Chapter 171 - 170: The Blank Horizon

Chapter 170: The Blank Horizon

The heavy silence inside the top floor office of Aether Blessed Academy had gone beyond quiet. It was cold, dark, and thick enough to make an ordinary person’s heart stop beating.

Deep black marble walls swallowed what little light came from the single crystal lamp hanging overhead, while the faint scent of bitter black coffee mixed with the metallic tang of an ancient storm.

Headmistress Amelia Veyrith sat frozen behind her massive desk, her high backed leather chair creaking slightly under her weight as she leaned closer to the glowing screen of her hPad.

Her dark coat had slipped down her shoulders, revealing her pale skin and the black dress beneath that tightly hugged her absurdly curvy figure.

On her forehead, her golden Blessed sigil pulsed with a slow, heavy beat, but her pure white, pupil less eyes were completely wide.

"How...?" Amelia’s voice finally broke the silence, but it wasn’t her usual arrogant or playful tone.

Her bloody red lips were parted in sheer disbelief. "What do you mean you can’t see his future, Celestial? What is that supposed to mean?"

On the screen, Saintess Celestial, sitting within the grand, white-marble walls of her holy sanctuary, looked remarkably calm, but there was a subtle twitch in her smooth eyebrows that gave away her inner turmoil.

She adjusted the heavy silk sleeves of her divine white robes, taking a long, measured breath.

"I mean exactly what I said, Amelia," Celestial replied, her smooth voice echoing gently through the speaker.

"I didn’t just fail to see his path. I couldn’t even peek into it. When I tried to look at Lynx Azarion’s future, there was nothing. It was completely blank. It was like looking directly into a endless void, or as if something, or someone, has placed an absolute, untouchable curtain over his fate."

Amelia didn’t reply immediately. She slowly brought her dark gloved hand up, tapping one long, black painted fingernail against her coffee cup.

Clack.

Clack.

Clack.

The sharp sound rang out in the dim room, acting as the only timer for the heavy thoughts racing through both of their minds.

This had never happened before. Not once in recorded history.

Saintess Celestial was not just a powerful holy woman, she was directly blessed by the Goddess Shiva with the rare, ancient gift of Divine Sight.

She was a true seer. Throughout her hundreds of years of life, Celestial could peek into the future of anything, from simple weather patterns and political wars to the complex fates of high tier divine beasts and supreme warriors.

Even against the strongest opponents in the world, Celestial could look ahead by just two seconds.

And in high level combat between monsters, two seconds of knowing your enemy’s next move was the difference between life and death.

Yet against a eighteen year-old boy, her divine eyes were entirely useless.

"You’re not joking with me, are you?" Amelia asked, her voice dropping into a dangerous, low rumble. "If this is your idea of a prank because I mentioned your virginity..."

"Amelia," Celestial interrupted, her eyes locking straight onto Amelia’s through the screen with terrifying seriousness. "Do I ever joke about my divine blessing?"

Amelia closed her mouth. The seriousness in Celestial’s posture was real.

"I tried three times," Celestial continued softly, resting her small, pale hands on her lap. "And every single time, I met the exact same wall. But that is not even the most disturbing part of what happened."

Amelia leaned forward until her large chest pressed against the edge of the marble desk, her white eyes narrowing. "Tell me."

"I felt my mana drain," Celestial said flatly.

Amelia’s dark gloved hand froze right over her coffee cup.

Her breath caught in her throat, her pupil less eyes widening so much that for a second, she looked almost humanly shocked. "Your... what?"

"My mana," Celestial repeated, leaning back against her grand golden throne. "I felt it drop. Noticeably."

"That’s impossible!" Amelia blurted out, her voice rising in genuine surprise. She stood up so fast her leather chair rolled back several feet, hitting the marble wall with a dull thud.

"You are an Eternal Blessed! We are Eternal Rank! You, me, and my brother, we don’t just ’feel our mana drain’ from using a basic innate skill, no matter how many times, hell even peak blessed wont feel their mana drain from just that!"

Amelia had every right to be stunned. In the hierarchy of power on the human continent, reaching the Eternal Rank was a feat reserved for literal legends.

While her brother, the King of the Aether Empire, was admittedly the absolute strongest among them, Amelia and Celestial were not far behind him at all.

Once a person breaks past the Transcendent Rank and officially ascends into the Eternal Rank, their internal mana pool undergoes a fundamental, god like transformation.

They possess an almost infinite reservoir of mana, turning them into second class, terrifying immortals.

At that level, a person unlocks legendary, Eternal ranked affinities. While high level affinities usually consume massive amounts of energy, an Eternal Blessed has so much raw mana that they could fight for days, weeks, or even a full month on a bloody battlefield without ever feeling tired or low on energy.

So for an almost peak Eternal Blessed like Saintess Celestial to say she actually felt her mana drain from simply trying to peek into a student’s future was a terrifying statement.

It meant whatever was hiding inside Lynx was consuming energy on a god like scale just to block her gaze.

"How was it?" Amelia asked, slowly walking around her desk, her dark coat trailing behind her like a pair of wings. Her initial shock was slowly turning into deep, intense intrigue. "What did it actually feel like?"

Celestial let out a faint, melodic laugh, though there was no real humor in it. "Honestly? It was the weirdest sensation I have experienced in over a hundred years. It was a strange, tingly feeling right in the center of my core. I almost laughed out loud when it happened. I genuinely thought I was hallucinating at first."

She paused, looking down at her own palm, flexing her delicate fingers as if trying to recall the feeling.

"But you know how I am, Amelia," Celestial continued, looking back up. "When you meet a person whose future is completely blank, someone whose physical presence and appearance are the only things you can see, you naturally become obsessed. You can’t just let it go."

Amelia nodded slowly, a dark smirk beginning to creep back onto her red lips. "Naturally. Curiosity is a disease for people like us."

"Exactly," Celestial agreed. "So I kept trying. I used more energy. I pushed past my normal limits, but I kept hitting that same blank wall. So, out of frustration, I changed my method. Instead of looking at his future, I tried to scan the interior of his body. I wanted to see his mana channels, his core, and his soul structure."

Amelia stopped pacing. "And?"

"I scanned inside him for a few seconds," Celestial explained, her voice dropping into a whisper. "His physical body is fine... ridiculously refined, actually. But his soul was shrouded in complete darkness. I couldn’t penetrate it. Just as I was about to give up and sever the connection entirely, I saw something. A tiny, microscopic white light right in the very center of his soul."

Amelia’s interest spiked. "A light?"

"Yes. It was so tiny, so microscopic, that literally any other strong Blessed in the world would have missed it completely," Celestial said, her golden eyes flashing with a faint light.

"But soul inspection is my specialty, so I caught it. I tried to focus my sight and follow that tiny white light deeper into his origin. And the very moment I touched it..."

Celestial closed her eyes, letting out a quiet breath.

"A faint, sharp strain hit my brain. It felt as if a colossal spike of invisible energy was about to spear through my mind. I pulled my vision back instantly. If I had stayed a second longer, I might have suffered a soul backlash."

Amelia stared at the screen in complete silence for three whole seconds.

"And there’s one more thing," Celestial added, opening her eyes. "Even though I was as careful as a ghost, I am fairly certain... no, I am almost confident that the kid felt my presence searching inside him."

"He noticed you?" Amelia asked, her eyebrow twitching. "An Eternal Blessed searching him from thousands of miles away?"

"I cannot be sure," Celestial admitted with a faint shake of her head. "With how impossible it was to look at his soul, I am not sure of anything concerning that boy anymore. He is a complete enigma."

Amelia slowly walked back to her high backed chair and sat down, leaning her cheek against her dark gloved fist. "Wow... That Lynx kid sure is a massive mystery, isn’t he?"

She stared at the ceiling for a moment, her pupil less white eyes glowing softly in the dark room.

"Should I tell my brother about him?" Amelia suddenly asked, turning her eyes back to the screen. "If I inform the King about a student with a completely blank future and a soul that repels an Eternal Blessed... he’ll probably send the Imperial Guards to bring him in."

Celestial immediately broke into a light, airy laugh. "Oh? I thought you didn’t like your brother very much. And I thought you had taken a personal interest in Lynx yourself?"

Amelia scoffed.