Morning practical sessions resumed as though nothing in the wider world had shifted, yet the mood inside the training hall carried a tension that had not existed before the deployment.
Students stood around long worktables where modular ward frames had been assembled for diagnostic practice. Thin metal braces formed geometric lattices, rune plates fixed at joint intersections, mana channels faintly visible beneath the surface like veins under skin. The hum of active enchantment filled the air, steady and controlled, a carefully tuned resonance that belonged to the academy and nowhere else.
It was the kind of sound that once reassured Kael.
Now it felt almost artificial.
Out there, mana had not flowed evenly. It had surged, strained, resisted containment like a living thing pushing back against a cage. Here, everything behaved.
That difference stayed with him as he adjusted the academy-issued tool blade at his belt and took his position.
The blade had been distributed to all returning field students the previous evening under the explanation of "standard equipment alignment." Most treated it like a knife meant for carving components or trimming excess material. Some had already scratched initials into the grip.
To Kael, it felt like responsibility.
Instructor Marrow walked between the rows without speaking, boots quiet on the stone floor. His presence alone reduced idle conversation to murmurs. When he finally addressed them, his voice carried easily through the hall.
"You will assess the framework before you," he said. "Not for damage. For instability."
Students leaned closer to their assigned structures. Mana flowed through the practice wards at controlled levels, subtle enough that flaws would reveal themselves only to careful observation. This was not a test of power. It was a test of attention.
Lyra was already muttering beside Kael, fingers hovering just above a joint without touching. "Distribution symmetry is slightly off… joint three carries too much load…"
Darian crouched, checking base anchors with the practical focus of someone who trusted what he could feel through contact. Seraphine stood still, gaze moving not over the metal, but through it, following the flow between components rather than the components themselves.
Kael watched them for a moment.
This was how a system should work. Multiple roles. Multiple perspectives. No single point carrying everything.
He let his gaze soften.
He did not push the System fully. The ache behind his eyes lingered from the field arc, a quiet reminder that overuse had cost him more than he had admitted. He did not need the full clarity.
Even so, lines began to suggest themselves.
The ward did not look wrong at first glance. The geometry was precise. The runes were properly aligned. But one of the upper braces carried tension disproportionate to its intended share. The imbalance was small enough to pass unnoticed in theory.
In practice, it would accumulate.
He stepped closer and touched the brace lightly with the flat of his tool blade, not cutting, simply aligning his sense of the structure with a physical reference. The metal vibrated faintly beneath his fingers, a subtle resistance he had learned to recognize.
"Shift this anchor two degrees," he said quietly to Darian.
Darian didn't question. He trusted Kael's instincts the same way Kael trusted Darian's physical judgment. He adjusted the base anchor with steady hands, nudging it rather than forcing it.
The tension eased.
It was not dramatic. No visible glow, no sound. Just the quiet sensation of pressure redistributing into the framework the way it had always been meant to.
Lyra blinked, recalculating in her head. "That… yes. That makes more sense. The load redistributes across the lower brace instead of stacking upward."
Seraphine gave a faint nod. "Cleaner."
Kael withdrew his hand.
Marrow's shadow fell across the table.
He said nothing, but his gaze lingered a moment longer than it had on the others, as though noting not the action, but the lack of spectacle. Students around them were still debating visible flaws, discussing cracks that were meant to distract from subtler weaknesses.
Marrow's eyes moved to the brace Kael had touched, then to Darian's adjustment, then back to Kael.
A faint notification shimmered at the edge of Kael's vision.
Law Observation
Efficiency increased
No surge of power. No rush. Just confirmation that understanding had sharpened, the kind of growth that left no mark others could see.
Kael lowered his gaze, the hum of the hall settling into the background again.
He thought of the ridge junction, of tension gathering at a point no one had noticed soon enough. Here, in this hall, instability was controlled. Measured. Safe.
Out there, it would not wait for perfect alignment.
"Recognition," Marrow said to the room, breaking the quiet, "matters more than reaction. If you only respond when failure is obvious, you are already too late."
Several students glanced toward Kael without meaning to.
He kept his eyes on the structure in front of him.
He had no desire to be seen.
But he was beginning to understand that being unseen would not remain an option.