Night had long since fallen outside the window, and the tavern’s inner courtyard was nearly empty, only muted laughter and conversations occasionally drifting in before quickly dissolving into the silence. Inside the room, however, a soft white light lingered—a crystal hovered above the table, evenly scattering reflections across the walls and the work surface.
Kael sat at that table.
Leaning forward, he was almost hunched over his workspace, paying no attention to anything around him.
A small violet crystal had been fixed onto a special stand before him. Sixteen facets converged into precise lines, forming a beautiful geotric shape.
Kael only occasionally cast quick glances at the crystal before returning to his work.
Grinding dried pearl centipedes in a mortar, Kael worked steadily and without haste, reducing the powder to the required fineness.
“Gilsh really outdid himself…” he muttered, never taking his eyes off the mortar. “Now it’s my turn…”
With those words, he set the mortar aside, took a small brush, and, carefully shaking off the powder, began adding it to a container of thick black sludge resembling ink.
The mont the first particles touched the surface, the liquid changed for an instant.
Faint flashes rippled through it, as though tiny white lights had ignited inside. They flared and imdiately faded, scattering through the liquid like tiny stars, appearing and vanishing without any clear rhythm.
Kael narrowed his eyes slightly, observing the reaction, and upon seeing the desired effect, nodded in satisfaction.
Without wasting ti, he reached for his tools and carefully lifted a long needle.
Thin, with a perfectly shaped tip, it was covered in spiral engravings stretching from the point to the wooden handle, where the fingers rested naturally and firmly.
Kael held it in the air for a second, checking the balance, after which he slowly shifted his gaze to the crystal.
Taking a deep breath, Kael went still for a mont, never taking his eyes off the crystal.
“The important thing is not to ruin the initial engraving…” he muttered thoughtfully, narrowing his eyes slightly. “If I do everything correctly, all I’ll need to do is regularly replenish the magical ink.”
He slowly lowered the needle into the ink.
The liquid imdiately responded as though alive—a thin stream stretched itself toward the tal and, obeying the spiral pattern, began climbing upward, evenly spreading along the engraving.
For a mont, he paused the movent, watching as the ink stabilized.
“Let’s begin,” he said with a nod.
The needle smoothly approached the crystal.
In Kael’s mind, a precise pattern had already unfolded—lines, angles, the sequence of markings. He did not rely rember it, but seed to see it before him, overlaying it onto the crystal’s facets.
Mana softly flowed through the channels, passing into the needle and activating it like a true artifact.
The tip of the needle entered without resistance, as though the crystal had montarily lost its hardness, yielding to the pressure. The movent was slow and precise—the needle carefully advanced forward, leaving behind a thin, barely noticeable line, as though carving out the first stroke of a runic symbol.
Kael’s hand remained perfectly still.
He directed mana into his muscles, strengthening the ligants and controlling every micro-movent, not allowing even the slightest hint of trembling to appear in his hands. He distributed the tension perfectly, without excess, keeping his hand perfectly steady.
Kael’s hand continued moving, never straying from its established rhythm.
Line after line fell exactly into place, forming rune after rune, and soon the first facet began filling with a precise pattern. The runes arranged themselves in a circle, each occupying its designated place without disrupting the overall structure.
“Slowly… but steadily…” he murmured almost inaudibly, never taking his eyes off his work.
The needle moved smoothly, almost without stopping.
When the primary runes had taken their places, additional elents began appearing between them—thin geotric lines, angles, finishing strokes. They linked the symbols together, transforming separate parts into a single structure, into a complete magic circle.
Gradually, the pattern on the first facet was completed.
Without lifting the needle, Kael guided the thin line further, carrying it onto the neighboring facet, carefully crossing the crystal’s edge as though continuing the very sa thought.
And on the second facet, the first strokes had already begun to appear.
From the outside, the process might have seed almost ditative. Kael’s amber eyes quietly glimred in the light of the floating crystal, unblinking as they followed every movent, while his hand continued its work.
While carving another rune, Kael montarily slowed his movent, studying the shape he was tracing with greater attention.
“Runes used in the art of inscription are so strange…” the thought passed calmly through his mind while the needle continued gliding across the crystal. “They’re universal across all worlds… and higher mages call them the language of mana itself.”
The line traced itself precisely along the facet, completing another elent.
He shifted his gaze slightly to the side, assessing the already carved fragnt, where one of the runes stabilized the mana flow, and almost chanically continued the movent.
“Each rune carries a certain aning… or a concept embedded within existence itself…” The thought flowed evenly, never disrupting the rhythm of his work. “But why is that? Did this aning co into existence on its own?”
The needle gently sank deeper, drawing the next stroke.
Fragnts of treatises, old records, and theories he had once studied surfaced in his mory.
“Every known rune used in inscription was discovered through trial and error…” he continued, never breaking from the process. “But we didn’t create them. We rely found what had already existed…”
His hand did not tremble for even a mont.
“If these runes existed before the very first civilizations…” the thought slowed slightly, deepening. “Does that an all anings and concepts of existence also existed before the first mages appeared?”
The needle froze for a fraction of a second at the edge of a line.
Kael quietly chuckled, faintly shaking his head, and without lifting his gaze, muttered, “This question is enough to break my mind…”
The thought, finding no answer, sank deeper on its own.
Unconsciously, Kael returned to one of the most mysterious theories—to sothing the Ascetic of the Void had once ntioned in passing.
“If the Primordial God is not a myth…” the thought slowly ford in his mind while the needle continued tracing its line. “Then was he responsible for creating everything?”
The tip of the needle smoothly passed through another section, completing the connection between the runes.
“…including the ‘language of mana’?”
At that, he slightly shook his head, as though cutting off the train of thought before it carried him too far.
“Alright…” he muttered almost inaudibly. “Right now, the important thing is to conceal what’s abnormal about my soul.”
The needle smoothly shifted to the next section, while Kael continued inwardly: “No one can find out that I’m a Shard.”
With that, he pushed the unnecessary thoughts aside completely, returning his full attention to his work.
The runes continued falling into place one after another, connected by lines into a single structure, and his focus narrowed once more to the art of inscription.
✦ ✦ ✦
Hour after hour passed, and even the tavern’s most persistent guests had already gone ho. Outside the window, the sky was slowly growing lighter, and the first pale glow had begun to appear on the horizon.
But Kael did not notice any of it.
Throughout all that ti, he never once broke away from his work, continuing to guide the needle across the crystal with the sa precise control. His shoulders had gone stiff, his fingers were beginning to grow numb, and drops of sweat occasionally fell from his chin onto the table, yet his hand never lost its rhythm.
He reached the final section, carefully completing the structure.
The needle traced the last arc, connecting the lines into a single circle, and at that very mont all the runes on the crystal flared with soft light. Kael froze, holding his breath, never taking his eyes off it.
The runes began to pulse, steadily and dully, like a heartbeat, sending faint pulses through the entire structure, but only a few monts later the light started to fade, returning the crystal to its original form.
“It’s done,” he quietly exhaled, not hiding his smile.
Without wasting ti, Kael carefully removed the crystal from the stand and imdiately set it into a pendant prepared in advance—simple, almost inconspicuous, also crafted by Gilsh.
Placing the pendant around his neck, Kael reached toward the table and picked up a small piece of gleaming parchnt. It looked strange—as though coated in a thin layer of oil.
With a deft movent, Kael pressed the parchnt against his forehead.
His fingers tightened slightly, and a thin strand of mana flowed into the parchnt, almost imdiately triggering a reaction. The surface glowed softly, and lines began appearing right before his eyes, forming a barely visible pattern.
Kael did not move, allowing the process to finish.
As soon as the glow faded, Kael pulled the parchnt away and, holding it slightly farther from his face, studied it attentively.
A pattern had appeared on the surface—a thin, barely noticeable ring. It was blurred, as though woven from gray mist, nearly disappearing against the parchnt itself.
But that wasn’t what caught Kael’s attention.
In several places near the ring, faint threads shimred subtly, as though individual fibers of the parchnt itself had changed color, turning golden. There weren’t many of them, and at first glance they were almost impossible to notice, but once he looked closer, the difference beca obvious.
Looking at this, Kael rely narrowed his eyes slightly, never taking his gaze off the parchnt.
“My current weakness is actually working to my advantage…” the thought passed calmly through his mind as he assessed the number of golden threads. “If I were a Spiritual Mage, there would be far more gold…”
He clenched the parchnt in his fingers, and it almost imdiately burst into flas, quickly burning away without a trace, as though it had been ant for a single use from the start.
Without wasting ti, Kael touched the newly created Soul-Veiling Amulet, pouring a strand of his mana into it.
And at that sa instant, his body shuddered.
A light tremor ran through his muscles, as though sothing inside him had abruptly changed rhythm, adjusting itself to the new structure. The pendant seed to bind itself to him, establishing a connection that could not be called physical, but rather on the level of soul and mana.
Kael tensed for a second, focusing on the sensation.
His eyes began to grow cloudy, filling with a faint haze, while his gaze lost focus, as though no longer directed at a single point.
His thoughts sank deeper, and the surrounding room seed to recede into the background, giving way to sothing else. It felt as though he were being drawn into another space…
✦ ✦ ✦
Blinking, Kael felt as though he had entered another world.
There was nothing around him, only absolute, endless darkness where neither depth, distance, nor even space itself could be perceived. It neither pressed down nor constricted him, yet there was still one thing for his gaze to latch onto.
“This is the first ti I’ve seen it this clearly…” he muttered inwardly.
Before him, within that void, floated a gigantic ring woven from dense mist. Its shape constantly shifted, and its scale was difficult to comprehend, making his own presence feel insignificant.
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Gradually, light began to erge within that ring.
At first barely noticeable, then steadily intensifying, it appeared as thin golden glimrs, as though woven into the very structure of the mist. Flickering and fading, they moved across the ring, briefly illuminating the darkness.
Watching this, Kael remained motionless, and only after a short pause did a calm thought pass through his mind: “The form of my soul… is a little unsettling…”
But with that thought, the surrounding space began to change—violet mist spread through the darkness.
And this mist was not uncontrollable. It obeyed Kael, moving without resistance and responding to the slightest intention. And the mont he focused, dense streams surged toward the ring, wrapping around it and forming a closed sphere around it.
The process unfolded smoothly, without abrupt transitions.
In so places, the mist beca transparent, allowing the outlines of the ring to be seen, while in others it thickened instead, taking on the sa grayish hue as the soul itself, as though adapting to its nature.
With each passing mont, the structure changed, and the golden glimrs that had been visible monts ago gradually disappeared within that layer, becoming dimr and dimr until they almost completely vanished from sight.
From the outside, it looked as though a new shell were forming around the soul’s true form, distorting perception and concealing the original structure—one flexible enough to distort the soul’s true form beyond recognition if desired.
But Kael was not striving for complete concealnt, only to conceal his nature as a Shard.
“Just what I needed…” he thought as he completed the process.
✦ ✦ ✦
With that sensation still lingering, Kael opened his eyes back in the real world.
The haze clouding his vision gradually began to recede, restoring clarity, and the room regained its familiar outlines. The crystal’s light, the table, the scattered tools—all of it slowly ca back into focus.
Without wasting a single second, he reached toward the table and pulled out another Soul Definition Talisman.
The movent was quick, almost habitual.
Pressing the parchnt against his forehead, he once again directed a thin strand of mana into it, repeating the inspection, and only a few monts later the surface softly glowed, forming a new pattern.
Kael pulled the parchnt away without waiting for the glow to fully fade and imdiately examined it.
A ring appeared upon the parchnt.
Gray, barely noticeable, almost blurred, but now—without a single golden glimr.
A sly grin slowly spread across his face.
“It worked,” he quietly said, not hiding his satisfaction.
His fingers instinctively touched the pendant, and, squeezing it slightly, Kael added softly, “It worked even better than I expected.”
With those words, Kael let his gaze slide toward the window overlooking the tavern’s inner courtyard.
The sky had already noticeably brightened, and the dim light of night was finally giving way to morning, softening the shadows and gradually filling the space with morning hues.
He lingered there for a mont, gauging the ti, after which he rose from the chair, feeling a faint heaviness settle into his body after the long hours of work.
“Since everything ca together so quickly…” he said with satisfaction, flexing his numb wrist. “I won’t wait. I’ll inform Valeria of my decision today.”
Casting a quick glance over the table to make sure he hadn’t missed anything, Kael headed for the door and, without lingering, left the room, intending to freshen himself up first before heading to the Academy.
✦ ✦ ✦
Morning ca unexpectedly quickly.
Before he’d even had ti to properly rest, Kael was already heading toward the Academy with his friends only a couple of hours later. As usual, they t near the tavern’s exit, exchanging short remarks, and that familiar rhythm slightly eased the remnants of his exhaustion.
Barnabas, despite his daily hangover, looked surprisingly lively. Upon learning about Kael’s plans, he even clapped him on the shoulder without his usual sarcasm and sincerely wished him luck, which in itself was a rarity.
But from there, events began unfolding even faster than Kael had expected.
Originally, Kael had only intended to inform Lieutenant Valeria that starting tomorrow he would be attending the general lectures, while spending the rest of today, as usual, helping her. The plan was simple and required no particular urgency.
But the mont he voiced it, Valeria reacted without pause.
After hearing him out, she rely gave a short nod, after which she imdiately directed him to one of the Vice Headmasters, leaving no room for discussion.
As a final remark, she even said sothing along the lines of: “You weren’t my subordinate for long, but you still were my subordinate. So study hard and don’t disgrace .”
Her tone was as stern as usual, but there was no real irritation in it. Rather, it was a strange form of concern.
✦ ✦ ✦
At that very mont, Kael was already sitting in the office, waiting.
The room was small, yet it imdiately revealed the owner’s status. Carved shelves stretched along the walls, filled with books and scrolls arranged with almost obsessive precision. In one corner stood a multi-stringed instrunt, and although no one was near it, its strings quietly vibrated on their own, creating a barely perceptible lody.
On the massive desk before him lay neatly sorted stacks of parchnt, each aligned with perfect precision. Nearby stood an incense burner from which thin smoke rose, filling the room with a calm, slightly sweet aroma of incense.
Kael sat straight, allowing himself no unnecessary movents, only occasionally letting his gaze drift across the room’s details.
And at that mont, the door quietly opened, and a tall man with a straight posture stepped inside.
He moved without haste, yet every step felt asured and precise. His narrow face with sharp cheekbones and thin lips appeared cold, almost detached, while his pale skin only reinforced that impression. His dark hair, lightly touched with gray at the temples, was combed back.
Gray eyes with a tallic glint imdiately fixed on Kael, unblinking and unwavering.
Kael imdiately rose from his chair and, lowering his head in a polite bow, calmly said, “Greetings, Vice Headmaster Kairos.”
In response, the man unexpectedly smiled, and his stern appearance softened for an instant, as though that mask were rely a familiar shell.
“Sit,” he said curtly, walking around the desk.
Reaching his place, Kairos lowered himself into the chair, and Kael, without hesitation, returned to his own seat. Silence settled over the office for several seconds, broken only by the quiet lody drifting from the corner of the room.
Giving Kael a careful, appraising look, Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly.
“Professor Valeria has already told about you,” he said in an even tone.
For a mont, a faint smile touched his lips.
“And earlier, Elder Cornelius also ca to see . Not every student in the Capital has patrons like yours.”
Kael rely smiled faintly at that, not making too much of the remark.
“I was simply lucky.”
Kairos nodded, as though noting the answer, after which his gaze briefly slid over the desk, and he reached toward a stack of parchnts.
“So then, Kael,” he began in a more formal tone while sorting through the sheets. “First, I’ll examine your Soul Form and listen to your preferences.”
He pulled out several docunts and placed them in front of himself, aligning their edges.
“After I formally register you as a full student, I’ll help you sort out your lecture schedule.”
Kael gave a short nod, accepting the arrangent, and politely replied, “Thank you.”
Without wasting ti, Kairos picked up a quill and, lowering his gaze, quickly began filling out one of the sheets. His movents were precise and confident, as though he did not need to think about what he was writing, but rely copied already prepared information onto the parchnt.
The quill quietly scratched, breaking the office’s silence.
Watching this, Kael narrowed his eyes slightly, ntally noting, “Looks like the old man already knows everything about … I wonder what Elder Cornelius told him?”
Kairos continued writing for another half minute before stopping and lifting his gaze.
“Now then… your Soul Form…” he calmly said.
With a light movent of his hand, he made a motion through the air, and a thin paper talisman appeared directly before him. Without pausing, he sent it forward, and it smoothly glided through the air before adhering to Kael’s forehead.
Kael neither flinched nor attempted to avoid it.
He had already undergone this procedure that morning, so he simply accepted it calmly, feeling not the slightest concern.
The talisman reacted almost imdiately.
Its surface glowed softly, and lines began appearing one after another, forming a pattern.
At that mont, Kairos leaned slightly forward, never taking his eyes off it.
There was no haste in his movent, yet his attention noticeably sharpened, as though he himself were eager to see Kael’s Soul Form. For a second, Kael even felt that the old man’s interest went beyond routine inspection.
But as the talisman changed, Kairos’s expression also began to change.
First—calm interest, then slight confusion, as though what he saw did not entirely match his expectations, and afterward—clear bewildernt, which he made no effort to hide.
The talisman continued glowing for several more monts before the light finally began to fade.
As soon as it fully dimd, the sheet trembled and smoothly detached itself, drifting back toward Kairos on its own.
He caught it midair, frowning.
His gaze quickly swept across the pattern, lingered, then returned to the beginning, as though checking whether he had made a mistake.
“Such a Soul Form…” he quietly murmured without lifting his eyes. “This is the first ti I’ve ever seen sothing like it…”
Kairos slowly raised his gaze toward Kael, still holding the talisman in his hand.
“My boy…” he said more quietly than before. “Do you know what kind of soul you have?”
Kael hesitated for a mont before awkwardly smiling without looking away.
“In my holand, people didn’t even know souls could have forms…”
He paused briefly, as though choosing his words, then continued more calmly, “But over the last month, after learning about Soul Forms, I’ve thought a lot about the nature of my power…”
Lifting his gaze with a bit more confidence, he added, “I feel as though there’s an aspect of Void within . I don’t know how to explain it, but whenever I reflect on the concepts of the Void, mana moves through much more easily.”
At those words, confusion flashed in Kairos’s eyes, but this ti deeper, deeper now, without the earlier certainty.
“You can simply… sense it?” he asked, frowning slightly.
Lowering his gaze to the talisman, he almost inaudibly murmured, “To understand one’s soul without guidance… Very few can do that…”
For several seconds, he remained silent, as though turning sothing over in his mind, after which he looked at Kael again, though differently now—more attentively, more deeply.
“This boy truly is strange…” Kairos thought. “I’m beginning to understand why that person took an interest in him…”
But outwardly, Kairos showed none of it.
A restrained, calm smile returned to his face, as though the earlier confusion had rely been a passing shadow.
“My apologies,” he said evenly, setting the talisman aside. “I’ll have to consult with more knowledgeable mages. Once the Academy determines the na of your Soul Form, you’ll be inford.”
With those words, he pulled one of the sheets closer, quickly scanned it, and then slid it toward Kael.
“Sign this, and you’ll officially beco a student.”
All of his information had been neatly written across the parchnt, and only one line remained blank—the one where the Soul Form was supposed to be listed.
Without rushing, Kael skimd through the text, finding nothing suspicious, after which he took the quill and confidently signed his na.
Kairos nodded, clearly satisfied, and smiled faintly.
“Excellent.”
He set the docunt aside, signaling the end of the formalities, and shifted his gaze back to Kael.
“Now tell what you want to focus on,” he added, now with noticeable interest. “Elder Cornelius ntioned that you intend to pursue several specializations at once.”
Kael gave a short nod, acknowledging the question, and answered without hesitation, “I definitely want to complete the basic military training and the aptitude courses for the Scholars’ Guild.”
Kairos nodded approvingly, as though expecting exactly that answer, but Kael, without stopping, added, “I also want to attend lectures and practical training in alchemy and inscription.”
This ti, the reaction was different.
Kairos slightly raised his brows, making no effort to hide his surprise, and looked at him more carefully, as though assessing the seriousness of his intentions.
“Are you certain?” he calmly asked. “That’s a demanding schedule. Besides, the schedule isn’t always convenient, and so lectures may overlap, so you’ll have to make up a lot on your own.”
Kael nodded without arguing.
“I understand,” he answered evenly. “I simply want to try. If it turns out I was aiming too high, then I’ll focus solely on the scholar and military paths.”
Kairos fell silent in thought for several seconds, lightly tapping a finger against the table before finally nodding, having made his decision.
Reaching toward the stack of docunts, he selected several sheets and handed them to Kael.
“These contain the full list of lectures and practical classes,” he explained. “I’ll notify the professors about you, and starting tomorrow, you’ll be able to begin training.”
Pausing briefly, he narrowed his eyes slightly, as though rembering sothing, and pointed at the sheets in Kael’s hands.
“Although, if you wish, you can already attend a military training session today. Professor Dukhlas is a good friend of Valeria’s, so he should already know about you.”
The mont those words were spoken, clear interest flared in Kael’s eyes.
He imdiately rose from his chair, not hiding his eagerness to begin, and firmly said, “If I can start today, then I will.”
Lowering his head in a brief bow, he added, “Thank you for your help, Vice Headmaster Kairos.”
Kairos rely nodded calmly in response, without rising from his seat.
“Hurry,” he said evenly. “The break will be over soon, and Professor Dukhlas does not tolerate lateness.”
Kael nodded once more, taking that to heart, and without lingering, turned toward the exit.
The door opened almost soundlessly, and a mont later he had already left the office, leaving Kairos alone among the neatly arranged parchnts and the softly playing lody.
Kairos remained seated, making no move to return to his paperwork.
His gaze lingered for a mont on the Soul Definition Talisman before he frowned slightly, lost in thought.
Before even ten seconds had passed, the space beside him subtly distorted, and, as though appearing out of nowhere, a figure in a black cloak appeared nearby. Its face was hidden behind a strange golden mask covered in countless fractures and facets, making it resemble a cut crystal.
The mont Kairos noticed the figure, his reaction was imdiate.
He shot to his feet, only to instantly drop to his knees and lower his head nearly to the floor, not even daring to look at the figure for long.
“My apologies, I didn’t know you were here…” he quickly said, careful not to stumble over his words. “I was just about to report the results of the boy’s evaluation, as you requested.”
The figure did not answer imdiately.
Without a single unnecessary movent, it rely extended a hand, and the talisman lying on the table rose into the air on its own, softly gliding into its palm.
For several seconds, the figure simply looked at the pattern.
Then a male voice ca from beneath the mask, calm and devoid of emotion:
“So he truly isn’t a Shard…” he said, as though stating a fact, before adding more quietly, “Perhaps that’s for the best…”
Kairos cautiously raised his head, not daring to straighten completely.
“Excuse …” he quietly said, trying to keep his voice steady. “Do you know what kind of soul that boy has?”
The figure did not answer at once, continuing to stare at the talisman, as though evaluating not only the pattern itself, but sothing beyond it.
“A Soul of the Formless Void,” the mysterious man calmly replied. “It is the soul closest to the Primordial Void that mortals can possess…” the man continued in the sa even tone without changing his posture.
Kairos frowned, trying to process what he had just heard, and after a brief pause cautiously exhaled, “My apologies… my knowledge is insufficient to grasp the aning of your words.”
The figure slightly inclined its head, as though he had expected such a reaction.
“That is not surprising,” he answered just as calmly. “Knowledge of the Primordial Void has nearly been lost. And all those connected to the Primordial Void, or those who worshiped it, were rcilessly wiped out in the distant past.”
He fell silent for a mont before adding more quietly, “Since then, mages with such soul types have almost never been born.”
But after saying that, the man slightly turned his head, as though losing interest in the conversation, and calmly added, “In any case, there’s no need for you to trouble yourself with this. Simply write down the boy’s Soul Form and forget everything I’ve told you.”
The words were not forceful, yet they left absolutely no room for objection.
In the next mont, the mysterious man’s figure began to blur, and within a second, only silence and the quiet lody of the strings remained in the office once more.
Kairos did not move for several more seconds.
Then, shuddering almost imperceptibly, he slowly rose to his feet, trying to regain control of his body. His movents remained restrained, but a faint tremor still lingered in his fingers, which he attempted to hide by imdiately reaching toward the desk.
Taking up the quill, he quickly bent over the sheet and, without thinking, began filling in the empty line.
But Kairos’s thoughts were far from the paper.
“That was him…” flashed through his mind as the quill glided across the parchnt. “The Shadow of the Throne…”
For a mont, he pressed his lips together without lifting his gaze. A thought flashed through him that both shocked and exhilarated him at once: “Before, he always acted through ssengers… I never thought I’d et him in person one day…”
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