Night settled over the Tower's Reach without incident. The earlier ripple in the water left no trace, and most of the children convinced themselves it had been nothing. They ate their salted fish, found their bunks, and pretended not to listen to the creaking hull.
Kael sat on his lower bunk, arms folded loosely, eyes half shut. The Frost Codex floated at the edge of his thoughts — quiet, patient, sealed. Not helpful, not harmful. Just… present.
When the lantern outside dimmed, footsteps approached. Robes brushed the wooden floor as Magister Ovrin stopped at the doorway.
"All of you," he said. "On deck. We begin basics tonight."
A few groaned. One boy muttered something about sleep. Ovrin didn't react. Wizards didn't care for comfort; they cared for results.
Kael rose immediately.
The students gathered at the center of the deck, sitting in a half-circle on cold planks. Ovrin stood before them, arms behind his back, expression unreadable under the night sky.
He didn't make a speech. He didn't posture. He simply began.
"Magic is not emotion. Magic is not willpower. Magic is not talent."He raised a hand, and the lanterns dimmed as if obeying."Magic is circulation. A flow. Without flow, you have nothing."
A few students leaned forward, trying to catch every word.
"Your first lesson is simple. Breathe. Feel. Follow the cycle of mana through your body."
He sat down cross-legged — a strange sight, a wizard doing something so mundane.
"Close your eyes."
They did.
"Not to sleep. To see."
Kael obeyed. Darkness closed in. The wind brushed across his face and beneath that wind, somewhere deep, he felt the faint stirring of something cold in his veins.
"Mana enters through breath," Ovrin said softly. "Through the lungs, through the marrow, through the blood. It collects behind the heart. Push nothing. Force nothing. Merely watch."
Kael inhaled slowly.
A familiar text flickered:
[MANA CIRCULATION: BEGIN][PURITY GAIN +0.01%]
He kept his face blank. No one else needed to know.
The waves hit the hull with steady rhythm. Kael followed that rhythm inward. Breath. Heartbeat. Pulse.
Mana moved like faint smoke under his skin — a thin thread connecting ribs to spine.
Ovrin's voice cut through the silence.
"Good. Most of you feel nothing. That is normal."He paused. "If you feel something cold, do not resist it. Mana chooses its nature."
Kael felt the cold deepen. A slow, soft pressure built around his sternum — not pain. Like winter air filling a closed room.
[ICE AFFINITY RESPONSE: +0.2][MANA PURITY: 0.4% → 0.5%]
The codex was reacting faster at sea. Why? He didn't know. But he kept the reaction hidden, his breathing steady, posture relaxed.
"Now," Ovrin continued, "guide it. Trace a path from chest to limbs. Slowly."
Kael tried. The cold thread moved through his right arm, down to his palm, following his concentration. A tingling sensation followed — the same feeling he had when forming ice back in the stable, but more controlled.
A boy next to him hissed. "My arm went numb—"
"That is because your mana is weak," Ovrin said without looking. "You will not die."
Kael kept going. The cold spread evenly, a smooth flow.
The Codex flickered again.
[PROGRESS: MANA CIRCULATION Lv. 1 → Lv. 1.5][ICE MANIPULATION: Minor Advancement]
Good. Very good.
But training couldn't appear too successful, or wizard suspicion would fall hard.
So he slowed. Let the cold fade. Deepened his breath to appear normal.
When Ovrin finally spoke again, his tone carried approval for the first time.
"That is enough for tonight. Tomorrow, you will learn to gather mana. Those with steady foundations will survive. Those without will struggle."
Students exhaled, some relieved, some anxious.
Ovrin stood. "Sleep. The Academy awaits."
He walked away without a backward glance.
Back in the cabin, Kael sat on his bunk and checked the Codex silently. The text shimmered faintly — not glowing, not alive — just present.
[MEDITATION SESSION COMPLETE][MANA PURITY: 0.5%][ICE AFFINITY SYNC: +0.3][FROST CODEX SEALS: 12/12 (No Change)]
Kael nodded to himself.
Good progress.Without attracting attention.
The ship rocked gently under him.
Eiden, in the upper bunk, peeked down. "You really took to it fast, didn't you?"
Kael shrugged lightly. "Just followed instructions."
"Yeah?" Eiden grinned. "Well, whatever you did, don't leave the rest of us behind."
Kael smirked faintly.
He wouldn't.But he wouldn't slow down either.
The sea hummed beneath the hull.The Codex pulsed faintly.Kael closed his eyes and let sleep come.
Tomorrow would push him harder.