The pulse came at dawn.
Not loud. Just steady. Barely enough to notice.
[Local Mana Disruption Detected]
[Thread Alignment: Not Known – Source: Academy Infrastructure, Utility Vein 2C]
[Impact: Minor. Attention: Suggest Monitoring.]
Sol didn't act immediately.
He let a day pass.
Attended class.
Observed Ryne train with a short spear she clearly didn't know how to use yet.
Listened to Velus give an offhand remark about how the "school feels slower lately."
But that pulse never stopped.
Soft.
But consistent.
Like breathing out of rhythm.
Utility Vein 2C ran beneath the east dormitory spires — one of the primary distribution veins for the campus's ambient mana lattice. It wasn't locked off. Just… ignored.
No glamour to it. No students came here.
Just conduits, hums, maintenance glyphs, and the occasional rat with glowing teeth.
Sol stepped into the vault corridor without a sound.
The hum was louder here.
Not just energy.
Agitation.
The central column — a copper-etched monolith the size of a tower stair — was pulsing wrong.
Not faster.
Not brighter.
Just… warped.
The mana drifted around it in loops — skipping every time Sol got too close. Like he was a magnet repelling the current.
He stepped forward.
The glyphs on the column flickered.
Then reset.
Again.
He reached out.
Touched it.
Nothing burned.
But the glyphs behind his eyes — the System — reacted instantly.
[Unexpected Feedback Registered – Local Grid Unable to Stabilize While Host Is Within 4m Radius]
[Error: Conduit recognizes user as simultaneous source and siphon.]
[System Note: You are distorting the natural flow of mana just by being here.]
Sol withdrew his hand.
The distortion faded.
He stepped back.
It resumed.
It wasn't memory.
It wasn't inheritance.
It was him.
The academy's infrastructure wasn't failing.
It just couldn't process his existence.
Sol looked up at the column.
And the thought formed, not from fear, but from cold logic:
If someone checks the logs, they'll see this.
He moved quickly then — disabling the visual feedback glyph, scrambling the mana logs with static spells from a nearby maintenance shelf, then layering a false feedback loop that simulated stable readings.
No traces.
But not forever.
Someone would see the difference.
Eventually.
[System Advisory: Mana Identity Distortion Now Registered by Environment Tier 2 Devices]
[Camouflage Recommended. You are becoming detectably anomalous.]
[Or… stop hiding.]
Sol didn't reply.
As he exited the corridor, he heard footsteps coming around the corner — measured, slow.
Too slow for a guard.
Too quiet for a wanderer.
He turned sharply and caught only a blur of shadow vanishing behind a pillar — the flick of a cloak, the outline of a half-mask, and a faint scent:
Cedar. Ink. Blood.
Not a student.
Not staff.
A watcher.
He let them go.
But marked their movement in the System.
[Unknown Entity Registered – No Mana Pulse Signature Detected. Cloaking Advanced.]
[Tag Created: "Silent Witness." Status: Unconfirmed Observer.]
[Recommended Action: Watch. Don't warn. Not yet.]
Back in his room, Sol stood in front of the mirror.
He peeled back his sleeve and watched his own mana flicker against his veins — not blue, not gold.
Just a shifting, unstable shade between.
Something that never settled.
He whispered aloud.
"I'm not supposed to be here."
And the System didn't correct him.
[To be continued in Part 6...]