The academy stopped sending Kael everywhere.
Instead, the routes began to narrow.
High-risk zones were marked in darker ink on the regional maps—areas where mana density fluctuated unpredictably, where monsters adapted faster than they should, where response times were consistently too late.
Those zones started forming a pattern.
Captain Greve noticed it before anyone else.
"You're tracing them," he said, tapping the map with a finger. "Like you already know where the next one will be."
"I don't," Kael replied. "But the world does."
Greve watched him carefully. "And you think staying inside those lines helps."
"Yes."
"It puts you closer to the pressure."
"That's the point."
Greve leaned back. "You're not asking for permission anymore."
"No."
A long silence followed.
Then Greve folded the map and handed it to him. "Then don't miss."