"…His core's different."
Kael didn't disagree.
He set his glass down on the armrest and leaned forward slightly, elbows on knees. For a long second, he didn't say anything.
Then:
"I noticed."
Dominic glanced at him, quiet.
Kael continued, voice low but steady. "I'm ranked above ninety-five percent of the active registry. You're not far behind. Between the two of us, we should've read that kid's mana flow like a report."
Dominic nodded once. "But we couldn't."
"No," Kael said. "We couldn't."
He didn't say it like an accusation. Just a fact.
And that was what made it more unsettling.
"It wasn't just dense," Kael went on. "It wasn't locked either. It was… obscured. The way he holds it—there's no resonance leak. No projection. It doesn't spill out like most Awakened. It folds in."
Dominic swirled the liquid in his glass, watching the way the amber curved against the crystal.
"Origin."
Kael glanced sideways. "You're sure?"
"Felt it before. Once. A long time ago."
