Night in Viserk didn't quiet the academy.
It… softened it.
Voices thinned. Footsteps spaced out. The wards beneath the stone hummed low, like something breathing in its sleep.
Pryan walked without a destination.
Not aimless.
Just… letting his thoughts settle into place.
Training had clarified something.
Not answers.
Direction.
He turned into the northern corridor without thinking about it.
And then stopped.
The lantern closest to the corner bent inward.
Not flickering.
Not failing.
Leaning.
Pryan frowned slightly.
"…That's not right."
He stepped closer, slower now.
The air didn't feel heavy.
It felt… stretched.
Like something had pulled it too thin and forgot to let go.
There.
Along the seam of the wall.
A faint thread.
Barely visible.
Mana—no, not just mana. Something _guided_.
Running along the stone like it knew exactly where it was going.
Pryan crouched.
Tilted his head.
"…Whoever did this is careful."
He didn't touch it.
Just watched.
The thread pulsed once.
Sharp.
Controlled.
And for a split second, the space around it felt wrong.
Like depth didn't match distance.
Pryan exhaled quietly.
"…So this is how you're testing it."
He didn't step back.
Didn't call anyone.
Instead, he extended a thin line of his own mana.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Not to push.
Not to disrupt.
Just to _understand_ the flow.
The moment his mana brushed it—
The thread reacted.
Subtle.
But defensive.
Trying to correct its shape.
Pryan's eyes narrowed slightly.
"…Not passive, then."
He adjusted his flow.
Matched it.
Not perfectly.
Close enough.
Then he shifted.
Just a fraction.
The foreign mana hesitated.
That was enough.
Pryan reached forward—
Not grabbing.
Not striking.
Just aligning his fingers with the thread's path.
Ashveil didn't fully form.
It didn't need to.
Just a faint presence.
A resonance.
Like the idea of a blade rather than the blade itself.
Pryan moved his hand across the thread.
One clean motion.
No force.
No pressure.
Just—
Separation.
The thread snapped.
Not violently.
Not dramatically.
Just… gone.
The corridor settled immediately.
Lantern straightened.
Air relaxed.
The tension vanished like it had never been there.
Pryan stayed crouched a second longer.
"…Too clean."
He stood.
Looked at the wall again.
Nothing remained.
No residue.
No distortion.
Just stone.
"…That wasn't the source," he murmured.
"Of course it wasn't."
The voice came from behind him.
Calm.
Almost casual.
Pryan didn't turn immediately.
"…You were already here."
Kaien stepped into view, hands loosely behind his back.
"I wasn't," he said. "But I knew you would be."
Pryan finally glanced back.
"That's optimistic."
Kaien shrugged slightly.
"Or just consistent."
He looked at the wall.
Not touching.
Just observing.
"You didn't try to overpower it."
"No."
"Why?"
Pryan answered without thinking too long.
"If I pushed, it would've reacted. Or collapsed in a way I couldn't read."
A pause.
Then he added,
"And I didn't need to."
Kaien nodded once.
"That part was correct."
Not praise.
Just acknowledgment.
Pryan leaned lightly against the opposite wall.
"…It felt like a probe."
"It was."
"Testing the wards?"
"Partly."
Pryan frowned faintly.
"And the response."
Kaien didn't answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
Pryan exhaled.
"…So someone's checking how far they can go."
"Yes."
"And we just told them."
Kaien glanced at him.
"Not everything."
A small pause.
Then Pryan asked,
"…Was I supposed to leave it?"
Kaien tilted his head slightly.
"What would you have done if you were alone?"
"I was alone."
"Before I arrived."
Pryan thought for a second.
"…Same thing."
"Then it doesn't matter."
Silence settled for a moment.
Not uncomfortable.
Just… shared.
Pryan looked down the corridor.
"…There will be more."
"Yes."
"Stronger?"
Kaien considered that.
"Not immediately."
A beat.
"Smarter, though."
Pryan gave a small nod.
"…That's worse."
"It usually is."
Kaien turned slightly, already done with the wall.
"Classes end early tomorrow."
Pryan looked at him.
"That's not normal."
"No."
"Reason?"
Kaien glanced back once.
"Because you've seen enough to stop pretending this is just training."
Pryan didn't respond immediately.
Then:
"…Fair."
Kaien's expression didn't change.
But his tone softened just slightly.
"Don't go looking for the next one."
Pryan raised an eyebrow.
"I wasn't planning to."
"You were."
A pause.
Then Pryan gave a quiet breath that almost passed for a laugh.
"…I might have been."
Kaien turned fully this time.
"That's how people get ahead of themselves."
"And if we don't?"
"They get ahead of us."
That hung there.
Not heavy.
But clear.
Kaien started walking past him.
Then added, almost as an afterthought—
"Next time, don't hesitate that long before cutting it."
Pryan blinked.
"I didn't hesitate."
Kaien kept walking.
"You did."
"…That was observation."
"It was both."
Pryan watched him go.
Then looked back at the wall one last time.
Nothing.
Just stone.
But now he knew.
That wasn't random.
That wasn't a mistake.
That was someone reaching in—
And pulling back before being seen.
Pryan pushed himself off the wall.
"…Alright."
He turned.
Walked back toward the main corridors.
The academy looked the same.
Felt the same.
But it wasn't.
Not anymore.
And this time—
He wasn't waiting for it to show itself again.
He was listening for it.