The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL]-Chapter 891: The Blank Space

"Aha!"

The exclamation jolted the young ones.

Immediately, four figures closed in on one another, shoulders bumping as they huddled over the projected scans, voices dropping into rapid murmurs that rose and fell with barely contained excitement.

"See here, see here," one of them whispered urgently.

"You’re blind if you miss that," another snapped back.

"I told you it wasn’t symmetrical," a third hissed.

"And I told you symmetry is overrated," came the dry counter, calm but firm.

Elders Shen, Feng, Wei, and Pao Xi crowded together like conspiring children, their heads nearly knocking as they pointed, gestured, and argued. Three identical faces frowned, squinted, and scowled in unison, while the fourth leaned in just enough to keep them from actually shoving one another aside.

Despite their youthful appearances, the way they bickered made it painfully obvious they were old. Ancient, even. Old enough that manners had long since been replaced with blunt confidence.

To everyone else in the room, however, whatever they were saying might as well have been gibberish.

The words came fast, tangled together in a way that made Theo’s head spin, and Doctor Philip quietly stepped back to observe rather than attempt to follow.

Prince Elior and Rahil exchanged a look.

They were naked.

They were afraid.

Well. Mostly naked. But also definitely afraid.

Both of them sat on the provided beds wearing only their trousers, backs straight, hands carefully placed, silently wondering if agreeing to this had been a terrible mistake. The scans of their results hovered nearby, slowly rotating as the four undeniably strange individuals dissected every detail.

Yes. They had reached that point.

They had already endured more new experiences in the past few hours than either of them cared to count, but this was a first. Someone had actually requested that Rahil be tested as well.

So now they were both here, exposed under the lights, hoping they had not just volunteered themselves for something they’d eventually regret.

Honestly, if Doctor Philip hadn’t been standing off to the side with a gentle, reassuring smile as he listened to the arguing triplets and their lone mediator, neither of them would have felt particularly safe.

Theo had reassured them that this was normal.

Somehow, that only made it sound worse.

The murmuring stopped.

All four elders turned their heads at the same time.

Elior and Rahil stiffened.

If being stared at by one eccentric expert was uncomfortable, being stared at by four in perfect unison was something else entirely.

It began with an odd question.

"Both of you can use spiritual energy, no?"

Huh?

Rahil blinked, momentarily thrown off. That was obvious. Still, he nodded, and Elior followed suit.

"If you’ve been able to use it since you were younger," another continued, "have there been any changes since then?"

That was... complicated.

For Rahil, the answer was simple enough. Obviously, he’d learned how to control it better. But since leaving their original planet, which still possessed richer ambient spiritual energy than most planets in the Empire, he had avoided using it unless necessary. It simply wasn’t worth the strain.

For Prince Elior, however, things were different.

While he was obviously born with the ability to use spiritual energy, gaining access to his bloodline ability had changed everything for him. Now the question was whether it would be okay to reveal such important information.

But before either of them could think about how to phrase sensitive information, the elders seemed to lose interest in the details.

They were focused on something else entirely.

"Using spiritual energy has become harder for you compared to before," one of them concluded.

Rahil frowned.

Was that not the case for everyone?

Spiritual energy was scarce. Its absence was felt everywhere. Even the Federation had been driven far enough by desperation that their prideful humans crossed enemy borders in search of it.

Everyone was struggling.

Yet instead of agreement, they received an unexpected response.

"Well," one of the elders said calmly, "you’re lucky you can even wield spiritual energy at all right now."

"Huh?" Rahil blurted out before he could stop himself.

"In your case," another elder said, turning his gaze toward the suddenly uneasy aide, "it’s understandable that you still have access to your abilities."

Then all three identical faces shifted toward Elior.

"But for this other gentleman here," the elder continued, voice laced with genuine amazement, "we are frankly astonished that you can still use your spiritual abilities at all."

"Considering," he added, "that you are missing particular spiritual pathways."

"!!!"

Rahil shot up from the bed.

__

"You should thank the good doctor for noticing the issue. It wouldn’t have been evident if not for this comparison."

It was Elder Pao Xi who spoke, tone calm and almost conversational, as though he were commenting on an interesting chart rather than dismantling someone’s understanding of their own body.

With a small flick of his fingers, the projected scans shifted.

"Let’s start simple," he said.

The first image expanded in the air.

"This is a human spiritual pathway scan."

There was a brief pause.

Theo had actually asked Noah if he was okay with his scan being used as an example. The pharmacy cadet would have volunteered, but he was part siren, so it wouldn’t exactly be accurate.

But as expected, with more time to look at it now, it was obvious that taking the concoction made from the Queen of the Night had improved Noah’s pathways tremendously.

"Yes," Elder Feng said without looking at him. "A very clean sample. Considering current cases, borderline enviable."

The scan glowed brightly. Pathways were clear, well-distributed, and almost aggressively healthy, flowing in a way that made Theo feel like he should compliment Noah later.

"Humans," Elder Shen continued, "are surprisingly straightforward in this regard. Not a lot of layering involved."

The image shifted.

"This," Elder Wei said, "is an average elf."

Another scan appeared beside it. Compared to the human one, it looked more complex. Layers overlapped and intertwined, spiritual pathways stacking upon one another like woven threads rather than straight channels.

"The primary difference," Pao Xi explained, "is that non-human races tend to have layered pathways. It’s likely the cause for the natural sensitivity to spiritual energy."

It was actually something that applied to most races, save for the humans. Other beings had more complex pathways that should have given them a greater advantage had there been abundant sources of spiritual energy.

Prince Elior and Rahil exchanged a glance.

Technically, the people in front of them already knew they weren’t human. And yet, none of them so much as reacted to the political implication that it carried.

But why would they react when the lot of them shouldn’t even be in existence today?

However, before either elf could wordlessly question whether they should be concerned, the image changed again.

"This one," Elder Shen said slowly, "belongs to this fellow over here."

Rahil stiffened because, wow.

His scan showed visibly tighter everything. He couldn’t even directly point out problematic areas because, at this point, everything looked worse than what they just seen. Pathways were thinner, less vibrant, and drawn closer together, as if conserving energy.

Compared to the first two, his looked shriveled.

Dang!

Still, the same layered structure could be identified beneath the strain.

"See?" Elder Wei pointed. "Depleted, but intact."

Rahil coughed at that very honest review that even he couldn’t deny after seeing the other ones.

Then came the final scan.

"And this one," Pao Xi said, voice steady, "is his."

The image appeared.

At first glance, parts of it looked robust. Some sections were even oddly healthy, thickened pathways glowing brighter than expected. But then the image reached a certain point.

And simply stopped.

There was a gap.

A literal blank space.

No pathways. No structure. Nothing.

As if that portion had been cleanly removed from existence.

"We believe you are able to use your spiritual abilities," Elder Feng said, tapping the denser regions of the scan, "because other sections have compensated."

"They’ve overdeveloped compared to what could be considered average," Elder Shen added.

"Normally, that would be considered good for you. But not when it’s likely the result of having to make up for the fact that this entire area here simply isn’t present."

"!!!"

It was so difficult not to gasp upon seeing it for the first time.

Elder Pao Xi nodded. "Clearly, something is wrong with this section. You’re withering away even when free from the usual ailments."

"And the scans keep returning clean," Elder Wei continued, "because when it comes to infections or diseases, you truly have none."

"But whatever is wrong here," Pao Xi concluded, gesturing to the blank space, "is what is consuming your vitality. And it will continue to do so until we determine why and how exactly it is missing."

Prince Elior felt faint.

It was as though everything crashed into him all at once.

He was overwhelmed not only because he had never heard such certain-sounding words before, but also because he actually saw what they meant.

They weren’t kidding when they said there was something missing.

There was evidence right there.

An unsolicited tear slipped from the corner of his eye, born from shock more than despair.

But just when he was about to be vulnerable and acknowledge all his sudden emotions, his tears practically receded as a voice chimed in casually.

"Okay," one of the elders said, rubbing his chin excitedly. "So how should we cut him open to take a look?"

"!!!"

Hey!

Hey, wait a moment!

Who was cutting up who?!

Just as expected. He was most definitely naked and rightfully afraid.