Edwin stepped forward, his demeanour shifting from casual to solemn. "Priest, he seeks you," he said, his voice echoing slightly in the quiet of the Hold.
The Priest of Storms nodded slowly, his gaze shifting from Edwin to Marcellus. "I understand your quest for answers, you may address me as Corwin" he began, his voice deep and resonant. "The events you've been entangled in are but the surface of a deeper, darker current."
Marcellus felt a shiver run down his spine. He sensed that the Priest's words were about to illuminate a hidden truth, one that might shake the very foundations of his understanding.
"The Hulk," the Priest continued, "is more than just a pawn in the games of nobility and politics. It represents a convergence of the succession. The Church has been watching its movements closely."
Marcellus interjected, "But why the interest from the Church? I thought your concerns were primarily spiritual...."
The rotund Knight, who had been silent up to this point, spoke up. "Boy, I don't believe you are too old or strong for a thrashing show some respect and don't interrupt your elders"
The laity member added almost an unnoticeable scoff.
The Priest nodded solemnly. "Precisely. And Blackeye, your involvement, albeit unwittingly, has placed you at the centre of this maelstrom. You have become a key player, whether you sought it or not."
Marcellus felt the weight of the revelation settles on him. The feeling of being used as bait now seemed trivial in comparison to the scale of what he was being told.
"Then what is my role in all of this?" Marcellus asked, a mix of apprehension and determination in his voice.
"It's time for you to delve deeper into the mysteries you've only glimpsed," the Priest said, gesturing towards the shelves of scrolls and manuscripts. "The Hulk serves a dual purpose in the intricate web of your current strife. Firstly, the succession war, which has been smouldering for six years and officially raging for the past four, is tearing the very fabric of our empire.
The Hulk represents crucial support from the Novus Empire to Prince Albus, tilting the scales of power in his favour and leaving his rivals in a precarious position. Our intervention has disrupted this balance, and it's only a matter of time before we… well Mythralis face the repercussions, especially when the Church's gaze is diverted elsewhere. Yesterday's events are a foretaste of such retaliatory strikes. I Imagine the Island will become devastated."
He paused, allowing the gravity of his words to sink in before continuing. "Secondly, the significance of The Hulk to the Governor of Mythralis is rooted in a quest for Fontenot knowledge. He has used divination to discern its presence on The Hulk. Fate, it seems, has decreed that this book was to be aboard The Hulk on the night of the raid. However now that The Fontenot Diary has gone missing the governor may act in a way that we can not predict, Edwin had covered you enough and his patience with you paid off your timely information led to some information we can use."
Edwin stepped closer to Marcellus, subtly raising his chest.
The priest continued regardless "This contribution is all yours. In light of the possibility of hidden danger, you have a chance at choosing."
"A chance at choosing?" Marcellus vaguely guessed something as his breathing subconsciously turned heavy. If he chose a new potion he would blow up when he drank it or worse become a lunatic to sacrifice himself, one cannot drink two different potions.
The priest was slightly amused by Marcellus' reaction but wiped the smile from his face as he said in all seriousness, "Do you wish to become an Aspirant? You can only choose the starting Sequence of an Official incomplete Sequence. You can't become a Sailor"
"Of course, you can give up this chance and choose to accumulate the merit you have garnered. Then, all you have to do is wait till there's sufficient room for you to become a Sailor and of course, you pass the church test, which is also the first, complete Sequence the Lord has bestowed on the Stormseekers."
Marcellus briefly glanced at the faces of everyone in the room, I have to use this chance to extract information, I have to have detailed information!
The one-eyed priest seemed to grasp Marcellus' intention but willfully answered, since this was the least he owed him after using him as bait, "Apart from Sailor, the Church has two official Sequence 9 potion formulas. One of them is Jinx, which is also the power young Edwin controls. Heh, Edwin has likely mentioned this to you. He can never hold his tongue."
Marcellus smiled awkwardly, at a loss for an answer. Thankfully, The priest did not mind it as he continued. "Our Jinx potion formula and the later Sequences that aren't directly chained were obtained from the White Tower. Back then, it was said that they had yet to fall to corruption. They persisted in their morals and precepts, determined in their pursuit of knowledge. They kept their secrets strictly confidential. Anyone who entered the 'tutelage' would be a genius or heavily connected. During the third epoch, it was one of the strongest organizations of Aspirants"
"Jinx have a penchant for bringing bad luck bad luck to others, to be descriptive they only have two abilities, one is a premonition, and the second is intuition using these two they are very formidable even if they aren't skilled at fighting they can always stay alive in combat with a sword saint, There is a rumour that killing a jinx bring you bad luck for the rest of your life, therefore it is reasonable for the most part other Aspirants avoid killing a Jinx"
"We lack a large portion of this sequence, causing it to be an incomplete chain. For example, its Sequence 8. Of course, perhaps the Holy Cathedral has it."
This reminds me of Captain Crowe, yes it can be said that when he was fighting Singleton he was under-skilled with the sword but he ended up winning, and Ewin is a jinx, I have not seen him display any abilities although Old Man Aulus told me as much this pretty much confirmed it… Marcellus nodded slightly, suppressing the urge to speak.
Thankfully, he still remembered certain things.