The entrance to the Academy’s laboratories did not feel like the cold, ornate corridors of the Royal Palace on Aethergard. Here, the air was crystal clear, saturated with the faint, high-frequency hum of etheric processors and the distinct scent of ionized silver. There were no useless ritual decorations. Instead, smooth surfaces of liquid metal and crystal dominated the space—surfaces that did not reflect light but rather absorbed it, emitting only a muted azure glow in return. This was Anaris's world—a world where the dreams of the Sylvarian race's evolution were not transformed into poems, but into precise molecular equations.

  Anaris led her family toward the central dais, dominated by a massive holographic projector surrounded by data fields. There, Eronis was already waiting. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his robes so perfectly aligned that it seemed impossible for a single wrinkle to form. As soon as he saw Anaris, his Core rippled slightly in a calming rhythm—his only concession to emotion.

  "You have disrupted the schedule by fourteen minutes, Anaris," he began calmly, his voice echoing through the sterile laboratory like a deep resonator tone. "But I assume there was a valid reason for your late arrival, given that the entire Royal Family accompanies you."

  "The reason is what you are about to see, Eronis. I want to show you that the heavens are no longer the exclusive privilege of those who must attain them through centuries of meditation and the transformation of the Core into a Hexagon," Anaris replied, activating the projector with one fluid motion. A levitating crystalline plinth appeared above the dais—the foundational unit of her new system.

  Anaris took a breath, diagrams of geometric cores flickering behind her. "You all know how our evolution works. But my system, which I have named ETHER-STRIDE, grants even teenagers at the Aspirant level a power that was previously blocked by their immature Core structure. At the Third Level, my technology allows them to maintain a molecular ether-lattice for one minute."

  Anaris smirked. "For years, I’ve heard those brats from the Noble Houses whining about wanting to cruise the atmosphere because their fathers took them on a flight, and now they feel inferior because they aren't allowed to do it themselves. Well, here it is. One minute of freedom. At the Fourth Level, for our Pillars, that stability time extends to five minutes. They are the ones who make up the majority of our race, doing the grueling labor that history never remembers, but without which our civilization would not exist. I am giving the common caste the chance to know what it feels like to walk upon the sky."

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  Sinthia, the mistress of diplomacy and intrigue, straightened slightly at those words. Her eyes narrowed, and her lips curled into a faint, predatory smile. "Giving ordinary people a sense of exceptionalism and noble brats a toy they won’t be able to live without... Anaris, that is political gold. I already know how to wring every last crystal out of those Houses for a license to this interface. Mother and I will extract their gratitude so elegantly they’ll thank us for the privilege of paying."

  Eronis let out a deep sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Here we go again," he muttered, so softly only the nearby Valeria could hear. "Anaris is fracturing the composure of our venerable elders in the Council once more, and you’re already sliding the rings off their fingers. We have a revolution in the laboratory, and you two see nothing but an accounting ledger."

  Anaris continued as if she hadn't heard. "The Fifth Level, the Adepts, can maintain the lattice for twenty minutes. That is enough time for true freedom of movement. And then, there’s me. As a Master of Form at the Sixth Level, I can manage an hour. But make no mistake—the standard limit for my level is forty to forty-five minutes. For those considered geniuses of the race, it’s fifty-five. But I designed this. I know how these ether molecules truly stack, how every bond holds. That is why my limit is sixty minutes. Seventy would be the absolute ceiling, beyond which the Core would simply dissolve in an energetic shock."

  "And what about us?" Aurelion spoke up, looking at his hands, around which a hint of a Geometry of Dominion hovered in the ether. "We who already command reality intuitively?"

  Anaris shrugged. "You don't need my system, brother. You are Transcendents and Monoliths. You understand the laws of reality so deeply that you walk upon the atmosphere because the space itself allows it. You no longer need a crutch when you command space through your very presence. Why use a carpenter's tool on the Ether when you can command it by will alone? My system is for those who are still walking toward your level of understanding. I am giving them a piece of transcendence without requiring them to transform their Core into a Hexagon."

  Anaris took a confident step onto the platform, which immediately lit up with a brilliant azure glow beneath her foot. She stood in mid-air, looking down at them. "I am giving them the chance to stand where they were previously not even allowed to look."

  Kaelis grinned, his volatile aura filling the lab with eager energy. "Alright, Anaris. The theory lesson is over. Sinthia is already calculating the profit, and Eronis is already drafting your reprimand. But I want to see action. I want to see if your 'one-hour lattice' can withstand a real test. I want to see if your mathematics can survive a single step from a Virtuoso."

  Anaris simply offered a provocative smile. "Then come on, Kaelis. Let’s see if my Hexagon is stronger than your pride."