"I don't know."
That was not an answer I expected from the only known human to reach an SSS-ranked core.
"You were unable to identify it?"
"I said I don't know."
There was irritation in his voice now.
Not directed at me.
At the memory.
That made the statement more important.
"Describe it."
He looked toward the grey sky.
"I was meditating."
"Where?"
"Far from here."
"That does not narrow much."
"It doesn't need to."
I allowed that.
"There was no mana disturbance," he continued. "No spatial displacement. No spell formation. Nothing I recognized as an attack."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"For an instant, something changed."
"What changed?"
"The world."
I waited.
He knew the answer was inadequate.
Eventually he continued.
"It felt as though..."
He stopped.
For a man who had lived more than a century, uncertainty appeared to irritate him deeply.
"...something opened."
I studied him.
"A spatial tear?"
"No."
"A dimensional breach?"
"No."
