He looked down at his hand. The slight tremor had faded. The mana still tingled in his fingertips, but it wasn't surging anymore.
It just sat there. Ready.
He flexed his fingers.
'Level 4. Five spell slots. One free. One point-spark away from doing something probably very stupid and mildly impressive.'
He exhaled through his nose.
Senna walked over and dropped into a half-crouch beside him.
Her hair, sweat-matted hung in uneven waves just above her jaw. Her eyes flicked over him once, then away.
"You're faster than I expected," she said.
Lucen raised a brow. "Is that a compliment or a threat?"
She almost smiled. "Call it a cautious observation."
Lucen didn't answer.
He turned to the blindfolded knight.
It hadn't vanished.
Most enemies, drift-born or not, tended to collapse into mana shards or corrupted dust after dying. This one stayed.
Lucen approached slowly.
The blindfold was still in place.
