Location: The Victory Podium – Festival Camp.
Time: Day 14 (Morning).The judges announced Team Verdan as the first-place winners. No one had expected it, especially with rumors of "magical failures" in the forest being suppressed.Lirion received the rare book: "Fundamentals of Composite Circuits."But the real prize was different. During the ceremony, a masked man approached them and slipped a small note along with the award.They opened it in their tent. It contained a strange symbol: a triangle inside a broken circle.[System Analysis: Symbol matches the signal emitted by the black shard.]
[Quest Update: Hostile Organization Identified (Provisional): "Cult of the Void."]Lirion looked at his team. "The festival is over. But the war has begun.""What war?" Rowan asked."A war for the truth of our magic," Lirion replied. "They don't just want to kill us. They want to make our magic fail, so the world becomes easy prey for them."He placed his hand on his chest, where the Stone pulsed."We will go to the capital," Lirion decided. "There lies the Grand Library, and the Guild Headquarters. If someone is manipulating the world, we will find them there."Garek looked at Lirion and saw that dangerous glint in his eyes—the same one he had seen on the first day of the exam, but now more mature, and far more dangerous."I'm with you," Garek said."As are we," added Elara and Rowan.[End of Arc 2.]
[Final Statistics:]
[Spiritual Root: Light Blue (60% Purity).]
[Magic Circuits: First Circuit (Stabilized + Adaptive Pattern).]
[Philosopher's Stone: Stage 1 (15% Progress).]
[Next Mission: Infiltrate the Capital and locate the second shard.]In the end, Lirion looked out at the dark forest. The black shard in his pocket was warm now, as if calling out to its sisters."See you soon," Lirion whispered. "And I will dismantle your machines, circuit by circuit."