The early morning held a different tension than her first night. This time, it felt deliberate. Composed. She sat up slowly, wincing faintly at the ache still curled in her spine. Beside her, the book Halwen had left sat open.

  Faintborn’s Blessing: How to Overcome It in Children a study authored by unknown scholars, annotated in the margins by Halwen himself.

  She flipped through the pages carefully. One method caught her attention.

  “Pulse Shaping directing intentional mana pressure into one’s limbs during movement. Begin with breath alignment. Then, move through motion with sharp internal focus. Do not let the body wander the mana follows the mind.”

  She inhaled. Then began. Each motion slow, controlled not a warrior’s kata, but a flow of breath and thought. And with each pass, she felt it. The faint pressure. The stirring of mana. Still small, still shallow. But present. She continued until her limbs trembled.

  She was already at the door when the handler arrived. The handler gave a small nod. Together, they walked down the corridor. The same hallways as before but it didn’t feel the same.

  The light along the ceiling felt softer now. The runes didn’t hum as loud. What once seemed like sterile stone now felt... lived in. Not warm, but no longer so forbidding.

  They passed another glass chamber the girl from before still inside, laughing quietly as a staff member handed her a small puzzle toy. In another corner, two boys practiced drawing sigils midair, their fingers glowing faintly. She didn’t stop to watch. Just kept walking, steady. She goes to the faculty shower just like before, but she was so focused at the Pulse Shaping training she didn’t see her surroundings.

  In the classroom, she took her seat.

  Hours passed. Subjects changed. One Teacher replaced another. Some test subjects slouched. Others whispered when the instructors weren’t looking. But she kept writing note after note her handwriting tight and precise. A few test subjects noticed. One even stared for a bit before glancing away.

  Then came the mana control session.

  Halwen entered the classroom again but this time he goes alone.

  Without greeting, Halwen gestured toward the class.

  "Same thing as yesterday, practice what I’ve told you”

  A rune appear at each students desk, and the 17 kyns weight emerge. Each one bore the sigil of House Einhart. The test subjects readied themselves.

  Vierna sat quietly. But when no weight came to her desk, she went to Halwen’s desk

  "Herr Halwen," she asked. "Where is mine?"

  Halwen looked at her, calm as ever. “Open the book I gave you yesterday.”

  She nodded, walked back to her seat, and retrieved it from her bag.

  When she returned and laid the book on the desk, he glanced at it then paused.

  The pages were lined with fine annotations. Key phrases underlined, margins marked with short notes. Not random. Not recent. Read. Carefully. Thoroughly.

  A flicker passed through his expression faint, but real.

  Not quite surprise. More like recalibration. He thought she hadn’t read it after what happened yesterday, but it seems he was wrong

  He didn’t comment on it directly. He simply tapped a page with his fingertip. “Start here. Let’s see how far those notes go.”

  After a few minutes, the class began to notice. Vierna wasn’t lifting weights like the rest of them.

  Her hands hovered over a different setup a focus ring and a marked tablet.

  Pulse shaping. Not strength-based. Not flashy. A foundational exercise slow, technical, and far less taxing. Whispers stirred.

  “She’s doing something else…”

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  “Is that shaping?”

  “…Not fair”

  The murmurs swelled softly, not loud enough to disrupt, but enough to shift the room’s air. Then Halwen’s gaze lifted. It wasn’t sharp just steady. But it swept across the rows like a cold draft.

  He cleared his throat a brief, deliberate sound. Not a warning, not quite a reprimand. Just enough. The murmurs stopped. The whispers died. The test subjects froze then scrambled to return focus, lifting their weights with renewed tension.

  Vierna kept training, as if sealed away from the world untouched by the whispers, the stares, the silence around her. And Halwen watched in silence.

  Time passed. Then the bell rune rang, signaling free time. Most test subjects dropped their weights with a sigh and stretched their aching arms. They filtered out in pairs or groups, some still casting glances at Vierna. But she didn’t move.

  Instead, she turned to Halwen.

  "Herr Halwen, can you observe as I continue? I want to know if I am doing something wrong.” she asked.

  There was a shy firmness in her voice. Halwen raised a brow but nodded. Without a word, he use the storage spell and retrieved a wrapped meal. It was as if he had expected this. He set it on the desk beside him, chewing slowly while taking notes.

  Across the room, the other silver-haired Faintborn paused in the doorway. She lingered for a moment, then slipped away with the others. But her eyes had caught the image: Vierna, small and pale, continuing her training as if nothing else mattered.

  Time passed again. And just before Vierna’s scheduled departure for another experiment, her breath hitched. She blinked. Her stomach ached. She hadn’t eaten.

  She opened her mouth, about to speak maybe to ask Halwen

  "You know, If the cafeteria runs out, you won’t eat until tomorrow."

  Vierna turned. A girl was holding a cafeteria tray. Taller than her, just slightly enough to notice. Her silver hair was longer, falling in soft waves. Most striking was the mask: an ivory curve of porcelain that covered her from chin to just beneath her nose. Smooth, pale, and almost delicate, it caught the light with a dull sheen, like a sculpted silence.

  The rest of her expression was unreadable, swallowed by the mask. A flicker passed through her gaze bright and cutting. But if her mouth had been visible, it would’ve been a teasing smile Vierna thought.

  Balanced with care. A small piece of bread, a bowl of thick soup, and a single bright fruit. The masked girl stepped forward, setting the tray gently on the desk.

  "I figured you’d forget. You look like the type."

  Vierna blinked.

  "Also watch out for Tom. He always begs for seconds, and the lunch lady gives him the leftovers so she doesn’t have to clean up. If you’re too late, you’ll be stuck with his scraps." Says the masked girl

  Vierna stared at the tray. Then at the girl. Then quietly she smiled.

  “…Thank you.”

  The girl pulled out the chair beside her and sat

  “Huh? What’s that?” she says with teasing tone

  Vierna looked a bit confused then say it again “Thank you.” Louder this time

  “Good, good,” said the girl, “now say ‘Oh, you are the kindest and prettiest girl I know!’”

  She raised a hand with an exaggerated flourish, as if performing for a stage only she could see. Vierna looked at her. She looked at this pale-haired masked girl with surprise.

  Then, slowly, she forced a small smile. “…You’re the kindest and prettiest girl I know.”

  The girl laughed behind her mask. “Now you get it! Hehehe.”

  Vierna blinked. Something tugged at the edge of her chest. Just… strange. This was the first time someone had spoken to her like this. Cheerfully. Casually. As if she were just another girl, sitting in just another room.

  “This fair and beautiful maiden is called Lina,” the girl declared in a sing-song voice, “nice to meet you, by the way.”

  Then, she flicked open a rune a small one, hovering just above her palm, similar to the one Halwen had used earlier.

  She reach into the rune and she took out an object, waterskin, plain old normal water skin containing lukewarm water. She took a long sip. Somehow, even with the mask on, she managed it. There must have been some kind of opening, a mechanism built in. Seamless. Efficient.

  Vierna looked at her. “…I’m Vierna. It’s… good to meet you.” Her tone was steady, but soft. Not shy, not bold just simple. She wasn’t sure if she meant it. But it felt like something people were supposed to say.

  Lina paused and tilted her hair “Vierna, huh? That’s close to vier, isn’t it?” She tapped her chin theatrically. “Wait, are you number four? Oh no, I’ve cracked the code.”

  “You know what? That’s it. I’m calling you Vier.”

  Vierna blinked. The name clipped short. Not cruel. On the contrary, it carried something unfamiliar. Something almost like… friendship. Or at least the beginning of it. A flicker of warmth stirred in her chest. Strange, how something so small a nickname, a syllable trimmed could feel like a thread offered. It made her want to smile, though she didn’t. But the feeling lingered, quiet and persistent, like the soft press of light against skin.

  “Then as you wish, Lady Lina of uhhhh the Tray and Bread Kingdom,” Vierna said, voice flat but unmistakably teasing. A hesitant mimicry of Lina’s energy, like someone stepping into a rhythm they hadn’t learned yet but wanted to try.

  Lina let out a delighted laugh behind her mask.“Haha you will get it in time.”

  Vierna let out a small smile

  At the far end of the room, Halwen stood watching. He didn’t speak, but his gaze lingered. There was a certain relieve in his eyes. He tapped the side of his tablet, eyes scanning its runes.

  “I was told by the handler that the procedure yesterday spiked your internal flow. Your mana needs time to stabilize,” he said, glancing briefly at Vierna. “I’ll leave you two to it.”

  It wasn’t an order. He turned toward the door. Just before it closed, Vierna looked up. She caught a glimpse of his face. A small smile. Faint. Brief. Gone too quickly to understand.