Professor Kendrick's combat training hall hummed with standardized magic, crystalline channels glowing in geometric patterns that now seemed suffocating to Zeph's awakened sensitivity. Students lined up at the practice stations, their corporate-approved wands moving in perfect unison through morning warm-up forms. The air tasted of ozone and artificial constraint.
"Cooper!" Kendrick's voice cracked across the hall. "Equipment malfunction report. Now."
Zeph stepped forward, careful to maintain the slouched posture of a struggling student despite the true magic singing through his veins. The practice wand's blackened crystal felt like an anchor in his hand, a reminder of how quickly everything had changed.
"Yes, Professor. The crystal matrix experienced feedback collapse during private practice. I was attempting the basic channeling exercise from chapter three when—"
"Let me see it." Kendrick held out her hand. Her own restricted-grade wand hung at her belt, its enhanced crystals pulsing with barely contained power.
Zeph passed over the ruined practice wand, remembering Thaddeus's coaching on how to explain its condition. His sensitivity picked up subtle fluctuations in the professor's magical field – concern, curiosity, and something else. Something that felt almost like recognition.
"Interesting." Kendrick turned the wand over, fingers tracing the crack in its crystal. "The failure pattern is unusual. You say this happened during basic channeling?"
"Yes, Professor. I was trying to improve my efficiency rating." The partial truth felt bitter on his tongue, but he kept his expression properly chagrined. "I know my scores are... below standard."
Her eyes narrowed slightly. For a moment, Zeph felt her magic brush against his carefully maintained camouflage. He held his breath, but the probe slid past without detecting the true currents flowing beneath.
"See me after class about replacement equipment." She set the wand aside. "For now, partner with Harrison. Share his wand for the exercises."
Relief washed through Zeph as he made his way to Ash's station. His friend's grin carried its usual hint of mischief, but there was concern in his eyes.
"Twelve hours," Ash whispered as Zeph took position beside him. "Twelve hours since I covered for you in evening meditation, and you've already blown up a wand? This better be good."
"Later," Zeph murmured. "Somewhere private."
Ash's eyebrows rose, but he just nodded and held out his wand. "Here. Try not to fry this one too. Some of us can't afford premium replacements."
The training wand's crystal matrix felt clunky and restrictive after working with natural flows, but Zeph carefully wrapped his power in the camouflage patterns Thaddeus had taught him. To corporate sensors, it would look like he was struggling to channel through the crystal. In reality, he was letting most of his power flow around it, using the standardized pathways as cover rather than conduit.
```
Status Check:
[Apparent Power Level: 12.4]
[True Power: MASKED]
[Corporate Compliance: Surface Level]
[Flow Control: Active]
[Security Status: Camouflaged]
```
"Today's exercise," Kendrick announced, "focuses on power distribution and target acquisition. House Sterling's latest safety protocols require a minimum seventy percent accuracy rating for advancement to intermediate combat classes. Begin with form three, standard targeting sequence."
The class moved through the prescribed forms, corporate magic flowing in rigid, predetermined patterns. Zeph matched their movements while carefully maintaining his facade of weakness. Let them see the struggle they expected. Let them think nothing had changed.
But something had changed. His sensitivity caught edges of true magic beneath the corporate infrastructure – ancient currents still flowing through the academy's bones. The crystal spires weren't just for show or standardization; they followed paths of natural power the Houses had built upon rather than fully suppressing.
"Power variance detected," chirped Ash's wand as Zeph executed a particularly complex form. "Recommend recalibration of user parameters."
"Ignore it," Ash muttered. "These older models get glitchy all the time. Just try to keep your output steady."
Zeph nodded, but his attention had caught on something else. Professor Kendrick was watching him with an odd expression, her own magic moving in patterns that didn't quite match corporate standard. For a moment, he thought he glimpsed something familiar in the way power flowed around her – something that reminded him of the hidden library section.
The moment passed as she turned to correct another student's form, but the impression lingered. Were there others who knew about true magic? How many more secrets lay hidden beneath the Houses' carefully constructed facade?
"Decent execution, Harrison," Kendrick said as she passed their station. "Cooper... work on your crystal alignment. Your efficiency rating is still well below acceptable range."
But there was something in her tone, a slight emphasis that made Zeph's sensitivity tingle. Was she telling him to actually improve, or to be more careful about hiding his true capabilities?
The rest of class passed in a blur of forms and corporate-approved techniques. Zeph maintained his cover, but the effort of constantly wrapping his power in camouflage left him drained. By the final exercise, sweat beaded on his forehead.
"You look like shit," Ash commented as they packed up. "Seriously, what happened last night? And don't give me the official story about crystal feedback."
Zeph glanced around the emptying training hall. "Not here. Meet me in the engineering lab during lunch break? Fewer monitoring systems there."
"Now I'm definitely interested." Ash's eyes lit up with familiar technical curiosity. "Does this have anything to do with those power fluctuations I've been tracking? The ones that don't match any known corporate patterns?"
"You've been tracking—" Zeph cut himself off as Professor Kendrick approached.
"Cooper. A word about your replacement equipment."
Ash shot him a look that clearly said their conversation wasn't over, then headed for the door with the other students. Soon, only Zeph and Kendrick remained in the training hall.
"Professor, I can explain—"
"Can you?" She held up his ruined practice wand. "Can you explain how a simple crystal burnout produced these resonance patterns? They're unlike anything in Sterling's documentation."
Zeph's heart hammered. He reached for his camouflage techniques, but Kendrick's next words froze him in place.
"Tell me, Mr. Cooper... have you been visiting the library's hidden sections?"
The crystal spires hummed overhead as two sets of magic shifted beneath corporate facades – student and teacher each recognizing something familiar in the other's carefully maintained disguise. The game of masks, it seemed, had more players than either the Houses or Thaddeus had revealed.
```
Status Update:
[Cover Status: COMPROMISED?]
[Allegiance Assessment: UNCLEAR]
[Security Risk: ELEVATED]
[True Magic Detection: ACTIVE]
[Next Actions: CALCULATING...]
```
In Zeph's bag, *The Wandsmith's Echo* thrummed with quiet power, waiting to see how its new student would handle this first real test of both magical skill and discretion. The true currents of power swirled invisible beneath corporate channels, ancient and patient, as two practitioners of hidden arts began their careful dance of revelation and concealment.
The next move would determine far more than just Zeph's grade in combat training. It would set the tone for his entire journey through the shadowed spaces between standardized magic and forbidden truth.