Chapter 305 Volume V - Chapter 23: Explanation about the Situation
I did nothing as I stared at my statistics window. My eyebrows were slightly raised, the mouth I had opened a few seconds ago to speak remained like that.
My strength has improved by a small grade... but that's not the point. There's a new tab in my window, titled Order. And I have no idea what it is.
"Order? Status, purity tolerance, limit... What is all this...?"
Professor Calvin continued to smile faintly as the blue glow that enveloped my body began to fade slightly. As soon as I stopped focusing on it, it seemed to disappear as if it had never existed. However... the pain in my body didn't come back. It had indeed healed me.
"Tell me what you can see in order from top to bottom."
I'm confused, curious even and I still have my doubts about what this thing is... But they must know something, right?
"It shows the grade as D. Status is rookie, purity tolerance is C and limit is C- grade. At least that's what it looks like here... Are you going to tell me what this is all about?"
The professor's eyebrows rose in surprise for a moment, his eyes widened ever so slightly.
"C grade tolerance and C- grade limit? Now this is interesting..."
He leaned back in his chair, his expression thoughtful this time. But he also answered my question.
"There is much more energy in the universe than mana, Adrian. Some of it is forgotten, and some of it is so ancient that no one can feel or use it. Others are just the unknown. Each of these energies comes together to make up the universe itself and make everything work as it should."
Melany and Prince Lucas focused on Professor Calvin for a moment as if their attention had been drawn in that direction. I... just stared blankly at his face and listened to what he was saying.
"Think of mana, for example. It's a colorless, featureless energy. But it can mimic and create everything in the universe in different ways. Since you didn't go to high school, you must not have studied chemistry... but you must have seen the periodic table a few times."
Ah... he's talking about that weird table of elements.
"Almost all the elements you see there are known to be produced in stars by fusion reactions, but that's not the only thing that makes them. Mana also plays a very big role in the formation and distribution of these elements throughout the universe. In fact, without it, the universe would probably have taken several tens of times longer to get to this point."
I've never heard any of this stuff in my life, is it really taught in high school? Melany and Prince Lucas look like they're saying no with expressions on their faces.
"But mana alone is not enough. As I said, there are other energies besides it, and mana is the weakest and most ineffective of them all. Because mana cannot act without other factors and remains as it is. This is where other energies come into play. For example, the two conflicting but coexisting energies that provide chaos and chaos in the universe... caora and ordea."
Ah, caora... Didn't Aiden say something similar to that? After the attack at the academy, he talked about caora being very destructive and chaotic. So... caora represents chaos and ordea represents order?
"Caora represents chaos, ordea represents order. Not many people on Lunerra know of their existence, but they are energies like mana."
Professor Calvin paused for a moment, then sighed.
"We don't need to go into such deep history... I think you understand what I mean in a nutshell. The recently revealed organization that calls itself Saligia is made up of people who can use caora and are called wiera. You can say that those who use ordea, or rather those who are chosen by it, also have their own community. And I am one of the top members of that community. But instead of revealing ourselves directly as they do, we still prefer to remain hidden and only communicate with the leaders of the countries."
A slight anxiety crept over me, and I couldn't help tensing up.
"Why are you telling me this if you prefer to remain secret...?"
The professor paused again. Only this time his lips curled upward and he let out a short laugh. I... just continued to stare at him.
"We're not going to kill you for learning these things. As the rector said, our goal is to help you. And I'm telling you this so that you can understand the situation a little bit. Besides... you are someone who can use ordea like us, you were chosen by it. So it's okay for you to know these things."
I thought about everything he said for a moment. And then the pieces started to fall into place a little bit.
I... am someone who can use this ordea and the 'order' tab in my statistics window shows that, I guess. Then that pale blue glow just now must have been the 'energy of order' he was talking about.
"And now, we come to where we are now. In short, you are quite powerful even without ordea and you are one of the few ordea users in the world. That makes you more valuable than you've ever been. Do you understand?"
I nodded slightly. Most things were now 'more' understandable in my head. It also made sense why they were treating me in such a helpful way.
"You said that in order to use ordea, one must first be chosen by it. Is this not the case with caora?"
The professor shook his head from side to side as he sighed.
"No. You have to be a wiera to use caora and that is the only requirement. But becoming a wiera is not easy... at least not if neither of your parents is one of them. And I don't think there are many people who would choose to be wiera. Because most of them are chaos-prone, and even if their bodies are built to withstand caora, the energy of chaos, they're not fully built. So their lifespan is usually short. Their mental health is also quite questionable."
I couldn't help swallowing. I really went back and forth many times between asking the question I had in mind or not. The three people in front of me must have noticed this because their expressions changed, but they didn't say anything. It was like they didn't want to push me.
So, finally... I decided to ask what was on my mind.
"What about... Aiden, then? Aiden Tenebra, I mean. Almost everyone saw the color of the sword he swung in the leaked footage from the war on the Holar continent. So... just because he's one of these 'wieras' you mentioned, does that make him an enemy?"
Professor Calvin's eye twitched for a moment. His expression fell slightly. Melany and Lucas were the same way.
"Aiden... is a different case. But... did you know he was a wiera? You don't seem surprised at all, you seemed sure he was a wiera when you asked the question."
Oh, I slipped up... damn it. Can I make something up without getting caught? They'll get more suspicious with every second that passes...
What happens if I tell the truth? For example, if I say that he's half a wiera, not a full one... what would they do? They still don't seem to have decided what to see him as. I wonder if I can straighten out this confused view a bit.
Which one should I choose...?
"Adrian?"
For a moment, I felt like I had lost the world, but... then I came back to my senses and swallowed again.
"Y- Yes...? I mean, yes. I knew because he told me something about it. We had a conversation after the attack at the academy... I found him smiling in front of our friend Celine Potenbea with one purple eye, so he had to tell me about it."
Professor Calvin's eyes widened. Melany leaned slightly forward in her chair, where she had been leaning until now, and focused everything on me as she squinted. Prince Lucas, on the other hand... hadn't overreacted, but his curiosity and interest in the subject seemed to have suddenly multiplied.
Their demeanor had changed so quickly that for a moment I literally started to sweat where I was.
"What has he told you? The importance of this conversation between us has multiplied many times over with this, Adrian. Aiden is, as I said, a complicated case. We need to find out everything we can. For you, for us, and for him."
"He didn't mention ordea, but he did say something about caora. He said it was a destructive and chaotic energy, so the people who could use it were those who had been changed to withstand it. And... that they were crazy, of course. But he also said that he was not a full wiera, that he was a hybrid. So... his consciousness was split into his own self and his wiera side."
The professor nodded slightly. His eyes lost focus for a brief moment as he began to mumble something to himself.
I suddenly felt an intense pressure on me. It wasn't coming from the trio in front of me, it was a pressure I was exerting on myself. Because... I was nervous.
I never thought that they would suddenly become so serious and that just mentioning Aiden would bring it to this point. What if instead of bringing things about him into the light, as I had intended, I made things worse?
I... I have to be more careful.
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