Ren closed his eyes, remembering what he'd seen through the Mantis's eyes in those final moments before destruction.

Two hollows, one filled with a pulsing crystal that glowed like a heart, the other empty and waiting. And Sirius's chest with that hollow at half depth, incomplete somehow.

What was missing…

Ren recognized that system because he'd created one for the egg he'd given Luna.

The Celestial Tiger's system.

Sirius's Gold-rank beast was the one crystallized in the door. Not the Black Serpent.

That meant something. Had to mean something significant about the door's requirements or Sirius's situation.

Did the door need a Gold-rank beast in each hollow? Julius and Selphira had Gold beasts too, so maybe they hadn't approached because they knew what would happen if they tried to open it?

All this had left Ren with more questions than answers…

Always more questions than solutions, the universe mocking his attempts at understanding.

Ren sighed, leaning against the building's wall. The celebration inside continued, noise and laughter filtering through the windows. Everyone so happy about their victories while he...

While he'd just seen Luna's father converted to crystal kilometers underground, frozen in eternal reaching toward something forever beyond his grasp.

He didn't want to admit the adults were right. Hated admitting that maybe, just maybe, they'd been correct in warning him not to go. But in a certain way they were right, seeing Sirius like that, eternally reaching toward something he'd never manage to touch, was demoralizing in a way words couldn't describe.

But Ren couldn't give them credit completely. Since he'd already decided something some time ago. So knowing was fine anyway, because…

He clenched his fists.

He wasn't going to give up.

If there was a way to reverse crystallization, he'd find it. It didn't matter how long it took, didn't matter what he had to learn or what obstacles he had to overcome. The path might be long, might be impossible by normal standards, but he'd walk it anyway.

Larissa and Luna deserved to have their fathers back.

And Ren would give them that despite everything, no matter how many years it might take him to achieve it.

The runes…

The thought arrived suddenly, a spark of hope in the middle of all the despair. Understanding crystallizing into possibility.

He'd managed that with the "simple key" he'd broken and then repaired, understanding it through careful study and feeling. And that process had given him certain insight about how these things worked.

The runes weren't just decoration or mystical symbols without meaning, nor pretty patterns carved by ancient hands for aesthetic purposes.

They were mana routes.

Paths designed to direct energy in specific ways, channels that shaped raw power into intended effects. Each individual rune had a simple function, like the password in the key he'd repaired.

But combined, those simple functions created complex tasks through layered interaction.

Activation, illumination, door opening...

Crystallization.

If the door had crystallized Sirius, then there was a process behind that. A sequence of runes working together to achieve that specific effect. And if Ren could understand that "ancient language," if he could decipher the mana routes one by one through patient study...

Maybe he could reverse it.

Maybe.

The word carried hope and doubt in equal measure, possibility fighting against probability.

Ren clenched his fists even tighter, feeling determination replace despair like sunrise burning away darkness. He didn't know how yet, didn't have all the answers or even most of them. But he had a starting point, had a direction to pursue.

He had hope.

But first...

First he needed to pass the other general exams and crush the two interschool examinations. Nobility and war, tests that would determine his future opportunities. He needed to focus on the present before he could work on the future. And with more freedom, with more authority and resources that would come with success...

He could do more things.

Could investigate the runes more deeply without constant oversight. Could access restricted materials, consult with experts, build the foundation of knowledge necessary for what he wanted to achieve.

He could find a way.

And maybe at the end, when he understood enough, when he was strong enough both in power and position...

He could go down again.

And this time, not just to look and feel defeated by what he found.

This time, to bring someone home.

To reverse what seemed irreversible, to undo what ancient power had done.

The celebration noise swelled behind him, reminding him that life continued even when personal tragedy struck. That the world kept turning regardless of individual pain.

Ren took one more deep breath, composing his expression into something approaching normalcy.

Then he turned back toward the building, ready to rejoin his team and pretend everything was fine.

The written exams took two complete days.

History, economics, cultivation theory, beast ecosystems, protocols, and more. Ren passed through them on autopilot, his mind still processing what he'd seen while his hand filled in answers he knew by memory. Knowledge flowing from brain to paper without conscious thought, muscle memory handling what his conscious mind couldn't focus on.

He recovered the bond with the Mantis easily, much faster than he'd expected. The pain of the break faded after only a few hours, the void in his chest filling again with familiar presence. By the time the nobility exams began the next day, Ren's 'small' beast was completely functional again.

Ready with Mimic ability.

The nobility exams were similar to those from the first trimester, but now in direct confrontation with other students. Not individual evaluations before professors, but real interactions with their peers under the critical observation of all the nobility present. Every gesture watched, every word weighed, every mistake noted.

Formal greetings with adversaries from other academies. Diplomatic discussions about topics designed to provoke, to reveal character under pressure. Simulated negotiations where each word mattered, where phrasing could mean the difference between success and failure.

And dance.

Of course there was dance.

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