Vasa set the altered stabilizer on a steel table beneath the enclave cellar stairs, where its blue pulse could reach the city without seeing the root chamber. Nox stood beside her with one hand on the table, feeling the tracer test the new mana paths beneath his skin.
The scarred channels hurt whenever he drew more than a thin stream of mana through them. That made a believable weakness, which was more useful than pretending the procedure had left him untouched.
"It has sent six location pings and asked for a structural reading from your lower channels," Vasa said, enlarging the packet log across her tablet.
"Give it a failure reading that makes Rook want the stabilizer back," Nox replied, watching the blue line crawl under the casing.
