Once again, they travelled on horseback. Dara had heard about the Cult of SooHyuk because it had been mentioned several times by Jaejoong and the other members of the League before. But she was now being thoroughly educated on the history of the cult by Cloud during their long ride.

And as usual, Cloud's personal comments and theories often got interwoven in his narration.

"The origin of the cult started five years after the Oracle was destroyed by Jaejoong. During that time, Jaejoong and I were still roaming Haldor and giving back the stolen ideas of the Oracle to their respective owners. Well, to be accurate, since we have learned our lesson with Choi Bong-sun's ideas of bringing back the dead and killing everything alive, we only gave back ideas to their former owners who had no plans of killing or destroying anything. You would not believe the kind of dangerous ideas some people had. It took us some time to investigate and know the true personality of these people. Only when Jaejoong and I were absolutely sure that these people would not cause harm once their ideas had been returned to them did we return their ideas.

"It took us almost ten years before we finished. But since the Oracle had been stealing and throwing away these ideas for several millenniums and most of the owners were dead, most of these ideas remained inside me. And because the Oracle without her Memory incarnation cannot steal ideas, wild and crazy ideas and even dangerous ones began popping out of some people's head. But that's predictable. People, once given freedom to think for themselves and their future, sooner or later develop great or reckless ideas."

"Cloud," Dara interrupted the black cloud's narration. "Do you really have to tell me how the Cult of SooHyuk began? Can't you just get to the point and tell me what they really are and how dangerous they are?"

"You want this lesson to be a simple question and answer?" he snorted.

"That's a good idea! You really are brilliant!"

"I did not say-"

"So, let's begin, when was the cult first established?"

"It wasn't really established," Cloud grudgingly answered. "It was started by discontented teenagers who discovered they could do magic. And like young people, they wanted to explore new things, break rules and use their magic without limit. They first started vandalizing homes of their neighbors, then moved on to creating small fires, flooding rivers and other things that were quickly stopped by the peacekeepers. Most of them were easily caught and given reprimand or made to pay fines for the destruction they had caused.

"Such wanton actions though did not stop these people. Whenever the elders in their town would pass a law they do not like, they would then start committing these petty crimes again. It didn't matter that they got caught. Such crimes became like a rite of passage for newly awakened mages. And most people believed that after some time their rebellious youths would soon get over these once they have matured."

"That didn't happen?"

"Of course, most of them lost interest in such rebellious acts specially when King Donghae and the regents passed stricter laws that really punishes them. Since magic schools have begun popping out of the land, these young mages were sent to these schools so that they would learn how to control their powers and become responsible magic users. During these times, schools that concentrate on science and technologies also started to rise in prominence. Two schools of thoughts had arisen. One of magic and the other, that of science.

"Magic comes from nature. But to control it, one must use the mind. To enhance its power, one must use emotions. But relying too much on emotions to make one's magic stronger often resulted to the loss of a mage's mind. He becomes uncontrollable and in the end, harms himself or others. Because of that, a special amulet was created by the men of science that could measure a mage's magic. It is called Beragon. Though it is called an amulet, it is not magic. It's a small equipment that measures the kind of power a mage has and alerts him and others around him when he is about to lose control of his magic so he could be stopped. Though the means to stop a mage from losing control often resulted to his getting punched or sprayed with sleeping gas, which of course was again invented by the scientists to stop petty criminals.

"Young mages didn't like such restrictions. And those old enough to understand the importance of the Beragon grudgingly accepted it. But, they too resented it because it shows that science was becoming superior to magic."

"Does Bom own a Beragon?"