The Refectory was still plunged into a silence so profound the only sound was the distant, frantic thump of a dozen newly accelerated heart rates. All eyes were on Kael, but only two sets of eyes truly mattered: those of Elara Vance and Sienna Thorne. They had both launched from their respective tables, driven by an instinct far older and fiercer than any social etiquette.
They converged on Kael's position near the ration counter, meeting precisely halfway.
Elara, the Force Mage Queen, arrived first. Her aura of azure mana, usually a shield of icy command, now pulsed with nervous, almost desperate energy. Her face, usually a mask of contemptuous beauty, was flushed a devastating crimson.
"Kael," she managed, the name feeling like a sacred oath on her lips. Her voice was unrecognizable—a rough, low tremor. She reached out, her hand twitching, craving contact. "Where were you? You—you didn't attend the lecture on Mana Resonance. I needed to... discuss the thesis points." The lie was transparent, but the need in her eyes was agonizingly real. Her focus was so absolute that the idea of Kael being a Mana-Dud just yesterday seemed like a laughable absurdity.
Before Kael could even process the fact that Elara Vance was speaking to him, a chilling wave of focused arcane energy slammed into her side.
Sienna Thorne had arrived.
The Arcane Master didn't possess Elara's raw physical force, but her precision was lethal. Sienna's eyes, normally distant and calculating, were now locked onto Kael with the burning intensity of a trapped predator. She had effortlessly, silently, pushed Elara off balance using a minor Telekinetic Pulse, a move that would have caused a duel under any other circumstances.
"His discussion is with me, Vance," Sienna hissed, her voice a low, throaty rasp. "I require his Core Sample data for comparative analysis. An anomaly of this magnitude demands my immediate attention." Like Elara, her words were a thin veneer of justification over an all-consuming instinct. She didn't just want the data; she wanted him, close, to understand the source of the magnetic radiation that was scrambling her entire logical framework.
Sienna closed the final distance, ignoring Elara's furious snarl, and stood so close to Kael that the rich, intoxicating scent of his new, volatile Mana Core filled her lungs. She reached out, not for his hand, but for the lapel of his tunic, her fingers trembling.
"Tell me your reading," she breathed, her lips barely moving, her focus hyper-fixated. "Tell me your true power. I need to catalogue it. I need to possess the facts."
"I don't know. The crystal shattered," Kael murmured, feeling the unsettling, frantic heat of the two most powerful young women in the academy pressing in on him.
Elara shoved Sienna aside, her blue eyes blazing. "Don't listen to her, Kael. We—we should step outside. The light is better in the garden. I have some... private matters to discuss about your Affinity."
The two women glared at each other, their respective auras—Sienna's cold crimson, Elara's volatile azure—hissing like competing steam jets. It was a silent, intense duel of wills over Kael, the prize. The onlookers held their breath, waiting for the sparks of raw magic to fly.
But before either could make another move, a presence far heavier, far more ancient and terrifying, dropped over the scene like a velvet shroud.
A slow, deliberate, contemptuous laugh echoed from the main entrance. "Oh, dear. Are the little fledglings already squabbling over the choicest morsel?"
The students instantly straightened, a wave of cold fear replacing the heat of fascination.
Standing in the doorway, framed by the light, was Lysandra. The Head of Advanced Arcana, a woman whose violet mana signature could stop a rampaging elemental in its tracks. She wore a long, fitted black gown and a predatory smile. Her eyes, the color of amethyst, swept over Elara and Sienna with casual disdain before settling on Kael.
Lysandra didn't rush. She moved with the slow, confident grace of an entity that knew everything was already hers. She reached Kael and, without asking permission, ran a perfectly manicured finger along the sharp angle of his jaw, drinking in the essence of his powerful new aura.
"Such a delectable concentration of raw, unstable force," Lysandra purred, her voice dripping with possessive satisfaction. "And to think, you almost wasted it as a Flicker Core."
She turned, her gaze utterly annihilating the two younger girls who dared to challenge her claim.
"He is under my immediate supervision now," Lysandra announced, her tone leaving no room for argument. "The Arcana Institute's greatest secret deserves a private tutor. Do keep your distance, little queens. Unless, of course, you wish to learn exactly what happens to those who covet what is mine." She didn't wait for a response, effortlessly wrapping her hand around Kael's arm and leading him away, leaving the Refectory to collapse into stunned, jealous whispers.