Chapter 6: Threading the Needle
Ethan's feet dragged as he wandered through the endless hallways of The Arcanium, his nerves frayed from both his training session and his complete inability to find his damn dorm.
He'd been walking for what felt like an hour, every corridor looking the same—polished stone floors, grand arches, and doors marked with symbols he couldn't read. Everything was carved from stone and wood so perfectly it looked like a bunch of architects had banded together to show off.
Unfortunately, none of it looked familiar.
"Alright. Think. You wrote this place, remember? Just... try to remember the layout," Ethan muttered under his breath, his voice bouncing off the walls.
He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to visualize the way he'd described The Arcanium in his writing. The school was meant to be massive, ancient, and impressive, but functional too. The dormitories were supposed to be somewhere near the classrooms, but not too close.
"Come on... where the hell is the dorm section?"
He kept walking, turning corner after corner, his frustration mounting with every wrong turn. His muscles were sore, his head was pounding, and he could barely keep his thoughts straight.
Maybe he was just too tired to think properly. His earlier training session with Ignatius had pushed him way past his comfort zone, but the fire in his chest hadn't gone out. Not yet.
He needed to get stronger. And the System's revelation about the Modification Functions was practically screaming at him to make progress.
The problem was, making progress meant actually figuring out how to use his spells without blowing himself up.
"Gotta practice... but first, I need to find that stupid dorm."