Chapter 17|Fourteen Days

Chapter 17: Chapter 17|Fourteen Days

Two weeks.

Zane lay on his bed at 6:00 AM staring at the ceiling and doing the math he’d been quietly running every morning since the mail notification landed.

Fourteen days until rank trials.

He sat up.

Gerald wheezed.

’Status check,’ he thought.

『 BOUND TARGET CANDIDATES 』

『 Maren — CANDIDATE — 38% progression 』

『 Sera Dunne — CANDIDATE 』

『 Nyx Hale — CANDIDATE 』

『 Nil — CANDIDATE 』

Zane stared at the last entry.

’Who is Nil,’ he thought.

『 No registered identity. Candidate flagged based on proximity and exchange data. Identity unconfirmed. 』

’You flagged someone whose name you don’t even know,’ Zane thought.

『 The system flags potential. Names are secondary. 』

Zane looked at the full list.

’That’s a lot of bound target candidates,’ he thought.

『 Quality over quantity applies to Bound Targets specifically. Candidates are unlimited. Confirmed bonds are what matter. You currently have zero confirmed. 』

’Thank you for that reminder,’ Zane thought flatly.

『 You’re welcome. 』

『 System Assessment: Combined Sigil output window produces low B-rank equivalent force for approximately 2 seconds. Sufficient for rank trial against most C-rank opponents. Insufficient against high B-rank without strategic advantage. Unknown opponent Sigil type remains primary variable. 』

Zane stared at the assessment for a long moment.

’Low B-rank is equivalent for two seconds,’ he thought. ’Against an opponent whose first name starts with N and whose Sigil I still haven’t seen.’

『 Correct. Recommend maximising training efficiency in the remaining fourteen days. Every percentage point of Sigil mastery gained before trials improves output ceiling within the activation window. Note: this data is based on system analysis only. Results may vary in real time combat conditions. 』

’So you’re saying your own projections might be wrong,’ Zane thought.

『 I am saying real combat introduces variables that controlled analysis cannot fully account for. The projection is accurate under optimal conditions. Optimal conditions rarely exist in rank trials. 』

’That’s actually useful information,’ Zane thought.

『 I have my moments. 』

’I know,’ he thought.

He got up, pulled on his training gear. Basic kit he’d picked up from the campus supply store when he first arrived, nothing special, just enough to move properly and headed out.

6:20 AM. Training grounds.

Maren was already mid-sequence when he arrived. She didn’t look up. Just registered his presence the way she always did a slight adjustment in her peripheral awareness without breaking the drill.

Zane dropped his bag and activated Overdrive.

Six second window now. The jump from four to six had changed everything about how he moved enough time to close distance, deliver Impact Breaker, and chain a second burst before the window expired. Not comfortable yet. But functional.

They ran parallel for the first fifteen minutes in the usual silence.

Then Maren called a rest.

She sat cross legged on the pad and drank from her water bottle. Zane sat across from her and did the same.

’Days ago she wouldn’t have called a rest voluntarily,’ he thought. ’She would have trained straight through until 7:15 AM without acknowledging I existed.’

Something had shifted between them over the sessions. Not dramatic. Just the gradual thing that happened when two people spent enough mornings in the same corner doing real work together. The silence had changed quality. It wasn’t two people ignoring each other anymore. It was two people who didn’t need to fill the air.

"Your reaction speed is getting better," Maren said without looking at him.

"Getting there," Zane said.

"It’s significantly better," she said. "Whatever fundamentals you’re working on, they’re sure producing results."

Zane looked at his water bottle.

’She’s complimenting me using her own stolen Sigil,’ he thought. ’Without knowing it.’

’Who would’ve guessed the girl I didn’t find attractive at first would be the one I keep finding reasons to be around.’

He didn’t examine that thought too closely.

『 System Note: Familiarity progression with Maren has been consistent and genuine. For the record you found her "at best okay" A week ago. The system notes the adjustment. 』

’I told you not to reference things like that,’ Zane thought.

『 You told me not to reference the east wing incident. You said nothing about this. 』

’Consider it said,’ he thought.

Maren stood up and went back to her drill.

Zane watched her for a second before standing up himself.

’Funny how that works,’ he thought.

_ _

Back at the dorm.

Dex’s squad arrived back at 5:30 PM.

Zane heard them before he saw them . Voices carrying down the seventh floor corridor with the specific energy of people who had been in the field for a week and were ready to be somewhere that had actual beds and no mission parameters.

He was at his desk when Dex pushed the door open with one shoulder, bag over the other, and the expression of a man who had returned to his natural habitat.

"We’re back," Dex announced to the room like the room had been waiting.

"I noticed," Zane said.

Four people filed in behind him.

The first was a girl — tall, flat chested, sharp-featured, dark skin, the kind of posture that came from years of physical training. She clocked Zane immediately and her expression stayed neutral.

Kael glanced at her and thought, ’So flat girls do exist in this academy. Not mocking. Just noting. The data was incomplete until now.’

The second was a broad guy with the easy physicality of someone whose Sigil was strength-adjacent. He looked at Zane with open curiosity.

The third was shorter, wire-framed glasses, the energy of someone who processed everything before reacting to any of it.

The fourth stopped in the doorway.

He was looking at Zane with an expression that wasn’t hostile and wasn’t pitying and wasn’t the careful neutral that most people defaulted to when they connected the name.

He just looked at him directly and said, "You’re Sovereign’s kid."

"Yeah," Zane said. "Have a problem with that?"

He looked at him for a second. Then the corner of his mouth pulled slightly.