The training hall stood in silence. The artificial sky on the ceiling slowly “breathed” with a muted glow, and the water in the small lake barely stirred from the internal ventilation. Alex sat facing the mirror-like surface, his bare feet feeling the damp coolness of the grass. An exhale—long and even; an inhale—shorter, so as not to disrupt his concentration.

  He spread his arms, palms up.

  On his right wrist, the skin rose slightly, as if an invisible snake were stirring beneath it—and a thin ruby stream of blood, obedient to its master, burst from the vein and spiraled outward, merging into a sphere.

  On his left palm, a black magical circle appeared, and from its center, soundless as night, a clot of darkness flowed out. It did not glow—on the contrary, it devoured light, making the space around it a shade darker. This sphere had no “pulse,” but it had depth. Alex felt it like a bottomless well, and every movement of his thumb echoed inside with an icy resonance.

  Alex slowly brought his hands closer together. According to the books—do not press, do not smash them together, but “introduce” them. Two different manas were like two different personalities. They needed time to grow accustomed to each other.

  Blood responded first: the surface of the sphere stretched out with a red tongue, as if testing the temperature of the darkness. From the darkness rose a barely perceptible chill-haze; goosebumps spread across Alex’s skin. He stopped the approach at a palm’s distance, restraining each mass with his intent. The muscles of his forearms tightened, but his breathing remained steady—four heartbeats per inhale, six per exhale.

  One minute. Two. Three.

  The grass around his legs fell still, as if afraid to rustle. On the water, the circles from the ventilation stretched and vanished. In his right hand, the blood calmed its pulse to an almost even line; in his left, the darkness seemed to grow heavier.

  Alex dared to reduce the distance by a few more millimeters.

  The changes were subtle. At the edge of an invisible “buffer zone,” something lightly popped in the air—not even a sound, more like a tiny collapse of silence. The blood tensed, losing its sheen. The darkness answered with a faint rasp, like sand on glass. For a moment, it felt as though they touched—not physically, but by “intent.”

  Another dozen breaths passed. Just barely—by a millimeter—the blood sphere leaned toward the shadow, and the darkness did not recoil, only settled more densely, like a cat before a leap. At the boundary of their future contact, right in the air, something new was born—a thread, impossibly thin. It trembled and rang soundlessly, like a string brushed ever so lightly.

  Alex froze. This was exactly what he had seen for the first time in the Jester’s garden before the explosion—a “resonant bridge,” as a dry textbook chapter would have called it. Do not break it. Let it stabilize. Carefully.

  “Just a little more,” he whispered to himself, and against his own conclusions from yesterday, allowed his palms to draw closer by half a fingertip.

  The string snapped taut.

  The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. In the next, utterly silent fraction of a second, Alex managed to notice how the surface of the blood pierced the edge of the darkness; how a spark burst from the junction—not of light, but black-ruby, like a shard of twilight glass; how the thread-bridge split into two thinner spirals, and then—

  Then came the explosion.

  Alex felt an invisible sledgehammer slam into his chest, and the next instant he was lying on his back several meters from where he had been sitting.

  His palms were once again covered in thin but deep cuts, from which tiny drops of blood still seeped. His skin burned, as if scorched by a heated blade. A dull roar filled his ears, like the distant sound of the sea, and his vision blurred, making the outlines of objects sway as though reflected in water.

  He took several deep breaths, trying to reclaim the sense of his body. The world gradually stopped spinning, and his ears caught the faint hum of the training hall’s ventilation. Propping himself up with one hand, Alex sat up and looked at his scarred palms.

  A moment later, bright green magical circles appeared on them—at first as glowing outlines, then slowly releasing gentle warmth. The wounds began to close, the scars fading, leaving behind only a faint tingling.

  “Are you all right, my Lord?” Siren’s worried voice sounded in his head.

  Alex gave a crooked smile and replied,

  “I’m fine.”

  “You literally read yesterday that different manas need time to get used to one another. Why did you force them together the moment you saw that… ‘resonant bridge’?”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “I didn’t think it would explode instantly,” Alex shrugged. “This time the bridge—or rather, the thread, because it looked more like a thread—seemed more distinct than the first time. I thought that was a good sign. So I tried.”

  He paused briefly and added,

  “In any case, I got useful information. So the risk wasn’t pointless.”

  “Just be careful,” Siren insisted. “It’s unknown when such an explosion might have more serious consequences than just scratched palms.”

  “Don’t worry,” Alex assured her more gently. “I’m not going to push the mana to the point of explosion again. If they need time, they’ll get it. As much as they need. What matters is the result.”

  The light-green circles faded, and the skin on his hands was completely clean again. Alex exhaled carefully and was about to recreate both spheres when the doors of the training room flew open.

  Adam entered—disheveled, sweat gleaming on his forehead, breathing heavily as if he had run the entire way.

  When their gazes met, Alex raised a hand in a casual greeting and stood up from the grass. Adam did not wait—within a few steps he was beside him and suddenly pulled him into a hug.

  Alex froze in confusion, his body instinctively tensing, but the next moment he heard a quiet, emotion-fractured whisper.

  “It… it worked. Mom woke up. Thank you… thank you, thank you…”

  Understanding flashed in Alex’s eyes. He smiled softly and relaxed his shoulders.

  “I’m glad the potion helped.”

  Adam released him, wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, and after taking a deep breath, spoke more confidently.

  “Actually, I was looking for you to pass along important news. Tonight, Father is hosting a celebratory dinner in Mom’s honor. You, Miss Elizabeth, and your parents are invited. Mom really wants to meet you all. And, by the way, you can’t refuse.”

  Alex puffed out his cheeks theatrically and spread his hands.

  “I wasn’t planning to. I’ve wanted to meet Miss Luna for a long time. Besides, refusing an official invitation from a count would be, at the very least, rude.”

  Adam exhaled in relief and smiled.

  “Good thing it was so easy to convince you.”

  “And if my parents are invited as well,” Alex said thoughtfully, “then I should quickly go to them and pass the invitation on to Astarion.”

  Adam shook his head.

  “That won’t be necessary. Father already sent his butler to your home. All that was left for me was to deliver the invitation to you and Elizabeth. And I’ve completed that task.”

  He paused for a moment, then added with a hint of secrecy,

  “By the way, the Ravenford family is invited as well. So you’ll have a chance to meet Aria’s and Demian’s parents.”

  A sly smile spread across Alex’s face.

  “Wow, then why are you still here instead of running to Aria? She hasn’t seen you in a while. During the last training session, she even asked me whether you were doing all right.”

  Adam flushed, frowned, and muttered,

  “I already told her.”

  Seeing Alex raise an eyebrow, as if preparing a barbed remark, Adam quickly added,

  “And I only did it because I knew exactly where she was. As for you—you could’ve been anywhere, so…”

  Alex burst out laughing, unable to hold it in.

  “And what’s so funny?!” Adam protested, turning even redder.

  “The fact that I didn’t even get a word out, and you’re already making excuses,” Alex explained through his laughter. Then he sighed theatrically. “Am I really such a bad friend in your eyes?”

  “No, of course not, it’s just…”

  Alex slung an arm over his shoulder.

  “Don’t worry so much. I just missed you, so I decided to get on your nerves a little. Keep you from getting too relaxed.”

  Adam replied with a smile already on his face,

  “Sometimes you’re even better at that than Aria. And… I’m glad to see you too.”

  Alex removed his hand from Adam’s shoulder and headed back toward the little lake. Adam followed after him.

  “So what have you been doing here since early morning?”

  “Training.”

  “That much I can see,” Adam snorted. “But this is the first time you’ve started this early.”

  Alex smiled lightly.

  “What I’m trying to master requires a lot of time. So I decided to start as early as possible.”

  “And what exactly is that?” Adam raised his eyebrows.

  Alex fell silent for a moment, gazing into the calm surface of the water. Then he answered,

  “On the Jester’s recommendation, I’m trying to combine blood magic and dark magic.”

  Adam raised his brows in surprise, a sharp glint of interest flashing in his eyes.

  “Whoa… As far as I know, blood magic and darkness are among the most powerful. So if you really learn how to combine them… and at the same time use both blood and darkness…” He paused and added rhetorically, “Just how strong would that make you?”

  Alex merely smiled faintly and shrugged carelessly.

  “I want to find out myself.”

  Adam fell silent for a moment, thoughtfully staring at the water.

  “If you succeed, then my already meager chances of catching up to you will shrink even more. They were almost zero as it was, and now… the gap will turn into an abyss.”

  Alex tilted his head and said gently but firmly,

  “Don’t jump to conclusions. You’ll still have a chance to catch up to me, if it matters that much to you. For now, you need to focus on your training with Professor Light. And then—with your father.”

  Adam twisted his lips into a doubtful smile.

  “Even that won’t be enough.”

  “When the time comes,” Alex replied softly, “I’ll help you become stronger myself.”

  “How exactly?” Curiosity crept into Adam’s voice. “Don’t tell me it’ll be endless training sessions again, only now under your supervision?”

  Alex smiled slyly.

  “Let that remain a secret.”

  Adam sighed heavily, as if resigning himself.

  “Fine… Then tell me, how are things going with combining blood and darkness?”

  “There is progress. Small, but it’s there.” He briefly recounted what he had learned from the books and from the Jester, and also described his first two attempts.

  Adam listened attentively, occasionally nodding. When Alex finished, he said slowly,

  “It sounds like I understand everything. Except for one thing… Was one explosion really not enough for you, that you decided to make another one?”

  Alex turned his head toward him and looked at him with that very expression that could turn any face into a stone mask. His gaze was steady, cold, devoid of emotion, as though he were looking through Adam rather than at him.

  “It was necessary,” he replied calmly.

  Adam folded his arms across his chest and nodded with the air of a sage, though mockery was clearly playing in his eyes.

  “I’m sure it was.”

  He tilted his head to the side, studying Alex closely.

  “Then show me what it actually looks like.”

  Alex only sighed, but without objection sat down on the grass by the lake. His palms lowered, his fingers relaxed. And a moment later, magical spheres began to form in the air.