Chapter 132| Her Ceiling My Enhancement

Chapter 132: Chapter 132| Her Ceiling My Enhancement

One sleep tonight and that slate will be clean.

’That’s not small.’ Zane thought.

『 It compounds. The host will train harder, recover faster, and wake up functional regardless of what the previous day produced. The system considers this the most practically useful spin result to date. 』

’More useful than the carry slot?’ Zane thought.

『 The carry slot changed what was possible. This changes what is sustainable. Different category. 』

He thought about that for a moment.

’Fair,’ he thought.

『 Gerald wheezes every twenty minutes. The system added, it has the timestamps. 』

’Gerald is part of the atmosphere,’ Zane replied mentally.

『 The system will log that as a coping mechanism and move on. 』

He started walking again.

The campus was Sunday-quiet around him. The kind of quiet that came from a building full of people who had their own rhythms and weren’t checking corridors at this hour. The east block windows threw long rectangles of midday light across the floor. He walked through them without looking down.

His mind ran the updated numbers without being asked.

Bond depth 78%. Fill rate at plus thirty. Familiarity ceiling locked at a hundred. Overdrive window nine seconds. Accelerated Recovery permanent. Gacha at zero, which meant filling from scratch, which meant the next spin was somewhere down the road and he had no particular complaints about how the last one had resolved.

Third slot still empty.

NSA assessment in five days.

Kael’s folder sitting in his bag with Harbor Collapse details and Operation Glasswall inside it. He’d had it for less than two hours and wasn’t going to open it in a corridor still running post-notification math.

’One thing at a time,’ he thought.

He pressed his palm against the wall as he walked. No output. Just contact. The habit he’d built in the first week when he was running activation drills on every available surface and hadn’t stopped since because the motion had become ambient.

Pressure. Intent. Sitting there without firing.

’Nine seconds,’ he thought again. ’Full B-rank Overdrive finally at peak nine seconds.’

The thing Maren didn’t know — the Sigil running in his slots was hers. Her ceiling raising his ceiling. Every time her familiarity climbed, every time her bond depth moved, his access to what he’d taken from her got sharper. She had no idea she was actively improving his performance just by knowing him better.

The system had never flagged that as something he needed to address.

He wasn’t going to address it either.

『 System Note: The host has been walking in the wrong direction for approximately forty seconds. The dormitory building is to the left. 』

Zane stopped.

Looked at the junction ahead.

Turned left.

’I knew that,’ he thought.

『 The system will log that as well. 』

_ _

Room 714 was empty when he got back.

Dex was gone. Torre was gone, not like it was his room but his reoccurrence filled an image in Zane’s mind. Gerald wheezed from the vent in the corner, steady as a metronome nobody had asked for and everyone had stopped noticing.

Zane set his bag down and stood in the middle of the room.

Looked at his palm.

Looked at the wall.

The daily quest counter sat in the corner of his vision. Overdrive activation window reduction. One completion down, five consecutive left before the milestone hidden at 0.50 seconds. Impact Breaker daily quest still paused until the B-rank output ceiling increased.

He had work sitting in front of him and a folder in his bag he wasn’t ready to open yet.

He grabbed his towel from the rack.

Accelerated Recovery was permanent. One sleep cycle and whatever tonight left in his body would be gone by morning.

Right now he needed a shower.

He headed for the door.

Gerald wheezed.

’Yeah,’ Zane thought. ’Same.’

He pulled the door shut behind him.

_ _

Zane showered for roughly fifteen minutes. Let the water run hot enough to matter. Washed out the sweat and the stress and everything the bathroom floor had contributed to both.

On the way back to room 714 he noticed it.

One notification. Unopened. Sitting in the corner of his vision with the quiet patience of something that had been waiting while he had other things going on.

He gestured mentally.

Ding.

『 BOND DEPTH REWARD 』

『 Threshold reached: 70-100% — Maren Cass 』

『 Bonus unlocked: Sigil output +30% — Sigil of choice 』

『 Pending selection. 』

’Oh,’ Zane thought. ’I forgot this was a thing.’

He pushed the door to 714 open.

Empty. Dex’s side of the room undisturbed, laptop closed, Gerald wheezing at his usual tempo. He checked his communicator.

8:30 PM.

’Hm,’ he thought. ’Might have the room to myself tonight.’

He didn’t spend long thinking about where Dex was. Torre had a mysterious food source and a pull on the second years that operated on its own schedule. Dex would either appear before midnight or he wouldn’t.

He went to his box. Pulled out his pyjamas. Changed without ceremony and dropped onto the bed.

His hand landed on something beside the pillow. A bag of crunchy snacks — the kind from the vending unit down the hall that he’d stashed two days ago and forgotten about. He tore it open and ate one.

Then he brought up the notification again.

Sigil output plus thirty percent. One Sigil. His choice.

He looked at his hands.

’Alright,’ he thought. ’Which one.’

He brought his sigils in a dropdown menu mentally.

『 ACTIVE SIGILS 』

『 Slot 1 — Impact Breaker 』

『 Rank: B 』

『 Current output: 20% 』

『 Source: Dex 』

『 Slot 2 — Overdrive 』

『 Rank: B 』

『 Current output: 10% 』

『 Source: Maren Cass 』

『 Slot 3 — Empty 』

He looked at both.

’Alright then,’ he thought. ’All to Overdrive.’

『 Confirmed. 』

『 Overdrive output: 10% → 40% 』

『 Applying. 』

A faint shift moved through him. Not dramatic — just the specific internal recalibration of something that had quietly changed weight. Like a dial turning somewhere he couldn’t point to directly but could feel the difference of.

He ate another snack.

’Well,’ he thought. ’That’s that.’

He leaned over and hit the light switch. The room dropped dark. Gerald wheezed once from the corner.

Zane pulled the blanket up and was asleep before the next one.