Instead, he watched the edges around it.
Small things first.
A relay node replaced earlier than necessary.
A courier route altered by a fraction of a degree.
Maintenance crews rotating personnel too frequently for standard protocol.
None of it illegal.
None of it loud.
But it told a story.
This wasn't an experiment aimed at creation.
It was calibration.
They were testing response thresholds. Measuring what triggered resistance and what passed unnoticed. How much distortion could be introduced before balance pushed back.
Asher adjusted his internal models.
If the first attempt had been about building something new, this one was about understanding the limits of interference.
That made it more dangerous.
A reckless builder failed quickly.
A patient one succeeded eventually.
Asher intercepted nothing. He corrected nothing. He let the system breathe and show its tolerance.
Then, something unexpected happened.
