The next few days unfolded with a careful kind of normal.
Classes continued. Assignments were handed out. Instructors lectured, scolded, praised, and ignored in equal measure. To anyone watching casually, Merlin Everhart was simply another second-year with an unusual affinity spread and a reputation for being quietly competent.
To anyone watching closely, it was obvious the academy had begun to test him.
It started subtly. An advanced mana control exercise slipped into a standard curriculum. A resonance stabilization drill framed as optional, but scheduled at a time that made absence conspicuous. Sparring pairings that placed him against upper-tier students more often than chance could justify.
Merlin noticed all of it. He adjusted without comment.
