"This faith thing. I’ve never heard of it before," Elijah noted.

It seemed sketchy, but after watching the video online, he began to notice a pattern.

The people who originally spread the word online were from a small circle who claimed to have ventured into an A-rank rift and survived.

This was a feat no other faction besides Merlin and his people had performed.

It was a known fact that when Merlin’s people came back from raids in the rifts, they returned with new concepts and tools capable of revolutionizing the way humanity did things.

This circle consisted of the standard eight members. They were claiming they had brought back a substance known as faith.

Elijah watched the video they uploaded that sparked initial conversation.

It was truly intriguing.

One of the mages claimed to have been previously allied with Merlin’s circle.

"A fallout? That has never been heard of before."

He claimed the only reason they survived was because they implemented the very principle Merlin’s circle had implemented for years to survive rifts.

They claimed just like how Merlin brought the number system from one of his raids, faith could be just as revolutionary.

The number system was obtained by Merlin years ago.

It is what allows talents to be implemented in a versatile mana system today. The number system dictates how spells are cast. It is the number that follows a chant and precedes a spell activation.

The video explained faith.

It was an ability that could momentarily boost a mage’s mana output based on a belief system.

They were vague about it, and the video just ended there.

Elijah was intrigued.

If this was true, it would lead to the birth of a new policy. If reserves could, in fact, be raised... he thought.

The faith circle, as they were now being addressed online, revealed they would show proof of this in their next broadcast.

The circle was really just trying to gain attention. Without it, they had no hope of mass adoption.

Since every new innovation had come from the Merlin circle, it was widely believed that Merlin himself would be needed.

The eight of them could use faith, but not the rest of the world. To get others to be able to even perceive, let alone use it, they believed they needed Merlin on their side.

Elijah read into it instantly.

"This is what I mean by too much power. I guess not really me, but the council."

"They’re doing all this to get to Merlin. It’s all just a show."

"We’ll probably be called in to meet either way. I might as well just host a virtual one with the rest of the council members. I’m guessing some of them are still running their earlier tasks," he said.

He was right.

He pinged everyone. They all joined the call, isolating themselves before doing so, of course.

He explained this was a new angle. The others just didn’t see it yet.

Morgana gave him explicit permission to pursue it down to wherever it leads.

"Spare no expense," she said.

’I can’t believe I was worried a while ago that I didn’t get anything to do. Now it seems my plate will be full for a while.’

Elijah began doing research. This was pretty much all he could do at the moment. He couldn’t actively pursue yet. He was waiting on their display. They had an active social account, so it could be any day.

One claimed he was affiliated with Merlin.

"I guess I can start by pulling up Merlin’s list of total recruits," he said.

"This is going to suck," he said.

He pulled out his laptop and got to work.

Minutes went by with him just scrolling the list. Then a name stood out to him. Not because of anything fancy. It was just Lot’s. He noticed another person was recruited just around the same time.

This was an A-rank, however.

He noted the name. This wasn’t a lead or anything, but he figured if they could interview this person, then maybe they could get more evidence to support their case. This was a long shot, obviously, and he knew.

He continued down the list. He didn’t see any name that stood out.

"This is so inefficient," he yawned.

He got off his chair and jumped.

"I need to stretch every once in a while," he said.

He got back to his seat and continued scrolling.

Nothing.

No suspicious names.

’I guess that could only lead me so far.’

He stood up. He thought better while moving. He began pacing around the house.

"That was stupid!" he shouted.

He just got an idea.

He would create multiple fake accounts, reaching out to the circle, asking for a named character from the list. If he got a reaction, then he would know if there was any affiliation.

"No, stupid again!" he shouted.

’I guess I work better under pressure.’

He went back to his seat.

"Wait. How did I not see this earlier?"

"It’s some sort of convergence."

"This has happened before, twice actually."

"It happened when Vlad came into being."

"It happened again, I believe..."

He paused.

He went back to Lot’s name on the list and noted the other name.

"This was around the time it happened."

’I didn’t even know Lot himself was part of the convergence. Ha. It all adds up.’

"That’s the second convergence. Lot was in on it as well," he said.

The convergence was extremely rare. It was a concept where various mana-related phenomena occurred simultaneously. The first one was the emergence of Vlad and "*****", "***", and "*******".

The convergence required there to be at least three abnormal mana-related phenomena.

Elijah counted.

The first convergence involving Vlad, four core components were involved. Vlad being one of the four.

’I always thought the last convergence was just three people involved, but with what I’ve seen, it’s undeniable that Lot was a part. I guess that makes that one four as well.’

"With the emergence of the SSS-ranker, the god-tier system wielder, and now this whole faith thing, there’s another convergence happening right.

I wonder how many elements this time.

This faith thing can’t be a coincidence. It’s linked. It’s one of them.

I mean, look at the timing.

I’ve cracked it.

No. I’m only starting to crack it.

Wait. I wonder what humanity will have to suffer during this convergence.

What’s our punishment this time?"