The world did not change with thunder.
It changed in stillness.
For Maximilian Kriegswald, silence reigned supreme as his newly-awakened Stellarweave Core expanded behind his heart like an unfolding starfield, threads of mana, time, and soul weaving through his limbs and thoughts. The chamber where he had accepted his Class Evolution — hidden beneath the Arcane Codex Annex of the Universität der Ewigen Flamme — was still humming from the aftershock of his transformation.
But above, the world continued, unaware that a force older than the Flame Crown itself had just chosen its next bearer.
He exhaled slowly, steam rising from his lips.
A new trial was waiting.
The University's Resonance Shift
Word of Maximilian's dueling feats, hidden training, and rising aura had already trickled through the student towers like wildfire.
But now?
Now the Flame Parliament itself whispered of a convergence.
Three of the major Houses — Vulkrand, Pyrolith, and Wyrmbinder — had each dispatched formal representatives to request audience with him. Not as a student. But as a factor. A political force.
Maelis of Wyrmbinder had watched from the edge of his last battle. Her gaze had not wavered. And Alwin, the Rune-Seer from the Northern Gate, had begun leaving scrolls outside Maximilian's door. Warnings? Messages? Promises?
Even Lirael, ever the ghost of velvet shadows, had changed her route patterns. Where once she stayed in the mid-levels of the Ember Library, she now lingered near the training chambers — near him.
Something was shifting.
And the university had noticed.
Training Hall of Braided Flame – Deep Wing 4
Maximilian stood atop a raised obsidian dais, the training armor scorched and half-melted from inner aura flare.
The instructor — a gold-eyed Flame Warden known only as "Instructor Eon" — watched him with distant, almost curious regard.
"You are burning too cold for someone ranked as S+," Eon said, tilting his head. "And too precise for someone untrained."
Maximilian said nothing. Silence was his shield. Precision his sword.
With a flick of the wrist, he activated Temporal Anchor again, slowing the world for the barest flicker. Time lensed around his left hand. The spell fragment resonated harder now, stronger with each evolution.
"Form Variant: Zeitbrecher – Starmarked Chakram Mode"
A spinning loop of star-threaded silver whirled into his palm. He slashed forward — not at the dummy, but at its projected future state. When time returned, the training golem collapsed in pieces, every segment falling exactly as preseen.
Eon was silent for a long time.
"You're not ready for the Ember Trials," he said finally. "You're beyond them."
Lore Drop – The Last Ember Trials
At the heart of the university lies an ancient rite.
The Letzte Glut — the Last Ember — is not a class, nor a duel. It is a divine inheritance trial masked in mortal form.
Only once every age does a student awaken with the correct resonance to even see its entrance.
It is said the Trial Chamber of the Last Ember reflects the true nature of a soul's flame — be it shadowed, divine, broken, or eternal.
And those who survive... become more than students.
They become Wielders of the Primordial Flame.
Item Profile – Astral Vein Mantle
Type: Soul-Bound Relic Garment
Tier: Legendary
Binding: Maximilian Kriegswald
Description: Woven from the fractured remnants of a stardragon's core and the lost silk of the Weaver-Mother of Oor, this mantle regulates soul-heat, disguises aura bursts, and enhances temporal stability in zones of fluctuating flow.
Abilities:
Starwoven Echo – Reflects minor spell traces back to origin.
Soul Attenuation – Reduces detection risk of Class Rank above S+.
Flame Veil – Casts a visual mirage masking true location for 3 seconds.
Note: This mantle self-generates after a Star Soul evolution. One of one. Unique signature embedded.
Character Interlude – Lirael, Maelis, Alwin
That evening, a storm fell across the upper towers. Rain whispered against flame-glass windows. Within the scholar's balcony garden, Lirael sat with a scroll untouched.
"He's close," she murmured to the dark. "Closer to something the stars themselves fear."
She didn't know Maelis watched her from below. The drake-blooded warlady's fingers tensed on the hilt of her thunder-chain blade.
"Keep watching," Maelis whispered. "You'll see what it means to stand by someone destined to burn the world down—or save it."
Elsewhere, in a circular chamber inscribed with ever-shifting glyphs, Alwin traced a symbol on the floor with star-ink.
"He will fracture," he whispered, "but in the breaking, he will remake the axis."
The Trial Awakens
The invitation came not on parchment, nor by mouth.
It came as a heat. A flare. A pulse that only Maximilian could feel, rising from beneath the very bones of the Flame University.
He followed it down. Past forbidden gates. Past the chambers no one dared to teach in.
Until he stood before the door.
A perfect circle. Inlaid with starmetal and shadowgold. No keyhole. Only flame.
And when he touched it, the door did not open.
The world did.
End of Chapter 30 – Die Prüfkammer der Letzten Glut – The Trial Chamber of the Last Ember