Chapter 4 – Stones, Wind, and Study
The academy dorms were alive with noise.
Footsteps echoed down the wooden halls of Dorm Wing C, laughter spilled from open doors, and bursts of magic occasionally flared from reckless first-years trying to impress no one in particular.
Kael, freshly changed after the simulation exam, pushed open the door to his room—C-17—and found Juno Frell half-buried in a pile of blankets, munching on dried fruit like it was the end of the world.
"Oh. You're not dead," Juno said with a grin. "Guess I owe Elith two silvers."
Kael raised an eyebrow. "You bet on my failure?"
"No, no. I bet you'd end up in the infirmary. Failure was assumed."
Kael sighed, closing the door behind him. "Glad to know you believe in me."
Juno stretched, revealing a series of faint, earthy runes along his forearms—evidence of his Earth Armor practice. "Hey, don't take it the wrong way. I believe in you the same way a guy believes he won't fall off a cliff—confident until the wind kicks up."
Kael cracked a smile despite himself.
Later that evening, as the sun bled gold through the windows of the common study lounge, Kael sat surrounded by books.
Runic Theory
Magical Logic Patterns Vol. II
Spell Construction: A Beginner's Nightmare
He flipped through them with surgical focus. Every theory on spatial magic, movement-type spells, or advanced calculations he could find—he devoured.
Juno walked by, stopped, and stared.
"…You do know the next evaluation is still weeks away, right?"
"I'm not waiting for evaluations," Kael replied. "If I can't stretch Blink's range yet, I need to reduce its cooldown. That gives me flexibility."
"You're trying to train a spell like a muscle?" Juno blinked. "Is that even possible?"
Kael didn't answer—he was too deep in a diagram detailing magical heat dissipation and cooldown compression.
Across the dorm, in the silent corner wing, Elith Raan sat on the ledge of an open window, the wind playing with her silver-blue scarf.
She watched Kael through the study room window below.
"He's researching movement spells already," she murmured.
Beside her, a small breeze sprite perched on her palm, chirping quietly. Elith nodded.
"Someone with a weak spell doesn't act like that," she whispered. "He's planning something."
She closed her book, stood, and walked away with the silence of a shadow.
Three days later, Kael stood on the academy's private training field, marked with glowing runes to absorb magical shock.
Lyra stood across from him, spinning a flame-etched baton between her fingers.
"You sure about this, Blue?" she asked. "You've been digging through books for days. Hope your head isn't full of nothing."
Kael readied his stance. "Only one way to find out."
She dashed forward, fire coiling around her fists.
Kael didn't Blink.
Instead, he sidestepped—calm, patient, tracking every movement.
He waited. Waited.
Then—Blink.
Three meters to the side.
A blast of fire where he'd stood moments before exploded harmlessly into the air.
Kael spun mid-step and reached out—
Not to strike, but to push Lyra's back, throwing off her center of balance.
She landed with a thud and blinked up at him.
"…You countered me?" she muttered.
Kael offered her a hand. "I'm not fast. I'm not strong. But I don't have to be, if I see the ending before you do."
Lyra took his hand, eyes narrowing just slightly.
"You're starting to scare me, Blue."
Up in the balcony, Princess Selene Ardentis leaned on the railing, watching through narrowed eyes.
She said nothing. But her attendant noticed the slight shift in her fingers gripping the edge.
"He's improved," the attendant commented.
"He's dangerous," Selene said softly.
Then, almost too quiet to hear:
"…And she's already too close to him."