Hands rose again, and answers came:
"Repetition?"
"Using it more."
"Battle!"
Lothar nodded.
"All of it."
He tapped his cane and wrote it out:
—
Ways to Rank Up Rune:
Repetition:
Use your Rune diligently and consistently. Practice until your Soul learns its song.
Battle:
Fight. Battle accelerates repetition and grants fragments of your foe's Soul and Runes. Those fragments strengthen your own Rune and your Soul, and by extension, your body.
Rune Absorption:
Consume a Rune of a kindred Element to greatly boost your own Rune. The stronger the Rune you absorb, the less the benefit scales unless it is similarly strong. If not kindred, break the Rune and absorb its Divinity, strengthening you much like battle.
—
Lothar let this block of text settle before adding:
"Yes, this is your only hope. Even though talentless, your Runes, even while in the Eleventh Class, can reach the Gold rank, having more Divinity, better control, and greater output."
He then wrote down three words:
—
{Primary.}
{Derived.}
{Ethereal.}
—
"These three Element categories decide your talent."
He circled the words with his cane.
"Primary Elements have Houses of Gods and Rune Paths. A good number of Derived Elements have Rune Paths; their issues are more about not having enough Runes to Ascend to a higher class. Ethereal Elements—the bottom tier—lack established Rune Paths, while the Elements that do are unfinished ones, meaning that there are barely any Houses of Gods to guide them. They are the weakest as well, because there are barely any Runes left for them, which also means fewer Runes of kindred nature for absorption."
A noble brat loudly disagreed with what he was hearing:
"Shepherd! You CANNOT be saying that Ethereal Element is—"
"Not inherently inferior."
Lothar cut him off.
"To reiterate, Ethereal Runebearers are treated poorly, not because their Elements are weak, but mainly because their Rune Path is incomplete. It means they may never receive the progression others get via Houses that facilitate ascension."
He straightened, his cane moving from one Element to the next.
"After all, if you stray from your synergy, branching foolishly without correction, you risk what we call turning Hollow, a common state for most unfortunate Runebearers trying to make a name for themselves."
A hush crashed the room like a wave.
"Initially, you'll feel weaker. If you persist, your Soul will age rapidly, making you appear frail and elderly, your muscles hollowing out, and your memories fraying. In time, your Soul fully depletes and you die. The same happens if you break your Runes or exhaust your Soul through excessive use of Divinity."
Many stiffened at those words.
The idea of one's Soul withering did something to a person.
Especially when most of them knew that they were going to accept every Rune that came their way, no matter the Element, as they didn't have the luxury to deny even a single Rune.
Meanwhile, Xenos, to his twisted credit, was not being subtle about not listening.
Or rather, not caring for Lothar's words, his head tilted, his eyes wandering to the window, unable to stop thinking about how turning Hollow sounded like something familiar.
And Lothar, of course, noticed, his cane slamming down much harder than earlier.
"Xenos!"
Nearly the entire hall snapped to attention.
"Hm?"
Xenos blinked down at the portrait of slow fury.
"You did not listen to a word I said, it seems... Step forward."
Every head turned. Arc's lips went wide; Aspen's calm faltered, Gaia flinched, and Ariadne sighed, while Xenos calmly straightened and pushed himself up, caring not for the dozen stares slicing at him.
He knew that Lothar had been given instructions by Kharon, his own House, to make an example of him, maybe bully him, embarrass him, or simply push him around until he quits the Academy.
Yeah, that wasn't going to happen.
After seconds of drawing, Lothar pointed at a Rune...
"Here."
His own.
An Arcane script spiraled around it, announcing its Element:
—
{ᛑᛂᛈᛚᚻᚾᛂᛪᛂᛝ}
—
"How do you read the Arcane surrounding this Rune?"
A ripple of murmurs, both pitiful and smug, came in response to his question.
Lothar and the hall waited for Xenos to go ahead and fail.
He, meanwhile, looked at it with a surprisingly still face.
Inside though?
'Oh, you fucked up, buddy.'
He was far from calm.
Answering this was easy; his Beholding Eyes made him read it no differently than English, and yes, 'English' was what this realm spoke, not any other made-up language, making it quite curious, but Xenos wasn't about to get into that rabbit hole.
Anyhow, most experts of the Arcane would struggle to read an Element without a long period of preparation, as the lines before him messed with the mind, needing someone of a higher existence to even see them properly, and since all of them were far from a higher existence, the preparation was a must.
So that wasn't the cause for Xenos's seriousness; the cause was the consequence of his reading so easily what he wasn't supposed to be reading. Because if he did so correctly, he'd be seen as a prodigy, something like a one-in-an-Epoch academic talent.
A genius.
'To be or not to be.'
Xenos hummed once under his breath.
'...To be or not to be~.'
To be a genius or not was the question.
The only question his mind entertained at the moment.
He wasn't sure, so he glanced up at the Shepherd and asked:
"Are you sure?"
Lothar scoffed, impatient.
"Hah! Just go write your guess."
Xenos nodded, walked a few steps, grabbed a piece of chalk, and faced the board.
He paused for dramatic effect, the entire class watching him, moments from erupting as he began to write down a single word.
—
{Lightning}
—
Every Disciple turned to the Shepherd.
They all shared one question.
Was it correct?
And the answer they got was obvious.
Lothar stood stunned, mouth agape.
Rather, his jaw nearly hit the floor.
Oh, the answer was too obvious.
"…WHAT?!"
"That's—no."
"Did he cheat?!"
It made them break into reactions one by one.
"Is it really lightning?!"
"Who taught him the spelling?!"
Lothar's cane slipped from his hand as the students yelled, gasped, and argued all at once.
Xenos turned slowly and looked back at them with a now smiling face, Arc and Aspen especially.
"To be indeed."
Hiding anything was for cowards...
Or at least those with sane minds.
Xenos was neither.