"Well, you two are a rare pair," said Auguste as he laid atop the blanket of fur, feeling like his chest might fall apart if he tried to get up.

"I'm just here to make sure this guy doesn't do anything funny," said Morganna as she gestured towards Joseph, not hiding at all her disdain for the Mystic in her tone.

To that, Joseph only laughed. As if there was nothing he couldn't laugh off. Either that, or he's actually enjoying the berating.

"Truth to be told, I'm pretty good at mending wounds, you see," Joseph began explaining, "That's why the Orcus came to get me when you got hurt."

"Not that I'm not grateful, I can still feel the pain in my chest. Are you sure you're any good at it?"

Auguste was trying to be playful, but the pain made it difficult to come off that way. In the end, it sounded as if he was genuinely complaining.

"I'm afraid that's all I can do at the moment. I've been going at it all night, so let me recuperate for a bit." As he spoke, Joseph went to check on a pot that had been boiling for a while and poured some bitter smelling liquid into a mug. "For now, drink this. It'll help with the pain."

With help from Morganna, Auguste sat up and gratefully took the mug. With a scrunched face, he forced the liquid down his throat, the bitterness overpowering his sense of taste.

"You pulled an all-nighter?" Auguste asked as he swallowed the last of the bitter liquid.

"That's right. You might feel like complaining about how I couldn't even heal you properly after taking the entire night, but your body is remarkably unresponsive to Ether, making it quite difficult to heal you via the Mystic Arts."

"Right, because the Mystic Arts make use of Ether or something like that, right?"

Auguste couldn't remember who taught him that though. Was it Joseph? Or perhaps Lyudmila?

"Anyways," Auguste said after looking around. "Where are the others?"

"They are preparing for the expedition," answered Morganna. "You know, 'that one'."

"Right. I remember now."

The ruin expedition, the one asked of Gladiolus by the Orcus chieftain. Apparently, the ruin only allowed a true Alva to open its path. While the Orcus, the Hidden Haven Alva, considered themselves so, their bodies had deviated far too much from what the Alva used to be for the ruin to recognize them as such. For that reason, they want Gladiolus to enter the ruin and find a way to allow the Orcus access to it. If the Henrietta Company can do this for them, they'll be free to go.

"Now what's this about an expedition?" Joseph asked.

"None of your business," said Auguste and Morganna, both at the same time.

Joseph shrugged and laughed it off, apparently not all that interested in it anyways.

With the questions out of the way, Auguste settled down once more, his mind going back to what happened at the feast.

"That Orc. He was so fast," Auguste mumbled to himself.

"It's called Martial Arts," Joseph went along the flow and provided an answer to the question Auguste was about to ask.

"Pardon?"

"Martial Arts. Like the Mystic Arts, it too makes use of Ether, but instead of being used externally, it functions internally on a subconscious level."

"There we go again with you terrible naming sense."

"Oh no, it wasn't me this time. It was someone else, promise. Besides, you tend to gain Martial Arts as you train in martial arts, so you could say that the two are intrinsically linked."

"You realize that you're only making it sound worse, right?" Morganna could not help but chime in.

Auguste tried to get a sigh out, but he wounded up with a groan instead, his chest hurting with every breath.

"So this Martial Arts, care to explain how it works?"

"Oh, you're interested?"

"Well, yeah..."

"You won't be able to use it even if you try you know."

At Joseph's words, Auguste furrowed his brows deeply.

"What's that supposed to mean."

"I was just saying, your body is remarkably unresponsive to Ether. So long as that remains true, you wouldn't be able to wield powers such as the Mystic Arts, Martial Arts, and even the Abyssal Arts, all of which were built on the foundation of Ether."

"Is that how it is?" Auguste responded, his tone showed defiance, though, in his heart of hearts, he had long recognized his defeat.

"I'm sorry, but that's just the nature of things. I'd tell you it's not all terrible, but frankly, as a Mystic myself, I'd say there are more cons than pros. Still, the Orc was impressed that you managed to block his attack, so I suppose there's that."

"I blocked it?"

He could vaguely remember it, the numbing sensation in his wrists, in his arms, running all the way up to his shoulders. It was a blur, but he recalled trying to block a horizontal swing. He couldn't see it coming, but from the Orc's stance, Auguste instinctively felt that he was going for a sweep. He must have moved without thinking and thank goodness for that, his dimwitted brain would have been too slow for it. From various incidents, Auguste had gotten a feel for it, that he's probably a slow thinker rather than a quick one. He can do long-term planning and thinking ahead. However, when it comes to thinking on his toes, when it comes to the situation right in front of him, it takes some time.

"That's right," said Joseph, "You intercepted his swing, and both your swords broke. Then the shockwave broke your ribs and sent you flying."

"The shockwave took me out? Seriously!? Is that supposed to be some kind of consolation?"

"I mean, you would have been dead if you got hit head on, so..."

Auguste gulped at the thought of it. He didn't realize that would have been the case. If that's true, then he could only thank the goddess that his reflexes were able to save him. Still, that large Orc, was he trying to kill him? Or did he not realize that humans are pretty fragile creatures compared to the Orcus?

"Well, Auguste aside, I'd certainly like to hear more about it myself," said Morganna as she sat down beside Auguste.

"Oh? What's this? You're actually asking me, a Mystic, to teach you something?"

"I just thought I'd keep you busy for a bit, since you like to talk so much. Is there a problem?"

Morganna was staring daggers at Joseph as she spoke. Yet, throughout, Joseph was wearing a big, silly grin on his face, as if he's enjoying every moment of it. Auguste truly wasn't sure if that's what floated his goat, or if he's doing it to annoy Morganna even more.

"I suppose since I won't be able to continue Auguste's treatment any time soon, I could do a quick seminar," Joseph announced as he got comfortable on the floor, his body lying on the side with one hand propping his head up. "How about we start from the top?"

***

'Ether', such is the name we call this mysterious substance that filled this world. However, the Alva had another name for it: the 'Light of Remigia'. Remigia was the Alva's Goddess of Creation and was the first of the gods. She was the one who banished the Alva's masters, the Progenitors.

As the myth goes, after the banishment of the Progenitors, Remigia suffered from their curse and was eventually driven mad. The other gods were forced to strike her down as a result. As she was being struck down, their divine arms piercing her body, Remigia regained her sanity. In her final act, light poured out of her wounds and formed wings of light that spread out across the heavens, reaching over all that was known, embracing all of creation in her final moments. The remainder of the wings of light that rained down upon all of the worlds that day was called the 'Light of Remigia', and in time, it shall be known to all as 'Ether'.

***

"We're starting that far back!?" Morganna protested.

"It's fine, isn't it? Can't hurt to know a bit of history," Joseph retorted.

"This is hardly history. It's just a myth."

"You never know. Perhaps there may be an ember of truth hidden within the smokes."

"Remigia... Huh..." Auguste began muttering to himself.

"Something the matter?" asked Joseph.

"It's nothing. I just thought the name sounded familiar. When did I hear it before?"

"Well, that's surprising." Joseph lifted a brow. "It's not a name you'd hear often nowadays."

"Hmm..."

While Auguste was still mulling over it, Joseph proceeded to the next part of the lecture.

***

Ether, by its nature, absorbs information from its surroundings. Through the memories of Ether, one would be able to gain information about the object the Ether had dwelled in. However, there was more to Ether than just that. Though in its normal state, Ether is nigh intangible, when enough Ether are condensed together, it gains physical presence in the world and becomes able to physically interact with objects. The Mystics make use of this property to perform their Mystic Arts.

Ether has two states, active and dormant. While dwelling within a living object, Ether would be highly active due to the massive amount of information and changes that exist within a living being. This is an active state. While in non-living objects, the Ether would be in low activity due to the lack of change within the object. This is, naturally, the dormant state.

In the active state, Ether tends to flow outwards from the body, forming thread-like structures called the Ethereal Threads. The Mystics wield most of their Mystic Arts using the Ethereal Threads by condensing the Ether within their bodies around them. Doing so, a Mystic becomes able to use the Ethereal Threads as tiny limbs and interact with the environment to various effects.

The Ethereal Threads are also capable of acting as receptors and can be manipulated to absorb or pass on information. The Alva, elves, and the Orcus, used this technique to sense one another's feelings and intentions. It is also used by the witches to absorb the information from their catalysts.

***

"Now hold on just a minute. You claim that the witches are using Mystic Arts!?" Morganna cut Joseph off, her palm slamming onto the floor in some kind of objection.

"Oh, don't you know? The basic understanding of the Mystic Arts serves as the foundation of your Abyssal Arts." Joseph paused for a moment and rubbed his chin, catching on to something. "Wait, why don't you already know this? This ought to be the first thing your master taught you, right? If not, how are you performing your magic this whole time?"

"What are you talking about?" Morganna was visibly confused. "I could do that from the beginning. I thought all witches were like that."

"That's not so. Usually, a great deal of training is needed to be able to tap into a catalyst, preferably from a young age. You must have a high affinity with Ether, perhaps on par with those of the Alva even."

"My master did say that I had a strong affinity with the Abyss."

"That's... an odd way to phrase it," said Joseph as he continued to rub his chin, eyes squinting as he stared at Morganna.

"What?" Noticing the state, Morganna furrowed her brows in displeasure.

"Nothing... Nothing at all. Just thinking that I might like to meet your master someday."

"Too bad. She dislikes visitors. She usually refuses to meet anyone unless it's urgent and someone comes begging."

"Well, I'm sure if I try hard enough, she might just grace me with her presence. I'm quite confident in the art of getting on my knees and beg, I'll have you know."

"I think being begged by you would only make her not want to see you more."

At Morganna's sharp remark, Joseph laughed heartily, his laughter seemingly able to deflect whatever damage it might have done.

"Regardless, let's move on with the lesson. This next part I'm sure you're very familiar with, but bear with me as I run through it, just in the case that you've skipped over more lessons you ought to have learned previously."

Morganna did not like the way that was worded. He made it sound as if what she knew as a witch was incomplete. Though, it only hurt because it might very well be true.

***

End of Chapter 64