Lyle woke with the glyph still etched behind his eyelids.
It hadn't faded.
Hadn't blurred.
> It's not just a dream anymore.
He sat up in bed slowly, the air heavy in the room like the walls were holding their breath. The Codex pulsed faintly beneath his skin—not painfully, just… present. Watching. Listening.
The ring still sat on the nightstand, untouched.
Yet somehow, it too seemed aware.
---
By midmorning, the cadets were lined up for elemental reaction drills.
It was one of the more chaotic exercises—testing spontaneous countercasting against unknown spells. Instructors would randomly trigger minor attacks, and the cadets would be forced to respond with the best elemental counter they could manifest.
To the others, it was a mess of guesswork and panicked reactions.
To Lyle?
It was math.
No… more than math.
It was intuition.
Every time a spell was cast, he felt a shiver in the air—a ripple his Core was now picking up before anyone else could. It wasn't reading mana. It was reading intention.
Three spells in, he already knew the pattern.
He deflected a lightning spike with a grounding glyph before it was fully formed.
The instructor raised a brow.
"Too quick, Greenbottle. You're not meant to anticipate. Just react."
"Got lucky," Lyle said with a faint smile.
The instructor moved on, but didn't look convinced.
And Juno, two lines over, was staring.
---
That afternoon, a note was slipped under his door.
No name. Just a wax seal pressed into black parchment with a crescent carved through the center.
He knew it immediately.
Veiled Path.
He unfolded it.
> "The Second Stirring will test more than instinct. You'll be given a scenario. A challenge to act without power—and win anyway."
> "Tomorrow. Lunch hour. South training hall. Do not bring weapons. Do not bring excuses."
Lyle read it twice.
Then he smiled.
They were testing how well he could lie without lying.
Perfect.
---
He arrived the next day early.
The south training hall was technically off-limits to first-years unless invited. But when he approached, no one stopped him.
The door was already open.
Inside stood a single instructor—not Asterion—but someone with the same depth in their silence. A woman in gray robes, her eyes the color of cooling iron.
"You're here to fight," she said.
"I have no weapon."
"You are the weapon."
Lyle didn't respond.
He looked to the center of the hall—where three other cadets stood waiting. None of them he recognized.
Two were armed.
One was casting already.
> A trap.
But not the kind you spring to kill someone.
The kind you use to see what they'll do when they believe they're about to be attacked.
He stepped onto the floor.
The casting began.
---
They didn't go easy on him.
The first was a sonic pressure burst—meant to disorient. He absorbed it with a stumble, faked a misstep, and let the momentum carry him toward a fallen training spear.
Didn't grab it.
Just used the motion to feint an off-balance charge.
The second cadet hesitated.
That was the crack.
Lyle slid past, dropped low, and tripped the third's leg out before the spell finished forming.
He didn't win with spells.
He won with decisions.
And when it was over, the woman in gray simply nodded once and handed him a second iron ring.
This one had no glow.
No enchantment.
Just a line etched inside:
> "To rule without being seen."
---
Later that night, the Codex whispered again.
> [Sub-System Trait Unlocked: Instinctual Countercasting]
Allows near-reflexive response to harmful intent within five meters. Reduces casting time when threatened. Passive.
[Hidden Bonus Unlocked: "Deceive to Control" - Tier 1 Path Achieved]
Further deception-based skills now available.
Lyle closed the Codex and leaned back in his chair.
Outside, the academy moved like nothing had changed.
Inside, he knew better.
Phase Two wasn't a power-up.
It was a test of control.
And control?
That was his.