By The Blood

He was close to putting the glasses on, but Louis's calm, almost disapproving voice interrupted just as his hands were about to do so.

"If you want to die, then go ahead."

Karl froze. I see. So it’s more dangerous than I thought.

He slipped the glasses back into his pouch, feeling fortunate that Louis had been kind enough to warn him. This fits with his personality.

With nothing else to do but enjoy the ride through the vast plains of endless darkness, illuminated by distant white lights, flashes of lightning, and strange shapes on the horizon, Karl found the journey rather uneventful. Perhaps that was a good thing. Still, he soon noticed that their pace had gradually slowed.

Have we arrived?

Suddenly, a surge of bright white light illuminated the space around him, momentarily blinding him of everything else. His feet touched solid ground, and his eyes, still adjusting to the abrupt brightness, were met by the familiar mist.

Feeling slightly lightheaded, likely from the travel, he took a moment to steady himself before glancing around.

People.

Surrounding him were numerous individuals, all dressed in kefna and sharing the same physical traits—pale faces and black hair. The mist obscured some of them in the blurry dreamy whiteness, but the lanterns they carried cast a silhouette that gave Karl a rough estimate of their number. There were about nine or eleven of them.

He took a silent breath, feeling somewhat out of place as everyone around him seemed preoccupied with various tasks. Ranging from some reading parchments together, while others kept a lookout in the distance—often calling out if they spotted something off.

The near-crimson light from above cast an eerie glow over everything. Karl looked up, wondering if he was still in Canen. And fortunately, It didn’t take long for him to recognize his surroundings, as both sides of the road were flanked by broken-down buildings, dust-stained but with faint traces of smudged white that had yet to be completely overtaken by grime.

The slums?

I’ve been coming here a lot lately, he thought, shifting his gaze to Louis. The man was speaking with a woman dressed in kefna, her flowing anke reaching white skirt fluttering in the wind and mist.

Karl listened with his enhanced senses.

"Shaman Olmer has been found," the woman said. "But there’s a complication. His hideout appears to be influenced by other Sanguine powers—powers beyond lightning and storms."

"Perhaps he used Astra?" Louis asked.

So they know about Astra? Karl thought, quickly considering how he might be able to extract that knowledge from the faction.

"That was our initial thought," the woman replied. "But after using the Bizarre Eyes to inspect it, we found no signs of Astra—aside from the veil, of course."

"Maybe he’s working with other groups?" Louis suggested.

"There’s a possibility, but we also discovered something else. After the adepts were stolen, it seems Olmer has been exiled from the main circle of the Maw people. Almost as if he committed a crime worthy of punishment."

"Even after taking the adepts?" Louis sounded confused, his face partially hidden by the mist. "What did he do? Or rather, what does he plan to do with the adepts?"

Adepts? As in mutants? Or something else? Karl wondered, feeling a slight headache coming on. It seems Olmer is the main target of the mission, but what’s his class? And more importantly, what are his powers? Karl needed this information to plan his next steps. Nevertheless, It seemed that Louis was the leader of the group—if so, what was his rank in the faction?

"It doesn’t matter," Louis said firmly. "We have what we need, and the Cognizer has assured us we can achieve victory. There’s no point in overthinking this... we just need to act."

The Cognizer? So she knows the outcome? Karl pondered. Did she divine it, or is this a perk from her evolution? He leaned toward believing the latter.

Louis paused. "Everyone has access to Olmer’s evolution, correct?"

"Yes," the woman confirmed, but then she glanced at Karl. Even through the mist, he could feel her gaze on him. It was strange how he could do that, and yet it did now show as a power within his "face of the soul." Was perception some other trait outside of evolution?

Louis also turned to look at him, studying him for a moment before walking over, holding a parchment.

"Take this," he said curtly.

Karl hesitated briefly, then took the parchment. He scanned its contents and sighed in relief when he saw that it was written in Canenese—something he could read. He preferred not to reveal any secrets about himself, not out of embarrassment, but to avoid appearing weak in their eyes.

He read through the document:

Shaman Olmer

Age Unknown, formerly a shaman of the Maw people. He held regular masses at 2 o’clock but recently began acting strangely, no longer attending the masses. Eventually, he disappeared altogether, only reappearing after the adepts were stolen.

He escaped with over 50 adepts, though his plans for them remain unclear.

Evolution: Lightning Bird, Screaming Stone

The Lightning Bird is native to the eastern part of the continent near Donnersburg. It possesses three main abilities:

Lightning Wings: The ability to wrap its wings in lightning, allowing it to travel faster than the blink of an eye. It’s unclear whether Olmer sacrificed this ability, as he has no wings. However, if he does possess it, the cooldown period would only occur once he runs out of mana or deactivates it.

Lightning Claws: The bird can envelop its talons in lightning, which can stun or cut through armor. Olmer likely has this ability. It’s an advanced class power, and only those with higher-tier defenses can withstand it. Once deactivated, it enters cooldown.

Blink: A faster version of Lightning Wings, this ability covers the entire body in lightning for a burst of speed that only beings of the special class can even hope to track. It’s short-ranged and can only be used five times before cooling down.

Reading the text, Karl marveled at the sheer power Olmer possessed. Each ability was formidable, with few weaknesses—making the shaman a true asset.

Karl felt a pang of envy but continued reading.

The Screaming Stone is a Sanguine material of ordinary class, similar to the Banshee. It releases ear-piercing screams, but its power is far weaker than the Banshee’s.

Banshee... Karl thought, immediately recalling that this was likely an evolution from the Mysteries school—something Anette clearly possessed.

He took a moment to internalize the information before handing the parchment back to Louis, who had been silently observing him as he read.

"Done," Karl said casually, handing the parchment back to Louis.

"What exactly can you offer to this mission?" Louis asked, his tone slightly testy.

Karl could sense Louis's true intentions. The question wasn't meant to gauge his worth, but more likely to probe his evolution. The problem was, Karl had no answer—he had no idea himself. So without anything concrete to say, Karl simply snorted, turning his gaze away from Louis. He had come to understand that Louis perhaps harbored resentment about how he had joined the faction. If it wasn’t that, Karl knew it was related somehow. After all, everyone here shared similar traits—evidence of the same evolution—but he didn’t.

Perhaps Louis believed he lacked the camaraderie they all shared as members of the same branch. That could be why Louis thought him inadequate, justifying the countless disapproving glares. But that mattered little to Karl. In the end, the Mysteries faction, like the Poison Fang gang, was just a stepping stone to what he would accomplish in the future. He had no desire to truly become one of them.

Having nothing else to do, Karl wandered around, observing the various members. He quickly realized that most of them were of the same class and had undergone the same evolution, with only a few varying exceptions. They're like cannon fodder, he thought with amusement. This meant most of them could be killed or used without much damage to the faction. This was a good thing, as Karl, lacking any real offensive power, needed other means to survive. He needed shields.

It didn’t take long for Louis’s voice to break through the silence. “Get ready, we’re leaving.”

As soon as he spoke, everyone hurriedly began preparing—some packing up, others carrying strange black boxes filled with potions—likely to heal, while others offered their help in order tasks. Soon, they began leaping to the rooftops of the buildings lining the street. Karl followed, cutting through the mist as they jumped from roof to roof. His footwork was more refined, though it still made muffled creaks from time to time. Yet, with his enhanced senses, he couldn’t hear the others making similar noises. This made him feel inadequate.

As they continued jumping, Karl began to appreciate the sheer size of Canen. It was enormous—so vast that he speculated it could take a week or more to travel from one end to the other, regardless of the method used. Well, except for Astra travel.

The city spread out like a sprawling hive, with keeps and spires stretching into the sky like spears at war with the heavens. My imagination is really running wild, Karl mused as he leaped between buildings.

The group began making stops on certain rooftops. Karl joined them, halting as soon as he landed on a flat, wooden roof. Taking a few steps, he used his enhanced eyes to peer ahead at what had caused the stop. In the distance, beyond the buildings, lay a large field, scattered with flowers ranging from pure whites to vivid red roses. It was beautiful, almost dreamlike, as the mist swirled around. The white flowers resembled small torches, glowing softly in the darkness and illuminating their surroundings. Beyond that, there was nothing but the garden-like field.

It appeared to be a square, surrounded by buildings.

Of course, Karl knew it only appeared that way to his mundane eyes. To remedy that, he put on his glasses. As they slid into place, the environment shifted. Everything plunged into a wavy darkness as if submerged in a deep ocean. Symbols floated in the air, and strange creatures drifted lazily across the sky. However, Karl kept his gaze down, scanning his surroundings.

The members of the group stood on the rooftops, all dressed in white kefnas, though some wore black coats buttoned to the left. They resembled silent sentinels, capable of ending anything in an instant. Strangely, some had white symbols floating around their bodies. Did they use Astra on themselves? Karl wondered.

He then focused on the front of the line, where Louis stood. Something about the man bothered Karl—mostly the stone tablet Louis carried. It seemed too intricate to be a simple ornament. As soon as his eyes locked onto Louis, Karl nearly let out a yelp.

The stone tablet was glowing with scattered light, surrounded by countless floating symbols. Some symbols were inside the tablet, connected by faint, illusory threads. Even more unsettling, there was a thin thread connecting Louis to the tablet, and through it, a bluish energy was being transferred from Louis into the tablet. And also, he vaguely felt that there were words written on the tablet. Words that he with his limited knowledge could not yet decipher.

Karl didn’t know why, but a single word echoed in his thoughts: Mana.

Was Louis feeding mana into the tablet? What kind of object was it? How did it even work?

Karl shook his head, forcing himself to focus. Pondering the tablet’s mysteries would only distract him from the mission.

He returned his gaze to the vast field of flowers. Now, a strange castle loomed in the distance, unlike anything Karl had ever seen. It stood tall and imposing, with countless iron spires stretching into the sky. Towers on both sides seemed to be carved from obsidian rock. It looked more like a fortress—one wrapped in a thin purple veil.

It seems the Astra wasn’t just used for the veil, but to create the building itself. Karl found it hard to believe such a structure could exist without the Ministry keeping a closer watch on it, given the anomaly it represented.

After watching for a few more moments, he removed the glasses, massaging his temples to stave off the growing headache. He felt a bit weak but not enough to be a concern. As he pocketed the glasses, he wondered if the group had a real plan or if they intended to attack head-on. Not that he minded—the chaos would give him the chance to use more shields. But for a faction like the School of Thought, they should have a more intricate strategy, right?