The attendant led Leo through a different wing of the compound, down corridors lined with closed doors. They stopped at one near the back, and the attendant knocked twice before opening it.
"Your visitor, Master Leo."
Leo entered a private consultation room. Magical instrunts lay arranged on a side table, crystals, asuring devices, things whose purpose Leo couldn’t guess. Privacy enchantnts humd faintly in the air.
A man stood examining diagrams pinned to the wall. He turned as Leo entered.
Middle-aged, human, with weathered features and scarred hands, his robes were practical, marked with the Adventurer’s Guild insignia. His sharp eyes assessing Leo in a single glance.
"Leo, I presu?" His voice was gruff.
"That’s ."
"Aldric Venn. Lady Iori sent word you have an unstable mana core." He gestured to a padded table in the room’s center. "Let’s see what we’re dealing with."
Leo approached, and Aldric placed a hand on his chest without preamble. Magic flared, diagnostic spells that felt like cool water spreading through Leo’s torso.
Aldric frowned, then raised an eyebrow.
"Well, that’s unusual."
"Bad?" Leo asked.
"You’re a dual-core user, Aura and mana, both active, both functional." Aldric’s tone was clinical. "That’s rare enough on its own, but your mana core..." He whistled low. "It’s like a dam about to burst. How long have you been walking around like this?"
"Few weeks, maybe?"
"You’re lucky you haven’t exploded." Aldric pulled his hand back. "Mana overcharge with no structural containnt. Your body absorbed energy but never learned to process it properly. We need to form your first ring imdiately."
"How does that work?"
"Ring formation normally takes months of gradual developnt, ditation, practice, slowly shaping the mana pathways." Aldric t his eyes. "But since we’re doing an ergency formation. It’s going to hurt."
"When has nothing ever not involved pain" he thought, letting out a deep sigh "How much?"
"Ever had your chest carved open from the inside?"
"Can’t say that I have."
"Well it’s like that." Aldric moved to the table, gesturing for Leo to lie down. "The process takes will take about two hours. You’ll be conscious the entire ti, don’t try to help or control it, that makes everything worse."
Leo hesitated. "And if we don’t do this?"
"Your mana core detonates, you die, probably take half the building with you." Aldric’s expression didn’t change. "I’m a mage, not a comfort provider, make your choice."
Leo lay down on the table. "It’s not like I really have much of a choice, let’s do it."
"Good." Aldric positioned himself beside the table, placing both hands on Leo’s chest. "Deep breath. Here we go."
The magic was activated, and imdiately, burning sensation spread
Leo’s chest felt like it had been set on fire from the inside, his mana, chaotic, unstructured, surged violently as Aldric’s magic tried to force it into patterns. The sensation was wrong, invasive, like foreign hands rearranging his organs.
He clenched his teeth, hands gripping the table’s edges.
"Relax," Aldric said, voice strained. "Fighting it will makes it worse."
Easy for him to say.
The burning intensified. Leo felt his mana being pulled, stretched, forced into a circular pathway through his chest around his heart. Every nerve scread, veins becoming very visible, sweat broke out across his skin.
Minutes crawled by.
Then Aldric’s voice cut through the pain. "Your aura core is interfering."
"What?" Leo gasped.
"Your aura, it’s trying to protect your body, fighting the mana structuring." Aldric’s hands pressed harder. "You need to suppress it, push it down, focus only on the mana."
Leo tried. But his aura had a mind of its own, surging protectively whenever the pain spiked. He fought to control it, to separate the two energies that had coexisted in uncomfortable balance until now.
It was harder than any physical fight.
And beneath it all, he felt sothing else stirring.
Adaptation.
His body recognizing threat, preparing to respond, to smooth the process, to make everything easier—
No.
Leo clamped down on it instinctively. He needed to do this himself, this too counted as part of the foundation to be built, Adaptation would only mask his incompetence.
So he fought on two fronts: suppressing his aura, restraining his adaptation, all while enduring the sensation of his mana being carved into structure, and he needed to be awake for the entire process.
The pain beca everything.
Ti lost aning. Then, like a puzzle piece falling into place.
The ring structure completed.
Mana flowed smoothly through the new circular pathway, no longer chaotic,the burning subsided to a dull ache.
Leo gasped, entire body shaking, he was drenched in sweat, muscles locked from strain.
Aldric pulled his hands back, clearly exhausted himself. "It’s done, congratulations, you’ve ford your first ring."
Leo lay there, breathing hard, feeling the difference, his mana circulated properly now, following the ring’s structure, the pressure that had built for weeks was gone.
"How do you feel?" Aldric asked.
Leo checked internally. "The pressure’s gone, my mana feels... organized."
"That’s what proper structure does." Aldric moved to the side table, pouring water from a pitcher. He handed Leo the cup. "Your mana will want to flow constantly for a few days until you learn control, don’t try casting spells yet, you’ll hurt yourself."
"Understood." Leo drank gratefully.
"You’re a dual-core user," Aldric continued. "That’s going to attract attention. My advice? Don’t advertise it."
"Noted."
"The guild will want to register you eventually." Aldric began packing his instrunts. "But First House is handling your arrangents, apparently."
Leo sat up slowly. His chest ached, but the sensation was almost pleasant compared to what he’d just endured.
"Thank you," he said.
Aldric nodded once. "Just doing my job, lady Iori pays well."
Then he was gone.
Leo sat on the table for a few more minutes, acclimating to the new sensation of structured mana flowing through his body. It just felt right and he was also proud that he could go through it without rely on adaption, seed like quite a huge achievent for him.
A presence stirred up in his mind.
"Congratulations" Axiom said. "I’m quite impressed that you handled it yourself."
"Thank you...I just felt like I’ve been too reliant on it"
"It’s good that your self esteem is starting to rise, and while adaption is still not back, it would be unwise to see the ability as separate from yourself" axiom said.
"I understand"
"Good, congratulations again" axiom said, then it’s presence disappeared again.
Finally, he stood and made his way back to his room.
The corridor was quiet, most of the compound settling for the night. Leo reached his door and pushed it open, wanting nothing more than to collapse into bed.
A soft knock ca from behind him.
He turned, Iori stood in the hallway, she’d changed from her formal dinner robes into sothing simpler, a dark fabric that draped differently than her formal wrappings. Without the structured layers, the robe clung to her figure, emphasizing the curves of her tall fra.
"May I co in?" she asked.
"Of course."
She entered, and closed the door. The room suddenly felt smaller with just the two of them. Just Leo and Iori in the quiet intimacy of his quarters at night. He was acutely aware of the door closing behind her, of how close she sat.
"Aldric sent word," Iori said. "First ring ford successfully, congratulations."
"Yeah. Felt like I was dying, but it worked."
"Ring formation is never easy, especially with your situation but you handled it well."
"Thanks for arranging it, i know it wasn’t cheap."
"Consider it an investnt." Iori’s expression was unreadable. "And speaking of investnts, I’ve secured your enrollnt at the Imperial Academy."
Leo blinked. "What? How?"
He might not know much but it didn’t sound like sothing that easy to make happen, and sounded especially elite.
"I do have so influence, well my family does, but that’s besides the point. I submitted your credentials, paid the fees, handled the bureaucracy." She paused. "Only the administration knows of my involvent, to everyone else, you’re a commoner who passed the entrance requirents on rit."
"Why the secrecy?"
"You don’t need the complications of being seen as my protégé or so charity case of mine," Iori said simply. "You’ll be judged on your own abilities. That’s better for both of us."
Leo considered this, although it stung a bit, he understood the circumstances, this was a ladder she’d given him.
" Thank you very much, I really appreciate it."
"The academy requires a full na for official records." Iori’s gaze was steady. "What’s yours?"
"Ehh...Just Leo. I don’t have a surna."
That was a lie, he just didn’t want to be associated with it anymore, especially in this new life and luckily, it was quite common for commoners to not have surnas, although he was unaware of this.
"You’ll need one."
Iori was quiet for a mont. Then "Use Arkin."
"Arkin?"
"It ans an eternal and majestic prince." She looked out the window. "Given your circumstances, it seems appropriate."
"My circumstances?"
"You survived things that should have killed you, you adapt, you endure." She turned back to him. "The na fits."
Leo tested it ntally. "Leo Arkin."
"It suits you."
"Why that na specifically?"
Iori’s expression softened slightly. "Instinct. Sotis nas find people rather than the other way around."
Leo didn’t push further. "Alright. I’ll use it."
"Good."
Silence settled between them, not awkward but charged with sothing unspoken.
"Leo..." She t his eyes. "Don’t trust easily, not everyone at the Jubilee will have good intentions."
"Even among the delegates?"
"Especially among the delegates."
The reference to Takeshi was clear without being explicit.
"Understood," Leo said.
Iori stood. "We leave at dawn, rest well."
She moved to the door, then paused with her hand on the handle. For a long mont, she didn’t move, didn’t speak. Just stood there, as if weighing whether to say sothing else.
Leo waited, not sure what he was expecting.
Then without turning back, she said quietly, "You’ve grown since the forest, I like that, make sure to keep that montum."
Another pause. Then she glanced over her shoulder, their eyes eting briefly. Sothing unspoken passed between them, acknowledgnt, promise, question? Leo couldn’t quite na it.
Then she was gone, closing the door softly behind her.
Leo stood alone in the room, processing the day.
Tension with Takeshi, bonding with Akane and guarded respect from Daichi, the ring formation, and now this, a na, given by soone who barely knew him but seed to see sothing in him.
Leo Arkin.
He moved to the bed and lay down, feeling the steady pulse of mana in his newly ford ring. Tomorrow they’d leave for the capital, the Jubilee awaited, and with it ca new challenges, new dangers.
The distant sounds of Crescent Bay settling into night outside his window.
Sleep ca easier this ti.
No prophecy haunted his dreams, just the rhythm of properly contained power, and the quiet promise of tomorrow.
Reviews
All reviews (0)