Turning
chapter-184

Lusan murmured, seemingly reciting a section of the scripture.

"– All shackles that had bound mankind disappeared, and all that had been achieved until then sunk into oblivion, yet only the glory of God survived... Since everything disappeared, there would be no records left. Hence, there are hardly any records prior to a thousand years ago, other than the scripture.”

“Hmm, you're right. As you've said, Priest, it might be related. It's difficult for us to understand now, though.”

Alik agreed with a smile. Afterward, everyone fell silent, lost in their own thoughts. Lusan, who had finished sorting the herbs, was the first to speak again.

"I was not aware of the magic revolution, but after hearing about it, I get the feeling that similar events happen in every era. In fact, there's a legend in the first chapter of the scripture, covering a time much earlier than the great destruction, that mirrors our current discussion."

"The first chapter of the scripture… I seem to recall hearing it in the temple as a child, but my memory fails me. I rarely visited the temple after entering the Pearl Tower at the age of seven. Ha-ha."

"That's understandable. It's a section full of historical tales, so priests usually do not bring it up during sermons. I wouldn't have studied it either if I hadn't spent time in the Temple."

"So, what's the story?"

At Alik's question, Lusan looked up as if searching his memory.

"When the Sun God first sent power down to the world, the ignorant people refused to believe. The world was full of chaos and disasters, so everyone believed in the power of the Black Moon. That's why 'Orhe', a manifestation of the god and his emissary, sacrificed himself, confronting the Black Moon to prove the true existence of the god's power before the people."

Yuder recalled the contents of the Sun God scripture he had read a long time ago. On hearing it, it seemed like such a story had been there.

'The story of the emissary Orhe... Perhaps it was about the miracle where he was torn to pieces ten times and each time healed by the divine power.'

Now, reattaching torn limbs ten times could be done by a few priests with strong divine power, so it was not surprising. However, it would have been quite astounding in the olden days when they did not know about divine power.

Even after the topic had passed, Lusan and Alik continued their conversation like well-matched friends. Yuder was looking after Kanna, who was still struggling to regain her senses. Her closed eyes showed no sign of opening yet.

'I should have inspected it a bit more before asking her to read it.'

The information Kanna had deciphered so far had mostly been related to sentient and willful humans. Therefore, he had thought it more likely that she would fail to read anything, even if she used her power on the Red Stone, but Kishiar and Yuder had decided it was better to try than not.

Yuder sighed and turned his head.

"Enon."

Enon, who had been idly sitting after finishing sorting the herbs, turned his head.

"May I ask why you did that earlier?"

"What?"

Enon retorted, seeming unsure of what Yuder was asking. But Yuder still had the image in his mind of Enon carelessly handling the herbs, as if he were mashing them.

Enon was known to be the Guardian of Luma, an ancient being. This was a fact revealed by his past self. Yet, how Enon was precisely related to the great Archmage Luma, and what he thought about him, remained unknown.

'I've only heard Enon speak about Luma directly once, if I remember correctly.'

When Enon had heard about Yuder's journey back in time, he had become irate, claiming it was a magic that even Luma had never successfully cast.

"Could you perhaps..."

"If you have the time to care about other things, why not eat or take a walk? There's nothing worse than being looked at that way by someone who was bedridden until yesterday."

Before Yuder could voice his inquiry about Luma, Enon curtly cut him off. Enon's icy gaze pinned him down as he closed in.

"Even if that 'me' who taught you my name did exist, the me here and now doesn't want to engage in such an intimate conversation with you. We aren't that close yet. Understand?"

His mood was clearly off. That much was certain.

However, Enon was still Enon. After a moment of silence, Yuder apologized.

"I'm sorry. I overstepped."

"..."

Enon ruffled his bangs and turned away. Yuder thought he should bring him some lemons later.

Not wanting to leave while Kanna was still unconscious, Yuder took out a bundle of paper he had fallen asleep without reading the previous night. It was Beltrail's research records that Kishiar had sent. To prevent the mage Alik from becoming interested, he firmly drew the curtain before spreading out the paper. The elegantly transcribed handwriting met his gaze. Not noticing it when he had briefly glanced at it yesterday, he quickly surmised who the familiar elegant script belonged to.

'Kishiar...'

When did he find the time to write all this amidst his relentless busyness? As he observed the lines of writing, meticulously aligned without a single smudge, he recalled the face of Kishiar who had pushed off his uniform with a tired face yesterday.

Yuder quickly read through all the documents organized on a few sheets of paper. To make it easier for the reader to understand, Kishiar had transcribed sentences from the original text of Beltrail's research records and added a brief summary at the end.

Although Beltrail's research was a reckless criminal act carried out haphazardly without consistency or standards, there were still a few phenomena that appeared repeatedly. Yuder read a few eye-catching phrases from the summaries Kishiar had added multiple times.

• In Alphas and Omegas who have reached their mating cycles, sexual attraction always occurs. However, the degree of attraction varies from person to person. One Alpha copulated with an Omega for several days but did not engage in any sexual activity for a day after changing partners. Even if one party is not in heat, sexual attraction can occur, but the probability of copulation appears to be extremely low if one party is in a normal state.

• Pregnancy does not always result from copulation between Alphas and Omegas who have reached their mating cycles. However, it is believed that Omega Awakeners have a high probability of becoming pregnant even through sexual intercourse with non-Awakeners.

• Among Awakeners who have completed the manifestation of their second gender, specific physical reactions occur even when not in heat. The most notable is the so-called 'scent', a smell that only they can detect, along with heightened senses, sexual arousal, excessive protectiveness, a sense of unity surpassing camaraderie, etc. Even in same-gendered pairs, it's as if they recognize each other as if they were opposite genders.

• It is uncertain whether the body, which undergoes another transformation after awakening and the manifestation of the second gender, has a positive effect on diseases and the like that had been present before the awakening. However, Awakeners who have manifested their second gender certainly become vulnerable during heat, so it can be assumed they have weaknesses compared to Awakeners who haven't manifested.

Upon reading everything repeatedly to the very end, there was another note added by Kishiar on the back of the final page.

• In fact, there's no need to believe all these distasteful writings. Proper research will soon begin.

It was written very small and faintly. However, the moment Yuder saw this sentence, he felt the gravity of the situation lift.

He rose from his seat, donned his outer garment, folded the papers several times, and put them in his pocket. As he moved to step outside, Enon grumbled a question.

"Where're you off to?"

"The Commander's office."

While leaving the medical division and heading upwards, several Cavalry members he met on the way asked if he was now fully recovered. As he passed them and arrived on the fifth floor, he found Thais Yulman with a desolate look on his face, pacing in front of the Commander's office.

"Yulman, why are you out here?"

"Ah, you've come as well?"

"Have you finished your conversation?"

His face, which had briefly brightened, darkened again at Yuder's question.

"No, actually, I haven't even been able to enter."

"Excuse me? The Commander isn't inside?"

"No, he is. But that adjutant told me the Commander hasn't woken up yet and to come back later. It's midday and we're in a hurry...!"

Thais, who had been anxiously glaring at the closed door, let out a heavy sigh.

"Try knocking yourself. I've been knocking for a while now, and he's not even coming to the door. You're his assistant, so even if he's sleeping, he'll let you in early."

"Well, I..."

Yuder didn't want to disturb Kishiar's rest if he was really asleep. He opened his mouth to say he would come back later, but coincidentally, at that moment, the door opened and Nathan Zuckerman poked his head out.

"...Sir Aile. Please come in."

The Elder Mage looked taken aback by how naturally Nathan seemed to have anticipated his arrival.

'See? Go in and take me with you!'