Before dawn, Lanistia summons Vis to a private office and subjects him to an intense, rapid-fire oral exam across engineering, law, history, and philosophy. After three hours, she concludes that Ulciscor overestimated him and declares Vis not ready for the Academy. She assigns three books targeting his weakest areas and informs him that Ulciscor has already left for Caten to file reports and formally announce the adoption, leaving her authority absolute.

Frustrated at losing the chance to negotiate freedoms he hopes to leverage into attending the Festival of Jovan, Vis returns to his room to study. He spends the day absorbed in the assigned texts, discovering gaps in his education and enjoying the structured learning. Mid-morning, Kadmos treats his wounds with a tingling brown salve and outlines a pain-numbing regimen—tea with lionweed, Sana extract, and a small amount of voluptasia—to preserve focus during training, cautioning that the relief will exact a nightly toll.

At night, after finishing the books and falling asleep, Vis wakes sensing an intruder. A Will-empowered assailant attacks, pins, and chokes him; escape attempts fail. The attacker is Lanistia, who begins a relentless series of questions centered on the day’s readings, tightening her grip whenever Vis hesitates or resists. Recognizing the pattern, Vis focuses and answers under pressure until she releases him.

Lanistia explains she needed to test not only recall but temperament under duress, given the Academy’s psychological demands. When Vis scoffs that it is merely a school, she removes her dark glasses to reveal scarred, empty eye sockets—the Academy blinded her—and warns, “There is always something more to lose, Vis.” She orders him to sleep and states that lessons begin at dawn, adding that failure would have meant she kept squeezing.