"Undetected?" Damien echoed, voice low.
Kael didn't respond, but the smirk on his face didn't fade. Dominic, however, stepped slightly ahead, his tone more clipped now—informative.
"If you'd entered through the sanctioned Cradle zone in Azaria," he said, "the Dominion would have logged it. Monitored it. And others would be watching too. There's no way to veil that kind of awakening—too much mana, too much spatial distortion. The noble houses would notice. Your name would spread before you even finished."
Damien's gaze narrowed. The threads clicked together.
So that was why. Why this place existed. Why they'd traveled so far, under silence, using a private Elford gate. Not just for safety. For secrecy. For control.
This wasn't just an awakening.
It was a concealment.
"That's why you've been preparing all this," Damien murmured.
Dominic gave a single nod.
