Chapter 38
The Deepening
It happened in the middle of a Mana Theory lecture.
Professor Dast was talking about advanced mana channel development -- the physiological changes that occurred in high-rank mages as their internal architecture expanded, the way Silver-rank capability required structural changes to the mana pathways that Bronze rank had established. He was using a diagram on the board, the kind of detailed anatomical illustration that Cyan had been finding more interesting lately as his understanding of how mana was supposed to work in a normal body became more detailed.
He was taking notes.
Then the Mark changed.
Not dramatically. Not painfully. It was like a thread being drawn tighter -- a faint, deep sensation in his chest and along his right arm, a pulling-inward that was different from the constant ambient absorption. He put his pen down carefully.
The lines were extending.
He could feel it without looking -- the seven marks on his palm, which had been fixed in their positions since the dungeon, were slowly, incrementally spreading. Not growing longer. Growing more complex. Small additional lines branching from the seven primary ones, tracing up his wrist toward his forearm.
He kept his expression neutral.
He kept his hands under the desk.
He breathed.
Dast continued the lecture. The students around him continued taking notes. Fen was two rows ahead and slightly to the left and he didn't look at her because looking at her would draw her attention and her attention would draw other attention and he was not going to have this happen in a lecture hall if he could avoid it.
The deepening -- he thought of it as deepening, the way a root deepened rather than widened -- lasted approximately four minutes. At the end of it, the sensation settled. The Mark was the same and not the same: the primary seven lines unchanged, but the pattern around them more complex, denser, reaching further up his wrist than it had before.
He put his pen back in his hand.
He kept taking notes.
After the lecture, in the corridor, he ducked into a study alcove and pulled back his sleeve.
The lines were visible up to his wrist. The new branches were finer than the primary marks, the cyan-black of them slightly less dark but clearly present. The whole pattern had become more intricate -- he thought of Vael's description of Stage 2, the Awakened stage, and wondered if this was the beginning of Stage 3.
He rolled his sleeve back down.
He went to find Vael.
She examined his wrist carefully, her expression concentrated in the way it was when she was reading something new.
'Stage 2 to Stage 3 progression,' she said. 'Earlier than I expected.' She looked up. 'How do you feel?'
'The same. Maybe slightly more aware of individual sources. The mana signatures around me are more distinct.' He paused. 'And I can feel -- faintly -- the direction of high-density mana sources. Like a pull I didn't have before.'
She was writing notes. 'The absorption range should increase slightly at this stage. The passive drain will intensify for a few days until you recalibrate.' She met his eyes. 'The important development at Stage 3 is the suppression capability. According to the texts, practitioners at this stage develop the ability to consciously narrow their absorption radius -- to choose not to pull from nearby sources.' She paused. 'You've been managing the passive drain by distance. You should soon be able to manage it by choice.'
He thought about standing next to Dain, next to Fen, and feeling the constant faint pull from their reserves.
'Show me how,' he said.