Chapter 5: The Gold Standard
The Heart of the Maw was a chamber of breathtaking scale. It was a cathedral of gears and glowing conduits, where a central pillar of pure, liquid mana rose from the floor to the vaulted ceiling. The air here was so saturated with energy that it hummed against the skin like a thousand invisible bees.
Rowan was the first to emerge from the darkness of the tunnels. He stood alone in the vast silence, his clothes singed but his posture unbreakable. He didn't look like a student who had just survived a gauntlet; he looked like a king reclaiming a throne.
Ten minutes passed before the next person arrived.
Seraphina Valois stepped out of a concealed doorway on the opposite side of the chamber. She was remarkably composed, though a few stray strands of silver hair had escaped her braid. When her eyes met Rowan's, she stopped. A faint, knowing smirk touched her lips. She had likely sensed the massive surge of fire mana he had swallowed earlier.
"You're early," she noted, her voice echoing off the high stone walls.
"The path was cleared for me," Rowan replied.
Slowly, the others trickled in. By the time the final bell tolled, only eight more had made it: a grim-faced girl with a heavy claymore, a twin pair of mages, and four exhausted nobles who looked like they had crawled through glass. Kaelen Valois was notably absent, likely still shivering in the dark where Rowan had left him.
The Proclamation
The Head Proctor, Master Valtor, descended from a hovering platform. His eyes, sharp and predatory behind gold-rimmed spectacles, swept over the ten students.
"Look at yourselves," Valtor commanded. "You are the top point-one percent of your generation. You are the Gold Class. From this moment on, the academy does not see you as children. You are weapons of the State."
He walked toward Rowan, pausing just inches from him. The old mage's mana sensing was legendary; he was likely trying to find the "Circle" or "Aura Vein" that allowed Rowan to perform such feats. He found nothing but a cold, empty void.
"Rowan Caelum," Valtor said, his voice dropping. "The first to arrive. No mana signature. No aura. And yet, you have more energy currently stored in your body than a 4th-Circle Archmage. Explain."
Rowan looked him in the eye. "Nature abhors a vacuum, Master Valtor. I simply provide the space, and the world rushes to fill it."
Valtor chuckled, a dry, rasping sound. "Arrogance. I like it. But be warned: a vessel that fills too fast often shatters. Go to your new quarters in the Solar Spire. Your real training begins at dawn."
The Solar Spire: Training for Two
The Solar Spire was the pinnacle of the academy, reserved exclusively for the Gold Class. Each room was a private suite equipped with a mana-density regulator and a reinforced training hall.
Rowan had barely settled into his room when the door chime rang. He didn't need to check the sensor; the silver resonance was already vibrating in his chest.
Seraphina entered without waiting for an invitation. She looked around his room, her eyes landing on the iron spike he had used to crack the monolith, which now sat on his desk.
"Kaelen is in the infirmary," she said, leaning against the doorframe. "They say his mana circuits are 'frozen'—as if they forgot how to hold energy. The healers are baffled."
"He attacked me," Rowan said simply, sitting on the edge of his bed. "I only showed him the logical conclusion of his own fire."
Seraphina walked toward him, her movements fluid and predatory. As she got closer, the air between them began to distort. Rowan's Vacuum Core began to spin of its own accord. The "fullness" he had felt after eating Kaelen's fire was being converted into raw physical strength, but it was unstable. It felt like hot lead in his veins.
"You're saturated," she whispered, standing between his knees. "Kaelen's mana was 'dirty'—unrefined, emotional. You took it in to survive, but your core can't digest it alone. You need a catalyst."
She took his hands and placed them on her waist. Through the thin silk of her robe, her skin was radiating a cooling, silver light.
"In my family," she said, her violet eyes locking onto his, "we are taught that power is a solo journey. But I felt your soul in the Maw, Rowan. You aren't just a vacuum. You're a bridge."
Soul-Bind Level 1: Empathy — Deepening.
As Rowan closed his eyes, the "dirty" fire mana within him began to flow into Seraphina. She didn't consume it; she filtered it. Her pure, silver mana acted like a river of ice, washing through his "Arteries" and carrying away the jagged remnants of Kaelen's heat. In return, Rowan's core stabilized her "Spill-Over," creating a perfect loop of energy.
The Vision of the Saint-Knight
In the center of the energy loop, a vision flickered into both of their minds.
They weren't in the Solar Spire anymore. They stood on a field of white ash. Before them was a towering figure in golden armor—Aris, the Saint-Knight. He held a sword of pure light, and beside him stood a woman with hair of moonlight, her hands wove silver spells that shielded his back.
The Edge cannot exist without the Sheath, the voice of Aris echoed in Rowan's mind. The Vacuum cannot exist without the Source.
The vision shattered as Rowan gasped for air, pulling Seraphina closer. They were both drenched in sweat, the mana loop finally settling into a low, rhythmic hum.
"What was that?" Seraphina whispered, her heart racing against his chest.
"A memory," Rowan said, his voice thick with emotion he hadn't felt in centuries. "Or a prophecy."
He looked at his hands. They were no longer just pale and thin. Under the skin, a faint gold and silver lattice had begun to form—the Aura Arteries he was supposed to be born without were being forged by the Soul-Bind.
"We need to train," Rowan said, his resolve hardening. "The other Gold Class members won't wait. And the Caelum family... they will send someone stronger than Lucius when they realize I'm still alive."
Seraphina stood up, her violet eyes flashing with a new, dangerous light. "Then let's give them something to fear. I'll teach you the Valois 'Silver Step,' and you..."
She looked at him with a smirk.
"You teach me how to be a vacuum."