A ritual basin cracked.

  Not shattered.

  Cracked.

  Water trembled violently inside the silver-lined bowl before spilling over the edge and hissing against the rune-inscribed stone floor.

  Archmage Seredin froze mid-chant.

  The tower observatory was designed to monitor continental mana fluctuations — Spirit King awakenings, mass summonings, divine interference.

  Not… this.

  The crystal lattice suspended above the basin flickered erratically.

  Then stabilized.

  Then pulsed once.

  Hard.

  Seredin stepped forward slowly.

  “…That was not a Spirit King.”

  Assistants rushed in from the spiral stairwell below.

  “Archmage?”

  He ignored them.

  The reading stabilized into a single directional flare.

  Southwest.

  Forest region outside the frontier city.

  Magnitude—

  His eyes narrowed.

  “…Impossible.”

  “No recorded summoning ritual matches that signature,” one assistant whispered.

  Seredin didn’t respond.

  “Because this wasn’t a ritual. It was output. Raw, unfiltered, unrestricted, one mortal… Releasing only a fraction of a god's power at once…"

  The basin cracked further.

  A thin fracture running down the center.

  Seredin’s expression hardened.

  “…Find out who did that.”

  — Back at the frontier city

  Akira woke up to weight.

  Not pain.

  Weight.

  Like gravity had increased slightly and his body had adjusted without asking him first.

  His eyes opened slowly.

  Wooden ceiling.

  Familiar.

  Inn room.

  He inhaled.

  The air felt… denser.

  No.

  He was denser.

  Mana moved inside him differently.

  Before, it had flowed like a river within banks.

  Now—

  The banks were wider.

  Stronger.

  Scar tissue, almost.

  He flexed his fingers.

  The ring remained.

  Quiet.

  Stable.

  His arm didn’t feel like it was splitting anymore.

  It felt reinforced.

  “You’re awake.”

  Kristyne’s voice cracked slightly.

  He turned his head.

  She was sitting beside the bed.

  Eyes faintly red.

  He processed that slowly.

  “…How long?”

  “Two days.”

  Akira blinked.

  “…Oh.”

  She stared at him.

  “That’s all you’re going to say?”

  He tried to sit up.

  His muscles responded instantly.

  Too instantly.

  He overcorrected and nearly launched himself forward.

  Kristyne grabbed his shoulder.

  “Slow down.”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Akira froze.

  That wasn’t normal.

  He had barely applied force.

  Malis, seated casually near the window, observed without moving.

  “Motor output efficiency has increased,” he said calmly.

  Akira looked at him.

  “…What?”

  “You flooded a forest,” Malis continued. “Your body had to adapt or die.”

  Kristyne’s grip tightened.

  “You collapsed,” she said sharply. “You didn’t ‘adapt.’ You collapsed.”

  Akira blinked.

  “…I what?”

  Malis tilted his head slightly.

  “You released ten percent of your magical potential through the Water Spirit King’s ring.”

  Akira stared.

  “Dumb it down for me please.”

  “The forest,” Malis clarified mildly, “is now underwater.”

  Silence.

  Akira processed that.

  “…Underwater?”

  “Yes.”

  Kristyne crossed her arms.

  “You flooded it.”

  He turned to her slowly.

  “I— what?”

  “You flooded it, Akira.”

  There was no accusation in her voice.

  Just disbelief.

  Malis added helpfully, “The adventurers are already renaming it.”

  Akira looked back at him.

  “…Renaming it?”

  Malis nodded.

  “The Sunken Woods.”

  Silence filled the room.

  Akira blinked twice.

  “…You’re joking.”

  “I am not.”

  Kristyne looked away briefly.

  “They’re saying a cursed lake twice the size of the human capital appeared overnight.”

  Akira stared at his hands.

  He didn’t feel destructive.

  He didn’t feel catastrophic.

  He felt…

  Stable.

  He pulled mana into his palm experimentally.

  It responded instantly.

  Not violently.

  Clean.

  Like a door that used to stick now opening without resistance.

  His eyes widened slightly.

  “That’s… easier.”

  “Yes,” Malis said.

  Akira flexed his fingers again.

  There was no internal friction.

  No resistance threshold.

  His baseline felt—

  Higher.

  “You expanded your mana pathways through forced overload,” Malis continued. “The ring prevented fatal rupture. Your body rebuilt stronger.”

  Kristyne’s jaw tightened. “You say that like it was planned.”

  “It was predictable… enough”

  She shot him a look.

  Akira ignored them both for a moment.

  He focused inward.

  Before, reaching for magic had felt like drawing water through a narrow pipe.

  Now—

  It felt like opening a gate.

  Carefully, he let a small amount of water gather above his palm.

  It formed instantly.

  Stable.

  Perfectly shaped.

  No tremor.

  No strain.

  He cut it off immediately.

  Silence.

  “…I did that,” he said quietly.

  “Yes,” Malis replied.

  Akira looked at Kristyne.

  “…I’m sorry.”

  Her expression softened immediately.

  “I was scared,” she admitted.

  He lowered his gaze.

  “I didn’t mean to flood anything.”

  Malis spoke evenly.

  “You didn’t release one hundred percent output like the ring is supposed to make you.”

  Akira looked at him.

  “I didn’t? But I made a lake twice the size of the human capital.”

  “You did, but somehow the ring couldn’t handle using all of your mana... You're going to have to train to use more power”

  “…Can I control it now?”

  “Yes.”

  “Fully?”

  “No.”

  That pause mattered.

  Akira exhaled slowly.

  “How much?”

  Malis considered.

  “Ten percent safely. Fifteen with structural strain. Anything above twenty remains… costly.”

  Kristyne stared at him.

  “You’re not doing that again.”

  Akira didn’t answer immediately.

  Instead—

  He swung his legs off the bed.

  Stood up.

  Carefully this time.

  The floorboards creaked beneath him.

  He felt grounded.

  He felt heavier.

  Like the world had increased in resolution.

  “…The Sunken Woods,” he muttered.

  Malis nodded once.

  “Your first landmark.”

  Akira ran a hand through his hair.

  “…That sounds like a boss dungeon.”

  “It likely will become one,” Malis replied calmly. “Mana saturation is ideal for monster mutation.”

  Kristyne closed her eyes.

  “Please tell me you’re joking.”

  “I am not.”

  Akira stared at the wall.

  “…I made a dungeon.”

  “Yes.”

  He looked at his right hand again.

  The ring did not glow.

  It did not react.

  It simply existed.

  Quiet.

  Waiting.

  And for the first time—

  It didn’t feel like something foreign.

  It felt integrated.

  He clenched his fist slowly.

  “…If that was only ten percent…”

  Malis watched him carefully.

  “Yes?”

  Akira’s eyes sharpened slightly.

  “…Then I need to get used to using less.”

  Kristyne glared at him.

  “Yes. You do.”

  But she stepped closer anyway.

  Close enough that their shoulders touched.

  Not stopping him.

  Just standing with him.

  Malis observed the contact.

  Noted it.

  Filed it away.

  “The capital felt that surge,” he said casually.

  Akira froze.

  “…What?”

  Malis’ expression didn’t change.

  “Observatories monitor mana fluctuations.”

  Akira blinked.

  “…They can track that?”

  “Yes.”

  Silence.

  Kristyne slowly turned toward him.

  “…You’re saying someone knows?”

  Malis tilted his head slightly.

  “I am saying someone noticed.”

  The room felt smaller suddenly.

  Akira exhaled slowly.

  “…So.”

  He looked at his hand again.

  Then toward the window.

  “…We’re not going to have a quiet trip to the capital, are we?”

  Malis smiled faintly.

  “No.”

  Kristyne sighed.

  “Great.”

  Akira flexed his fingers one last time.

  The weight inside him didn’t feel crushing anymore.

  It felt ready.

  Outside the inn—

  Rumors were already spreading.

  About the cursed forest.

  About the flood.

  About something awakening.

  And far away—

  In a cracked observatory tower—

  Orders had already been issued.

  The Sunken Woods would not stay quiet for long.