The week in Last Rest passed in a blur of tense anticipation. The single bed in the attic room ceased to be a source of awkwardness and became simply their bed, a tiny island of shared comfort in the chaotic sea of the town. They spent their days gathering what information they could—the rumors of the exams growing ever more wild and outlandish—and their nights talking in the dark, their voices a low murmur against the din from below.
Finally, the day before the examinations were set to begin, the exodus started. A river of hopefuls, thousands strong, began the final trek from Last Rest towards the distant, gleaming spire of Aethelgard. The mood was a palpable mix of excitement, fear, and fierce determination.
Kaelen and Shine joined the flow, but their plan was different. Once they were a mile outside of town and the crowd had thinned slightly, Shine nodded towards a rocky outcrop away from the main road. "Here. Now's the time."
They slipped away from the main body of applicants. Once hidden from view, Kaelen focused. The familiar, immense strain of activating Aegis Link returned, a sensation that was becoming almost routine.
[Aegis Link: Established.]
[Skill: Sky-Soar (Grandmaster) - Transferred.]
[Mana Drain: Initiated.]
The wave of transcendent knowledge washed over Shine once more. The fear was gone, replaced by a thrilling familiarity. She grinned, a wild, free expression that made her look every bit the adventurous princess she was. "Ready?"
"Always," Kaelen replied, his voice a calm counterpoint to her excitement.
Together, they pushed off from the ground, rising above the dusty road and the trudging figures below. A few looked up and pointed, shouts of surprise and envy echoing faintly. But soon, they were away, leaving the earthbound crowd behind.
The world opened up beneath them. The golden plains, the petrified forest, the glittering line of the Argent River—all of it was laid out like a magnificent, lived-in map. The wind whipped past them, a clean, powerful force that smelled of sky and distant magic.
For a time, they flew in silence, the only sound the rush of air. Shine whooped with joy, banking and diving with an instinctive grace that blended her elven heritage with the borrowed Grandmaster skill. Kaelen flew with his usual impossible precision, a statue cutting through the air, but even he could not remain entirely unmoved by the sheer scale and beauty of the world from this vantage point.
The central spire of Aethelgard grew from a distant glimmer to a breathtaking, impossible reality. It wasn't just a building; it was a mountain-sized geode cracked open to reveal a city of crystal and light. Spires of every architectural style—gothic, elven, brutalist, organic—pierced the sky. Airships of all designs formed orderly queues, drifting towards docking towers that glowed with soft mana light.
"It's even more incredible up close," Shine breathed, her silver eyes wide with awe.
[Analysis: Aethelgard Academy. Mana density: Critical. Dimensional stability: Artificially maintained. Defensive capabilities: Immeasurable.]
Their peaceful flight was interrupted not by a rival, but by the environment itself. As they crossed into the academy's airspace, the mana density intensified, creating violent, invisible turbulence. It was like flying into a magical hurricane. The air crackled with stray energy, and the wind sheared around them with violent force.
Shine cried out as a sudden updraft sent her spiraling. "Kaelen!"
"I am here," his voice was calm in her mind through the link. "The turbulence is a natural perimeter defense. It is testing our control."
He fought the chaotic currents, his movements a masterclass in aerodynamic efficiency. But the turbulence was designed to overwhelm individual fliers. A particularly violent shear ripped past them, and from its heart coalesced a creature of pure, crackling energy—a Storm Drake, a magical construct acting as a final guardian.
It shrieked, a sound of tearing reality, and dove for them, lightning crackling around its claws.
Shine fumbled for her sword, a futile gesture in mid-air.
Kaelen didn't hesitate. A physical attack was illogical. This was a being of energy. It required an energetic solution.
He remembered the lightning vortex he'd created in the pocket dimension. He remembered the principle of Weaving. He didn't try to summon a bolt from the clear sky. Instead, he reached out with his will towards the rampant, chaotic energy of the storm drake itself.
He didn't oppose it. He redirected it.
His hands moved in a complex pattern, and visible threads of cyan and purple energy—the barest visible whisper of his true power—lanced out, not to strike the drake, but to encircle it. He wove a net of pure, ordered stillness around the creature's chaotic heart.
The Storm Drake shrieked again, but this time in confusion. The lightning around its claws flickered and died. Its form destabilized, its energy being harmonized and neutralized by Kaelen's weave. Within seconds, the terrifying guardian dissolved into a harmless shower of sparkling mana that dissipated on the wind.
[Skill Utilized: Elemental Weaving (Adept) + Absolute Stillness (Adept)]
[MP Cost: -60]
[Mana Regeneration: 100/ms - Reserves replenished in 0.6 seconds.]
[Threat Neutralized.]
Shine stared, her heart hammering. He hadn't destroyed it; he had unmade it with a beauty and precision that was more terrifying than any blast of raw power.
"Let's go," Kaelen said, his voice still utterly calm. "The path is clear."
The final approach was mercifully uninterrupted. They swooped down towards a designated landing platform on one of the academy's outer crystal terraces. Their feet touched the smooth, glowing stone with a soft click. The moment they were grounded, Kaelen let the Aegis Link drop. The exhilarating feeling of flight vanished from Shine, leaving her feeling heavy and earthbound, but her spirit was soaring.
They were here.
Before them, the academy city rose in all its impossible glory. The sound was a symphony of wonders: the hum of mana conduits, the distant chant of magical lectures, the clang of a blacksmith's hammer from a dwarven forge, the harmonious song of elven spell-weavers. Applicants and robed students of a dozen races moved with purpose through the wide, gleaming streets.
Kaelen looked at Shine. Her face was alight with wonder, her earlier nervousness completely forgotten in the face of this magnificent reality. A strange, unfamiliar impulse surfaced in his mind, a command from no Sanction.
"Your emotional state has elevated significantly," he observed.
She laughed, the sound clear and joyful. "It's incredible, Kaelen! How could it not be?"
He nodded, his analytical gaze taking in the soaring spires, the palpable magic, the evidence of a thousand cultures forced to learn and grow together. It was the most inefficient, chaotic, and beautiful system he had ever encountered.
"The data supports your conclusion," he said, and for the first time, the words felt entirely inadequate. He had no metric to quantify the feeling in his chest, the feeling that was echoed on her face. It was a variable without a name.
Together, the elf princess and the god-forged adept, their true power hidden behind a veil of normalcy, stepped off the landing platform and into the bustling heart of Aethelgard Academy. The journey was over. The greatest test of their lives was about to begin.