"I still don't get it. Why the hell are we in this piece of junk?!"
Ethan's voice bounced off the cramped steel walls, full of that signature mix of disbelief and irritation he carried like a second weapon.
Kai didn't even bother turning around.
"Because this piece of junk is the safest way into Velcrest Academy," he snapped, fists tightening around the edge of the navigation console. "We've been over this, Ethan. Three times."
"Yeah, and it still doesn't make sense," Ethan muttered, leaning back against a rusty pipe that groaned in protest. "You're telling me this—what is this, a century-old submarine?—is our big infiltration plan?"
Kai took a deep breath, trying to hold back the urge to throttle him.
They were currently submerged in the icy waters of Lake Virella—a massive, half-forgotten route that connected Dreswyn to Novagrad, and Novagrad to Velcrest through a buried mana channel system older than any map. Most people thought it collapsed decades ago.
