Chapter 121| Push Day I

Chapter 121: Chapter 121| Push Day I

Bzzzt!!

Maren’s communicator beeped.

She looked at it. Stood up immediately with the specific efficiency of someone whose internal timer had just been confirmed by an external one.

"Nil." She picked up her bag. "We’re done. Time to go."

"Wait.." Nil held up one finger.

She turned to Zane.

Reached over slowly and tapped his cheek once with her knuckle. Light. Deliberate. The warm smile at full capacity.

"Later we should..."

Maren had already taken her arm before she completed her statement.

"Now," Maren said. Flatly. Already moving.

Nil let herself be pulled. Looking back over her shoulder at Zane with the ecstatic expression of someone who had been interrupted mid-sentence and found it funny rather than frustrating.

He watched them go.

Nil’s figure in the lavender skirt moving toward the common room exit with the specific rhythm that short skirts produced when the person wearing them had Nil Valkyrie’s figure and was being pulled at a slightly faster pace than their natural walk.

The sideways movement drew her skirt subtly upward, teasing a glimpse of her smooth thighs. The fabric clung to her fat butt as she moved, swaying with each graceful shift and accentuating the alluring silhouette of her figure.

’That,’ he thought. ’Is a significant amount of movement.’

The system surfaced.

『 The system notes the host’s observational focus has shifted to the exit. The system has no further comment. 』

’Appreciated,’ he thought.

The common room door closed behind them.

He sat there for a moment.

’What an introduction,’ he thought. He looked at the ceiling. ’And between... I forgot to ask what year she was.’

The system surfaced.

『 Second year. The system notes the host had this information already. 』

’I know,’ he thought. ’I meant I forgot to ask her directly. In the actual conversation. Like a normal person.’

『 The system notes the host was distracted during the actual conversation. The system does not elaborate on what by. 』

’That’s very generous of you,’ he thought.

He picked up his bag and headed back toward the boys dormitory.

Gerald wheezed instinctively somewhere above him.

_ _

The system surfaced at 8:47 AM.

『 NEW DAILY QUEST UNLOCKED 』

『 Sigil: Overdrive 』

『 Task: Activate Overdrive 6 times consecutively — focus on reducing the window between intent and activation 』

『 Target activation window: 0.50 seconds 』

『 Current activation window: 0.73 seconds 』

『 Reward per completion: activation window -0.03 seconds 』

『 Milestone reward: HIDDEN — unlocks at 0.50 seconds 』

Zane stared at the ceiling after opening his eyes from a previous stress day of sleep.

It was Sunday, that means. No class. No Vael session. The specific day of the week built for doing nothing, just rest but the system had something else in mind for him.

He looked at the notification again.

’New daily quest,’ he thought. ’Overdrive activation window this time. Not Impact Breaker seems new.’

The system surfaced.

『 The system is prompted to give the host versatility across all areas. This quest is simply a grain of that structure. 』

’On a day of rest,’ he thought. ’Damn...’

『 Rest is for the weak. The host has a goal of becoming a top hero. The bed cannot have this much control over you. Chicken. 』

Zane stared at that notification for a full three seconds.

’Just shut up,’ he thought.

『 Good. The system also notes — evil lurks in corners. The host will not always know when it strikes. Rest while unaware is a liability. 』

He sat up slightly.

’Hmm,’ he thought. ’What do you mean by that system?. That’s the first time you’ve said something like that.’

A pause. Longer than the system’s usual response window.

『 How I wish I knew. 』

Zane looked at the ceiling.

’Useless as ever,’ he thought.

『 The system takes this as an absurd compliment. 』

He lay there for another thirty seconds processing it.

’0.73 seconds to 0.50,’ he thought. ’That’s a significant gap. Going to take a while.’

Then he got up anyway and glanced to dex side of the room.

Dex was face down on his bed. Boots still on clamped on his feet. It was 9 AM on a Sunday which made it considerably more defensible than the weekday version.

Zane picked up his toothbrush.

Dex stirred.

One eye opened. The sleep-heavy version of his face with opinions about people who weren’t unconscious.

"You don’t rest, do you," Dex said. Voice thick with sleep. "They say all work and no rest makes one a dull man."

Zane looked at him. "You just twisted that proverb."

"I improved it." Already closing his eyes. ℯℓ.

"Don’t worry." Zane headed toward the bathroom. "Rest. I just have something to take care of."

Dex said nothing.

Already snoring again before Zane reached the door.

Zane arrived at the bathroom at 9:04 AM, which he just knew instinctively.

He tied on a dark blue towel around his waist and turned on the hot water first. He then moved to the sink and brushed his teeth. When he came back the hot water had filled his bathtub and he filled it again with cold water turning it into lukewarm water. He dived in, soaking himself for a while and exhaling all the stress he had been carrying. Then he got up and turned on the shower beside the tub, adjusting the water to a comfortably hot temperature. Zane applied some soap and went through his usual routine.

He came back out at 9:34 AM.

Body still carrying the heat of it. Steam rising faintly from his skin in the cooler dormitory air.

Dex hadn’t moved. The snoring running at its standard interval alongside Gerald’s wheeze, the two of them producing the ambient soundtrack of room 714 on a Sunday morning.

Zane checked his communicator.

9:34 AM. Thirty minutes flat.

He opened his training box. Pulled out his training suit. Dressed. One spray of cologne — the amount that said present without announcing itself and headed out.

He arrived at the Training grounds at exactly 9:48 AM.

Different from the 6:20 AM version entirely.

The Sunday morning training grounds ran at its own frequency. Not empty, not full — just the specific occupancy of people who had decided to be here on a day when nobody was asking them to. A few students were running circuits in the far lane. Someone on the weight equipment working through something methodical. The facility lights at their daytime setting rather than the pre-dawn level he was used to.

No Maren.