***
{Outside The Projection}
The hall, still buzzing from the Path Optimization bombshell, was finally starting to chill.
Most of the Magi were either muttering among themselves or had their faces stuck somewhere between disbelief and grudging admiration.
"Alright, fine."
Noor groaned, rubbing her temples like she was fighting off a migraine.
"Maybe the Sultan's a fuckin' prodigy. Whatever. Can we all agree we've wasted enough brainpower freaking out over this?"
Her pride was clearly taking a massive hit.
She'd always thought she had him beat in this department—easily.
Especially after finding out about his whole Return By Death thing.
She'd chalked up his success to him abusing the Hell out of that "cheat."
Because come on, how could someone with infinite retries not just brute-force their way to the top?
