The air in the cramped room was thick with the residue of their 48-hour endurance test and the metallic tang of fear. The Geomantic Regulators—two small, illegal spheres of intricately etched metal—lay on the table between Eun-ji and Heuk-jae, glowing faintly with barely contained Aetheric power. They were the key to the Technical Application Stage of the AATA exam, a stage meant to separate the magically gifted nobles from everyone else.
"The Academy's practical test requires controlled elemental output," Heuk-jae explained, his face stern. "You must conjure a continuous flame to weld a joint, filter contaminated water without an alchemical solution, and lift a heavy stone with only air pressure. All of this relies on an innate ability you do not possess."
He picked up one regulator.
"This device acts as a substitute for an elemental focus," he continued. "It collects and channels ambient Aetheric Force, converting raw energy into a manipulable stream. You don't cast a spell; you turn a dial."
The Unnatural Connection
The first attempts were disastrous.
Eun-ji held the sphere, concentrating, trying to feel the energy Heuk-jae had described. She was used to mental arithmetic and quick logic, not feeling the world around her.
"Focus, Eun-ji. Don't push the energy; invite it," Heuk-jae instructed.
She tried to channel a simple burst of Fire. Instead, the regulator sputtered, releasing a sharp, cold surge of air that blew out their weak oil lamp and plunged the room into darkness.
"It's rejecting me," she whispered, shivering.
Heuk-jae sighed. "The device is tuned for a noble's relaxed, entitled control. You are tense, trying to force it. You have to lie to the regulator, Eun-ji. You have to put on the 'Facial'—not for others, but for the machine itself."
The Master's Manipulation
Heuk-jae then demonstrated, using his new Magic Mastery and Facial skill in a highly technical way.
He held his own Geomantic Regulator. First, he activated the Facial aspect, relaxing his posture, smoothing his expression into a look of effortless arrogance—the very essence of a young, gifted noble who expected the magic to obey him.
Then, using his Magic Mastery, he bypassed the regulator's internal mechanism. Instead of using the device as a channel, he used it as an antenna, pulling the Aetheric Force directly from the air and letting the Regulator think it was doing the work.
A ribbon of pure, golden Fire erupted from his palm, perfectly continuous, clean, and silent. He held it for a full minute, manipulating it with effortless ease before letting it extinguish.
"See?" he said, the arrogant mask melting away. "You don't need control. You need confidence. You must believe you are worthy of this power, even if it's a lie. The machine reacts to the strength of the user's intent."
Fire and Lies
Eun-ji watched, her mind clicking into place. It wasn't about magical skill; it was about deception and projection. She realized the regulator was a psychological amplifier.
She activated her own inner "Facial." She recalled every instance of noble sneering, every act of unearned superiority she had witnessed in the slave compounds. She channelled that bitter, entitled feeling.
She held the regulator again. This time, her back straightened. Her eyes narrowed with a cold, aristocratic indifference. She felt the surge—a powerful, clean flow of energy that felt both exhilarating and deeply wrong.
"Fire," she commanded, the word a soft snarl.
A short, controlled burst of flame sparked from the regulator. It wasn't as stable as Heuk-jae's, but it was functional.
They spent the next few days drilling on the required elemental tasks:
Water: Filtering grimy water in a cracked bowl by forcing the Hydric Aether to separate the contaminants.
Earth: Using Geomantic Aether to fuse two pieces of common iron into a single, seamless weld.
Air: Generating a focused beam of Aerokinesis strong enough to levitate a heavy, stone block.
Eun-ji became proficient, her proficiency growing directly proportional to the strength of her assumed "noble" persona. The more arrogant she acted, the better the illegal device obeyed. The success was intoxicating, but the psychological cost was heavy. She was becoming a masterful liar, a technical cheat, and a functional noble—everything she despised.
The Last Lesson
On the final night before the exam, Heuk-jae presented her with the last piece of the puzzle: the written exam's final condition.
"Master Zai always includes a rogue question," Heuk-jae said, placing the elaborate AATA enrollment document in front of her. "It's a moral test, buried in the logic section. A problem that has no technical answer, only a human one. It is his final trap to prove the commoner's inherent baseness."
Heuk-jae tapped the document. "If you answer this moral question correctly—meaning, the way Zai wants it answered—you guarantee a pass. If you answer it honestly, he may fail you, no matter your score."
He looked her in the eye, his own expression stripped of all masks. "You have the answer key to his logic and the cheat device for his skills. But your final enemy is your own integrity. What will you do if the question asks you to betray someone to succeed, Eun-ji?"
[QUEST OBJECTIVE PROGRESS: Illegal Geomantic Regulator Practice Complete]