The Under-Veins were a labyrinth of wet, echoing iron and pulsing glass pipes. Above them, the heavy rhythmic thrum of Olympos—the city of the elite—vibrated through the ceiling like a distant, arrogant heartbeat. Down here, the only light came from the toxic, neon-green runoff flowing through open grates.
"Watch your step," Mina whispered, her brass device clicking frantically. "The mana-waste here is 'raw'. It's the recycled energy of millions of citizens. If it touches your skin, it'll try to rewrite your DNA into a puddle of slime."
Solan looked at the glowing sludge. To his Void Sight, the liquid wasn't just waste; it was a chaotic soup of broken prayers and discarded spells.
[WARNING: TOXIC MANA SATURATION] [HAZARD LEVEL: HIGH]
"How far to the Academy basement?" Solan asked, his hand resting on the cold hilt of the Fang of Ophiuchus.
"Three miles of tunnels," Mina replied, squinting at a holographic map projected from her wrist. "But we have a problem. The 'Cleaners' are active today."
Screee—
A sound like metal grinding against bone echoed from the darkness ahead. Out of the green fog emerged a Mana-Wight. It was a creature stitched together from discarded mechanical parts and necrotic flesh, its "eyes" replaced by glowing blue sensors. These were the automated janitors of the Under-Veins, programmed to incinerate anything—or anyone—that wasn't authorized.
[THREAT DETECTED: MANA-WIGHT (CLEANER UNIT)] [STRENGTH: B-RANK]
The Wight didn't warn them. It raised a hydraulic arm that transformed into a high-pressure mana-cannon. A bolt of concentrated blue energy hissed through the tunnel.
Solan reacted instantly.
"Crimson Aegis."
The red plasma flared, forming a translucent shield that caught the blue bolt. The impact sent a spray of sparks into the toxic water, but Solan didn't budge. His new Void Noble physiology absorbed the kinetic shock with ease.
"Mina, get behind the pipe!" Solan commanded.
He didn't wait for the Wight to fire again. He used Phantom Step, appearing directly above the mechanical horror. The Fang of Ophiuchus descended in a vertical arc, the black glass blade humming with a suppressed, hungry frequency.
SHING.
The blade sliced through the Wight's reinforced chassis like a hot wire through wax. But the creature didn't die; it began to self-destruct, its core glowing with a volatile white light.
"Solan! It's going to blow!" Mina screamed.
"Let it," Solan said, his voice cold.
Instead of retreating, he placed his bare palm on the glowing core. The obsidian orb in his chest pulsed with a violent, gravitational pull.
[LAW OF DEVOURING: CORE-STRIPPING]
The white explosion didn't happen. Instead, the light was literally sucked into Solan's palm, turning into thin ribbons of white smoke that disappeared into his skin. The mechanical Wight collapsed into a heap of lifeless, rusted scrap.
[ENERGY RESTORED: 92%] [SYSTEM OVERLOAD PREVENTED]
"You... you just ate a high-output mana bomb," Mina stared at him, her yellow eyes wide with a mixture of awe and terror. "Do you even have a limit?"
Solan looked at his hand. A thin line of black corruption was creeping up his middle finger, a reminder that every "meal" came with a cost.
"I don't know," Solan said, his orange eye flickering. "But we need to keep moving. The explosion didn't happen, but the sudden drop in mana-pressure will alert the technicians in the tower."
They sprinted deeper into the tunnels, bypassing automated turrets and avoiding the rising tide of acidic runoff. Finally, they reached a massive, reinforced steel hatch etched with the symbol of the Great Library of Aetheria.
Mina pulled out a series of bypass cables and began hacking into the lock. "This is it. Once we're inside, I stay in the shadows and handle the security feeds. You find that map."
Solan looked at the hatch. He could feel it now—the massive weight of millions of books, and somewhere among them, the truth about his stolen legacy.
"Mina," Solan said, his voice softening for a split second. "If this goes south... get yourself out. Don't let them turn you into a 'Null' again."
Mina didn't look up from her cables, but her hands trembled slightly. "Just find the map, Solan. Give them hell for all of us."
CLACK.
The hatch hissed open. Beyond lay a spiral staircase of white marble, leading directly into the heart of the enemy's knowledge.
Solan Vantex, the 13th Constellation, had finally entered the Academy.