The room was soon empty after the class had ended; no one dared to linger, and each had their own things to do.
Ren looked at Morena before leaving, his expression uncertain, like he wanted to ask sothing but didn't know where to begin. Elara was much the sa, though she hid it better, and Liri looked as though she wanted to stay but didn't dare.
Morena didn't say anything to them.
She simply remained seated while the rest of the class filed out one by one, the quiet scrape of chairs and slow footsteps eventually fading until only she and Varra remained.
The older woman stood near the front of the room, one hand resting against the desk as she watched the last apprentice leave and the door shut behind them.
Only then did she look directly at Morena.
"How long have you been sensing it?"
Morena didn't pretend not to understand what she ant and just replied.
"A few days."
Varra's gaze remained steady.
"Like I thought, even before the others."
"Yes."
That answer seed to tell her enough. Varra didn't react strongly to it, but Morena could tell she had expected that answer. At the very least, it wasn't outside of her assumptions.
"How close are you to finishing your Matrix?"
This question mattered more.
Morena thought about hiding it a little, but in the end, she didn't see the point. Varra had clearly already felt enough to ask. Lying would only make the woman more suspicious.
"Within a day or two."
Varra went still for half a second.
It was not enough for most people to notice, but Morena did. She was either surprised, impressed, or both, yet none of it showed on her face after that very brief mont.
Instead, she answered in the sa controlled tone as always.
"Not bad, sowhat above average. In these stages, getting ahead is easy."
A pause followed, then she added what really mattered.
"Do not rush it."
Morena nodded, already understanding what she ant, having read so many books about the topic.
"I wasn't planning to."
"Good."
Varra straightened slightly and folded her arms behind her back.
"The final step of Matrix formation is when most impatient apprentices ruin themselves. When they feel how close they are, greed gets the better of them. They force too much elental energy inward, try to compress the structure before it is ready, and damage it."
Her eyes stayed on Morena.
"If you do that, even if you manage to form it, the Matrix will be flawed from the beginning. A damaged foundation will haunt you for the rest of your life."
While Morena already knew this, the words coming from the lady felt very heavy; after all, compared to a book referring to anyone, such words were ant for her alone.
This was specific, and to an extent, she was grateful.
"I understand."
Varra kept going.
"Once the Matrix is fully ford, the dreams and outside influence should stop. At least, they should no longer affect you in the sa way. What is happening now is due to your current state."
She paused as if considering how much to say.
"The Tower was not built on empty ground. There are lingering ruins below it, old things, older than the current Tower itself. Most of them don't matter. They sit there and remain silent. But when a Wizard is approaching or going through a major transition, especially during Matrix formation, the mind becos unstable."
Morena's brow twitched slightly at that, and the lady added a note.
"Unstable does not only an weaker."
She explained.
"Sotis it spikes higher than normal. Sotis your perception expands without warning. Sotis the mind becos far more sensitive than it should be. And when that happens, outside influences beco easier to notice."
She let that settle for a second before continuing.
"That sensitivity can also work in the opposite direction. What you can sense, can sotis sense you back."
Morena stayed quiet.
That line alone explained enough.
The thing below, whatever it was, had not forced its way into her mind by chance. She had been the one nearing a threshold, and that threshold made her easy to notice.
"But once I break through, it stabilizes?"
Varra nodded.
"It should. Your mind, your Matrix, and your mana will all settle once the formation is complete. Not instantly, but enough that this sort of interference becos much less likely."
"Much less likely?"
Varra's expression did not change.
"Do not focus on the wording. The point is that you are safer once the Matrix is complete than you are now."
Morena accepted that much; being safe was her goal, and she was never one to act recklessly.
Varra exhaled softly through her nose.
"You are closer than most, and from what I can tell, you have enough control not to ruin yourself at the final stretch. So finish it. Use the rest of today properly, and do not waste ti chasing curiosity when you are this close."
That was as close to encouragent as Morena had heard from the woman.
"Understood."
Varra turned away slightly, making it clear the conversation was ending.
"Go."
Morena didn't need to be told twice. She stood from her seat, gave a small nod, and left the room without another word.
The hall outside was quieter now. Most of the apprentices had already gone their separate ways, so no doubt shaken by what they had heard, others likely eager to get back to practicing before the next odd thing happened to them.
Morena ignored all of that; her path now was clear. She returned to her room, shut the door, and locked it.
Then she sat on the bed and breathed out slowly.
She was going to finish it today; she had already built a strong enough foundation that she didn't need to force it, and she could naturally complete it with the efforts of her accumulation.
Today, she would form her Matrix.
"AI. I want complete monitoring of all fluctuations during the process. If anything shifts too violently, tell imdiately."
[Understood.]
She adjusted her posture, closed her eyes, and began.
The first cycle went smoothly.
Then the second.
Then the third.
Each ti she drew in elental energy, it flowed more easily than before. The familiar strain did not vanish, but it had lessened greatly. Where once the Matrix frawork had trembled under the pressure, now it accepted the flow and held.
The lines of the structure were no longer faint. They had thickened into sothing more defined, more real. The gaps that remained between them were narrowing with each successful cycle.
Ti passed in silence.
Morena did not count the hours. She did not open her eyes; she had sat in place for so long that her body had grown numb and weak from the stillness, and the outside world was a haze to her.
She only stopped when the AI warned her to pause briefly, then resud once the pressure eased.
By the ti the light outside her room had begun to shift toward evening, she felt it.
The final resistance.
Not a wall, exactly, but a tension in the structure itself, like the Matrix had drawn in enough energy and now stood on the edge of becoming sothing more. The faint shape within her mind had fully ford, but it still lacked the final stability, the final compression that would turn it from a structure into a true Matrix.
Morena breathed carefully and followed the thod exactly.
Elental energy flowed into the structure one final ti, not wildly, not forcefully, but smoothly. It filled the remaining weak points, ran through the entire shape, then began compressing inward.
The pressure hit her mind like a hamr.
Morena's jaw tightened, but she didn't break the rhythm.
For a second, she felt like her thoughts had been stretched too far, pulled thin enough to snap. Then sothing locked into place.
The pressure vanished.
No, not vanished.
Changed.
Her eyes flew open.
The difference was imdiate.
It was like night and day.
The world around her felt sharper, cleaner, more vivid. The mana in the room was no longer sothing she had to reach for or vaguely sense. It was there, everywhere, transparent enough that she could almost map the flow of it by instinct.
Her mind felt stronger, more stable, and infinitely more precise than before.
And beneath that, in the center of it all, she felt it.
Her Matrix.
Its shape had been fully ford; she no longer had to map it out with elental energy; now it rely existed within her.
Morena inhaled sharply as the realization hit her.
She had broken through.
The mana around her no longer felt like sothing outside herself. It was sothing she could grasp, refine, and command. Not fully, not skillfully, not like a real seasoned Wizard, but the capability was there now in a way it had never been before.
Her body felt stronger, too, though not in the sa direct way as a Warrior. It was more subtle than that; her senses were sharper, her reactions cleaner, and even her breathing felt deeper.
She could tell, with complete certainty, that if her old self, the one from just before this breakthrough, stood in front of her now, she could crush her with ease.
That thought wasn't fully accurate, of course.
She still had no actual spells, no proper combat techniques as a Wizard. The true strength of a Wizard didn't lie in rely having mana, but in what they did with it.
Still, the difference was real enough that the comparison did not feel exaggerated.
Morena sat there for a while, simply taking it in.
Then she smiled. Not a wide smile, not so childish expression of excitent.
"Finally."
Her voice was quiet in the room. The AI's voice followed a second later.
[Matrix formation complete.]
[User has advanced beyond Wizard Candidate stage.]
[Current stage: Low-Level Apprentice Wizard.]
Morena let out a slow breath.
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