Arian and Zaken's farewell at the dormitory corridor intersection felt like the parting of two worlds. Zaken, tired but invigorated, clapped Arian on the back with more force than usual.
"Thanks, buddy," he said genuinely. "Tonight… I really feel like I have a chance."
"Chances are made, not given," Arian retorted with a faint smile. "Now go to sleep. Your muscles need rest, and your brain needs to process all those diagrams I drew."
Zaken chuckled and waved before turning down the hall towards the Count-level noble rooms. Arian watched him go for a moment, a complex feeling churning within him. He had just spent his night preparing his friend for a school duel, a small drama that felt so important under the academy lights. Meanwhile, in his pocket, he could almost still feel the cold aura of the 'Corrupted Ledger,' a reminder of the much larger, deadlier game he was playing.
Entering his room, Arian locked the door and leaned against it for a moment. The silence of the room greeted him like an old friend. He took off his uniform blazer, loosened his tie, and sat on the edge of the bed. For a few moments, he wasn't Arian the useless student, nor was he Kayze the mysterious leader. He was simply a young man in the midst of a storm, trying to map the wind's direction.
A duel. A mad alchemist. A conspiracy rooted in the heart of the empire. And a mysterious hexagram symbol on his desk. It all felt like tangled threads deliberately wound around him.
Just then, an almost inaudible sound, like silk rustling against glass, jolted him from his reverie. The sound came from the direction of the window.
His instincts took over. In a fraction of a second, before the figure fully entered, the energy within him shifted. His posture straightened, his eyes darkened, and Arian's ordinary aura evaporated, replaced by Kayze's cold, alert presence.
A shadowy figure landed silently in his room, as graceful as a cat falling from a height. The familiar black cloak and silver mask glimmered faintly in the moonlight streaming in.
Nyx.
She hadn't entered to attack. She had come to report. The fact that she met him here, inside Arian's "cage," meant the news was extremely urgent and couldn't wait for a meeting in the Sanctum.
"Lord Kayze," Nyx whispered, her voice urgent.
"You're taking a big risk coming here," Kayze replied, his tone calm but sharp.
"The risk is worth the information," Nyx countered. She extended a thin data slate that emitted a faint glow. "Liv has returned. And she's brought something significant."
Kayze took the data slate. Liv, codenamed 'Spectre.' Their most unique KeyFreedom member. A young girl with the rare ability to separate her consciousness from her body, becoming a ghost-like entity, unseen, unheard, and capable of passing through solid matter. She was their primary eyes and ears, a master information gatherer who could infiltrate even the most secret meeting rooms. However, her ability was extremely draining, and each mission required days of rest. Her return always brought crucial news.
"Speak," Kayze commanded, his eyes focused on the data beginning to appear on the slate's screen.
"I asked her to prioritize the title 'The Ivory Tower Alchemist'," Nyx began her report. "The title isn't official. It's a moniker circulating in the underworld and forbidden magic circles. A nickname for a reclusive genius obsessed with mana transmutation. Liv managed to narrow down the candidates to the most likely name."
Kayze looked up from the data slate, waiting.
"His name is Valerius Croft."
The name seemed to hang in the silent air. Valerius. Like Kaelen. Croft. Like Professor Alistair Croft. A coincidence too perfect to be just a coincidence.
"His connection?" Kayze asked, his voice chilling.
"He is Kaelen Valerius's uncle, and Professor Alistair Croft's half-brother," Nyx confirmed, each word like a stone dropping into a calm pond. "Liv managed to breach the academy's thirty-year-old encrypted archives. Valerius Croft was a genius student in his generation, a candidate for the youngest Name 3 mage in history. However, he was expelled."
"For what?"
"Unauthorized experiments. He attempted to combine mana from living creatures with minerals, trying to create a stable 'superior' form of mana. His project was deemed too dangerous and unethical. He disappeared after his expulsion, believed to have continued his research in secret with funding from a radical faction of the Valerius family."
Now everything began to make sense.
Arrogant Kaelen, backed by his mad uncle's power. Corrupt Viscount Marvolo, serving as a supplier of raw materials. And Professor Croft... where did he stand in all of this?
"His laboratory's location," Nyx continued, pointing to a map that appeared on the data slate. "Liv followed the mana residue trail from Marvolo's last shipment. The trail didn't lead to Valerius territory. It stopped... here."
Nyx's finger pointed to a spot within the Solaria Academy's blueprint.
"Beneath the old library," Kayze whispered, his eyes narrowing. "The western wing that hasn't been used for decades. He built his lair right under our noses."
"It's a perfect spot," Nyx added. "No one ever goes there. The walls are thick, and it's protected by ancient shielding magic that ironically helps him conceal his activities. That's where he's building his Nexus Point project."
Kayze fell silent, his brain working at full speed, connecting every dot. A mad genius alchemist, funded by his own family, using a corrupt noble as a supplier, and building an illegal mana reactor right beneath the world's most prestigious magic school. A plan both insane and brilliant.
Then, his eyes stopped on a diagram on the data slate. It was a rough sketch of the Nexus Point reactor's core that Liv had managed to glimpse. An intricate, layered set of runes. And at its center, as the foundation of the entire construction…
"A hexagram," Kayze hissed.
Nyx nodded. "The primary stabilizing symbol. Liv said it's a very complex design."
Kayze turned off the data slate. He walked to his desk and touched the hexagram scratch left there. It wasn't an ordinary scratch. It was an identical replica of the symbol at the center of the Alchemist's diagram.
"This isn't a warning," he murmured, more to himself. "It's not a threat."
"Then what is it?" Nyx asked.
"It's an invitation. Or a test," Kayze replied, turning to face Nyx. "Someone knows about the Alchemist's project. And that person, somehow, also knows that 'Arian Von Vallen' is more than he seems. They left this symbol to see my reaction."
A heavy silence settled in the room. The conspiracy they had uncovered now had a new, far more personal and dangerous layer. Their enemy was no longer just the hidden Alchemist. There was another player on this chessboard, a mysterious observer moving in the shadows who seemingly knew his greatest secret.
"What are your orders?" Nyx asked, her voice breaking the silence.
Kayze looked out the window, towards the old library tower looming like a giant skeleton in the distance.
"Our priorities are twofold," he said with finality. "First, you, Nyx. I want you to watch Professor Alistair Croft. I don't care how. Find out if he's involved with his brother, or if he's against him. He could be our biggest enemy or our most unexpected ally. I need to know where he stands."
"And the second priority?"
Kayze turned, his black eyes gleaming with cold determination under the moonlight.
"The second priority is myself," he said. "I will visit that laboratory. I need to see for myself how far the Nexus Point project is and stop it before it's too late." He paused for a moment, then added, "And I'm going to find out who's foolish enough to try and play games with me."
Nyx nodded. Without another word, she moved back to the window, ready to vanish as quickly as she had arrived.
"One more thing, Nyx," Kayze called out.
She paused.
"Tell Liv… good work. Tell her to get some rest."
A small nod was the only reply before Nyx leaped out the window and disappeared into the night's darkness.
Kayze was left alone, surrounded by the now suffocating silence of his room. The world had suddenly become much smaller, and his enemies felt much closer. The game had changed, and he had just realized that from the beginning, he wasn't just a player, but also one of the main pieces being targeted.