No fractions. Kael breathed for the first time in hours. The scroll continued: “Beware the hidden parentheses. A negative outside a parentheses is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

From earlier cleared fraction problem: (8x - 4 + 3x = 10x + 4) → (11x - 4 = 10x + 4)

But Kael had a secret weapon: an old, dusty scroll from his grandmother, a former Keeper of the Balance. It was titled Step 1: Clear the Denominators (The Great Purge) Kael’s grandmother’s scroll read: “Fractions are fear made visible. Eliminate them by multiplying every term by the Least Common Denominator (LCD).”

[ 8x - 4 + 3x = 10x + 4 ]

Now move variables: subtract (10x) from both sides: (x - 4 = 4)

These equations were nightmares. They looked like this:

Now it was:

Kael moved to a second problem: