Eldritch Horror Theatre

”Authority Grade control...”

The news the other party brought went even further beyond his expectations.

Ah Kai silently repeated Fu Qian’s final words, his brows furrowed tightly.

”Is this why you think it’s related to Miracles?”

”Yes. I don’t know much about this form of power controlled by the Benevolent Curse Institute.”

Fu Qian frankly confirmed the man’s guess.

”But as I understand it, as long as it’s successfully activated, a Miracle’s level of power doesn’t seem strongly correlated to the caster’s own Rank.”

”This bears some similarity to the entity I encountered, which is why I thought of asking a professional.”

As a serious academic discussion, this was by no means a random excuse.

From the first time he encountered the power of Miracles, Fu Qian had been quite interested in it, even repeatedly pondering its nature.Mainly because, compared to most transcendent powers, the characteristics of a Miracle were entirely too distinct.

Putting aside a physical brute like himself, even for a technical specialist like Chief Yuan, the power level of his various methods was still closely tied to his own Rank.

But Miracles didn’t seem to have this restriction.

The most direct example was Ah Kai’s treatment of that injured member of the Kamakura Family.

A wound that left the entire Academy delegation helpless had been forcibly stabilized by his activation of a Miracle.

And his own Rank was actually a level lower than Li Weixuan’s.

To Fu Qian, the nature of this power was less like a transcendent ability and more like directly inputting some kind of cheat command into the world—done through actions and ”incantations.”

...

”Professor Fu’s understanding of Miracles is also quite profound...”

Ah Kai, who had been listening earnestly, sighed softly after a brief silence, affirming Fu Qian’s judgment.

”I can only say that achieving the Demigod Realm is never an accident.”

Along with the praise, it was clear that he increasingly felt the sincerity of this Demigod of Apocalypse who had suddenly come seeking him out.

”Your Excellency is correct. Miracles don’t rely that heavily on the transcendent’s own Rank.”

”Its effects do have distinctions in level and Rank, but those can be considered its own intrinsic attributes. All we need to do is accurately trigger it according to strict procedures.”

Making a gesture mapping out a spatial arrangement, Ah Kai freely revealed the secrets of this wondrous power without hesitation.

”In fact, the only difficulty in using Miracles lies exactly there—how to be ’accurate.’”

”Although it’s called a talent, even today, we still can’t accurately define it. We can only refer to it vaguely as spirituality.”

”This talent is not the same as the perception of transcendent power. Unless someone actually tries it, we can’t accurately judge just how good their ’spirituality’ truly is.”

’So when he enthusiastically invited Classmate Liushuang back on Ye Island, there was actually some sincerity to it?’

Fu Qian thought to himself, giving a slight nod without interrupting.

”It seems like a simple process, but there are some extremely subtle, hard-to-grasp details within it. Being off by even a tiny bit won’t work.”

”Even students with spiritual talent require extensive, repeated contemplation to master a specific Miracle.”

Perhaps thinking of the same scene Fu Qian was, Professor Ah Kai’s voice sounded a bit gloomier.

”And that’s with someone guiding them.”

”So the number of people still willing to walk this path is growing fewer and fewer.”

”Without innovation, there isn’t even any feedback toward advancing one’s Rank.”

Faced with Professor Ah Kai’s frank admission of the Benevolent Curse Institute’s dilemma, Fu Qian offered no meaningless comfort, even helping to supplement the main point.

”So I hope the information I brought will be meaningful to Professor Ah Kai as well.”

...

His breath hitching at the man’s piercing words, Professor Ah Kai paused, but in a flash, he was infected by this extremely pragmatic attitude.

”I hope so too. Could Professor Fu share a few more details about that special creature?”

Instantly returning to the main topic, he made no effort to hide his hopeful expectations.

”Of course. First of all, the feeling it gave me wasn’t like an evil spirit or remnant soul, but a brand-new will, possessing intelligence and a desire to survive.”

Fu Qian silently recalled Huo, the Dragon of Apoptosis he’d met not long ago... and the sword heart he had encountered even further back.

That’s right. In his eyes, although the two had completely different ability forms, there was a conceptual commonality between them.

One point was what he just mentioned—despite their own Rank not being terribly exaggerated, they displayed near Authority Grade control in specific aspects.

For instance, with the Dragon of Apoptosis, after combining with the Covenanter of the Blasphemy Monarch, it displayed entirely unreasonable corrupting properties.

Along with an even more unreasonable age protection.

And at any rate, it was still at Tier 2, similar to his current level. As for the other, the sword heart, its Rank at the time probably hadn’t surpassed the Demigod Realm, yet it had directly poisoned the entire Sword Comprehension Institute without any of the victims noticing a thing.

”There’s also the fact that its very form of existence is similar to a pure conceptual incarnation.”

”What concept?”

Ah Kai’s mind seemed to be working in overdrive.

”Apoptosis Dread.”

Fu Qian recalled Huo’s self-introduction, casually describing the saying of the midnight Nightmare of the decaying.

The sword heart was ultimately too sensitive a topic, so he held off on mentioning it for the time being.

”In its own self-awareness, it is the personified result of this concept, as if generated out of thin air.”

”Furthermore, it seems to be subject to some extremely specific definitions and protections. For example, one must meet a certain condition to even have a chance of coming into contact with it.”

...

”Generated out of thin air... conceptual vitalization...”

The facts proved that his feeling linking it to Miracles wasn’t mere imagination.

As Fu Qian spoke, Professor Ah Kai muttered to himself, his eyes rapidly lighting up as if he had realized something.

”Since I haven’t seen it with my own eyes, I can’t be too certain just yet. But those characteristics you described, Professor Fu, feel surprisingly in line with a long-standing hypothesis of the Benevolent Curse Institute—a miraculous creature.”

Taking a deep breath, he slowly uttered the name.

”A hypothesis?”

However, although Professor Ah Kai was quite emotionally invested, the other party in the discussion was perceptive down to the smallest detail and refused to be easily swayed.

”...There indeed haven’t been any actual instances yet.”

At the rhetorical question, Professor Ah Kai’s breath hitched, but he stubbornly continued to explain.

”But people in the Academy have speculated since very early on that, as an objectively existing law, Miracles might not only be triggered by humans.”

”In fact, as long as the requirements are met, there might not even need to be a subjective intent to trigger one.”

”And there is one thing that seemingly possesses a naturally higher spirituality than humans—transcendent traits.”

”In extremely rare cases, if their form happens to meet the requirements of a Miracle and they are in turn sculpted by the feedback, could that cause a change in their form of existence?”

”Perhaps even vitalization.”