Breakthroughs and Secrets

Part 5

“ why would the battle arena be built over something fragile that’s not meant to be broken?” The students asked in bewilderment. Dev uses a mind link to ask Elira if she was able to keep track of where Marcus‘s staff had gone because of all the chaos going  on around them this would be the perfect opportunity to study his artifact.

Elira’s reply comes through the link, quieter this time.

“You’re probably right.”

A beat.

“And if Veris specifically told you to stay, sneaking away five minutes later would be a terrible way to convince him we’re responsible enough to study dangerous artifacts.”

She glances toward the Artifice wing.

The staff disappears through a set of reinforced doors.

“We could always ask Marr to let us examine it.”

A pause.

“Although…”

Her tone becomes amused.

”…I suspect ‘please let two first-years inspect the artifact that nearly killed someone’ isn’t going to work.”

Before she can say more, Veris approaches.

His attention briefly flicks between Dev and Elira.

“Good. Neither of you left.”

Elira gives him an innocent smile.

“Were we supposed to?”

Veris ignores the question.

“What happened beneath this arena concerns the academy. Until we understand it, nobody is to investigate the exposed foundation independently.”

His eyes settle on Dev.

“That includes you.”

Pell approaches from behind him, carrying a thin stone fragment sealed inside a transparent containment field.

The ancient rune on its surface is still glowing.

“Professor Veris.”

Veris looks at it.

Pell’s expression is grim.

“I found a repeating pattern.”

He turns the fragment so the rune is visible.

“This isn’t a support structure.”

Veris studies it.

“Then what is it?”

Pell’s eyes move toward the arena.

“A boundary.”

Elira’s curiosity immediately gets the better of her.

“A boundary for what?”

Pell looks at her.

For several seconds, he says nothing.

Then—

BOOM.

The entire academy trembles.

Dust falls from the ceiling.

Somewhere far below, something enormous scrapes against stone.

Pell’s face drains of color.

“…That.”

The lights throughout the corridor flicker.

One by one, the academy’s protective runes ignite.

Veris turns toward the sound.

His voice is suddenly very serious.

“Everyone back.”

Another vibration.

Much deeper.

And this time, the ancient rune in Pell’s containment field changes.

It forms a second symbol.

Veris stares at it.

“That’s not a boundary.”

Pell whispers:

“It’s a seal.”

“What the fuck kinda giant beast could be down there” “what idiot put a battle arena on top! it’s like asking for the seal to be broken!”  Students shout in fear and anger. Dev looks at Elira then back at the professors his expression grim. “Eli I think whatever is down there is definitely out of our league being first years but i’m not sure if it’s safer to run or stay by the professors side…” communicating Through the mind link to not interrupt his deep breaths as he tries to replenish his core with the world energy

Elira’s answer comes through the mind link almost immediately.

“Stay.”

A brief pause.

“If the professors thought evacuation was safer, they’d already be ordering us out.”

She watches the faculty rather than the trembling students.

“And whatever is down there… I don’t think this is a monster that accidentally got trapped beneath the academy.”

Another tremor rolls through the floor.

Elira’s voice lowers.

“That seal was maintained for a reason.”

Nearby, several students panic.

“We need to get out!”

“The professors can handle it!”

“What if the whole academy collapses?!”

Master Thorne turns sharply.

“QUIET!”

Her voice carries through the corridor.

The panic doesn’t disappear, but it stops escalating.

Veris raises both hands.

The surrounding mana immediately becomes noticeably calmer as he establishes a stabilizing field.

“Nobody runs.”

A student protests:

“Professor, there’s something underneath us!”

“Yes.”

Veris’s expression remains controlled.

“Which is why running blindly through an ancient magical structure is an exceptionally poor survival strategy.”

Master Pell kneels and presses his palm against the floor.

His face changes.

“It’s waking.”

Thorne looks at him.

“Can you identify it?”

“No.”

That answer frightens the students more than anything else could have.

Pell continues feeling through the stone.

“But I can tell you something.”

His eyes lift toward the academy above them.

“It isn’t trying to break out.”

Another deep THOOM.

The windows rattle.

“It’s trying to get in.”

Silence.

Veris’s head snaps toward him.

“Into what?”

Pell slowly looks upward.

“The academy.”

A sudden wave of mana sweeps through the building.

Dev can feel it even through his effort to replenish his core.

The ambient energy isn’t behaving normally anymore.

It is being pulled downward.

Not by the students.

Not by the academy arrays.

Something beneath them has begun drawing mana through the ancient seal.

Elira’s voice reaches Dev again.

”…Dev.”

Her tone is no longer amused.

“The academy itself is feeding it.”

Then—

every rune in the corridor goes dark.

For one terrifying second, the entire academy is completely silent.

No lights.

No protective arrays.

No ambient magical hum.

Then somewhere below—

a sound rises through the foundations.

Not a roar.

Not a growl.

A voice.

Ancient.

Distorted by thousands of tons of stone.

”…awake…”

Master Veris immediately steps between the students and the floor.

His mana erupts outward.

“Everyone behind us.”

Master Thorne draws her weapon.

Master Pell’s face has gone pale.

And from beneath Argent Spire—

something begins climbing toward them.

Vale, master of alchemy enters the arena from a warp gate and shouts down to everyone, “catch!”  a rain of potions and ward talisman’s come out over the students and then another for each teacher tho theirs were different in color,

And finally he looks at Dev tossing him a second potion, “recover, drink, prepare!” The students recognize the talisman’s as the kind that generate protection barriers and the potions as “invigorators” the kind of potions soldiers drink when stepping foot on a battlefield

The warp gate snapped open above the arena with a violent crack of displaced air.

Master Garrick Vale stepped through, his stained white coat flaring behind him.

“CATCH!”

He didn’t wait for anyone to ask what was happening.

A case at his side burst open.

Dozens of glass vials and ward talismans scattered into the air, raining down over the students. Another set followed immediately—fewer, heavier, and visibly different in color—spinning toward the faculty.

Students scrambled to catch them.

“Invigorators—”

“Those are battlefield grade!”

“Why is he giving us those?!”

The recognition spread almost instantly.

The talismans weren’t decorative academy wards. They were military-grade defensive talismans designed to trigger a protective barrier when activated.

And the potions—

Invigorators.

The kind soldiers drank before or during battle to restore stamina, sharpen magical circulation, and push exhausted bodies back toward fighting condition.

Vale caught one of the teacher-grade vials himself, glanced across the devastated arena, then looked directly at Dev.

He tossed him another bottle.

The glass arced through the air.

“Recover. Drink. Prepare!”

Vale’s voice carried across the entire arena.

His expression was completely different from his usual classroom demeanor.

No humor.

No lecture.

Just the cold focus of someone who had spent years preparing people to survive when magic went catastrophically wrong.

Around him, the other professors were already moving.

Thorne caught her vial and immediately began examining the damaged arena.

Pell had both hands raised over the exposed ancient foundation, studying the seal.

Veris stared down into the cracks.

Celeste was activating the talisman she’d caught, watching its response rather than drinking anything.

Seraphine was already kneeling beside Marcus.

And Edrin Sol wasn’t looking at the students at all.

He was staring at the ground.

Vale’s eyes remained on Dev for another second.

Then he shouted to everyone:

“Nobody wanders off. Nobody investigates the foundation. Nobody touches anything that isn’t yours. If you don’t know what a thing does, you leave it alone!”

A tremor passed through the arena.

Not large.

But deep.

Dust sifted from the ancient stone beneath their feet.

Pell’s face changed.

He had found something in the runes.

“Garrick…”

Vale turned.

Pell slowly looked up from the exposed seal.

“That’s not an academy ward.”

A second tremor answered from somewhere far below.

THOOM

“Awake at last” the booming voice came again from below. “Eli something this big that can speak… something old and so powerful, it must be a divine beast or a corrupted monster” Dev said before chugging the potions. The first flooded his body with Mana refilling his core reinvigorating his muscles he felt as if he had just woken up after a nice long rest, even the mental fatigue was gone. The second, the same one given to all the students, surged through his body invigorating every facet, his muscles felt stronger, bones sturdier, skin tougher, mind faster, his mana core becoming hyper saturated. Wrapping the defense talisman around his wrist. mind racing as the ground shook.

The first potion hit Dev’s stomach like liquid fire.

Mana surged through his core, filling the empty channels almost violently. The exhaustion that had dragged at him moments earlier vanished. The second invigorator followed, and the effect was stranger—deeper.

His body felt reinforced.

Not merely rested. Strengthened.

The difference was immediately apparent in the way mana moved through him. His core was densely saturated, his muscles responding with unusual sharpness, his senses accelerated.

Around the arena, other students were experiencing lesser versions of the same transformation.

Vale had armed an entire first-year class as though they were soldiers entering a battlefield.

Elira caught her own talisman and looked toward Dev.

“Dev…”

Her voice was quieter now.

She had heard what he said.

Below them, the voice came again.

“Awake at last.”

The ancient words weren’t shouted this time.

They simply resonated through the stone.

The exposed seal beneath the arena pulsed.

Once.

The surrounding ancient runes answered.

Pell staggered backward.

“That isn’t a creature speaking through a spell,” he whispered.

Veris looked sharply at him.

“You’re certain?”

“I’ve studied resonance structures for forty years.” Pell’s eyes remained fixed on the foundation. “Something is actually speaking.”

Another tremor.

CRACK.

A fracture appeared across one of the ancient stone plates.

Something moved beneath it.

Not enough to see.

But enough that everyone heard the enormous scrape of something shifting against stone.

Thorne immediately raised one hand.

“Students. Defensive positions.”

The professors spread out.

Vale stepped toward the students, potion still in hand.

“Stay behind the faculty.”

Then—

The ancient seal lit up.

Not with academy mana.

With something older.

Something vast.

For one brief instant, Dev could feel the entire arena’s ambient mana being pulled downward toward the buried structure.

And beneath that flow was another sensation.

A presence.

Ancient.

Conscious.

And now unmistakably aware that there were people standing above it.

Pell gritted his teeth “I’m sorry we can warp you away students the academy arrays are designed to protect but also limit movement spells”

Vale’s voice cut through the silence.

“Stop.”

Pell turned toward him.

Vale shook his head.

“Warping in was complicated. Warping out will be out of the question.”

No one argued.

Then the voice came again.

Not louder.

Not closer.

Just everywhere.

“Why do you stand upon my prison?”

The words seemed to pass through the stone, through the academy’s foundations, through the students themselves.

Silence followed.

Absolute silence.

The professors looked at one another.

Thorne’s expression had lost its usual confidence.

Celeste slowly lowered her hand from the ward talisman.

Edrin’s eyes narrowed—not with aggression, but with the careful attention of someone encountering something that shouldn’t exist according to everything he knew.

Even Veris had no immediate answer.

Pell stared at the ancient seal.

His face had gone pale.

Because the question itself was wrong.

Not Who are you?

Not Why have you awakened me?

Not Who disturbed my prison?

Why do you stand upon my prison?

As though the presence beneath them genuinely didn’t understand why anyone would be there.

A student swallowed audibly.

Nobody spoke.

Vale slowly raised one hand.

Not casting.

Just signaling the students to remain still.

The ancient runes continued glowing beneath the arena.

Waiting.

For an answer.

Devs eyes studied over the ancient runes, looking for any hints of familiarity and then he froze, he saw something. Hidden within the oldest rune in Alderhollow, Dev had spent countless hours studying it.

He had never been satisfied with the village explanation that it was simply an old protection rune.

He saw something He’d noticed years ago.

The faint secondary markings beneath the weathered stone—almost invisible unless you knew where to look.

He had spent three summers trying to understand them.

He still wasn’t sure what they meant. But here he saw them, glowing, the same runes hidden within the oldest rune in Alderhollow, bright with power.

For several seconds, nothing happened.

Then Pell’s gaze shifted.

Not toward the seal.

Toward the students.

His eyes stopped on Dev.

He followed Dev’s line of sight down to the exposed foundation.

Pell’s expression changed.

“…Those markings.”

Veris immediately looked at him. “What?”

Pell crouched beside the exposed stone, careful not to touch it. He traced the air above the glowing lines with one trembling finger.

“There’s a secondary inscription beneath the primary structure.”

Celeste stepped closer. “That’s impossible. The surface rune is already a complete seal.”

“No,” Pell said quietly. “It isn’t.”

He looked over the ancient markings again.

“The visible rune is only the outer layer.”

Veris’s eyes sharpened.

“Then what is the inner layer?”

Pell didn’t answer.

Because the markings weren’t merely similar to anything in modern magical theory.

They followed a construction logic he had never encountered before.

And yet there was something familiar about their arrangement.

Something that reminded him of an older tradition.

Edrin slowly approached the edge of the exposed foundation.

“Those aren’t human runes.”

The statement landed heavily.

Thorne looked toward him.

“You recognize them?”

“No.”

Edrin’s eyes remained fixed on the glowing markings.

“But I’ve seen references to structures built with similar principles.”

Vale’s expression hardened.

“Where?”

Edrin hesitated.

“In records concerning the oldest magical forests.”

The voice beneath them interrupted.

“…”

For the first time since it had spoken, the presence below became silent.

The ancient markings pulsed once.

Then again.

And one tiny section of the secondary inscription brightened dramatically.

Pell’s eyes widened.

“It responded.”

Veris whispered, “To what?”

Pell looked from the inscription toward the students.

“I don’t know.”

A long, subterranean groan rolled beneath the arena.

Then the voice returned.

But this time, its tone had changed.

There was no confusion in it.

Only recognition.

“The root remembers.”

Dev feels a resonance, a warmth, a tingling sensation in the amulet around his neck, the petrified piece of wood left by his grandmother. Something that no other mage not even the masters and teachers can detect.

The moment the ancient markings pulsed, the petrified wood beneath Dev’s shirt changed.

A faint warmth spread through the medallion.

Then came a tingling sensation.

Not painful.

Not even particularly strong.

But unmistakably responsive.

None of the masters reacted.

Pell was still studying the runes. Veris was comparing their structure against everything he knew. Celeste and Thorne were watching the foundation for movement. Even Edrin, whose specialty was magical creatures and ancient ecosystems, detected nothing unusual.

Whatever was happening between the medallion and the ancient inscription existed beneath the threshold of their perception.

The warmth deepened.

For an instant, the petrified wood seemed almost—

alive.

Not physically.

There was no heartbeat, no pulse.

Rather, the medallion felt as though it had encountered something impossibly familiar.

The ancient inscription answered.

A tiny section of the glowing secondary markings illuminated.

Then another.

A pattern began traveling through them, following the same hidden structure Dev had spent years studying in AlderHollow.

The voice beneath the arena fell silent.

And then, very softly, the stone beneath everyone’s feet resonated.

“…Elder.”

Another rumble and then a surge of energy, the runes lit up brighter than ever before, sparks flooding from them as they overloaded, and the very stones they were carved into cracked from the pressure. Imprisoned under the Academy was a seedling of the elder tree, imprisoned by the builders of the Academy as the mana geyser underneath was a rare and valuable natural resource; a power source from which the whole academy, all the arrays and enchantments could be powered from, yet the sapling seed was here first and fed by the immense world energy pouring forth from the mana Geyser they couldn’t move or destroy it, so they entombed it.  These old runes were crafted by these ancient builders, long ago the elves the humans and the dwarves lived in peace, even occasionally cross breeding; but as humans expanded across the world the elves began to hate the excessive destruction of mother nature. However the dwarves were builders, These old runes were their design. not as complex, sophisticated, or evolving as modern runes, but Something much sturdier and self sufficient. As humans expanded and conquered the dwarves were driven underground and the elves fled deeper into the forests, into hiding.

But for some reason No one remembered this past…

The surge of energy came from the seedling, decades of stored energy released in a burst- overpowering the containment array’s. As the energy flooded upwards to everyone’s surprise it passed harmlessly through the bodies of the mages, their equipment, and the Academy. However unbeknownst to anyone around Dev’s neck, hidden under his shirt as even he was unaware, the amulet had become un-petrified…

For the first time, the professors could see what had been buried beneath the academy.

The ancient containment chamber had split open.

Far below them, surrounded by broken stone and glowing veins of mana, stood something impossibly small compared with the enormous power surrounding it.

A seedling.

Its trunk was barely thicker than a person’s arm.

Its roots disappeared directly into the immense mana geyser beneath the academy.

And those roots were glowing.

Pell stared down into the chamber.

“No…”

Veris moved beside him.

“What?”

Pell’s voice was barely audible.

“That isn’t a monster.”

Edrin slowly lowered his hand.

“I know.”

The realization spread among the professors.

The thing beneath the academy had never been imprisoned because it was dangerous.

It had been contained because it was impossible to move.

The mana geyser beneath this mountain was extraordinarily rare—a natural source of immense magical energy. Whoever had built the academy had eventually discovered it.

And they had discovered something else first.

The sapling.

Already rooted into the geyser.

Already feeding from the immense flow of energy rising from the planet.

They couldn’t transplant it.

They couldn’t destroy it.

So they had built around it.

And eventually, they had entombed it.

The ancient runes weren’t merely a prison.

They were a containment system.

A remarkably durable one.

Dwarven in construction.

Self-sustaining.

Crude compared with modern adaptive runes, perhaps—but designed to function for centuries without maintenance.

Pell stared at the inscriptions.

“That construction…”

Veris touched nothing.

“Dwarven.”

No one answered.

Because the implications were enormous.

The old stories said humanity had always stood apart from the other great peoples.

But these ruins told a different story.

Humans.

Elves.

Dwarves.

Once working together.

Once building together.

Once sharing knowledge—and, apparently, even families.

Then humanity expanded.

Forests were cleared.

Mountains were mined.

Cities spread.

The elves withdrew deeper into the wilderness.

The dwarves disappeared beneath the earth.

And somehow…

the memory of the cooperation vanished.

Not merely forgotten by ordinary people.

Forgotten from history.

The surge finally faded.

The academy remained standing.

The students remained unharmed.

The seedling remained rooted beneath them.

But something had changed.

Around Dev’s neck, beneath his shirt, the petrified wooden medallion had absorbed the passing energy.

The warmth became almost unbearable for an instant.

The medallion

The petrified wood softened.

Color returned to it.

The texture of ancient stone became living wood.

Tiny veins appeared across its surface.

And beneath the shirt, hidden from every eye in the arena—

the wood began to breathe.

The transformation happened silently.

No flare of magic.

No detectable spell.

No professor sensed it.

Not even Dev knew.

The thing his grandmother had given him as a piece of petrified wood was no longer petrified.

It was alive again.

Just as quickly as it had opened the ground around the sapling began to close, as it reverted back into a seedling- seem to have spent most of its energy that it had accumulated over the centuries in that single burst. but for what? The professors couldn’t figure out why something that was clearly intelligent would use up most of its energy in such a way surely it was intelligent enough to know that they would reconstruct with modern ruins whatever had been destroyed containing the seedling once more…

The stone began knitting itself back together.

Not cleanly.

The ancient chamber contracted as slabs of rock shifted inward, dragging broken sections of the old containment structure with them. The glowing roots dimmed.

The seedling shrank.

Its branches withdrew. Its tiny trunk compressed until what remained looked almost like a dormant sapling, its immense magical presence reduced to something barely perceptible.

The academy’s modern arrays flickered back into operation.

Pell stared into the closing chamber.

“It’s spent itself.”

Vale frowned. “Most of it.”

“No,” Pell said. “Almost all of it.”

Veris looked toward the now-dormant seedling.

“Why?”

No one answered.

Thorne folded her arms, staring at the repaired containment structure.

“It knew what would happen.”

“Exactly,” Veris replied.

The professors exchanged uneasy looks.

Whatever lived below them had demonstrated intelligence.

It had spoken.

It had recognized the Elder.

It had deliberately released centuries of accumulated energy.

And yet that release had accomplished seemingly nothing.

It hadn’t escaped.

It hadn’t destroyed the academy.

It hadn’t killed anyone.

And now the modern academy could simply rebuild the damaged containment arrays.

Celeste finally spoke.

“Perhaps it couldn’t control the release.”

Pell shook his head.

“The energy was perfectly tuned. It passed through every living person here without injury. That requires extraordinary control.”

Silence.

Edrin looked toward the sealed chamber.

“Then it wasn’t trying to break free.”

Veris’s eyes narrowed.

“No.”

He looked toward the ancient runes.

“Whatever it was trying to accomplish…”

His gaze moved slowly across the arena.

“…it wasn’t aimed at the prison.”

A final tremor passed beneath their feet.

Then everything became still.

The seedling was quiet.

The academy was standing.

The students were alive.

And no one in the arena knew what the centuries-old intelligence beneath them had just accomplished.

The sapling recognized a piece of its mother, a piece that had been long severed but still bearing her imprint. As if by instinct the sapling knew what it had to do and had released decades even centuries of stored energy to restore that piece of her mother.

Between the adrenaline and the potions Dev didn’t notice until the following morning,  his senses were enhanced, his body felt more alive and responsive than ever before, and he felt that there would be more surprises to come. Little did he know that every effect of the Amulet that was amplified

It enhances the innate qualities granted by his Elvin blood, Mana regeneration, mana control, mana regeneration, Focus, Memory, Speed of thought, Insight, Intuition, Intelligence, Perception, Magical sensitivity and more.

now that it was alive it was purifying his blood making him more and more elf than human but this would take time, years even.

Yesterday was chaotic but then things settle down rather rapidly the professors sent the students back to their rooms they were told the combat arena would be off-limits and combat classes would be held elsewhere.

His mind had been so distracted with everything that happened yesterday he didn’t even realize the amulet had changed until this morning looking in the mirror as he was getting ready to head off to the first class of the day.

Morning came quietly.

Almost suspiciously quietly.

The academy had recovered enough overnight that the halls were already bustling again. Students moved between towers carrying books, talking in low voices about the arena incident. Faculty members had apparently spent most of the night repairing damaged arrays, and the official explanation remained deliberately vague.

The combat arena was sealed.

A notice had been placed across its entrance:

FACULTY ACCESS ONLY — STRUCTURAL AND MAGICAL INVESTIGATION IN PROGRESS

Combat classes had been temporarily relocated.

Otherwise, Argent Spire was functioning almost normally.

⸻

In Dev’s room, sunlight spilled through the window.

His uniform was laid out for the morning’s first lecture.

And in the mirror, something was different.

The medallion rested against his chest.

At first glance, it looked like the same old piece of petrified wood his grandmother had given him.

But it wasn’t.

The surface now possessed the subtle texture of living wood.

Fine grain ran through it.

Tiny veins were visible beneath the surface.

And where the petrified wood had once been dull and stone-like, there was now a faint natural warmth to its brown coloration.

There was no obvious magical glow.

No dramatic transformation.

Just…

life.

The moment Dev looked closely at it, the medallion seemed to respond.

A faint warmth spread across his chest.

And beneath that warmth was something far subtler.

A connection.

Not a voice.

Not a thought.

Something more instinctive.

Like standing beside something familiar without knowing why.

The changes in Dev’s body were similarly subtle.

The invigorator from yesterday had long since worn off. That enhancement had been temporary.

This wasn’t.

His senses felt unusually crisp.

The academy’s morning sounds seemed more distinct—the footsteps beyond his door, distant voices in the corridor, the faint vibration of magical infrastructure running through the walls.

Mana moved through his body smoothly.

Almost effortlessly.

His core felt exceptionally responsive.

And there was a strange sense that his body was becoming more comfortable with magic than it had been yesterday.

But none of the changes were dramatic enough to reveal their true cause.

The transformation had only just begun.

The medallion had restored something that had been separated from its source for generations.

And now, slowly, almost imperceptibly, it was beginning to rewrite what had been lost.

Years might pass before the consequences became obvious.

Perhaps longer.

For now, it was simply morning.

And Dev had a first class to get to

The change in the amulet was surprising for Dev and he was suspicious that it must’ve had something to do with yesterdays events, only a few professors had seen the sapling before the stones covered it, none of the students Dev had no reason to associated with that because he had felt the amulet it’s warmth during the fight he thought that perhaps that was what had caused this change, he was unaware of the elven blood in his veins. Thinking maybe to just be under the after effects of the potion, or perhaps it was because his core was nearing a breakthrough, he could feel it his core was thrumming with power, blue streaks more prominent than ever, the fight with Marcus pushed him to his limits and beyond these were the perfect conditions for core and body refinement yet he knew he would need another battle or two for the breakthrough.

By the time Dev reached the corridor, the academy was already alive.

Elira was waiting outside the lecture hall, books tucked beneath one arm.

She looked Dev over as he approached.

Then she frowned.

“Something’s different about you.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“Did Vale’s potion actually do that much?”

Before Dev could answer, the classroom doors opened.

Master Lucian Veris stood inside.

He glanced across the incoming students.

Then his eyes stopped on Dev.

For perhaps half a second, his expression became unusually focused.

Not alarmed.

Just… curious.

His gaze lingered as though he were noticing some minute change in Dev’s magical presence.

Then he stepped aside.

“Inside.”

Elira leaned toward Dev as they passed.

“That’s twice this morning.”

She lowered her voice.

“I think people are noticing.”

Inside, Veris walked toward the lectern.

“Today,” he said, “we’re going to discuss a problem most first-year students won’t encounter for several years.”

He wrote a single phrase across the board:

MAGICAL SIGNATURE

Then turned toward the class.

“Every living thing capable of holding mana possesses a magical signature. Most of you will spend years learning how to recognize your own.”

His eyes briefly settled on Dev again.

“And occasionally, circumstances alter that signature.”

A pause.

“Sometimes temporarily.”

He tapped the board.

“And sometimes permanently.”

Some eyes went wide and he added“Not to fear however, equipment that is imprinted by you will always recognize you even if your signature has changed, that’s because your core imprint is unchanging.”

A few students visibly relaxed.

Veris gave the class a moment before continuing.

“Your magical signature can fluctuate. Injuries, prolonged exposure to unusual mana, certain transformations, even some advanced magical treatments can alter what other mages perceive.”

He tapped the board again.

“But your core imprint is different.”

A few students began taking notes more quickly.

“Artifacts bonded or imprinted to you use that deeper imprint for identification. So if your external magical signature changes, your equipment doesn’t suddenly decide you’re a stranger.”

Elira raised an eyebrow, clearly interested.

Veris continued, “This distinction becomes particularly important when dealing with ancient artifacts, magical creatures, and—”

He stopped.

His gaze shifted toward the doorway.

A faint chime sounded from somewhere in the corridor.

The academy’s lesson-bell had apparently malfunctioned.

Veris frowned.

“That shouldn’t be happening.”

He looked toward the classroom’s warding array.

Nothing appeared wrong.

Then, beneath his uniform, Dev’s newly living medallion gave another faint pulse of warmth.

Veris didn’t react.

He couldn’t sense it.

But something elsewhere in the academy had.

A tiny indicator rune beside the classroom door briefly illuminated.

UNKNOWN MAGICAL SIGNATURE DETECTED.

Then went dark.

Veris stared at it.

The students hadn’t noticed.

Elira had.

She glanced toward Dev, then back at the rune.

“Professor?”

Veris walked over and examined it.

After several seconds, his expression became thoughtful.

“Interesting.”

He dismissed the indicator with a touch.

“Continue taking notes.”

Veris studied the extinguished indicator for another moment.

“Yesterday’s damage likely left some systems out of alignment,” he said at last. “Expect intermittent malfunctions for the next few days.”

Several students nodded, seemingly satisfied.

But Veris wasn’t.

He had seen wards misbehave before. A damaged array could produce false readings, delayed responses, even contradictory signatures.

This had been different.

The detection rune hadn’t malfunctioned.

It had correctly detected something.

It simply hadn’t been able to identify it.

Veris returned to the lectern, though his attention remained divided.

“Where were we?”

He continued the lecture, explaining how a mage’s external signature could be altered while the deeper imprint of their core remained stable.

Yet every few minutes, his eyes drifted toward the classroom’s warding array.

And once, when nobody was looking, he quietly checked the diagnostic rune again.

Nothing.

Perfectly normal.

That bothered him more than the malfunction would have.

Because if the system had simply been damaged, he could repair it.

But if it had detected something real…

He had no idea what it had detected.

The next few weeks went well with nothing unusual happening Dev and Elira were growing closer by the day, but something was bothering him despite pushing himself in combat class the breakthrough wasn’t coming and yet the blue streaks in his core were building up to an abnormal volume more than was normal, as far as he knew, which was admittedly not very much, this was incredibly unusual and his core would pulse painfully every few hours as if trying to break free from something. He didn’t want to go to the professors or the healers because he was worried he was already drawing too much attention and really he just wanted to make it back to his family so that night he had made up his mind and found himself knocking on Elira‘s door to ask for help

Elira’s door opened after a few seconds.

She stood there in sleep clothes, hair loosely tied back, a book still in one hand.

Her expression shifted immediately when she saw Dev.

“Dev?”

She glanced down the corridor, then back at him.

“It’s late. Is something wrong?”

She opened the door farther, letting him see the small study beyond. Books and loose notes covered nearly every available surface.

“If this is about the arena, I promise I haven’t spent the last few weeks secretly discovering what was under it.”

A faint smile appeared.

Then she noticed his expression.

The humor disappeared.

“Come in.”

She closed the door behind him.

Elira set her book aside and cleared a space on her desk.

“Tell me what’s happening.”

She listened without interrupting.

When she finally had enough information, her brow furrowed.

“Your core is accumulating mana without advancing?”

She considered that.

“That shouldn’t happen indefinitely. Normally, when the core approaches its limit, one of three things happens: the mage breaks through, the excess mana dissipates through their channels, or the core becomes unstable.”

She looked directly at him.

“Pain every few hours isn’t something I’d ignore.”

Elira stood and pulled several reference books from a shelf.

“I know you don’t want the professors involved. So let’s at least figure out whether this is actually dangerous before we decide what to do.”

She opened the first book.

“But I need to examine your mana circulation.”

She paused.

“Not your thoughts. Not your core itself. Just the way mana is moving through your channels.”

Her expression became serious.

“And Dev?”

She tapped the open page.

“If something is trying to break through your core, I’d rather find out whatbefore you try forcing it.”

“ thank you Elira, I knew I could count on you.” Dev sat next to her.

“It doesn’t feel like something trying to break through my core, more like my core is trying to rotate? I know it sounds ridiculous, a rotating core, there’s nothing about such a phenomenon in the libraries. Maybe I’m just misinterpreting the feeling. It’s strange the excess manor should simply dissipate but instead it’s building the pain I feel from my core it’s been getting gradually worse… that’s why I’ve been pushing myself so hard in the combat class,  I know that exhausting my core and body in battle creates the perfect circumstances for a breakthrough…” he trailed off

Elira didn’t laugh.

She slowly closed the book in front of her.

“A rotating core doesn’t sound ridiculous.”

She reached for another reference volume.

“It sounds impossible according to everything we’ve been taught.”

A small distinction, but an important one.

Elira began flipping through diagrams of Mana Cores at different stages of development.

“All the standard models show the core as a stable structure. Mana circulates through it. The core itself doesn’t move.”

She looked toward Dev.

“But you’ve also got something else that bothers me.”

She tapped one of the diagrams.

“Your mana isn’t dissipating.”

She pulled out a blank sheet of paper and began writing down what Dev had described.

“Excess mana accumulating. Blue streaks increasing beyond what you would expect. Periodic pain. No breakthrough despite repeatedly pushing your body and core to exhaustion.”

Her pencil stopped.

“And the sensation is specifically rotational.”

She stared at the notes for several seconds.

“What if you’re not feeling your core trying to rotate?”

She drew a circle.

“What if you’re feeling something inside the core moving around it?”

Elira immediately shook her head.

“Actually, no. That’s just another guess.”

She crossed it out.

“There’s no point inventing explanations when we don’t have evidence.”

She looked at him again.

“Let’s test what we can.”

Elira reached for a small diagnostic crystal from a drawer.

“This can map the external circulation of your mana. It won’t penetrate the core, and it won’t interfere with it.”

She placed it on the desk between them.

“If your core really is accumulating abnormal amounts of mana, this should show us where that mana is going.”

Her expression softened slightly.

“And if it tells us nothing?”

She gave a small shrug.

“Then we have learned that the academy’s books aren’t the only things with gaps in them.”

She pushed the crystal toward him.

“Whenever you’re ready.”

Placing his hand on the Stone it lit up and began to project a hologram of devs body, his core, his bones, his circulatory system, organs, muscles, skin. Devs eyes went wide as it projected his skin and he quickly put his hand over her eyes, “what the fuck Eli this is one convoluted way to undress me” he joked before adding “hell if you wanted to see me naked there’s other ways you could ask” he teased her while conjuring a fireball in front of his projections lower extremity’s to obscure the view before uncovering her eyes.

Her cheeks were red with embarrassment, but the heat in her body was more than she wanted to admit, Dove covered her eyes as soon as he realized the hologram was about to show him completely naked but he was a moment late and Elira wasn’t about to admit it

Elira’s face went crimson.

“I—that is not what this does!”

She hurriedly adjusted the crystal’s projection parameters, staring very intently at the diagnostic controls.

“And you could have warned me before touching the thing!”

She absolutely did not look at the obscured projection again.

The crystal flickered.

Then its display shifted.

The superficial layers faded away, leaving the internal structures.

Skin disappeared.

Muscle.

Organs.

Bones.

Until the projection concentrated almost entirely on Dev’s mana pathways and core.

Elira’s embarrassment vanished almost instantly.

Her eyes narrowed.

“Wait.”

The image of Dev’s core rotated slowly within the hologram.

Not the core itself.

The blue streaks.

They weren’t randomly accumulating.

They were moving.

Elira leaned closer.

“That’s…”

The streaks circulated around the core in a precise pattern, accelerating slightly each time they completed a circuit.

She checked the diagnostic crystal.

Then checked it again.

“That isn’t normal mana circulation.”

She increased the projection’s magnification.

The blue strands weren’t simply orbiting the core.

They were gradually becoming denser, forming something resembling a second layer around its exterior.

Elira’s voice dropped.

“Dev, don’t move.”

She adjusted the crystal again.

A three-dimensional representation of the core appeared.

The entire structure gave a tiny pulse.

Then—

shift.

The core moved.

Only by a fraction.

But unmistakably.

Elira froze.

She stared at the projection.

Then at Dev.

Then back at the projection.

“…You weren’t imagining it.”

The core wasn’t rotating yet.

But something was exerting a torque on it.

And whatever that force was, it was becoming stronger.

Elira’s heart was pounding and her mind was racing both from the new discovery about Dev’s core, and about his body… she had never seen such a sculpted figure, not to mention what was between his legs… “Eli snap out of it, focus on what important” she thought as she bit her lip a slight sigh escaping her lips. If it wasn’t for such a serious situation and she would’ve loved to let teasing and humor evolve into a much more romantic moment. Forcing herself to concentrate, “it’s almost as if the excess Mana is spiraling around your core and the mana inside also swirling like a toroidal field, the combined effect is exerting a torque on your mana core and stimulating the mana circulatory system in your body simultaneously…” she trailed off shifting uncomfortably

he trailed off.

Her pencil hovered over the page.

Then she glanced at the projection again, forcing herself to focus on the magical structures rather than anything else.

“That could explain the symptoms.”

She quickly sketched the circulation pattern.

“If the external mana continues accelerating, it might eventually generate enough rotational force to physically alter the core’s structure.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“But there’s a problem.”

She pointed toward the blue streaks.

“They aren’t merely accumulating. They’re becoming organized.”

The diagnostic crystal pulsed.

A new ring of blue mana formed around the core.

Elira’s expression changed.

“Dev…”

The rotation had accelerated.

And for the first time, the Mana Core itself visibly shifted.

Only slightly.

But enough that the diagnostic projection registered it.

Elira whispered:

“Your core is beginning to rotate.”

At the same moment the projection showed his core rotate Dev grabbed at his sternum, face contorting with pain, “what… what will happen when-“ coughing up blood his vision became blurry, in the projection his core began rotating slow at first but faster and faster pulsing like a heartbeat gaining speed as the blue streaks seemed to crystallize around his core physically expanding it while the inner most mana also shifted. “Oh fuck Dev you need to expel all your mama right now you’re about to go through a breakthrough into stage four but you have to much mana the process will be to violent!” Elira spoke as fast as she could conjuring barrier spells as fast as she could

Elira’s voice barely kept pace with what the crystal was showing.

The diagnostic projection flickered violently.

The core rotated again.

Faster.

The blue mana surrounding it no longer behaved like liquid. Individual streams condensed into crystalline filaments, winding around the core in increasingly dense layers. Each rotation pulled more of the surrounding mana inward.

Thump.

The entire projection pulsed.

THUMP.

A wave of mana pressure rolled through the room.

Every loose object rattled.

Elira threw another barrier into place.

“Expel it! Don’t try to control the rotation!” she shouted. “The core is reorganizing itself—if all that mana gets caught inside when the structure changes, it’ll tear your channels apart!”

A second barrier appeared around the bed.

Then a third around the walls.

Elira’s hands were shaking now.

The diagnostic crystal screamed with a high metallic whine.

She glanced between it and Dev.

“Your core is expanding!”

The projection made that unmistakable.

The outer crystalline layer thickened, forcing the core’s boundaries outward. Mana circulation pathways throughout the body brightened as they struggled to accommodate the sudden change.

Then—

CRACK.

A tiny fracture appeared across the projected surface of the core.

Elira froze.

“No…”

Another fracture branched from it.

Then another.

Her face went pale.

“That isn’t damage. It’s—”

The crystal flashed white.

“It’s shedding the old structure.”

The next pulse hit.

BOOM.

The room shook hard enough that books toppled from the shelves.

Several of Elira’s barriers rippled simultaneously.

She immediately reinforced them, teeth clenched.

“Dev, listen to me!”

Her voice dropped into the sharp, controlled tone she used whenever panic threatened to take over.

“Stage Four isn’t just more mana. Your entire core architecture is changing. If you enter the breakthrough while saturated like this, the excess mana has nowhere to go.”

The projection showed the inner mana beginning to rotate in the opposite direction from the crystalline outer layer.

Two opposing currents.

The torque increased.

Elira stared at the impossible geometry.

“That’s why you’ve been feeling like it’s trying to turn…”

The core accelerated again.

THUMP—THUMP—THUMP—

The diagnostic crystal began producing overlapping warning tones.

Elira thrust both hands outward.

A translucent dome of layered barriers formed around the room.

Then another.

And another.

She looked toward the door.

“We’re going to have to tell the professors if this doesn’t stop.”

A violent pulse traveled through the mana network.

The windows trembled.

For one brief instant, every rune carved into Elira’s room illuminated simultaneously.

Then the core began its next rotation.

And the crystal’s display showed something neither of them had expected:

a fourth crystalline layer beginning to form inside the core itself.

“ there’s no time to get the professors just do what you can to keep me alive” Dev looked her in the eyes teeth gritted as the pulsing man from his core began rebuilding his body on a cellular level making him stronger so that his body could accommodate the level four core, Dev rapidly began casting the only spell he could think of that would drain his mana as fast as possible in the shortest amount of time without hurting Elira,  a barrier made of golden energy enveloped the book case, Dev knew that was the most precious thing in her to Elira and if this was the last thing he would be able to do before exploding he wanted to make sure it was something thoughtful. Then his body began convulsing as any impurities were removed from his body,  the muscle spasms making his hand contract with such strength the diagnostic crystal in his hand cracked before another spasm caused him to lose grip of it entirely.

The crystal slipped from Dev’s hand and struck the floor.

Crack.

Its projection fractured into overlapping fragments, but the diagnostic image remained barely visible.

Elira saw the golden barrier around her bookcase.

For half a second, her expression changed.

Despite everything happening, she understood exactly what Dev had done.

Then another convulsion tore through his body.

The remaining diagnostic image flared.

“Come on…”

Elira planted both feet and spread her hands.

The first barrier thickened.

Then the second.

Then the third.

She stopped trying to make elegant defensive constructs. She simply layered raw protective magic over the room as quickly as she could.

The mana pouring from Dev’s core began tearing through his existing magical pathways.

But instead of destroying them—

they changed.

The projection showed microscopic structures rebuilding themselves.

Mana channels widened.

Muscle fibers became denser.

Bone structure compressed and reinforced.

The connective tissues throughout his body rapidly reorganized.

Even individual cells appeared to be adapting to the dramatically increased magical pressure.

Elira stared in disbelief.

“It’s rebuilding you…”

Another pulse.

THOOM.

The entire room’s furniture jumped.

A ring of force expanded outward from Dev’s position.

The barriers caught it.

The first shattered.

The second bent nearly flat.

The third held.

Elira immediately replaced the first.

“Don’t you dare die on me.”

The words came out quieter than her previous shouting.

The core continued rotating.

Faster.

Faster.

The crystalline outer layer expanded until it nearly touched the surrounding projection of his mana pathways.

Then the inner mana changed direction.

The two rotational fields suddenly synchronized.

For one impossible instant, everything became perfectly still.

No pulse.

No movement.

No warning tone from the damaged crystal.

Elira’s eyes widened.

“…Oh no.”

A tiny point of white light appeared at the center of the core.

The next heartbeat wasn’t a heartbeat.

It was an explosion of structure.

The crystalline shell shattered inward—

and reformed.

Not as a Level Three core with more capacity.

Something fundamentally different.

The new core was larger, denser, and vastly more stable, with multiple rotating layers of condensed mana locked into one another.

The moment it stabilized, the mana pressure inside Dev’s body dropped sharply.

Elira stared at the projection.

Then at Dev.

Then back at the projection.

“Stage Four…”

Her voice was almost a whisper.

But the breakthrough wasn’t finished.

The new core released a massive wave of mana through every channel in his body.

His rebuilt tissues absorbed it.

The transformation accelerated.

And beneath all of it, something else happened.

The living wood around Dev’s neck grew warm.

The medallion responded to the new core.

Not with another explosion.

Not with the overwhelming surge from the previous incident.

Instead, a subtle resonance passed through the wood—

as though something very old had recognized what was happening.

Far beneath the academy, beneath stone and ancient dwarven runes, the dormant seedling stirred.

One root shifted.

Just slightly.

And somewhere deep below the foundations, an ancient voice murmured:

“Another root grows.”

Devs breakthrough was abnormal no doubt, undeniably his core had evolved to level four and his body along with it but it was more than that, something different from anything that Elira could find in her books.

His breathing had become stable  his body exhausted lying in a puddle of sweat, bile, blood and some strange black tar like substance. The impurities had been forced out violently as his body rebuilt its self. A carefully controlled wave of darkness magic got rid of the mess and Elira sat down hands shaking.

Unbeknownst to either of them the medallion had helped absorb the excess Mana and in so doing it had helped stabilize the process. It also had an influence on the body refinement, Dev’s blood and body was now years closer to having the full strength of a pureblood elf.

For several seconds, Elira did nothing.

She simply sat there, staring at the ruined diagnostic crystal.

Her hands were still trembling.

The room had finally gone quiet.

Only the faint hum of the academy’s warding runes remained.

Elira slowly looked toward Dev.

The signs of the breakthrough were unmistakable. The new core was there—larger, denser, fundamentally more sophisticated than the Level Three structure the crystal had recorded only minutes earlier.

Level Four.

There was no question about that.

But Elira couldn’t stop staring at the diagnostic readings.

She reached for the damaged crystal, carefully lifted it from the floor, and tried activating it again.

The projection sputtered.

Then stabilized.

Elira’s eyebrows drew together.

“That’s…”

She adjusted the focusing ring.

The crystal displayed Dev’s core.

Then his mana pathways.

Then his cellular structure.

Elira’s expression slowly shifted from relief to confusion.

“No.”

She recalibrated it.

The same result.

She tried a different diagnostic sequence.

Again.

Nothing changed.

The core was unquestionably Level Four.

But the body’s adaptation wasn’t following the pattern described in any of her textbooks.

A normal breakthrough strengthened the body enough to withstand the increased mana density. The process was gradual. Controlled. Predictable.

Dev’s body had undergone something closer to forced magical evolution.

His muscles had reorganized.

His bones had become significantly denser.

His mana pathways had expanded rather than merely strengthening.

Even his cellular mana absorption was different.

Elira swallowed.

“What happened to you?”

She flipped through one of the books scattered across the room, searching frantically.

Level Four advancement.

Body refinement.

Core evolution.

Forced advancement.

Mutative breakthroughs.

Nothing.

There were descriptions of dangerous breakthroughs.

There were accounts of magical mutations.

There were ancient theories about bodies adapting beyond human limitations.

But nothing matched this.

Elira slowly closed the book.

“That isn’t supposed to happen.”

She looked at Dev again.

Then at the medallion.

Her eyes lingered on it for a moment.

Something about it bothered her.

The diagnostic crystal’s residual readings showed an anomalous magical signature around Dev’s sternum—but it was so subtle that the crystal categorized it as background interference.

Elira didn’t notice the significance.

She couldn’t.

She had no reference point for it.

The living wood simply looked like an unusually old piece of enchanted material.

Meanwhile, beneath the surface of Dev’s body, changes continued.

Not violently anymore.

Quietly.

His blood had changed.

Not enough to make the difference obvious.

Not enough for a healer to immediately declare him another species.

But years of natural transformation had been compressed into the breakthrough.

The medallion had absorbed a portion of the excess mana that would otherwise have destabilized the process, filtering it through the ancient imprint of the Elder Tree before returning only what Dev’s changing body could safely accept.

And the body’s refinement had followed that influence.

The process had not merely made Dev stronger.

It had pushed him closer to the nature of the blood carried within him.

Closer to the elves.

Years closer.

The transformation was still incomplete.

But it was no longer something that would require a lifetime to emerge.

Elira finally exhaled.

She leaned back against the wall, exhausted.

Then she glanced at the destroyed crystal.

“…I’m going to need a new one.”

A weak laugh escaped her.

Her hands were still shaking.

Then her expression became serious again.

“And I’m definitely going to need to lie about how this happened.”

She looked toward the door.

Because there was one unavoidable problem.

The academy had powerful magical monitoring systems.

And whatever had just happened in this room—

had not gone unnoticed.

Dev woke a few moments later with a gasp sitting up and looking around the room in surprise, that his eyes settled on Elira, “I thought I was supposed to feel like shit after a breakthrough but somehow I feel amazing” then almost as if reading her mind, “oh shit the professors will be here any minute and we’re gonna need a story…” noticing a bead of sweat and dripping down her neck, the rapid beat of her heart, the dilation of her pupils from the adrenaline rush. His senses were enhanced but it was coming naturally to him now his brain registered the flood of extra sensory information as if it was nothing new, something long accustomed to. The speed of his thoughts, the clarity, it wasn’t overwhelming but natural. “Elira honey” he said in a mischievous voice, “I think I know about the only excuse that will get us out of this one but I don’t know if you’re gonna like it…” he said smirking with a raised eyebrow

“Honey!?!?!? Who do you think you ar… What could possibly…” she stammered before trailing office her face went pale and then flushed bright red. “Wait you’re not seriously thinking…” then a knock on the door cut her off, a voice from outside came a man’s voice  “open the door or we will break it down!”. establishing a mind-link to communicate faster than words “Elira I know it might seem crazy but unless you have a better idea I think the best excuse for such an anomalous magical event is that we just got carried away in the throes of passion. I can’t have them turning me into some lab rat to study whatever anomalous thing just happened with my core… please…”

Elira stared at him through the mind-link for one long, stunned second.

Then her face went from red to absolutely crimson.

You cannot possibly be suggesting that.

A thunderous knock shook the door.

“OPEN THE DOOR!”

Elira’s eyes darted toward it.

Another knock.

The hinges groaned.

Her expression changed.

She understood.

…Actually, I can think of several worse ideas.

She quickly pulled her robe tighter around herself, then looked at the room.

The shattered diagnostic crystal.

The displaced furniture.

The scorch marks.

The lingering mana distortion.

The protective barriers.

Her gaze landed on Dev.

Then on herself.

Then back at Dev.

This is going to be humiliating.

She swallowed.

But I understand your reasoning. If they believe this was a magical accident caused by reckless experimentation, they’ll investigate the core.

Another impact hit the door.

BOOM.

The entire frame shook.

“Last warning!”

Elira hurriedly dismissed the remaining diagnostic projection. She couldn’t repair the crystal, but she could at least prevent the projection from broadcasting the abnormal readings.

Then she whispered aloud, barely containing her embarrassment:

“Fine. But if we’re doing this, you are explaining why there are three destroyed barriers and half my furniture is overturned.”

A pause.

“And never call me ‘honey’ again.”

The door shook violently.

Elira took a breath.

Then, with the most mortified expression imaginable, she reached for the door.

“Coming!”

The lock clicked.

The door opened.

Master Lucian Veris stood immediately outside.

Behind him were Master Seraphine Aster, Master Orin Pell, and two academy wardens.

Veris’s eyes immediately swept across the room.

The damaged furniture.

The residual magical pressure.

The broken diagnostic crystal.

Then Dev.

Then Elira.

His eyebrow rose.

Pell pushed his spectacles higher.

Aster’s expression became extremely still.

One of the wardens coughed awkwardly.

Veris looked between the two students.

“…I see.”

A long silence followed.

Elira looked like she wanted the floor to swallow her.

Veris finally spoke.

“Would either of you care to explain why the academy’s monitoring arrays recorded a Level Four breakthrough occurring inside a student’s bedroom?”

His eyes narrowed slightly.

“And why the magical signature appears to have been deliberately concealed?”

Elira opened her mouth.

Nothing came out.

Veris waited.

Pell looked increasingly suspicious.

Aster’s gaze remained fixed on Dev, her healer’s instincts clearly noticing that his physical condition didn’t resemble an ordinary breakthrough.

Then Veris’s expression softened by approximately one millimeter.

“Start from the beginning.”

Elira glanced toward Dev.

Her cheeks were still burning.

The lie was now theirs to tell.

Dev jumped up wrapping the blanket around his waist As he did, making sure the blanket covered the broken diagnostics crystal , “you got readings of a level four breakthrough, wow I guess our energies must’ve really been in sync for her level three core and my level four to cause such a reading” he chuckled “I broke through to level four after the incident in the battle Arena having pushed myself to the limit and then taking those potions I continued practicing hard for the rest of the day until braking through” he lied through his teeth before looking around the room, “I can see that we got carried away in the throws of passion and made a bit of a mess, clearly we must’ve lost concentration on containing our excitement…” he trailed off hoping the awkwardness of the alleged situation would keep the professors from asking more questions. Veris stared at Dev.

Pell stared at Dev.

Aster stared at Dev.

One of the wardens suddenly became intensely interested in a crack in the ceiling.

Elira's face reached a shade of red that seemed physically impossible.

For several seconds, nobody spoke.

Then Pell slowly cleared his throat.

“…I see.”

Elira looked like she wanted to disappear.

Veris’s expression remained completely unreadable.

“Your energies were… in sync.”

Pell’s mouth twitched.

Aster’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Veris continued, apparently determined to approach the situation with the same seriousness he would give a research proposal.

“And this somehow produced a magical reading corresponding to a Level Four breakthrough?”

Dev’s explanation hung awkwardly in the air.

Veris studied him for several seconds.

Then his gaze shifted to Elira.

“Your core remains Level Three?”

Elira nodded far too quickly.

“Yes.”

“And his breakthrough occurred after yesterday’s combat assessment, the battlefield potions, and continued magical exertion throughout the day?”

“Yes.”

Veris considered the explanation.

It was plausible.

Barely.

The problem wasn’t that the story was impossible.

The problem was that the magical event had been far too strange.

He stepped farther into the room and raised one hand.

A faint web of detection magic spread across the walls.

The residual mana responded.

Veris’s eyes narrowed.

“Interesting.”

The magical residue was chaotic enough to support almost any explanation involving an uncontrolled discharge, but the strongest traces had already dissipated.

He couldn’t reconstruct the breakthrough.

And, crucially, there was no diagnostic projection left for him to examine.