CHAPTER 304: TEST

Vivienne, standing behind Morgana with arms folded, stepped forward next. "These divisions are not requests. Your assignments have already been decided."

She tapped her clipboard, her usual strict expression carved in place. "Everhart. Vaelith. Varen."

Merlin lifted his gaze. Elara’s brow furrowed faintly beside him. Nathan blinked once, straightening.

"You three," Vivienne continued, "will report to the Headmistress’s chamber for your orientation. Immediately."

Murmurs rippled through the crowd again, recognition, envy, curiosity. The strongest of their year, all summoned together.

Merlin’s jaw tightened. ’Of course.’

He glanced briefly toward the others, Adrian’s grin, half encouragement, half curiosity; Liliana’s wide-eyed smile that didn’t quite hide her worry; Ethan’s lazy wave, like this was all a game; Seraphina’s knowing look that said be careful.

Morgana turned without another word and left through the upper corridor.

Merlin, Nathan, and Elara followed.

The headmistress’s office always felt a little too quiet.

The high windows filtered soft light over shelves stacked with relics and books. A faint smell of parchment and something older, ozone, maybe, lingered in the air. Morgana stood behind her desk, one hand resting on a map of the continent, its surface alive with faintly glowing lines.

"You three understand why you’re here," she said, not looking up. It wasn’t a question.

Nathan shifted slightly. "Because of the attack?"

"Because of what the attack revealed." Morgana’s gaze rose, cold and steady. "There are fractures forming across the kingdoms, movements hidden under false names. What happened in the city was not isolated. It was a test. The same organization has surfaced in other regions."

Elara’s tone was quiet but firm. "What do you want us to do?"

"I want you to learn to see what others cannot." Morgana’s eyes flicked briefly to Merlin, a flash of something there, curiosity and something sharper. "You three will form a special training unit. Independent operation. Discretion required."

Nathan frowned. "We’re still students."

"And yet you’ve already seen more of the truth than most knights in service."

Silence followed. Morgana turned, retrieving three metal badges from the desk. They gleamed silver with the academy’s crest, a flame encased in a circle.

"These will grant you access to restricted facilities," she said. "Training halls, archives, artifact storage. You will not speak of this beyond your unit."

Merlin reached out, taking his badge. It pulsed faintly under his fingers, the faint hum of mana woven into its design.

"What exactly are we investigating?" he asked.

Morgana met his gaze directly. For once, her expression softened, just a fraction. "Patterns, Everhart. The kind that only appear when you look backward. You will know what to find when you see it."

He hated when she spoke like that, like she already knew the ending of a story she refused to tell.

Nathan accepted his badge next, eyes burning with quiet determination. "We won’t fail."

Morgana’s lips curved faintly, though not into a smile. "Failure isn’t what concerns me. Ignorance is."

Elara accepted hers last. When their eyes met, something unreadable passed between her and Morgana, recognition, maybe. Two people who had seen power and didn’t trust it.

"Dismissed," Morgana said at last. "Your training begins at dawn tomorrow."

They turned to leave. Merlin lingered a moment longer, his gaze dropping to the glowing map on the desk. His eyes caught a faint red mark pulsing at the eastern border, a point that hadn’t been there before.

’A signal,’ he thought. ’A lead.’

He filed it away without a word.

Outside, the corridor stretched empty. Their footsteps echoed softly.

Nathan exhaled. "Well. That sounded less like training and more like recruitment."

"Feels like both," Elara replied.

Merlin stayed quiet for a moment. His eyes flicked toward the badge again. "Whatever Morgana’s planning, she’s not telling us everything."

"Does she ever?" Nathan asked, half-grinning.

Merlin didn’t answer.

They reached the main stairwell, sunlight pouring down through the high glass. Students passed below them, laughing, alive, untouched by the tension that coiled invisibly above.

For a heartbeat, Merlin let himself envy that.

Then Elara spoke, softly. "She trusts us."

Merlin turned. "You think that’s what this is?"

Elara’s violet eyes met his. "It’s what she can afford. Trusting someone stronger than her would be riskier."

He stared at her a long moment before looking away. "...Maybe."

Nathan clapped both of them on the shoulders with his usual easy grin. "Come on. Let’s not overthink it. Special unit or not, we’ve still got classes. And I’m starving."

Elara’s expression softened faintly. "You’re always starving."

"And yet still this handsome," he said.

"Barely."

Their laughter broke the tension, brief but real.

Merlin allowed himself to smile, even if only a little. For a second, they looked like what they were supposed to be, students. Friends. Kids.

But under the light, the silver badge still pulsed faintly against his palm, and he knew better.

That night, while the academy quieted into sleep, Merlin sat by his window. The badge lay on the desk, its light dim but alive. He traced its surface with one finger, thinking about Morgana’s words.

Patterns. Hidden movements.

And that flicker on the eastern border.

[New directive detected.]

[Objective: Investigate anomaly — Sector East, coordinates encrypted.]

[Assistance protocols: OFFLINE.]

Merlin leaned back, exhaling slowly. "So you’re awake again..."

The System said nothing more.

Outside, the moon hung low over the academy walls, pale and watchful.

He closed his eyes and whispered into the quiet:

"...Let’s see where this leads."

The morning air carried a crisp chill, tinted faintly with mana.

Merlin stood on the academy’s eastern training field, a vast open expanse enclosed by runic barriers that shimmered faintly like glass catching dawn. Beyond the barrier walls, the city’s skyline burned gold in the sunrise.

He wasn’t alone.

Nathan leaned against a wooden crate, adjusting the gloves strapped around his wrists. The faint glow of lightning crackled between his fingers, pulsing in rhythm with his heartbeat. "So," he said with a grin that didn’t quite hide the tension underneath, "think this is just a normal test?"

Merlin exhaled through his nose. "If Morgana’s running it? Not a chance."

Elara stood a few meters away, spear resting lightly in her grip, silver-blond hair braided back. The morning light seemed to find her automatically, catching the faint shimmer of her mana, calm, deep, grounded.

Her gaze flicked toward Merlin. "You slept?"

He gave a half-smile. "Define sleep."

She rolled her eyes, but the corner of her mouth twitched upward, the smallest acknowledgment of his joke.

A pulse of energy shivered through the field. The barrier flared bright gold, and a figure appeared near its edge.

Morgana.

No fanfare. No assistants. She simply walked forward, black coat trailing behind her like a second shadow. The air bent faintly around her, pressure and grace coexisting.

"You’re early," she said, voice low and smooth.

"We’ve learned," Merlin replied.

Her lips curved faintly. "Then let’s begin."