The path leading away from Zephyr Academy felt shorter than Albedo remembered, or maybe it was because he was walking much faster out of excitement.
The Academy gates loomed behind him, white stone and polished sigils standing as they always had, pristine, disciplined, restrained. For most students, it was a place of ambition, rivalry, growth.
For Albedo, it had become something else entirely.
A waypoint.
He adjusted the strap of his coat as he crossed the final threshold, the faint hum of the Academy's warding barrier sliding over his skin one last time before releasing him.
The moment he stepped beyond it, the ambient mana shifted subtly, less refined, less structured, but warmer in its own way. It was just normal, civilian level mana.
He exhaled without realizing he had been holding his breath. No crushing presence or
watchful monarchs.
Just… the Human Kingdom.
