The explosion was not large.It was not the kind of explosion that destroyed walls or sent people flying across the room. It was sharp, sudden, and completely unexpected, a burst of white light and a crack of sound that made every person in the awakening hall flinch at once.Then the smoke cleared, and the core stone was still there, but it had split cleanly down the middle.Professor Eldrin Hale, Kael, and the students stared at it.Nobody spoke for a full five seconds, and then the professor walked forward, slow and deliberate, and crouched beside the broken stone. He studied both halves carefully, and he ran one finger along the clean split, and then he stood back up and looked at Kael with an expression that was impossible to read."In thirty years of running assessments," he said quietly, "I have never seen a student break the core stone."Kael opened his mouth."I did not mean to," he said.The professor looked at him."No one ever does," he replied.A student near the back whis
Zuletzt aktualisiert : 2026-04-09 Mehr lesen