Bear School Astartes

Chapter 380: 380. Clairvoyance

”Hoo!”

Lann opened his eyes sharply, inhaling a breath, and withdrew his hand from the large deformed broken skull.

He looked at the skull, no longer emitting light, with uncertainty and suspicion.

Just now, at the moment of touching the skull, he seemed to enter a state of [Memory Seep], seeing a brief memory.

It was a conversation between a young man and an old man sitting with his back to him in a rocking chair.

The old man was dressed in elaborate luxury and appeared to hold a high status, being addressed by the young man as ’Master William’.

The young man seemed to be bidding farewell to his teacher in the capacity of an academic betrayer.

Master William seemed indifferent to such betrayal, his tone detached and indifferent, as if he had grown accustomed after being betrayed numerous times.

Only at the end did the former teacher and student reread their ancient teachings for the last time together.

”...We are born from the Ancient God’s Blood, grow in the Ancient God’s Blood, and eventually shall end in the Ancient God’s Blood... Our vision is not yet broad enough.”

”Revere the Ancient God’s Blood.”*2

After the student and teacher spoke the last adage in unison, the young man’s footsteps gradually faded away, eventually closing the door, leaving the old man alone swaying in the rocking chair.

Muttering to himself: ”Swear to the gods, Lawrence... revere the Ancient God’s Blood.”

Here the memory ended.

”Lawrence?” Lann looked at the hand that had just touched the deformed skull, rubbing his fingers together as if still recalling the tactile sensation of the bone.

”The skull belonged to Lawrence, the founder of the Healing Church who had also beasthood... and that Master William whom he betrayed...”

The Demon Hunter recalled Amelia’s last moments of clarity before her demise.

She said, these were ’adages passed down since the era of Byron Vis.’

”The Healing Church inherited Byron Vis’s ancient teachings as adages, Master William should indeed have been a scholar, if not a leading figure, of Byron Vis.”

Lann speculated thusly.

To those unfamiliar, academic disputes may seem gentle.

But the malice and decisiveness within them are in no way inferior to power struggles.

For academic discourse and academic authority themselves are a form of immense power.

And in the treacherous and blood-revering Yanyan, Lann thought such academic disputes might seem even more... indescribable.

Master William did not seem to advocate using the Ancient God’s Blood, so what truly were his academic ideals?

The Demon Hunter pondered for a while in the silent church hall, but his intelligence and understanding remained ultimately too limited.

The current situation in the Yanyan Region is closely tied to their history, how much could an outsider possibly know?

And just as he was thinking about this, Lann suddenly had a strange feeling.

He felt an abnormal shift in light and shadow in his vision, and after a moment of disarray, everything returned to its original state.

Yet it wasn’t just the ’original state’... he felt like he could ’see’ things he hadn’t noticed before, or could never have noticed at all.

This sudden sensory transformation made him uncontrollably dizzy for a moment.

But strangely, he did not feel threatened by it, nor did it trigger an inner sense of alert.

He inexplicably felt—that the world before his eyes was more ’real’ than ever.

As if he was using his Demon Hunter senses for the first time after undergoing the Green Grass Trial.

”...What’s going on?”

Lann rubbed his fingers against his temple, looking puzzled.

He was certain he hadn’t injected any of Yanyan’s bizarre blood into his body, and had even precisely avoided direct contact with monster blood during battle.

He hadn’t eaten anything he shouldn’t, nor drank any forbidden water.

If he had done anything strange, it was just touching that skull of Lawrence after he beasthood.

”Mentos, any insights?”

Lann, finding no abnormalities in his actions after thinking it over, asked his bio-intelligence assistant, who constantly monitored his body data.

But the usually clear-cut bio-intelligence, at this moment, surprisingly expressed uncertainty with its synthesized voice.

”This phenomenon is very strange, sir.”

Mentos said hesitantly, as Lann felt it was running self-diagnostics over and over.

”My computing capabilities haven’t been unlocked, but how should I put it... the algorithms have been optimized? My computation speed has increased. And you’re right, I do indeed have an extra stream of sensory data beyond your five senses.”

”This data stream makes it seem like you’ve undergone some kind of surgery to externally connect sensory system equipment while in the Human Union, but you haven’t had any changes recently at all?”

Even Mentos hadn’t figured it out, it could only give a summary statement based on the current situation.

”As it stands, it’s a good thing. Your senses have been enhanced to some extent.”

”Yes, enhanced. I can sense things I hadn’t discovered before, like now, I constantly feel like there’s something whispering in the shadows of the darkness.”

”Insight.” Mentos suddenly said: ”I call this new ability [Insight]. We still don’t know if it’s good or bad, if we could ask someone knowledgeable, that would be ideal. Then, whether to find a way to get rid of this ability or use it, there would at least be a direction. Unlike now, with us both like headless flies guessing wildly.”

”I agree with that statement.” Lann replied, his fingers moving away from his temple, nodding.

His left hand instinctively rested on the sheath by his left waist.

But unlike before, upon touching the Lady of the Lake’s Sword, he felt like he was encountering a gentle light as if from a lake.

Yet when looking at it with his naked eye, it still appeared to be a steel blade.

Was this because he possessed [Insight] and sensed the power that the Lady of the Lake wielded in crafting this Divine-made Armament?

Lann felt a bit uncertain.

-----------------

”This is Spiritual Vision.” The Old Hunter Henrik said confidently to Lann, sitting on the stone steps of Oton Chapel.

”Spiritual... Vision?” Lann mulled over the word. ”The vision of a Soul Body? Transcending physical senses?”

These were the basic implications extended from the term.

The Old Hunter tilted his head, looking at the young outsider.

”Your talent... is quite commendable.” Henrik took a long moment to measure his words before raising his eyebrows and giving his evaluation.

”Spiritual Vision has always been what Master William pursued. Although he had achieved some results a long time ago, it’s still... quite challenging for his students to acquire such an ability.”

The Old Hunter’s experience ran deep, almost synonymous with the profession of Hunter.

According to him, he became a Hunter at the very founding of the Healing Church, when the church still followed many of the habits and knowledge that Lawrence had brought from Byron Vis.