The next morning, Ferra carried the witness plate into the guild archive, then marked the basin as controlled ground instead of a place for arguments.
Hajin returned with the Watcher, Loccy, Juna, plus Vella, while Marrick supervised contracts and kept the board clear of royal language.
Hajin watched the empty road and thought, ’The guild can run without me for one morning,’ pressing his thumb against the old map, ’so this test can measure my choices.’
Aria stood beside Ferra’s table with three ledgers open, her pale light crossing each page whenever a pressure mark changed.
Aria tapped the first ledger and said, "The first test measured reception, while this one measures duration, recovery, strain, and when six rings become a decision."
Hajin looked toward the Watcher and replied, "Press until the test reaches that decision, but stop before the basin becomes a weapon against the town."
The Watcher lowered her chin and answered, "I’ll use only the strength I can withdraw without leaving an answer behind in the stone."
Loccy checked the boundary stones with four Wings folded beneath her brace, while Vella checked the healing mark at her wrist.
Vella pressed two fingers against the mark and said, "You’re a witness, not a support beam, so use four Wings for the marker or a person, never his pride."
Loccy looked toward Hajin and replied, "I’ll protect the marker, and I’ll tell him when his pride weighs more than the stone."
Juna walked the eastern edge and reported, "Nothing moved beyond the foundation, no living scent crossed the line, and no path leads toward the witness plate."
Ferra set a white pin in the center and said, "The test ends if this pin turns black, Aegis crosses the boundary, or Aria records pathway failure."
Hajin touched the wrapped Chain at his side without summoning it, then thought, ’A weapon would make the result impressive,’ keeping his hand still, ’but the first useful number belongs to the Rings.’
He opened the first Ring, and Aegis settled over his skin without disturbing the dust beneath his feet.
The Watcher raised one hand and sent a narrow force through the foundation, while the broken columns groaned without shedding stone.
Hajin held the pressure for one minute and said, "Don’t increase it yet, because the first ring needs to show how it receives the load."
Aria watched the first ledger and replied, "The response is stable, the left shoulder line is warm, and no fracture has formed beneath the western marker."
Hajin opened the second Ring, then divided the force through a third orbit before the pressure could settle in one pathway.
The witness plate stayed dull beneath its cover, while the basin’s columns leaned without crossing the marked limit.
Aria looked up from the ledger and said, "Two rings receive the pressure without borrowed movement, while the strain remains below the warning mark."
Hajin opened the third Ring and felt the force become a weight across his circulation.
The Watcher increased the pressure by one measured step, then stopped when Loccy’s four Wings rose beside the boundary marker.
Loccy caught the leaning stone with one hand and said, "The marker moved, but it didn’t break, and I didn’t need to hold it for long."
Vella watched the healing mark fade and replied, "Good, because spending recovery on a palace stone improves nothing except your ability to complain."
Loccy dismissed her Wings before the ache reached her shoulders and answered, "Complaining is how I keep the body informed without letting it write the report."
Hajin opened the fourth Ring, and the pressure struck every barrier across the circuit at once.
The old foundation answered with a low vibration that crossed the ground, climbed his legs, and stopped beneath the tattoo paths.
Aria lifted her head and said, "The fourth ring changes distribution, so the pressure no longer reaches one pathway before the others."
Hajin kept his voice even and replied, "That’s the point of the ring, but better distribution can still carry a larger failure."
The Watcher pressed harder, while Juna pointed toward the southern column and reported, "The ruin is leaning, but the force hasn’t entered the town road."
Ferra moved one pin and answered, "The southern column belongs to the shell, so let it lean until the marked limit tells us to stop."
Hajin opened the fifth Ring and felt another set of choices arrive before the first choice had finished.
Hajin thought, ’Five Rings can carry this,’ tracing the heat beneath his wrist, ’but carrying a load isn’t the same as understanding its shape.’
Aria wrote three lines, crossed one out, and said, "The fifth ring remains stable at this output, but the tattoo paths carry heat inward."
Hajin looked at Ferra and asked, "How long before that heat becomes damage?"
Ferra kept her eyes on the instruments and replied, "I don’t know, and I won’t give you a comforting number below the useful threshold."
The Watcher raised her second hand after hearing the answer, then doubled the force across the basin without crossing the witness line.
Dust fell from the columns, and the ancient plate flashed once beneath its cover.
Hajin opened the sixth Ring before the force could fold Aegis against his chest, then let all six orbits turn separately.
The pressure spread across the full circuit, but the basin shook hard enough for Loccy to step toward the marker.
Juna caught Loccy’s sleeve and said, "Wait, because the marker is standing and Hajin hasn’t asked for help."
Loccy held her Wings closed and answered, "I’m waiting, but I’m not ignoring the point where he might need it."
Aria’s light crossed all six ledgers before she said, "Six rings hold this pressure for roughly ten minutes without Crossed Resonance or an external wound."
Hajin heard the limit and thought, ’Ten minutes is a battlefield window,’ keeping his attention on the Watcher’s hand, ’not a permanent answer for every fight.’
The Watcher increased her pressure another degree, so Hajin answered through the first and fourth Rings with a narrow Crossed Resonance.
He stopped before the pattern completed, but pain crossed his forearm while two tattoo lines burned beneath the skin.
Ferra snapped the red marker down and ordered, "End the sequence, because the maximum answer is already spending more than the result can justify."
Hajin closed Crossed Resonance, kept six rings open against the fading force, and said, "The duration is useful, but the crossed answer spends the reserve before it earns enough."
Aria recorded the result above the final ledger for the archive:
[Six Rings sustain controlled Watcher pressure for roughly ten minutes, maximum Crossed Resonance sequence consumes most reserve and burns tattoo paths]
The Watcher lowered both hands, and the basin released the pressure without a falling column or a fresh fracture.
Hajin closed the sixth Ring, then the fifth, while Vella reached him after Ferra confirmed that the ground was stable.
Vella pressed her palm to the burned lines and said, "It’s pathway heat, not a reopened injury, but that distinction doesn’t make the cost free."
Hajin looked at the six ledgers and replied, "Then we record ten minutes for controlled pressure, less for a crossed answer, and no pretending heat is healing."
The Watcher studied him and said, "You’re stronger than the man who entered the mountain, but strength doesn’t make a wound less real."
Hajin glanced toward the road and answered, "Then we keep both numbers, because the next enemy will respect the one that hurts."
Before noon, Ferra carried the ledgers while Loccy walked beside her without touching the empty case.
Hajin thought, ’Twelve times the man is still one body,’ watching the six Rings settle beneath his skin, ’and one body must choose where to stand.’