Heuk-jae's new Tier 1 Status was confirmed by a new, silver-etched identification amulet. It didn't grant him freedom; it granted him access to his cage.
The Inner Circle Research Track was a series of small, isolated laboratories and private study rooms located directly beneath the Proctors' offices. Every room was monitored by subtle, passive sensors.
"They're not trying to stop us from cheating," Eun-ji whispered, examining the faint glow of a wall sensor. "They're trying to figure out how we're cheating, and if our method can be weaponized."
The Privilege of Knowledge
Heuk-jae received his first mandatory assignment: cataloging and cross-referencing research logs from the past three decades pertaining to Elemental Affinity Stability in Genetically Optimized Lines.
The title was bureaucratic jargon, but the contents were damning.
The logs detailed the selective breeding programs of the nobility—not just for beauty or political alliance, but for optimized magical potential. The aristocracy wasn't naturally gifted; they were engineered.
"This confirms it," Heuk-jae said, his voice flat. "Magic isn't a birthright; it's a product."
The Secret Lab
Using the schedules he now had access to, Heuk-jae noted a discrepancy in the energy readings for a specific sub-level laboratory labeled only as L-09. It registered anomalous, high-frequency Aetheric consumption, yet had no corresponding student or Proctor log-in.
At 3:00 AM the following night, Heuk-jae and Eun-ji used their Tier 1 access to override the primary access point and locate L-09.
The lab was sterile, metal, and disturbing. In the center sat a massive, humming crystal formation , constantly fed by thick, pulsing elemental conduits.
"What is that?" Eun-ji asked, horrified by the scale of the energy consumption.
"That," Heuk-jae stated, approaching the central crystal, "is the true source of Aegis's power. It's an Aetheric Harvesting Array."
The Core Corruption
The array wasn't gathering ambient magic; it was actively draining a specific, stable form of Aetheric Force from the deep Earth—energy that should naturally disperse and feed the land.
Eun-ji found the corresponding research logs on a separate, hidden terminal. The logs were signed by Master Zai.
"Heuk-jae, look at this. The crystal array extracts the purest, most stable Aether—the kind necessary for seamless, large-scale synthesis," Eun-ji read, her voice shaking. "But the process leaves behind a toxic residue in the ground."
"And where does that toxic residue accumulate?" Heuk-jae demanded.
Eun-ji traced the geological data. "Below the Commoner Districts. It's slowly leaching into the groundwater and the soil."
The Viper's Realization
The ultimate truth was revealed: the aristocracy's "natural superiority" was built on a foundation of resource theft and quiet, systemic poisoning.
The commoners weren't just poor; they were being weakened and sickened by the magical waste product that resulted from fueling the nobility's power. Their very survival was compromised by the AATA's secret engine.
Heuk-jae's rage, usually locked down by cold strategy, flared. His mission shifted from infiltration to sabotage and exposure.
"The entrance exam, the strict grading, the lack of affinity among commoners—it's not just bias," Heuk-jae realized. "It's a cover story. The toxicity in the commoner district is actively suppressing the ability to wield magic cleanly."
His own Magic Mastery, which bypassed common elemental channeling, was likely a direct mutation or adaptation to this poisoned environment—a commoner's desperate evolutionary response.
The New Target
Heuk-jae looked at the massive array. Destroying it outright would cause a city-wide Aetheric catastrophe, potentially killing thousands of commoners caught in the energy backwash.
"We can't destroy the array," Heuk-jae said, pulling out a small, common wooden focus tool (the one secretly imbued with Tremain's staff power). "But we can re-route the waste product."
He determined that if he could break the stability matrix of the array and redirect the toxic residue from the commoner district to the central Academy grounds, it would have two devastating effects:
It would expose the corruption to the nobility itself.
It would instantly disrupt the "natural" Aetheric flow that fueled the Inner Circle's experiments.
"We target the matrix," Heuk-jae stated, looking at Eun-ji. "It's time to stop studying the system and start tearing down the Heart of Aegis."
[QUEST OBJECTIVE PROGRESS: Identify the true source of the aristocracy's advantage.]
New Main Questline Objective: Sabotage the Aetheric Harvesting Array.
Condition: Must break the stability matrix of the Array and redirect the toxic Aetheric residue to the AATA Main Campus.
Reward: The Great Exposure (Revolutionary Status Unlocked).