The Hunted Regressor: My Heretic Saint System-Chapter 60: To Be Or Not To Be?

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. 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.}

—

"And to ensure you aren’t confused by my words, you must understand that these three Element categories decide your talent."

He circled the words with his cane.

"Primary Elements commonly have Temples of Gods and Rune Paths. A good number of Derived Elements have Rune Paths; their issues are more about not having enough Runes for Runebearers to Ascend to a higher class. Ethereal Elements lack established Rune Paths entirely, while the Elements that do are unfinished ones, meaning that there are barely any Temples of Gods to guide them."

His words seemed to soften at the end, perhaps due to a feeling of pity.

"They are the weakest as well. There are barely any Runes left for them, which also means fewer Runes of kindred nature for absorption. In short, there’s nothing they could really do."

A noble brat loudly disagreed with what he was hearing:

"Shepherd! You CANNOT be saying that Ethereal Element is—" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"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 a Temple, which facilitates Ascension. You, unlike the common man, mustn’t ever forget that."

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 will hollow out, and your memories will fray. In time, your Soul will fully deplete, and you’ll die. The same happens if you break your Runes or exhaust your Soul through excessive use of Divinity, so be careful and don’t train too much."

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, Ignotus didn’t react much. To his twisted credit, he was not being subtle about not listening. Or rather, he didn’t care at all for Lothar’s words, his eyes staring at the nearest window.

Lothar, of course, noticed, prompting him to slam down his cane much harder than earlier.

"Ignotus!"

Nearly the entire hall snapped to attention.

"Hm?"

Ignotus blinked down at the portrait of awkward fury.

"You did not listen to a word I said, it seems... Step forward."

Every head turned. Lykos’s lips went wide; Ulv’s calm faltered, Gaia flinched, and Aurelia sighed. Ignotus, as one might expect, slowly straightened and pushed himself up, caring not for the dozen stares slicing at him.

He knew that Lothar had been given instructions by Plant, his own House, to make an example of him. Maybe bully him, embarrass him, or simply push him around until he wished to quit the Academy.

Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen.

After seconds of drawing, Lothar pointed at a Rune...

"Here."

It was 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 Ignotus to go ahead and fail.

He, meanwhile, looked at it with a surprisingly still face.

Inside though?

’Oh, you messed up~.’

He was far from calm.

Answering this was easy; his Beholding Eyes made him read it no differently than their common tongue, the English language.

Most experts of the Arcane would struggle to read an Element without a long period of preparation, as the lines of a Rune messed with the mind.

It required someone of a higher existence to even see them properly, and since Ignotus was far from a higher existence, the preparation was a must. Lothar knew that very well.

So, since Ignotus could read the Arcane really easily, it wasn’t the cause of his seriousness.

The cause was the consequence of his reading so easily what he wasn’t even supposed to be comprehending a fraction of.

If he read it correctly, he’d be seen as a prodigy, something like a one-in-an-epoch academic talent.

An absolute genius.

’To be or not to be.’

Ignotus hummed 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 impatiently scoffed.

"Hah! Just go write your guess."

Ignotus 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, his mouth agape.

Rather, his jaw had nearly hit the floor.

Oh, the answer was too obvious.

"...WHAT?!"

"That’s—no."

"Did he cheat?!"

It made them break into stunned 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.

Ignotus turned slowly and looked back at them with a now smiling face, Lykos and Ulv especially.

"To be indeed."

Hiding anything was for cowards...

Or at least those with sane minds.

Ignotus wished to be neither.