Leo pushed open the door to Villa 4 well past midnight. The common area lay dark and still, lit only by a single low lantern on the counter. The moment he crossed the threshold, the new cognitive sense unfolded like a quiet, layered map in his mind.
It began on the ground floor — the faint creak of settling wood, the lingering warmth from the kitchen, the slow breathing of a student who had dozed off on one of the couches. Then it rose.
Second floor: Six suites. Four carried the heavier, arrogant mana signatures of the Purists. The remaining two, one felt sharper, more tactical — Gray Circle member— the other empty. The floor was mostly quiet, but a low tension lingered in the air like smoke that refused to dissipate.
