon's actions, what he did, and what he wanted to do. Just like him, I wish to eradicate disease and build a world where wounds are never consequential. Hearing about Sormon and his story was what made me realize that this is what I wish to do with my life. His story made me realize that his dreams are my dreams as well."

Reivan finally felt as if he understood what the Saintess was getting at. "And so Sormon himself doesn't matter...?"

Frey giggled. "Don't let those of the pope faction hear you say that, but yes. I still pray to Sormon and give him thanks. But I have already acquired everything I can from him. I already intend to live the life he lived and fulfill the dreams he dreamed of fulfilling."

"I see..."

"And seeing as I became a Transcendent at such a young age..." Frey turned around and looked him in the eyes, a bright smile on her face. "I think he agrees with my viewpoint."

As he looked at the beautiful woman in front of him, he thought that perhaps this was the kind of conviction — or obsession — required to reach the pinnacle of power.

Reivan smiled and asked. "Frey, when is the next mass?"

The Saintess tilted her head. "I don't know... Ah, it's not that I'm careless, okay? I'm just very focused on research. We have a subgroup that's focused on recruitment and proselytizing. I don't really know if they're doing their jobs though... maybe I should check on them, now that I think about it."

"I see... I was actually interested in attending."

Frey raised a brow then giggled. "Reivan, if the priests knew you wanted to attend a sermon, they would probably conduct one even if they originally weren't going to."

Reivan chuckled. "Alright then. I'll ask around."

"Mhm. Have fun."

The Saintess really didn't seem to care as Reivan and Valter left. As for the Sword Star, he'd vanished at some point—but not before leaving Reivan with a message to leave as fast as possible before Frey changed her mind and took back her gift.

"Well," Reivan said as he stretched just outside the Sol Sanctum. He then started making his way down the marble steps leading to the streets. "That was unexpected. I mean, I know the Saintess is in there, but I didn't expect her to come out for a chat."

Valter nodded. "Indeed, Your Highness. I was also very shocked."

"Oh, I know. You were quiet the whole time."

"It wasn't a conversation I could insert myself into."

"Why not? The Saintess seemed great."

"To you, perhaps. But she doesn't particularly like me."

Reivan's eyes widened. "Reason being...?"

Valter shook his head with a wry smile. "I lie a lot. For the kingdom, of course."

"Ah."

Remembering what almost happened to him if the Sword Star hadn't intervened, Reivan chose to abandon the topic of the Saintess for now.

"So, Valter. According to my mother, my qi has stabilized. So I was thinking about what you said last time..."

Valter hadn't ever taught him any dark-attributed aetherblade arts and that had annoyed Reivan to no end since he wasn't utilizing his potential to the fullest. Darkness was a rare attribute after all, and just like Light, it was slightly more potent and versatile than the regular attributes.

But rarity wasn't always a good thing. This meant that very few knights ever had the darkness attribute, so there was little to no knowledge about it passed down in the archives.

Luckily for Reivan, his guardian knight had the Darkness attribute. But the stingy knight said that he wouldn't be able to teach anything until Reivan unlocked his qi.

"It's time to own up, Valter." Reivan smirked.

The guardian knight raised a brow and nodded. "Very well. Let's go to somewhere we can train qi properly."

"Great! Let's go!"

'Why are we in the fucking Outlands...?'

Valter was with him, and the Sword Star was probably watching too, so Reivan didn't feel scared at all. But there were quite a lot of dangerous-looking bastards around them, all of whom were glaring at him like he killed their fathers. It was a good thing that Valter erected a barrier of some kind, preventing all the monsters from getting to him.

"Hey, Valter. Why are we here?"

"You said you wished to train your qi."

"I did say that, yes."

"You also said you wished to learn dark aetherblade arts."

"I also said that."

Valter nodded with his arms behind his back. "Then this is the best place for that."

Reivan felt skeptical but he was also aware of how ignorant he was, so he just accepted Valter's words as true. "Now what?"

"Yes. Before we start, I want you to understand two things."

"Go on, please."

"First, what is qi?"

Reivan thought about it for a bit. "It is life energy."

"Good. Now, this would be a bit harder to understand for normal humans, but you just underwent something similar. What stimulates life the most?"

Reivan had a strange look on his face. "You want me to say it here...?"

"The desire to procreate isn't the only answer, Your Highness."

"Oh." Reivan crossed his arms and pondered, taking note of their current location. "It's the desire to survive."

Valter smiled. "Very good."

'I have a bad feeling about this.'

"Valter, why do I feel like you're going to have me fight all those monsters by myself?"

"You are perceptive, Your Highness."

"You're not denying it?"

"Anyway, the second thing I wish for you to understand..."

"Hey!"

Valter ignored him. "...is that normal darkness attribute aetherblade arts are very difficult."

Reivan didn't like being ignored but he had to nod. "Yes. I know."

Although few, there were aetherblade arts of the darkness attributed in the archives. The problem was that they were all extremely hard to learn. Their power and utility were certain, but the problem lay in learning them. Reivan could train repeatedly within [Glimpse of Eternity], but he barely succeeded in learning a few.

"But there is actually a way around this for people like you and I, Your Highness. A way to learn highly efficient dark aetherblade arts without much difficulty."

Reivan hummed, interested. "Well, don't keep me waiting."

Valter smiled and held out his hand. Soon, a clump of black smoke was released from his palm and eventually condensed into a black chick.

"It is by replicating the power of our spirit beasts."

After receiving a long explanation from his guardian knight, Reivan summoned a mini-version of Zouros. There was a bit of a commotion since having the little serpent in the vicinity seemed to put Freed on guard, but it eventually seemed to realize that Zouros had no intention of attacking.

"Did you get all that, you big lug?" Reivan patted the tiny serpent's head with his finger. "You have to fight a bit so we can understand what you can do. Well, I already know some of what you can do, but you should show everything else you haven't shown yet."

Zouros tilted its head and stuck its tongue out. It seemed to be expressing confusion since it hadn't hidden anything from him.

"What about these?" Reivan poked the miniature wings on the serpent's body. "Can't you do anything else with these except for flying faster? Like, I dunno, shooting the feathers out or hardening them to use as blades."

The snake's little eyes widened in realization as it nodded, seemingly excited to try if it could actually do it.

'What? So you're not even sure?'

Reivan chuckled and shook his head in exasperation. In hindsight, perhaps he should have suggested them to his partner sooner.

'Well, good luck. You should kill a bunch of those first before trying something you're not used to.'

Zouros nodded, signaling that it was ready. So Reivan threw it as hard as he could.

Mid-flight, the tiny serpent defied the laws of conservation of mass by instantly enlarging into a gigantic serpent with a mouth wide enough to swallow mansions whole. With tremendous speed that Reivan's eyes could barely follow, Zouros began chowing down on the nightmare spawns.

There was not much of a fight. The thousands of spawns that had gathered were slowly being devoured by a massive serpent that traveled far too fast.

Although Reivan couldn't keep an eye on Zouros, this was not the case with Valter. The guardian knight narrowed his eyes as he spoke. "Zouros has an obvious ability to sap away the vitality and magic power of anything it touches... though it barely uses it, preferring to devour enemies with its mouth instead. Your Highness, I'm assuming the wide-area power it uses when it sucks in the essence of everything in front of it is some sort of special ability, right?"

Reivan nodded. "Yes."

"I see. Then you won't be able to copy that."

Feeling somewhat helpless, Reivan shrugged.

Valter's secret method of copying the abilities of one's bonded spirit beast involved sharing their qi. The guardian didn't have an explanation as to why it works, he just knew that it did. He was the first to ever discover this method and was one of his most well-kept secrets. Only the Sword Star, the knight order, and the Aizenian royal families of the past knew—which was quite a lot of people who knew a secret, in Reivan's opinion.

Apparently, he'd discovered it accidentally when he was a child. Valter had lived a hard life and Freed had been his only companion for a while. So they shared pretty much everything from food to shelter.

One day, Valter got wounded but was too tired to heal himself, so Freed shared some of its qi to gradually close up his wounds. But then imperial forces tracked them down and Freed was forced to fight alone. While Valter watched, unable to do anything, he thought about how great it would be if he had Freed's ability to summon poisoned air, that way, he could at least defend himself and not have to burden his partner.

And lo and behold, his qi responded to his will. It ate up the qi Freed had left inside him and then mixed with the magic power that Valter had never learned how to control.

The rest of that even flowed like water. Valter hadn't learned how to control his magic power back then, so he still had a full tank. With that, combined with their qi, a massive poison cloud was summoned, killing all of their pursuers.

Valter had apparently passed out for an entire week afterward, but that wasn't important.

After listening to the story, Reivan couldn't help but gap. "The qi... moved on its own?"

Valter nodded. "Qi is life energy. So it has a life of its own as well."

'What the fuck? That was not in any of the cultivation novels I read.'

"That's amazing," Reivan muttered as he looked at his hand. He coated it in qi and thought about whether to say hello to it.

Valter chuckled as he shook his head. "Well, it's like a living being, but it doesn't have an ego, Your Highness."

"Oh." Reivan put his hand down.

"However, qi carries the will of its origin. At the time, Freed sent its qi into my body with the intention of helping me. And I wanted to use his abilities. That's why Freed's qi must have responded to that desire, seeing as it coincided with the will of its owner."

Reivan nodded in understanding but then had a realization. "Wouldn't there be some side effects to using qi like that? That doesn't seem like it's a normal way to use it, after all."

Valter nodded. "Perhaps you are thinking about qi as if it's similar to magic power. But that's not the case. Qi is not a resource to be consumed. It is simply there, empowering whatever and whoever it inhabits."

"Oh..."

"Of course, once your qi gets too far from you—or in other words, the origin—then it will gradually dissipate into nothingness. But the moment qi leaves our body, even when it hasn't dissipated yet, we produce more of it. For example, when your mother sealed your meridians so you couldn't accidentally activate your unstable qi, the moment the qi left her body and entered yours, her body produced the same amount of qi that left her."

"Produce more of it? Just like that? Nothing in exchange?"

"No. We consume stamina to restore the qi that leaves us."

"Oh, okay." Reivan nodded in understanding. "So if we produce qi the moment it leaves our bodies... that means we're always at a hundred percent, right?"

"Indeed. Once your qi is unlocked, your body will start to hate not having it at full capacity."

"Hm. What happens if you don't have it at full capacity for a long time?"

"You die."

Reivan's eyes widened and he gulped. "Oh."

Valter rubbed his chin, seemingly arranging the words in his head. "There is no way to stop your body from burning your stamina and replenishing the qi around your body, Your Highness. Simply put, if you spend a long amount of time at a state of, let's say, half-capacity... then that simply means that you no longer have any stamina. In other words, you are dead."

'Oh, okay. It's not that you died because your qi can't be replenished. But rather, your qi can't be replenished since you're already dead. Gotcha.'

Reivan smiled and nodded. "Okay. I get it now. Thank you, Valter."

Valter nodded then gestured to their front. "It is good that we're done talking. Zouros seems to have whittled down the rabble and is about to try out some new tricks."

Reivan looked to where Zouros was, only to see the massive serpent staring at him, waiting for him to look at it. "Ah, sorry. You can start now, buddy."

Zouros nodded with its gargantuan head then flourished its wings. Feathers... did not shoot out, but rather, scattered in the air and showered the little nightmare spawns—which were surprisingly dumb enough not to run from the massive serpent despite the size and strength disparity.

'Oof. Well, the featherstrike theory is a no-go.'

But then something interesting happened. The scattered black feathers slowly rained down on the hundreds of surviving nightmare spawns. But the moment when those seemingly soft feathers made contact, with the ground, the already barren land became even barrener.

The black trees and the dark soil underneath them became stone grey in an instant, and every monster close to those areas was petrified, becoming nothing more than stone sculptures. And soon, those nightmarish sculptures crumbled into dust, joining the grey soil underneath.

Reivan, Valter, and even Zouros stared in shock at what happened.

'Well, that's new. What the fuck is that?'