CHAPTER 275: NEW PROFESSORS (3)

Merlin didn’t move yet. He watched Nathan, the raw strain in his expression, the flicker of imbalance where one element threatened to overwhelm the others.

Then, quietly, he stepped forward.

"Merlin," Maerin warned, "wait until—"

But he’d already lifted his hand.

Lightning snapped once across the air, blinding white, not wild, not scattered, but focused. It coiled around him like a living current, threaded with wind that spiraled upward, soft enough to stir the dust on the ground but strong enough to shape it.

The water followed, not liquid but vapor, condensing and evaporating with each pulse of energy.

And finally, space. The faint, near-invisible distortion that bent light just enough to make his outline blur. The air warped around him in silence.

All four affinities pulsed together.

Not battling. Not merging. Just breathing.

The dome groaned faintly under the shift in pressure. The sigils across the floor brightened until they were almost white.

Vale took a step forward, startled. "He’s stabilizing four elements without assistance?"

Hira’s voice was a whisper. "That’s... beyond theoretical limits."

Maerin didn’t move. Her eyes were locked on Merlin, the light reflected in gold. "His core isn’t fracturing."

Merlin exhaled slowly, lowering his hand. The pressure faded instantly, like a storm dissipating mid-breath.

The runes dimmed.

Nathan stumbled out of the circle, breathing hard. "Remind me never to stand next to you when you do that."

Merlin’s tone was calm. "You almost had it."

"Yeah, and you almost broke the dome."

Maerin approached, her boots echoing faintly against the stone. "Do you realize what you just did?"

Merlin tilted his head slightly. "Held four affinities?"

"That’s not something you ’hold,’" Vale cut in. "It’s something you survive. And you’re not even strained."

Merlin met his gaze, unblinking. "I’m used to balance."

Maerin studied him for a long, quiet moment before speaking again. "You both will undergo intensive isolation training. The academy hasn’t seen resonance levels like this in decades. If you lose control even for a second—"

"I won’t," Merlin interrupted softly.

Her eyes narrowed slightly at the tone, not arrogance, but certainty.

Nathan straightened, wiping sweat from his forehead. "So what happens now?"

Vale exchanged a glance with Hira. "You train. Harder than anyone else. And if you survive, you’ll redefine what this academy teaches."

Nathan blinked. "...That sounds kind of like a threat."

Vale smiled faintly. "Maybe it is."

Maerin dismissed them with a nod. "You’re free for now. Report again tomorrow at dawn. And Merlin..."

He looked back at her.

"Next time, try not to scare the dome’s sensors into overclocking."

Merlin’s lips twitched. "No promises."

Outside, the morning had shifted into a lazy golden haze. The academy grounds buzzed with the rhythm of a new year, students chatting across the courtyards, spell formations flashing faintly in practice fields, laughter and echoing bursts of energy carried on the wind.

Nathan let out a low whistle as they walked the stone path toward the dorms. "Man, I don’t know whether to be impressed or terrified."

"You did fine," Merlin said quietly.

Nathan shot him a look. "Fine? I almost drowned myself in my own affinity. You made it look like breathing."

Merlin didn’t respond. His gaze was fixed ahead, toward the tower near the academy’s edge. Someone stood there, faint and still against the railing. Watching.

He didn’t need to see the details to know who it was.

Morgana.

He turned his eyes forward again.

Nathan continued talking, oblivious. "Still, though... four affinities? That’s insane. Even the instructors were acting like we broke the world or something."

Merlin finally smiled, faint but real. "Maybe we did."

Nathan laughed under his breath. "Remind me to stick close to you next time things explode."

"You always do," Merlin replied.

They reached the split in the path, one way leading toward the dorms, the other toward the training fields.

"I’m hitting the showers before I pass out," Nathan said. "See you tomorrow, man."

Merlin nodded. "Yeah."

As Nathan disappeared down the path, Merlin lingered for a moment.

The faint wind shifted around him, carrying the scent of rain, of steel, of something distant and heavy.

He could still feel the residual resonance humming beneath his skin, quiet but constant. The elements inside him didn’t rest; they pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat, like they were alive.

He looked up.

The dome gleamed faintly in the distance.

’This world reacts to me differently,’ he thought again.

’It always has.’

Then he turned toward the dorms, the sound of the courtyard fading behind him.

For now, it was enough.

For now, he could pretend that the storm still waited far away.

The night over Starpower Academy was unnaturally quiet.

No sounds of sparring. No faint bursts of mana lighting the fields. Just the whisper of the wind crawling along the high towers and the soft hum of the barrier wards that enclosed the campus.

From her office window, Morgana Valecourt could see the entire city stretched beneath the mountains, glowing lines of mana running through streets like veins, bridges shimmering over the river, the academy’s dome standing at the edge of it all like a breathing heart.

And tonight, that heart had nearly stopped.

The reports were spread across her desk, pages of mana readings, resonance charts, synchronization models. All shattered expectations.

The sensors from the Convergence Dome had logged spikes beyond Tier-9 resonance, briefly touching theoretical Tier-10 harmonic fluctuation.

It shouldn’t have been possible.

Not for anyone.

A faint knock came at the door.

"Enter," she said, her voice low but clear.

The door opened, and Maerin Duskfall stepped in, her posture sharp even at this late hour. The light from the mana lamps caught in her auburn hair, glinting like copper fire.

"Headmistress," she said, bowing lightly. "You wanted the final data?"

Morgana gestured silently to the desk. Maerin crossed the room, laid a crystal tablet on the wood, and with a touch, it came alive, lines of light forming graphs and mana flows.

For several moments, neither of them spoke.

The only sound was the faint ticking of the chronometer on the wall.

Then Morgana finally said, "You verified this?"

"Yes," Maerin replied. "Twice. The resonance levels are not an error. Merlin Everhart stabilized four affinities simultaneously without visible strain. Nathaniel Varen maintained four as well, though with some instability. The system classified both as multi-core anomalies."

Morgana’s golden eyes flicked toward her. "Multi-core... you mean the theory proposed by Dr. Hester twenty years ago."

"The same," Maerin said quietly. "Except this time, it isn’t theory."

The headmistress rose from her chair, her long coat whispering softly against the floor as she walked toward the window. Moonlight painted the silver embroidery across her shoulders in pale fire.

"When I opened this academy," Morgana said, "I expected prodigies. I did not expect... this."