After wandering for hours with no clear destination, I eventually gave up on finding an answer.
No matter how long I stared at the collapsed rift or traced the fading trail of its lingering presence, no answer came.
My head ached from overthinking. In the end, I decided to return. Technically, the mission was over—the rift had vanished. There was nothing left to do here.
But returning to the Academy… that was a different problem.
Running all the way back to the dorms on foot would take weeks, if not months. And even with [Phantom Surge], the distance would barely be halved. I had neither the stamina nor the motivation to keep pushing forward aimlessly.
So I decided to stay put, wait for further instructions—maybe Miss Celia would send word, maybe not. Either way, there was no point in torturing myself with questions I had no answers for.
When I finally dragged myself back to the hotel, I wasn't expecting anything.
