Chapter 34: Great Calcification

It was a system designed to keep track of living weapons.

Once registered, the individual was granted a specialized badge that allowed them to operate freely within the Empire’s borders.

Unregistered awakeners were hunted down as dangerous rogues.

But there was a distinct, fascinating quirk to the Empire’s magical hierarchy, a quirk that completely inverted the tropes of the ancient legends Seraphina had read in her past life.

In the old stories, Dark Magic was the domain of villains.

It was the power of necromancers, demon summoners, and tyrants.

It was loathed, feared, and purged.

In the current era of the Empire, however, Dark Magicians were the most protected, precious, and honored individuals in existence.

This dramatic shift was born out of a historical catastrophe known as the "Great Calcification."

A century ago, the Church of the Holy Light had successfully eradicated nearly all the dark mages on the continent in a zealous crusade.

They believed that by eliminating darkness, only pure, holy light would remain.

They were catastrophically wrong.

Without the balancing, absorbing nature of the dark attribute, the continent’s ambient holy and arcane energies ran rampant.

Pure holy power, unchecked by its opposite, did not heal; it calcified.

It turned vibrant forests into lifeless, petrified crystal. It caused "Mana Sickness" in commoners, burning their internal organs with overwhelming positive energy.

The world began to choke on its own unregulated light.

It was only when a hidden enclave of surviving Dark Mages stepped forward, using their unique, void-like mana to absorb and ground the rampant holy energy, that the world was saved.

They acted as the spiritual exhaust pipes of the continent.

They drew in the excess, neutralized the toxic buildup of pure mana, and restored the balance.

Since that day, the paradigm had shifted.

Dark Mages were no longer hunted; they were worshipped.

They were necessary for the survival of the ecosystem and the stability of the magical leylines.

A high-tier Dark Mage was treated with more reverence than a Duke, practically pampered by both the Church and the Magic Tower, because they were so incredibly rare.

The dark attribute was recessive.

In the last fifty years, only a handful of weak dark magic users had been born, barely enough to keep the capital’s mana grid stable.

The knights of the Black Bastion knew this history intimately.

The North was a place of harsh magical storms, and they desperately lacked the balancing presence of a Dark Mage.

"We are arguing over phantoms," Sir Lucas finally declared, slamming his whetstone down. "There is only one way to settle this. We conduct a resonance test."

Gallahan blinked. "A field test? Without the Archduke’s permission?"

"We will ask for his permission, you coward," Lucas grinned, a terrifying expression on his scarred face.

He reached into his deep leather saddlebag and pulled out a beautifully carved mahogany box lined with velvet.

Inside nestled three perfectly spherical crystals, each the size of a large plum. "I confiscated these from the Count’s vault. Standard Imperial Resonance Orbs. If she has an affinity, one of these will react."

The knights gathered around the box like children peering into a candy store window.

The first orb was the Sunstone, a pale golden crystal that reacted to Holy Power.

The second was the Star-glass, a clear sphere that reacted to Arcane Magic.

The third, and rarest, was the Void-pearl, an orb of swirling, obsidian-like glass used to detect the highly coveted Dark attribute.

"Let us go," Boris grunted, scooping up the peeled apple. "The Lady must be bored by now anyway."

Inside the mythril carriage, Seraphina was, indeed, looking for a new distraction.

She had successfully folded an origami armada out of the Duke’s trade agreements and was currently trying to balance a paper boat on the tip of her nose.

Duke Kaelus sat across from her, a quill in his hand, observing her ridiculous balancing act out of the corner of his eye.

He was half-tempted to use a tiny gust of wind magic to knock the boat off just to see her pout, but he restrained himself.

Barely.

"Your Grace!"

The voice of Sir Lucas standing outside the carriage was accompanied by a respectful knock on the door.

"Enter," Kaelus commanded, his quill pausing on the parchment.

The heavy door swung open, and the massive frames of Sir Lucas, Sir Gallahan, and Sir Boris crowded into the doorway, completely blocking the sunlight.

They looked like three heavily armed bears trying to squeeze into a teahouse.

Lucas held the mahogany box out with the reverence of a priest holding a holy relic.

"We beg your indulgence, Your Grace," Lucas began, his voice surprisingly gentle. "The men and I were... discussing the Lady Seraphina’s future. Given her extraordinary intellect and fearlessness, we believe she must possess an awakened core. We wish to conduct a simple, harmless resonance test. To satisfy our curiosity, and to properly guide her education."

Kaelus looked at the three grown men, elite killers all, practically vibrating with excitement.

He then looked at Seraphina.

The paper boat had fallen off her nose, and she was currently staring at the shiny crystals in the box with wide, curious eyes.

Kaelus knew the chances of a street orphan possessing a high-tier magical core were statistically abysmal.

The nobility fiercely guarded their bloodlines to ensure strong magical inheritance.

Awakening required a specific genetic lineage and intense environmental pressure.

But then again, Seraphina was an anomaly in every sense of the word.

She had seen through Count Rodhe’s lies.

She navigated his terrifying aura as if it were a gentle breeze.

She saw things that were not there.

"A test," Kaelus mused, his violet eyes narrowing thoughtfully. He leaned back in his chair, resting his chin on his knuckles. "You believe she possesses an affinity?"

"Undoubtedly, Your Grace!" Gallahan chimed in enthusiastically. "She is too brilliant to be a mere mundane!"

"Papa Duke, what are those?" Seraphina asked, scrambling to the edge of the velvet seat and pointing a chubby finger at the orbs.