As soon as Kant held up the dagger, its blade turned jet-black in color, stunning everyone. From what they had seen before, it wouldn't have turned unless Kant had wanted it to flow to the dagger. With this, Kant gets an idea.
He keeps the manacite dagger down on the table. The manacite blade's jet-black color immediately dissipates, returning it to its regular old color, indistinguishable from any other danger one could find.
He then picks it up, turning the blade back to jet-black, before keeping it down. He does this multiple times over, for the researchers to see and observe. Observations are made, and things are written down on the clipboards.
"From my observations, it appears that the dagger only turns jet-black if I hold it," Kant remarked.
"Are you concentrating on the dagger, sir?" one of the researchers questioned Kant.
"No. I am not," Kant answered.