The walk from the Hall of Echoing Wisdom to Professor Valerius's private office was a short one, yet it felt like a march through a gauntlet. Whispers trailed in their wake, a susurrus of speculation that clung to the crisp fabric of Kaelen's new uniform. He walked with his head held high, his expression the same calm mask he had perfected under the Sanctions' tutelage. But inside, the synthesis of Kaito's anxiety and Kaelen's analytical mind was a whirlwind.
Shine walked beside him, a silent, steadying presence. Her proximity was a data point his new emotional recognition software was learning to categorize not just as 'ally,' but as 'comfort.'
Professor Valerius's office was a stark contrast to the grand, magical halls. It was a place of pure function. Shelves groaned under the weight of leather-bound journals and crystalline data-slates. Complex brass and quartz instruments hummed on every surface, their dials twitching as Kaelen entered, sensitive to the immense power he contained even behind the Veil.
"Sit," the professor said, not looking up from where she was calibrating a device that looked like a cross between a sextant and a heart monitor. Her desk was a chaotic landscape of parchment and glowing runes.
Kaelen sat in the offered chair, its hard wooden frame a deliberate choice, he suspected, to keep subjects uncomfortable and off-balance. Shine remained standing by the door, a subtle act of defiance and support.
The professor finally looked up, adjusting her spectacles. Her gaze was not malicious, but intensely, ruthlessly curious. She looked at Kaelen not as a person, but as the most fascinating puzzle she had ever encountered.
"Your aura manifestation was statistically impossible," she stated, bypassing pleasantries. "A core of perfect void negation, sheathed in a chaotic, multi-hued spectrum of creation energy. These are not just opposing forces; they are conceptual antonyms. Their coexistence should result in immediate, catastrophic annihilation. Yet, you contain it. You are not a dual-core. You are a paradox."
Kaelen remained silent. Any denial would be pointless. Any explanation would be a lie she would instantly detect.
"The Spectral Analysis will be scheduled for next week," she continued, her eyes scanning him as if she could already see the data. "I will be conducting it personally. Until then, you will keep a detailed mana log. I want a record of any fluctuations, no matter how minor. Dismissed."
It was not a request. It was a command from a mind that valued knowledge above all else, including the comfort of its subject.
Kaelen gave a single, curt nod and stood. As he turned to leave, the professor's voice stopped him again.
"And, Kaelen? Try not to unravel the fabric of reality in my classroom again. It is... disruptive to the other students."
Back in the corridor, the silence between him and Shine was heavy.
"She sees you as a specimen," Shine finally said, her voice tight with a protective edge.
"It is a logical perspective, given the data she witnessed," Kaelen replied, his tone even. "Curiosity is a powerful motivator. It can be managed."
"Managed? Kaelen, she wants to put you under one of her machines!"
"Then I will ensure the machine only reads the data I permit it to." He stopped and turned to her. The resolve that had settled in him during the lecture was now a cold, hard certainty. "Her analysis is a threat. The solution is not to avoid it, but to ensure I understand my own composition better than she ever could. I must master what I am, on my own terms."
The rest of the day passed in a blur of orientation lectures and campus tours. But Kaelen's focus had shifted. He was no longer just a student; he was a researcher, and the subject was himself.
That evening, in the common room of their group house, the atmosphere was a mix of exhaustion and exhilaration. Alio was dramatically reenacting his struggle with a basic levitation charm. Keijos was already annotating his course schedule with a complex color-coding system. Drenos simply looked relieved to be sitting down.
Their butler, an impeccably dressed automaton named Gerrald, served tea with silent efficiency.
"It's not fair," Eline sighed, sipping her tea. "We have Practical Mana Channeling at dawn. Who schedules that?"
"It builds discipline," Keijos stated without looking up from his ledger.
"Or a desire to go back to bed," Rei countered, yawning.
Kaelen listened to the chatter, but his mind was elsewhere, accessing his internal logs.
[Status: Post-Aura Manifestation. Mana Core Stability: 100%. Veil Integrity: 99.998%. Stress on Limiter: 0.0000000000000001%.]
[Directive: Begin systematic skill acquisition and experimentation. Objective: Develop countermeasures against deep-level analysis.]
He excused himself and retreated to his room. The space was his alone, a sanctuary of white walls and simple furniture. He sat on the floor, cross-legged, and closed his eyes.
The first skill he focused on was Ignition. He called forth the memory of the goblin ambush, of the wall of white-hot flame. But this time, he didn't just unleash it. He deconstructed it. He felt the mana particles excite, the conversion of energy to heat and light. He understood its language.
Then, he focused on Absolute Stillness. The cold void he had used to extinguish the grass fire. The negation of energy.
The lesson from the pocket dimension surfaced: Opposites are points on a spectrum, not barriers.
He didn't try to use them separately. He tried to weave them.
He held out his palm. A tiny, controlled flame flickered to life above it—a simple Ignition spell. Then, with an effort of will that made the Limiter on his neck thrum softly, he imposed Absolute Stillness upon the flame's core.
The result was instantaneous and bizarre. The flame didn't go out. It froze. A tiny, sculpted lick of solid, crystalline fire hovered above his hand. It emitted no heat, no light. It was a fire trapped in a moment of time. He held it, a perfect, impossible sculpture of contradictory energies.
[New Skill Variation Synthesized: Stasis Burn (Novice)]
[Description: Imposes a stasis field upon a thermal energy reaction, freezing it in a solid state. Properties: Upon release of stasis, stored thermal energy is unleashed exponentially.]
A soft knock came at his door. "Kaelen? You missed dinner. Gerrald saved a plate for you." It was Shine.
"Enter," he said, not moving, his concentration on the frozen flame.
The door opened. Shine stepped in, a plate of food in her hands. Her eyes fell on the hovering, silent sculpture of fire in his palm. Her words died in her throat, her silver eyes wide with disbelief.
"By the Root... what is that?"
"An experiment," Kaelen said, his voice distant with focus. "A synthesis of opposing principles. I am calling it 'Stasis Burn.'"
He willed the stasis to end.
The frozen flame didn't just vanish. It detonated. A silent, concussive wave of heat and light erupted from his palm, enough to ripple the pages of a book on his desk and make Shine gasp and shield her eyes. The energy was contained, directed inward and upward by his will, but the potential was terrifying.
As the light faded, he looked at his hand, then at Shine's stunned face.
"The professor wishes to understand my composition," he said, a flicker of something akin to defiance in his ancient eyes. "I intend to give her more variables to study than she can possibly process."
He had taken the first step. He was no longer just learning the rules of this world's magic. He was beginning to write his own.