Noel opened his eyes.
Power roared under his skin—not expanding outward, not flaring wildly, but pressing in, dense and crushing, like something heavy had been packed into his core without asking whether it fit. His breath came out rough and uneven, chest tightening as heat and pressure rolled through him in waves that refused to settle.
Then the world overlaid something else atop his vision.
[Current Core Progress: 23.00% — Mana Core: Archmage]
Noel stiffened.
'…Twenty-three?'
The number wasn't abstract. He felt it. The difference was immediate and unmistakable—his core was heavier now, fuller in a way it had never been before, like a chamber that had been forcibly reinforced and overfilled at the same time. Mana didn't flow so much as push, pressing against its own containment.
The shards hadn't healed him.
They had fed him.
