Kael awoke to silence—soft, padded, luxurious silence, the kind that only pces touched by magic could offer. His room was still dimly lit by the residual glow of the enchanted wall sconces, reacting zily to his stirring. He sat up, blinked once, and inhaled.

  “…This bed’s too soft,” he muttered, stretching. “But I could get used to it.”

  He rose and stepped into the bathroom, blinking again as he remembered where he was. The water crystal embedded above the shower head gleamed faintly.

  He twisted the rune-etched lever, and warm water surged instantly, flowing in a perfect cascade from the head above. No dey, no bucket, no awkward firewood-heated baths. Just warmth and comfort, on command.

  “Easy,” he whispered, a grin tugging at his lips. “Ridiculously easy.”

  ‘We should learn how this works,’ Kael thought aloud in his mind. ‘If we can create stuff like this, Granny’s life back home would be so much easier.’

  ‘Already noted it, kid,’ Siddharth replied promptly. ‘Water-runed activation, probably connected to an internal crystal reservoir and filtration ward. I’ll sketch the flow system once we take it apart—gently, of course.’

  ‘You really think the academy would let us near the plumbing?’ Tyran snorted. ‘We’re lucky they didn’t lock the toilet shut.’

  Kael chuckled under the water. “Yeah, they really did forget who I am.”

  He scrubbed his hair, enjoying the almost luxurious ther. “Let’s get ready. Exploration day.”

  After drying off, Kael tossed on the same bck trousers and gray shirt from yesterday. His new uniform y untouched in the wardrobe. Orientation wouldn’t start for three days, and no one had said he had to wear it yet.

  With his satchel over his shoulder and his notebook inside, Kael stepped out into the corridor. The hallway buzzed with faint activity—early risers and staff moving in well-practiced rhythm. He passed others without a word, taking in every corridor, every rune-carved pilr and crystal-lit hallway.

  First was the training hall.

  The chamber spanned wider than a cathedral, with half the floor covered in yered mana-resistant stone. Dummies lined the walls, enchantments sparking across their surfaces. A group of senior students were practicing there, their forms fluid as spells collided with shields of mana.

  ‘Good space,’ Tyran observed. ‘We’ll be here often.’

  Next was a small garden tucked between two wings of the castle—a circur courtyard where pnts hummed with ambient mana. Some floated in pce. Others glowed faintly. Birds hopped between crystalline branches.

  ‘That’s not nature,’ Finn muttered with admiration. ‘That’s artwork.’

  Kael spent a few minutes examining a tree with translucent blue leaves before continuing on toward the eastern wing, where delicious scents began wafting from an arched hallway.

  The cafeteria was enormous, with long enchanted food counters that served meals with just a press of a rune. Students queued with trays, choosing their dishes from glowing sigils: “Roasted Duck,” “Creamed Potato Soup,” “Grilled Salmon,” “Chicken with Gravy and Rice.”

  Kael didn’t hesitate. The rice caught his eye immediately—soft white grains glistening under heavy, spiced gravy, paired with roasted chicken thigh still on the bone.

  He sat at an empty table near the windows and began eating.

  The rice was fluffy and absorbed the gravy perfectly. Kael took rge, hungry spoonfuls, barely slowing down.

  “You’re inhaling that like you’ve never had rice before.”

  Kael paused mid-chew and looked up. Maya stood there with a tray of her own—smaller, more moderate portions. She raised an eyebrow at him, waiting.

  Still chewing, Kael nodded.

  She blinked once, then smirked and sat beside him. “Figures.”

  They ate in silence after that, the clinking of cutlery the only conversation between them. Maya was efficient—graceful even, despite the pinness of her meal. When Kael finished, his pte was spotless except for a neat pile of chicken bones.

  She gnced at it, impressed but not surprised.

  He leaned back and wiped his mouth with a cloth. “So,” he said, “you exploring the castle too?”

  “Yeah,” she replied, sipping from a small water cup. “This pce is too big to waste sitting around. Might as well get a head start.”

  ‘Talk to her,’ Finn urged in Kael’s mind. ‘Make her your friend. Ask about her background, offer yours. You’ll need an ally eventually—and she’s not stupid.’

  Kael tilted his head toward her. “You mind if I tag along? I was pnning to find the library anyway—need to figure out what the hell a magic core even does.”

  That made her pause.

  “…You don’t know?”

  “No clue. Didn’t have magic back home. Only found out about the core when they tested me.”

  She eyed him again—measuring, not judging. Then nodded. “Alright. I’ve been meaning to go there too.”

  They left the cafeteria together, their conversation light at first—about the hall youts, staircases that shifted occasionally, enchanted torches that flickered when approached. Maya pointed out a small observatory tower she passed earlier, and Kael remarked about a hallway filled with floating paintings that blinked at you.

  She ughed. “You’re not making that up, are you?”

  “Nope. One of them winked at me. Still confused about it.”

  The library took time to find. The entrance was hidden past an ivy-wrapped corridor and behind a heavy wooden door with no handle—only a floating orb that required mana contact. When Kael reached out with a pulse of his hybrid core, the orb flickered and slid the door open with a quiet groan.

  Inside, the air shifted. Warm, dense, and silent.

  The library was vast.

  Towering shelves climbed higher than either of them could see. Floating nterns drifted between the aisles like fireflies, casting a calm amber glow. Thousands—no, tens of thousands—of books lined the shelves, many bound in leathers, some in iron ptes or translucent crystal.

  Kael whistled low. “Now that’s a library.”

  A sudden shape floated in front of them—humanoid, clothed in stitched robes of brown and silver. A skeleton. A literal skeleton, suspended mid-air, its bones gleaming faintly. Red light glowed in its empty eye sockets.

  Kael tensed slightly. Maya took a half-step back.

  The voice came not from its mouth, but from the air itself, soft and echoing.

  “New students, I presume?”

  “Yes,” Maya said before Kael could answer. “We’re here to research magic core cssifications.”

  Kael nodded. “So… you’re the librarian?”

  The skeleton’s head tilted. “Yes. You may call me Sasha.”

  He floated sideways, gesturing broadly. “Look as you wish. But do not—under any circumstances—remove a book from this building. Doing so will trigger a response you will not survive.”

  “…Understood,” Kael replied with a nervous chuckle.

  They split up briefly, Maya drifting to the elemental theory section while Kael scoured the shelves marked “Core Taxonomy.”

  Within moments, his eyes caught the glint of a book: Hybrid Cores: Nature and Function.

  He pulled it down and opened it at a study table nearby. Maya soon joined him with a stack of her own.

  The pages described hybrid cores in precise nguage: individuals born with both aura and mana circuits within their core. Hybrid core users could theoretically cast spells and manipute physical aura simultaneously—but at a cost.

  Slower progression. Increased mana turbulence. Conflicting harmonics. But long-term, they held unparalleled synergy potential.

  ‘Jackpot,’ Siddharth muttered, taking mental notes. ‘I’m listing all practical applications. This changes everything.’

  ‘Tyran,’ Kael asked internally, ‘do you remember what the color sb test showed?’

  ‘Crimson. Pale gold. Azure. Bck-violet. White. And… silver-gray.’

  Siddharth murmured, ‘That lines up with elemental attributes. Fire. Wind. Voice. Light. Void… and Soul.’

  Kael paused.

  ‘Soul’s rare,’ Tyran added. ‘Dangerous. But it expins a lot.’

  Kael scribbled into his notebook, each page filling with diagrams, notes, and possible compatibility branches. He turned to Maya as she examined her notes on elemental water and wind alignments.

  “You’ve got water and wind?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Inherited from my mother’s side, I think. Wind’s more unstable. Harder to control.”

  Kael pointed to her chart. “You know, wind can amplify water movement. Makes it faster, more dynamic. Maybe use wind to shape the flow instead of brute-forcing it.”

  She looked up. “That… actually makes sense.”

  They exchanged a quiet smile, heads bent over notes and open books, the nterns above them flickering softly.

  In the silence of that forgotten wing of the castle, two students began to understand what made magic more than just power: curiosity, study, and connection.

  And for Kael—who had once known only fire and fear—it was the beginning of something much more.