"Alice," Arthur commanded, standing before the central projection table. "Display the Global Status."
"Processing..." Alice waved her hand.
A massive holographic map of the continent materialized in the air above the table. It wasn't a flat paper map; it was a 3D topographic projection. Glowing blue lines crisscrossed the land like veins.
The Ley Lines.
"Beautiful," Zack whispered, adjusting his glasses. "The mana flows... they look like rivers."
"They are rivers," Arthur said, leaning in. "But look at the color."
Most of the lines were blue. But the lines converging on the Capital—the center of the Kingdom—were pulsing an angry, violent red.
"Warning," Alice stated emotionlessly. "Central Pump Station: Blockage Detected. Pressure in Sector 1 (Capital) is at 96%."
"Blockage?" Julian pulled himself up, wiping sweat from his brow. "What does that mean?"
"It means the system is constipated," Arthur said grimly. "The mana isn't cycling. It's building up. And when pressure builds up in a closed system without a release valve..."
"It explodes," Zack finished, terrified.
Arthur zoomed in on the Capital. The red pulsing light was expanding.
"Alice," Arthur asked. "Simulation. Run a projection for catastrophic failure."
"Calculating..."
The hologram shifted. The red light at the Capital flashed. A shockwave rippled out.
T+0 Seconds: The Capital is vaporized.
T+10 Minutes: The shockwave hits the Academy.
T+1 Hour: The backlash travels down the Ley Lines, shattering the mana crystals in every city on the continent.
"Total System Collapse," Alice concluded. "Estimated casualties: 90% of the population."
The room went silent. The hum of the machine seemed menacing now.
"When?" Julian asked, his voice shaking. "When does this happen?"
Alice displayed a countdown clock in the air.
[730 Days, 23 Hours, 59 Minutes.]
"Two years," Arthur exhaled, wiping sweat from his brow. "The pressure is critical, but the containment seals have about two years of integrity left before they rupture."
"Two years?" Julian laughed nervously. "That's ages! My father will surely notice by then. Or the King!"
"Look at the log," Arthur pointed to the red text. "The pressure is rising exponentially. In two years, the mana density in the Capital will be so high that no normal mage can cast a spell without burning up. If we don't vent the system before the countdown ends, there won't be a Kingdom to save."
Arthur looked at his hands. They were small. He was twelve.
"We can't fix it now," Arthur admitted. "We are weak. We lack resources. We lack knowledge. If we go to the Capital now, we'll just die in the sewers."
He looked at Julian and Zack.
"We have two years to prepare. We use the Academy. We steal their knowledge, we hoard their materials, and we build the tools we need. When this clock hits '30 Days,' we leave."
Julian straightened his robe. "Two years to become the strongest mages in history? Acceptable."
End of Chapter 28