Chapter 100| Who doesn’t like rice on thursdays

Chapter 100: Chapter 100| Who doesn’t like rice on thursdays

Two days flew by and it was finally Thursday.

Zane was up as early as 5:50 AM.

Not from an alarm. Just the specific wakefulness of someone who had something on the schedule that wasn’t training or class and had been quietly aware of it since Tuesday night when Maren’s message came through.

Gerald wheezed in an eluquent flamboyant tune.

Then from across the room, something unexpected was in play.

"...no that’s my sandwich..."

Zane turned his head.

Dex. Face down. Boots still on. Sleep talking.

"...I said that’s mine Torre..."

Zane stared at him for a full three seconds.

’Sleep talking,’ he thought. ’About a sandwich. That Torre is apparently stealing in his dream.’

The system surfaced.

『 The system has no comment on this. 』

’First time for everything,’ Zane thought.

He got up quietly, pulled on his training gear and headed out before Dex could reveal anything else about his dream sandwich situation.

He arrived at the Training grounds at exactly 6:20 AM, as indicated from his communicator.

Maren was already there. Mid-stretch when he arrived, one arm pulled across her chest with the focused patience of someone who had been doing this long enough that the warmup was as deliberate as everything else.

She looked up when he arrived.

Their eyes met.

Neither of them said anything about Thursday.

They just waved at each other, smiled a bit, and got into training mode. This had become a natural gesture of two people who understood themselves.

Their energy emphasized the specific comfortable energy of two people who had something sitting on the schedule and had both independently decided that 6:20 AM in the training grounds was not the address-it hour.

The system surfaced.

『 Daily Quest — Impact Breaker activation speed 』

『 Target: 0.70 seconds 』

『 Current: 0.73 seconds 』

『 Reward: +0.01 seconds per completion 』

『 Milestone reward: HIDDEN — unlocks at 0.70 seconds 』

’0.73,’ Zane thought. ’Down from 0.74. Moving.’

He pressed his palm flat.

Impact Breaker — B-rank 20%.

The shockwave rolled through the composite wall. Deeper than C-rank had ever managed.

He worked through his reps methodically then paused mid-set.

’By the way system,’ he thought. ’I can’t just keep getting activation speed as the only daily reward. There’s a milestone hidden at 0.70 which is fair — but is that all there is?’

The system surfaced.

『 Due to the previous system upgrade the daily quest reward pool now rotates based on certain criteria and the host’s current development ceiling. Activation speed is the current focus. Expect to see varied tasks and rewards in future cycles as different thresholds are approached. 』

’So it changes,’ Zane thought. ’Good. Getting repetitive.’

『 The system notes the host finds repetition boring. The system will endeavour to keep things interesting. 』

’That’s either reassuring or concerning,’ Zane thought.

『 Both can be true. 』

He went back to his reps.

After some moments of intense training Maren called for her usual water break.

Zane finished his current set and walked back to the pad. Sat beside her.

She drank. He looked at the environment.

"So it’s Tonight," she said.

"Yes, if today is Thursday, then it’s for sure tonight," he confirmed.

Maren looked at him with an unclassified expression then went back to her water bottle.

That was the entire conversation about it.

He almost smiled.

He got up and walked back to the wall. Finished his remaining reps with the focused efficiency of someone who had a schedule and intended to keep it.

Then the system resurfaced.

『 DAILY QUEST COMPLETE 』

『 Impact Breaker activation speed: 0.73 seconds → 0.72 seconds 』

『 Progress to milestone: 0.72 / 0.70 seconds 』

『 Milestone reward: HIDDEN 』

’0.72,’ he thought. ’Two more days of reps to the milestone.’

The communicator beeped. 8:30 AM.

They picked up their bags and headed to class.

The morning session ran smoothly. Vael at the front running theory. The kind of session that moved at a good pace with students actually asking questions for once, the room carrying the specific engaged energy of a class that had been given enough practical context to make theory feel relevant.

Zane took notes. Maren beside him took notes. The classroom doing what classrooms did on days when nothing unusual was on the schedule.

After afternoon class Zane headed straight to the vendor near the academy gate.

Maren had sent him a list that morning through the communicator — not ingredients, a list of things she was allergic to. Short. Specific. Delivered with the same no-nonsense efficiency she brought to everything.

He’d read it. Worked backwards from what he couldn’t use to what he could. By the time afternoon class ended he already knew what he was buying.

The stall operator. A middle aged man who had clearly been serving academy students long enough to develop a specific patience for their requests, looked up when Zane approached.

"Chicken thighs," Zane said. "Fresh. And whatever aromatics you have."

The vendor assessed him briefly. Then started pulling items without further questions. The specific professionalism of someone who had stopped finding students’ purchasing decisions interesting — chicken thighs, aromatics, the specific supporting ingredients that turned rice from a staple into something worth requesting as a preference.

Zane looked at the ingredients as they got bagged.

’Something with rice,’ he thought. ’Her preference. Which is technically a staple but he’d agreed to honour it regardless.’

Zane paid, bagged everything and headed back toward campus.

At 4:30 PM his communicator beeped.

Maren.

Third floor east wing. Room seven. Key is with the officer. Already signed us both in. Be there by 6.

He read it.

’She booked the guest room,’ he thought. ’On her own initiative.’

The system surfaced.

『 She booked the room unprompted. She signed you both in. She arranged the location. The system notes she has been planning this more thoroughly than you have. 』

’I bought ingredients,’ Zane thought.

『 She built the infrastructure. The system considers this a collaborative effort weighted sixty forty in her favour. 』

’Noted,’ Zane thought.