Chapter 10| So The System Isn’t Perfect.

Chapter 10: Chapter 10| So The System Isn’t Perfect.

『 QUEST COMPLETE 』

『 Reward: Overdrive output ceiling unlocked 』

『 New ceiling: 60% 』

『 Overdrive performance will reflect new ceiling upon next activation. 』

『 System Note: Maren’s familiarity gauge has increased at an extraordinary rate. Under normal circumstances this progression would take significantly longer. It appears she has already taken a liking to you. Whether you deserve it is a separate question. 』

’Did you just editorialize,’ Zane thought.

『 I presented data with context. 』

’That was an opinion,’ he thought.

『 40 minutes. Clock expired. Quest complete. Focus. 』

He activated Overdrive properly for the first time at the new ceiling.

The difference was immediate.

Not dramatic. Not the kind of thing anyone watching would clock from a distance. But from the inside it was like the difference between seeing a room in dim light and turning the actual lights on. Everything sharpened. His legs felt loaded differently . More responsive, more explosive potential sitting right below the surface waiting. His hands moved faster than he’d told them to.

’Sixty percent,’ he thought.

『 Correct. At this level you are meaningfully faster than the average unenhanced first year. Not faster than a trained Sigil Bearer at full output. But fast enough to matter if you are smart about when you use it. 』

He cut the activation clean before the fatigue window.

Maren was watching him again with that same expression from a moment ago. The one that was doing quiet math behind still eyes.

"Good fundamentals," she said, echoing his words back at him flatly.

"Exactly," Zane said.

Even as he said it he was carefully managing his output. Sixty percent ceiling unlocked but he wasn’t pushing anywhere near it. Keeping everything controlled, deliberate, just below the threshold where someone who knew what Overdrive looked like from the inside might clock the similarity. Maren had spent months if not years with this Sigil. She knew its rhythm, its weight, the specific way it moved through a body. He couldn’t afford to mirror it too closely.

’Careful,’ he thought. ’She’s observant enough to notice if your movement pattern matches her activation signatures too precisely.’

『 Correct. Reduce output variation. Standardise your movement cadence to avoid pattern recognition. 』

He adjusted slightly. Took the edge off his burst timing. Made it look rougher than it was.

’No point spoiling the show before the main event,’ he thought. ’She’d figure it out eventually. Just not today.’

Maren picked up her bag without looking back.

It was 7:15AM.

"Seems I’ll need to head off early today I need to catch up with something but Same time tomorrow," she said. Not a question this time.

’Seems she enjoying our training together’ Zane thought. He let out a brief smile." Alright 6:20Am sharp," Zane replied.

She walked off the pad without looking back just swinging her waist in a side to side motion.

Zane stood there for a moment stared at her and looked at his hands.

Sixty percent Overdrive. A few weeks and some days until rank trials. One letter sitting in his pocket that still had six possible faces attached to it that’s if the system was accurate .

’Progress,’ he thought.

『 Agreed. Do not waste it. 』

_ _

Zane was back at his room from the training ground, today classes were canceled because their instructor had some sort of private meeting with the higher ups.

Room 714 was quiet when Zane got back that evening.

Quiet lasted approximately four seconds after he closed the door.

"Okay so explain something to me," Dex said from his chair, both feet on the desk, a half eaten pack of chips balanced on his knee.

Zane dropped his bag. "What."

"The atmosphere in the first year block." Dex gestured vaguely with a chip. "You feel it right? The hostility? The weird tension every time two people from different registration groups end up in the same corridor?"

"I noticed," Zane said, sitting on his bed.

"It’s always like this before rank trials," Dex said. "Every single year. New intake comes in, everyone’s friendly for about forty eight hours, then the trial announcement lands and the whole social dynamic shifts overnight." He crunched a chip.

"Everyone wants the top three spots. Priority seating, private facilities, the NSA stipend, the single occupancy suites." He pointed the chip bag at Zane. "People who were introducing themselves on day one are actively sizing each other up by day three. Some of them get genuinely hostile."

"I noticed that too," Zane said.

"The funny part," Dex continued, "is that after trials it completely flips. Once the rankings are set and the top three are locked in everyone relaxes. The people who were hostile before become normal. Some of them even become close." He shook his head. "Happens every year without fail. Pre-trial everyone’s an enemy. Post-trial most of them end up friends."

"Human nature," Zane said.

"Predictable human nature," Dex corrected. "Which is worse because they all know it’s happening and they do it anyway." He looked at the ceiling. "You had anyone come at you yet?"

Zane thought about Ryan’s shoulder in the corridor. The six students who’d shifted overnight. The room that had been worked before he walked into it.

"Nothing serious," he said.

Dex nodded slowly like he didn’t entirely believe that but had decided not to push it. He reached into the chip bag and came up empty. Stared into it for a moment with genuine disappointment.

"You know what I’ll say though," Dex added, crumpling the bag. "The ones who are hostile to you now after trials, if you perform, they’ll be the first ones trying to be your friend."

"And if I don’t perform?" Zane asked.

Dex shrugged. "Then they were right and you were wrong and that’s how it goes." He tossed the empty bag toward his bin. Missed. Left it. "But I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen."

Zane looked at him.

Dex had already turned back to his laptop.

’He said that like it was nothing,’ Zane thought.

『 Bond depth with DEX: 11% 』

Zane stared at the notification for a second.

’Isn’t this the same as familiarity?’ he thought.

『 Yes. Same mechanic. Familiarity applies to regular individuals. Bond depth is the label used for Bound Target candidates specifically. Dex is neither a Bound Target nor a candidate for one. The label here is an error on my part. 』

’The system makes errors?’ Zane thought.

『 I said what I said. Moving on. 』

Gerald wheezed.

Zane lay back and stared at the ceiling.

Now at Sixty percent Overdrive. It was at least a step at performing better at the rank trials.

’One thing at a time,’ he thought.