Erudite

Erudite — a step where knowledge for the first time turns into a weapon against other Otherworldly beings.

Analysis — relying on prior knowledge, the Erudite analyzes the opponent's otherworldly power, quickly understands what it is dealing with, and sees its strengths and weaknesses; the canon honestly states that Analysis can both be mistaken and fail;

Imitation — once sufficiently analyzing someone else's ability, the Erudite gains the ability to reproduce it to some degree.

This makes the sixth step an extremely inconvenient opponent: the longer a battle lasts, the better the Erudite understands what is being used against it — and the more likely it is to respond in kind.

It is also useful to understand the limits of Imitation. It does not give the bearer someone else's power permanently and does not make him equal to the one who possesses that power natively: reproduction works "to some degree" and relies on how correctly the Analysis was carried out. If you erred in the analysis — you will err in the imitation too.

But against an opponent with one distinctly pronounced technique, the Erudite is truly dangerous: having analyzed that technique, he strips the enemy of their main advantage — surprise — and, with luck, answers with the very same.

The formula here is notable for its auxiliary part, where instead of herbs and blood, human achievements are listed: a certificate stating that the brewer has read a thousand books and passed an examination, and a piece of new knowledge obtained in ruins, ancient tombs, or foreign libraries. The Apprentice's path requires of the ascending not extraction, but education — and this is the only path where one's own learning is included in the formula.