Lord of Scales and Feathers: Let Me Handle This

"How could this be?"

Iver widened his eyes slightly, finding it difficult to understand. "The Path... can still be reversed?"

"—Naturally."

Just then.

Suddenly, someone wearing black gloves reached out from behind and patted him on the shoulder.

A very familiar voice suddenly sounded beside his ear. "Don't be nervous, Iver. This is perfectly normal."

It was the voice of the Lord of Scales and Feathers.

The world around Iver rapidly dimmed. It was as if night had fallen and the curtains had been drawn. Only a small circle of space around him remained brightly lit.

"...Perfectly normal?"

"It's perfectly normal. The reason Professionals can suffer an almost fatal deviation in their Path is that they don't actually fully align with the Path they belong to. Their power actually comes from the 'Class' they align with. Naturally, the holder of a Class can switch Paths. After all, the power of the Phantasm isn't dead. When changing jobs, bringing your own client base along with you is perfectly normal, isn't it?"

The Lord of Scales and Feathers placed a hand on Iver's shoulder, half offering comfort and half arguing sophistry. "Think about it carefully—Extraordinaries on the Path of Transcendence who align with Classes such as Demon Scholar and Demon Avatar... are they really the same kind of people as Moulting Warlocks? Didn't you once encourage a child with an affinity for the Path of Transcendence to find a way to change Class into a Moulting Warlock instead of a Demon Scholar?"

Hearing this, Iver frowned slightly.

It did seem to make some sense...

He recalled the story of the "previous cycle" his adoptive father had told him.

—Although Iver suspected that it might not have been a true previous cycle at all, the information in it should still be worth referencing.