The aftermath of the Synthesis Duel was a hurricane of whispers and changing dynamics.
Lord Theron's humiliating defeat had shattered the popular belief in his innate genius, and Lord Jae-eun (Heuk-jae) was now a figure of intense, suspicious interest.
Heuk-jae and Eun-ji retreated immediately to their room, locking the door.
The Cost of Ascendancy
"We are now Rank 500," Heuk-jae stated, peeling off the noble mask—the exhaustion of sustaining the Facial through such a high-stakes performance was visible on his true face.
"Or higher," Eun-ji corrected, still trembling slightly from the public exposure. "Proctor Lyra's Mother will not stop watching you. You didn't just win; you exposed a flaw in the system that she oversees."
"The goal was Tier 1 Status, and we achieved it," Heuk-jae countered, though his tone was cautious. "The risk was necessary. We will maintain the 'gifted slacker' persona, but we must be flawlessly prepared for that analysis she demanded."
He quickly dictated the technical analysis for Eun-ji to write. It was a masterpiece of misdirection, describing his "Glass Serpent" technique using complex, but ultimately meaningless, noble terminology—attributing the success to "a natural, instinctual affinity for Aetheric Resonance" rather than precise, scientific manipulation.
The Inner Circle Summons
The formal summons arrived two hours later: a heavy, sealed parchment requiring the immediate presence of Lord Jae-eun at a midnight meeting with the Head Proctor's Inner Circle.
The Inner Circle was comprised of Master Zai (Logic), Archivist Tremain (Theory, and the man Heuk-jae had assaulted), and Proctor Lyra's Mother (Elemental Studies, and now his chief inquisitor).
"They are not going to congratulate me," Heuk-jae said, crushing the summons in his hand. "They are going to interrogate the new anomaly in their system. And Tremain will recognize me."
"Tremain only saw a shadow in the Archives, a vague shape in his pain," Eun-ji reminded him. "But Zai will remember your answer to his final moral question."
Eun-ji retrieved Master Zai's Treatise. "We need to understand their group dynamics. This isn't just three individuals; it's the nervous system of Aegis."
Strategy: Exploit the Cracks
They spent the remaining hours strategizing the meeting, using the stolen Treatise as their psychological weapon.
Eun-ji found the key: the Treatise revealed Master Zai and Archivist Tremain had a long-standing, deep-seated professional rivalry—Zai valuing pure logic, Tremain valuing historical elemental purity.
"The Head Proctor's Circle is not united," Eun-ji observed. "Tremain is already weak from the Archive raid, and Zai is obsessed with proving his tests are infallible."
Heuk-jae smiled, the cold, true strategist resurfacing. "I don't need to fool all three. I only need to turn two against the third, or confuse the hierarchy."
He decided on the strategy:
For Proctor Lyra's Mother: Provide the complex, meaningless synthesis analysis and flatter her expertise, portraying himself as a disorganized genius who needs her strict guidance.
For Master Zai: Use a single, obscure, hyper-logical phrase only Zai would recognize from the Treatise, signaling that Heuk-jae understands Zai's deepest logical biases. This creates a silent, intellectual bond.
For Archivist Tremain: Maintain the lazy noble facade, show indifference to the Archives, and let Zai's contempt for Tremain do the work. If Tremain accuses him of the raid, Heuk-jae will simply play the arrogant noble victim.
The New Weapon
Before leaving, Heuk-jae retrieved the staff he had stolen from Tremain during the Archive heist. It was a focus rod of immense power.
He activated his Magic Mastery and broke down the staff's elaborate enchantment, not to destroy it, but to re-tune its frequency.
He pulled out a small, common wooden carving tool—a simple, legal item. With his Magic Mastery, he transferred the full, latent elemental focus power of the staff into the simple wooden tool.
The staff was now useless, but the wooden tool was secretly an incredibly potent, high-level elemental focus—undetectable to all but the most sensitive Proctors.
"If they search me, they find nothing illegal," Heuk-jae said, tucking the simple wooden tool into his robes. "But if they force a demonstration, I am armed."
Eun-ji looked at the re-tuned tool, realizing Heuk-jae's ability to manipulate energy was advancing terrifyingly fast. He wasn't just performing magic; he was re-writing the rules of magical focusing.
"Be careful, Heuk-jae," she warned. "You are walking into the nest."
Heuk-jae gave a final, fleeting smile—not the noble's mask, but the Viper's certainty. "The Viper never walks into the nest, Eun-ji. It comes to consume the eggs."