Chapter 31| My Best Day Yet

Chapter 31: Chapter 31| My Best Day Yet

Two days ran the way the system said they would.

Morning training. Daily quest. Classes. Sera lunch. Evening drills. Sleep. Repeat.

Maren was fully herself again by day two. The recalibration complete, the slight off-balance quality gone, replaced by the focused efficiency that was her default. She didn’t mention the training grounds incident. Neither did he. They just trained the way they always had and let the morning do what it did.

Kael showed up at 6:20 AM both days without announcement. Same spot. Same quiet. Same occasional observation delivered without looking up from his own work.

The daily quest ran its course each morning.

And then it was the last day before rank trials.

Zane was at his desk at 7:15 AM when the final daily quest notification surfaced.

『 DAILY QUEST COMPLETE 』

『 Reward: Impact Breaker — Activation speed +0.03 seconds 』

He pulled up his full stats.

『 SYSTEM STATUS 』

『 Host: Calloway, Zane 』

『 Sigil Status: SIGILLESS 』

『 Parasite Aura Range: 3.4 meters 』

『 ABSORBED SIGILS 』

『 Slot 1: IMPACT BREAKER — C-RANK 』

『 Output: 45% — Activation: 0.82 seconds 』

『 Slot 2: OVERDRIVE — C-RANK 』

『 Output: 60% — Window: 6 seconds 』

『 BOUND TARGET CANDIDATES 』

『 Nyx Hale — CANDIDATE 』

『 Maren — CANDIDATE 』

『 Sera Dunne — CANDIDATE 』

『 Nil — CANDIDATE 』

『 FAMILIARITY 』

『 Dex — 31% 』

『 Kael — 24% 』

『 System Note: Current combined output produces low B-rank equivalent force within the activation window. You are as prepared as current resources allow. 』

Zane stared at the stats for a long moment.

’0.82 seconds,’ he thought. ’From 1.1 on day one.’

He put the communicator down.

Then it buzzed again. Two loud beeps. The double notification sound the academy system used for priority messages.

He checked it.

Two messages. Both arrived within seconds of each other.

First — school administrator.

Tomorrow is finally the day. Rank trials will proceed as scheduled. In preparation all classes today are cancelled. Students are advised to rest adequately. Both mentally and physically ahead of tomorrow’s assessments. Use today well.

Zane read it twice.

’No classes,’ he thought.

Then the second message was from Maren.

Maren: Zane. Hope you’re good. I won’t come to training today, might just take the day off too. I know it’s supposed to be the last session but I think rest is better at this point. Mind and body need it before tomorrow.

By the way. You have a hell lot of explaining to do after rank trials.

P.S. Do your best.

Zane read it twice as well.

He sat with it for a moment.

Then he typed back.

Zane; You too. Do your best.

He put the communicator down and stared at the ceiling.

’No school,’ he thought. ’No training. No sessions. No Vael. No combined theory blocks.’

A slow thought settled somewhere in his chest that felt suspiciously like relief.

’This might genuinely be the best day since I transmigrated,’ he thought. ’No schedule. No performance. Just a free day the academy handed me by accident.’

He smiled at the ceiling.

Gerald wheezed.

Then he heard a knock at the door.

Not Kael’s knock. Not Torre’s knock. Something more familiar than either.

The door opened.

Dex walked in.

Still in the tactical suit. Mission bag over one shoulder. The NSA emblem above his chest catching the morning light through the window. He looked like someone who had been awake for longer than was comfortable and had made peace with it.

Zane stared at him.

"You made it," Zane said.

"Said I might." Dex dropped the mission bag by the door. "How was the last two days?"

"Just normal routine," Zane replied. "How was you so called assignment?"

Dex considered the question for a second. "Good actually. Lot of bad guys getting their ass handed to them. The usual." He rolled his shoulder once. "But first..."

He unclipped the tactical suit jacket and tossed it over his chair.

Looked at his bed.

Looked at Zane.

"I need me some few hours," Dex said.

And dove straight onto the bed face first without removing his boots.

Zane stared at him.

’Lazy bastard,’ he thought.

He almost said it out loud.

Didn’t.

Instead he reached for the television remote on his desk. The small screen propped between Dex’s figurine collection and the instant noodle stack and turned it on at low volume.

Hero news.

He leaned back in his chair and watched.

The segment running when he tuned in was mid-report. The anchor’s voice was measured and professional over footage of a cordoned-off industrial facility somewhere on the outskirts of a city he didn’t immediately recognise.

"—Following yesterday’s operation, our Number Three ranked hero Nova Steele has confirmed the dismantling of what authorities are calling an illegal experimental research facility. Details are still emerging but sources indicate the subjects recovered from the site displayed abilities consistent with Sigils. Though notably unstable and, according to the hero herself, clearly incomplete."

The footage cut to a press conference. Brief. Controlled. The Number Three hero standing at a podium in full gear, the crowd of reporters angled toward her.

A reporter’s question cut through the ambient noise: "The subjects... can you describe what you encountered?"

The Number Three hero’s expression didn’t shift.

"They were simply no match for me," she said. The delivery was flat. Factual. Not arrogant. Just accurate in the way someone states a thing they have verified personally. "And civilians don’t need to worry. I will do everything in my power to ensure nothing like this reaches the public."

She let out a small smirk at the end. Just barely.

The anchor returned: "Authorities have confirmed the lead scientist and his team have been secured. The facility has been destroyed. Investigation into the organisation’s wider network is ongoing."

Zane sat forward slightly.

’Unstable Sigils,’ he thought. ’Incomplete ones. Artificially produced.’

He thought about the Parasite System sitting quietly behind his eyes.

’Someone was trying to manufacture Sigils,’ he thought. ’And failing badly enough that the results were classified as atrocities.’

He didn’t examine that thought too far.

Not today.

’Today is the best day since I transmigrated,’ he reminded himself. ’Don’t ruin it with speculation.’

He leaned back and kept watching.

It was already 4:00 PM.

He’d been watching hero news for three hours and had migrated from the desk chair to the bed at some point without fully registering the transition. The television was still running low in the background.

Then Dex erupted from his bed.

Not gradually. Not with the slow reluctant energy of someone waking up. Just upright. Fully operational. Like a device that had been on standby and received a signal.

He looked at Zane.

"Hero news?" Dex asked.

"Seems so," Zane said.

Dex looked at the screen. Then at Zane. Then at the screen again with the expression of someone making a rapid assessment.

"Seems like you’re becoming a fan," he said.

"It’s for Research," Zane said.

"Sure." Dex stood up and stretched with the complete physical ease of someone who had slept like a deployed soldier. Fast, deep, and totally without guilt. "You know what. Forgot i promised you something."

Zane looked at him.

"The ropes," Dex said. "I said I’d show you when I got back."

"You just slept for four hours," Zane said.

"Four hours and thirty two minutes," Dex corrected. "I’m fully operational." He cracked his knuckles.

The familiar sound followed. Not a cracking sound.

A short sharp impact that sent a fresh dent into the already-dented desk. Circular. Clean. The third one this month had become the fourth.

Dex looked at it.

"Fourth one," he said. "Anyway..." He turned to Zane. "Training grounds?"

’He wants to show me what Impact Breaker looks like from the outside,’ Zane thought. ’The Sigil I’ve been running for three weeks. The one I know the chain activation technique for. The one whose output ceiling I’ve been pushing against since day one.’

’He has no idea.’

"Sure," Zane said.

He stood up.

’This is going to be interesting,’ he thought.

『 System Note: Familiarity with DEX is currently at 31%. Four percent from the acquaintance threshold. Proximity events and genuine shared experience accelerate accumulation. This training session qualifies as both. 』

Zane looked at the back of Dex’s head as he moved toward the door.

’Four percent,’ he thought. ’One afternoon.’

He picked up his training gear and followed Dex out.

Gerald wheezed behind them.