The Academy didn't waste any time.
The next morning after the test, Adrien found a notice shoved under his door:
Course Work: Core Magic I
Instructor: Serin Thorne
Location: East Wing, Elemental Hall
Time: After the First Bell, Sunrise
Attendance Mandatory
It was still not daylight when Adrien left his dorm.
The hallways were empty, moonlight slicing across tiny windows as he moved. A few of the other students moved with the same determined silence, but most of them didn't look in his direction.
The Academy had already categorized them.
Not by class or uniform.
By presence.
Who seemed to belong, and who did not.
Adrien did not care. He was not here to be liked.
He was here to stay alive.
The Elemental Hall lived up to its name.
A vast, open area under a dome of crystal, cut out in an unbroken ring. Columns covered in old runes bordered the rim. The floor was sectioned into five stone platforms — one for each of the old affinities: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Lightning.
There were no more than a few dozen students in the class.
Adrien did not know any of them, although some gave him a sideways glance as if they knew him.
Probably because of the Vale name.
[Or perhaps because you haven't smiled since your arrival. You emit "dark past."]
He ignored the voice.
They were all staring at the teacher.
Serin Thorne.
Lean and tall, His face fixed — not cold, not friendly. Just still.
The kind of man who never wasted words or time.
Group by affinity, he commanded. "You will be separated accordingly for most elemental training.".
The students began to mobilize. The fire group was the largest — no surprise there. Flame was the most ubiquitous and the easiest to arm. Earth and Water were next. Wind had maybe five students.
Lightning had three.
Adrien, a thin redhead who looked half asleep, and a girl who barely even looked up from the silver ring on her thumb.
'Small club. Great.'
Serin started walking calmly before the platforms. His voice was audible but soft.
"Your mana defines you. But it does not excuse you. Power is potential. If you can't control it, you're nothing but a threat."
He paused at the Lightning stand.
"You three. Step forward."
Adrien did. The rest did.
Serin raised one hand, and a glowing sphere of energy took form above it — blue-white, softly crackling.
"Lightning is fast. Unstable. Violent. You don't tame it. You learn how to move with it. To channel it."
He snapped his fingers, and the orb launched itself into a faraway rune crystal on the wall. The stone glowed softly with a muted ping.
"Your assignment: do that. One at a time."
Adrien inhaled, stepped forward, and raised his hand.
The mana came sooner this time — less resistance than last. He let it accumulate in his palm, as he had in the mansion. Not much. Not all at once.
A soft crackle.
A hum.
He formed a loose orb — smaller, shakier — but real.
Then, with a slow breath, he pushed it outward.
The energy arc flashed down — not pure, not pristine — but it hit the rune crystal with a dull flash.
Not a ping. More of a thunk.
But Serin nodded once.
"Acceptable."
The redhead boy followed. His sphere burst halfway down the hallway. The girl's never coalesced — it collapsed inward on itself, the mana leaking between her fingers like mist.
Serin didn't say anything. Saw everything.
After class, Adrien stood there for a moment, extending his hand.
That had drained him more than he had expected. His control of mana was improved, but his innate ability was still a huge bottleneck.
[Your reserve is thin. The recovery rate's good, but at this rate? You'll be exhausted by lunch.]
'So I have to train smarter.'
[Or come up with a way to augment the core. Naturally or… unnaturally.]
The final sentence hung in the air.
'Don't begin. I'm not desperate to make deals that I cannot afford.'
Adrien left the hall at dawn, and the sun broke through the windows.
Others grumbled as he went by.
"Was that Vale?"
"He struck the rune."
"Hardly."
He didn't mind.
He wasn't trying to impress. He was merely trying to catch up, spark by spark.