CHAPTER 311: NUMBERS

Nathan stepped forward hesitantly. "Headmistress, what exactly was that thing? I’ve never seen corruption behave like that. It... adapted."

Morgana’s eyes softened slightly, as if she’d expected the question.

She moved behind her desk, touching one of the hovering runic sigils. It shimmered, and a three-dimensional projection of the academy grounds appeared, centered on the crater they’d just left.

"Corruption normally relies on a host," she said. "A living organism, human, beast, or elemental residue, to bind itself to. What you fought was something different."

She zoomed in, showing black threads of energy branching like veins through the soil. "This construct’s energy signature doesn’t match any known alchemical, demonic, or human-made pattern. It’s a null-energy core, a containment mechanism from a... less understood domain."

Liliana blinked. "Less understood... meaning?"

"Meaning," Morgana said quietly, "it shouldn’t exist here at all."

The room fell silent.

Merlin’s gaze sharpened slightly. His memories from the novel came rushing back, every subplot, every minor arc, and there was nothing like this. Not even close. The story’s world had been grounded, consistent in its magic systems. There were no "null cores." Nothing from beyond the realm.

So this was new. Something outside the script.

Elara stepped forward, her expression composed but tense. "If it wasn’t human-made, then how did it end up buried under the academy?"

Morgana’s silver eyes glowed faintly. "That is the question that worries me most."

Reinhardt spoke then, his low baritone breaking the quiet. "The excavation records around the courtyard date back over a hundred years. If the device was implanted before the modern wards were built, it might have been lying dormant all this time."

"Until now," Seraphina murmured.

"Exactly." Reinhardt nodded. "The question is, why now?"

Morgana turned away from the projection. "Because someone wanted it awakened."

Ethan crossed his arms, scoffing. "So, some ancient magic bomb just decided to come alive the moment we step into our second year. What a coincidence."

Adrian shot him a look. "You think it’s aimed at us?"

"Us, the academy, take your pick," Ethan muttered.

Morgana let them talk for a few seconds before she raised a hand. The room fell silent immediately.

Her gaze fell back on Merlin.

"You said you sensed something else before the manifestation. Something you didn’t share with the others."

The group turned toward him almost in unison.

Elara’s expression was unreadable. Nathan’s, curious but cautious.

Merlin hesitated, then slowly nodded. "Yes. I... saw the mana composition when it first appeared. The energy wasn’t just corruption, it had fragments of spatial interference mixed in. Like it was forcing itself into our reality."

Reinhardt’s brow furrowed. "Forcing itself?"

Merlin nodded. "It wasn’t cast here. It was... inserted."

Morgana studied him for a long moment, her gaze sharp enough to make anyone else flinch. "You have remarkable perception for someone of your age."

He didn’t react outwardly. But inwardly, his mind spun.

She was testing him, again.

’Morgana always knows more than she lets on,’ he thought. ’Even in the novel, she was several steps ahead of everyone else. But this? This isn’t in the plotline.’

The Headmistress touched another rune. The projection shifted, this time showing what looked like a fragment of the black core, suspended inside a containment sphere of shimmering silver light.

"This is what we retrieved from the remains," she said. "Our analysis calls it an Arcless Core."

The image zoomed in. Inside the fragment, faint runes flickered, alien, spiraling patterns that seemed to defy linguistic form.

"These symbols don’t belong to any recorded civilization on the continent," Morgana continued. "Not elven, dwarven, human, or otherwise. They don’t follow mana flow logic, either. The runes seem to consume the mana around them."

"That’s... impossible," Seraphina said quietly. "Runes channel mana, not destroy it."

"Exactly." Morgana looked grave. "Which is why it’s troubling."

Merlin’s system flickered faintly again, invisible to the rest.

[Unknown pattern detected.]

[Runic resonance: 0%.]

[Unable to identify.]

[Warning: data structure incompatible with known world parameters.]

He kept his expression steady. But his mind was a storm.

’Even the system can’t read it. That’s new. And bad.’

Morgana clasped her hands behind her back. "The existence of such a structure suggests interference from beyond our plane, possibly another realm entirely."

Nathan frowned. "Like... another world?"

Morgana didn’t answer directly. Her silver eyes gleamed faintly. "There are many realms adjacent to ours, Varen. Some connected through mana, some sealed long ago for reasons best left buried."

Her tone carried a weight that made even Ethan go silent.

Elara spoke again, softer this time. "You think one of them is bleeding into ours."

Morgana met her gaze. "I think someone is helping it bleed through."

The group exchanged uneasy glances.

Adrian muttered, "So someone’s trying to merge worlds now. Great."

Merlin looked at the floating fragment again, watching those strange runes pulse slowly, like a heartbeat. His fingers curled unconsciously.

He knew what this meant.

The story had changed. The world he thought he knew, the one he’d read, studied, and mastered, was diverging.

And when a story starts to change... the outcome becomes unpredictable.

Morgana’s voice broke through his thoughts. "For now, this investigation remains strictly confidential. Only those in this room and the council of instructors are aware of the incident. The rest of the student body will be told it was a mana malfunction during a training calibration."

Nathan frowned. "So we just act like nothing happened?"

"Yes," Morgana said simply. "Until we understand what we’re facing, panic would serve no one."

There was finality in her tone, the kind that brooked no argument.

Reinhardt stepped forward. "Headmistress, permission to escort the second-years to the dormitory wing. They need rest."

She nodded. "Approved."

As they turned to leave, Morgana called out softly. "Everhart."

Merlin stopped at the doorway, glancing back.

The others hesitated but continued walking when she gestured for them to go on. Elara looked back once, her expression unreadable before she followed Nathan out.

When the door shut behind them, the room felt heavier, quieter.

Morgana regarded him for several long seconds before speaking.

"You were holding back."

Merlin didn’t deny it. "...Yes."

She smiled faintly, not kindly, but knowingly. "Good. That means you’re learning when to restrain your power. But I also saw something in your magic today, something... layered."

Merlin’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Layered?"

"You channeled spatial displacement and wind compression simultaneously, didn’t you?" Her gaze sharpened. "Most mages your age would have torn themselves apart trying to force that kind of alignment."

He stayed silent.

Morgana’s voice softened, almost curious. "Tell me, Merlin Everhart, how many affinities have you really awakened?"

He met her eyes evenly. "You already know."