The air inside the Arcanum Observation Wing shimmered with restrained magic.
Karl sat cross-legged at the center of a circular chamber surrounded by polished runestones, each etched with ancient glyphs. His breathing was slow but unsteady, eyes flickering with residual glow from the fifth glyph's flare. The spread hadn't stopped.
Beneath his skin, something moved.
Not just the glyphs.
Something older.
Deeper.
"You're accelerating far too fast."
The voice was calm, but it carried weight. Not just authority—but experience.
Karl opened his eyes to see a tall man in flowing ivory robes trimmed with dusky silver. His presence seemed… still. Measured. Like a storm waiting to turn its eye.
The man approached the edge of the runic circle and crossed his arms.
"I'm Professor Thalos Lannins. Senior Specialist in Core Theory, Soulbind Structures, and Pre-Awakening Flux studies. You must be Karl."
Karl slowly rose to his feet. "You've been watching me?"
Lannins gave a crooked smile. "Not just me. Half the damn continent has its eyes on you. The difference is… I understand what I'm looking at."
He tapped a finger to one of the glowing glyphs across Karl's collarbone.
"This one is manifesting faster than recorded glyph resonance rates. And that—" he pointed at Karl's chest, where the first mark, the Veil-shaped wing, glowed faintly, "—shouldn't be possible at your current core stage."
Karl crossed his arms. "You sound like the others. Scared of what I might become."
"I'm not scared," Lannins said flatly. "I'm curious. Which is more dangerous."
Mana Core Analysis
Lannins led Karl down a spiral staircase into a dimly lit chamber deep beneath the academy's vaults. The walls were covered in ancient diagrams—mana cores drawn in radiant ink, each labeled with colors and thresholds.
Mana Core Hierarchy:
Gray Core – Dormant
Red Core – Ember Core
Blue Core – Flow Core
Green Core – Verdant Core
Violet Core – Arcanic Core
Silver Core – Soul Core
Gold Core – Mythborne Core
White-Gold Core – Radiant Core
Black-Gold Core – Veiled Core
??? Core – Unclassified / Forbidden Tier
Karl blinked as his own mana orb projection was cast into the air by a scrying rune. It pulsed with an unstable black-gold center, webbed with silver veins and… strange hints of shadowed light.
Lannins stared at it in silence for a moment.
"You're not transitioning through cores. You're layering them."
Karl tilted his head. "Layering?"
"You've got residue from at least five elemental affinities inside that core matrix. Not just fire or water—those are normal. You've also shown hints of shadow, echo, and void."
Karl's expression darkened. "Void?"
"Not a good sign," Lannins muttered, writing it down. "And worse still, your glyph progression is tied to your core but not regulated by it. That's what's unraveling your system."
He stepped closer, tone shifting.
"Have you heard a voice yet?"
Karl froze.
Lannins noticed. "You have."
Karl didn't respond. But the memory of that reflection in the basin—the one that looked like him, but older, broken, and burning with fury—flashed behind his eyes.
"This time, don't let them bind you."
Class and Affinity Assessment
In a large chamber designed for combat evaluation, Karl stood before several elder mages, including Headmaster Aelric and Professor Lannins. This wasn't a normal class assessment—it was a containment-grade analysis for unstable core mutation.
"Display your control," the Headmaster ordered.
Karl breathed deep. His glyphs pulsed.
From his open palms, four elemental currents swirled into manifestation:
Fire, flickering like dragon's breath
Water, calm and undulating
Air, sharp and cutting
Earth, grinding like tectonic plates
But behind them…
A fifth presence surged.
Void.
It crackled into existence like shattered silence—pure black, edged with violet-blue light.
Lannins immediately stepped forward, raising a nullifying rune. "That's enough."
Karl exhaled, and the elements dispersed.
"Riftweaver class," Lannins said, facing the council. "Multi-affinity, volatile Veiled Core. Glyph system bound to a draconic echo pattern—possible high-order Soulbind link. I recommend accelerated containment training… and restricted seal support if phase six begins."
Aelric nodded grimly. "We've never seen a Riftweaver awaken like this."
Lannins turned back to Karl. "You're not just awakening. You're attracting something. Or someone."
Final Scene — The Hunter Watches
In a dense grove just beyond the barrier wards of Valdros Academy, a figure crouched in silence, cloaked in bone-threaded leathers.
The Hunter removed a glyph-sealed spy lens, whispering into it:
"Subject 17 is active. Sixth glyph in progression. Veil resonance confirmed. The dragon stirs."
He tapped a sigil onto his chest, where an ashen mark shaped like a burning eye pulsed in reply.
"Awaiting permission to engage."