The Triangle did not apologize.
That would have required admitting it had done something wrong.
Instead, it softened.
The enforcement units were gone by morning.
No black sleeves in the courtyards. No containment grid hovering near dorm corridors. No visible mana signatures idling where students liked to gather.
Just instructors again.
Just bells.
Just the same polished blue lights humming along the walls like they had never flickered.
If someone from outside walked in, they would think nothing had happened.
That was the point.
Dreyden woke before first bell.
He didn't move immediately.
He lay in bed and listened.
Footsteps in the hallway.
Distant plumbing.
A door closing two rooms down.
Normal.
He let his magic circulate slowly, deliberately keeping output low. He didn't need spikes on record this morning.
Then he sat up.
His interface blinked once.
No warning.
No directive.
Just an update:
STRUCTURAL STABILITY PROTOCOL — PHASE ADJUSTMENT
