Chapter 80| The Conversation That Needed To Happen

Chapter 80: Chapter 80| The Conversation That Needed To Happen

Zane was up as early as 5:50 AM.

Today was Sunday. Technically a rest day, the academy had the authority to schedule events if it willed, but on special scenarios only. Today wasn’t one of them. No session. No drill. No Vael at the front of a classroom with a folder and something worth paying attention to.

He just had a schedule with the training grounds at 6:20 AM. Just the corner that had stopped being just a corner sometime around week two.

He pulled on his training gear quietly.

Torre was still on Dex’s bed. Face down. Container on the floor. Dex somehow also still asleep on the remaining sliver of mattress.

Gerald wheezed.

Zane headed out.

_ _

Zane arrived at the training grounds at exactly 6:22 AM and moved to his usual same corner.

Maren was already there.

In her fitted training gear, hair tied back. Running her pre-session stretches with the focused efficiency of someone who had not spent Saturday evening staring at a ceiling running through what to say.

She looked up when he arrived.

"Morning," she said.

"Morning," Zane replied.

He dropped his bag at the edge of the pad.

Then stopped.

Something surfaced from the back of his head. A thought that had been sitting there since the second quest reward notification and hadn’t been tested yet.

75% Impact Breaker output. New ceiling. He’d used it briefly in the restaurant notification moment but hadn’t actually tested it properly against the wall with full deliberate intent.

’Haven’t tried the new ceiling yet,’ he thought. ’Not properly.’

He walked to the wall.

Pressed his palm flat.

He charged Impact Breaker at 75% and felt the familiar warmth building at the contact point, the shockwave coiling just beneath the surface of his palm like something that had been waiting to be released. Although it was barely noticeable, it was something.

He released it.

The shockwave hit the wall with a crack that felt subtle across the empty training grounds.

The composite surface compressed at the contact point slightly deeper than usual, the wave traveling further through the material, the wall absorbing it but doing more work than it normally had to.

He stepped back.

Looked at the contact point.

Looked at his palm.

’That’s something ,’ he thought. ’That’s what 75% feels like.’

The system surfaced.

『 75% output confirmed. Noticeable improvement from previous ceiling. Wall material still within absorption parameters. You have not broken anything. Yet. 』

’Yet,’ Zane thought.

He started his reps.

Pressed his palm flat.

Impact Breaker at 75% output. The new ceiling since the second quest reward. The shockwave rolled through the composite surface noticeably harder than the previous weeks. The wall absorbing it the way it always did but the contact point compression deeper.

Then the system ticked.

『 BOUND TARGET QUEST — Time Remaining: 18 hours 32 minutes 』

’Thanks for the reminder system,’ Zane thought.

『 The system is simply doing its job. 』

He pressed his palm flat again and started his reps.

The daily quest notification didn’t surface. It hadn’t for a few days now. He’d reached the plateau threshold with Dex’s familiarity at 38% and the system had stopped issuing the daily Impact Breaker quest until something shifted. He kept going anyway. Routine at this point. The fifty reps had stopped being a quest and had become simply what his routine looked like.

Then a thought surfaced.

’Speaking of Dex,’ he thought.

He brought up the familiarity display mid-rep.

『 DEX — Familiarity: 62% — Acquaintance tier 』

『 Impact Breaker output ceiling: 75% — boosted by quest rewards 』

『 Next familiarity threshold: 70% — Genuinely Close tier 』

Zane looked at the number.

’62%,’ he thought. ’Wow. It’s gone up since the last time I checked.’

The system surfaced.

『 Obviously. He is one of the people you interact with daily. If not the most. Shared living space, shared meals, shared morning routines. Familiarity accumulates whether you track it or not. 』

’So Dex is almost at the genuinely close threshold,’ Zane thought. ’8% away.’

『 Correct. Further genuine interaction will push him over. The system notes that increased familiarity with Dex means Impact Breaker output has a significant ceiling remaining beyond the current 75%. 』

’So getting closer to my roommate improves the Sigil I stole from him,’ Zane thought.

『 The system finds this elegantly structured. As previously stated. 』

’You always find everything elegantly structured,’ Zane thought.

『 Because it is. 』

He went back to his reps.

The session ran its usual rhythm. Maren’s burst sequences behind him. Overdrive at minimum output. Cut before the fatigue window. Re-engage. The sound of it so embedded in his 6:20 AM baseline that silence in this corner would have felt wrong.

At twenty reps she called a water break.

He finished his current set and walked back to the pad.

Sat beside her exhaled.

She drank. Then glanced at the training grounds.

He looked at her.

’Now,’ he thought.

’Data,’ he thought. ’Give her data.’

"Maren," he said.

She looked at him.

"Yes Zane ," she replied.

He held her gaze.

"I’ve been paying attention," he said. "Not just to the training. Not to the Sigil timing or the chain activation or the burst sequences." He paused. "To you."

She looked at him.

Said nothing yet.

"I’m not good at saying things like this," he said. "So I’ll just say it plainly. I like spending time with you. Not because of the training. Because of you specifically." He held her gaze. "And I think you already know that. I just needed to say it out loud before I ran out of time to..."

The training grounds were quiet around them.

The second years in the far arena a distant ambient sound. The morning air doing what morning air did before the building woke up properly.

Maren was looking at him.

Not the calculating stillness. Not the smirk. Not the flat look.

Something he hadn’t seen before. The specific expression of someone who had received something they hadn’t expected in the format they hadn’t expected it in and was processing the gap between what they’d anticipated and what had actually arrived.

The system surfaced.

『 Maren — Familiarity +1% 』

『 Current: 70% — GENUINELY CLOSE TIER UNLOCKED 』

『 Overdrive output ceiling updated: 60% → 90% 』

『 System Note: Threshold crossed. She genuinely likes you. The data confirms it. 』

’70%,’ Zane thought.

He kept his eyes on her.

Her face was going red.

Not slightly. Fully. The specific red that had been making appearances since the infirmary and the dormitory gate and the butt tap payback. Except this time it was different. Deeper. The red of someone who had been caught feeling something they hadn’t fully admitted to themselves yet.

She opened her mouth.

Then Closed it.

Then stared at the clouds forming in the sky.

"I’ll..." she started. Stopped. Started again. "I’ll contact you with my answer." Staring directly at the ground.

"Maren..." Zane said.

She picked up her bag.

"I’ll contact you," she said again. Her voice carrying the specific controlled firmness of someone holding something together through effort.

She walked out of the training grounds without looking back.

Zane stood on the pad and watched her go.

The fitted training gear. The tied back hair. The specific deliberate walk of someone who was moving faster than her usual pace and didn’t want it to be obvious.

He looked at the entrance she’d disappeared through.

Then at the timer.

『 BOUND TARGET QUEST — Time Remaining: 17 hours 44 minutes 』

’I’ll contact you with my answer,’ he thought.

’17 hours,’ he thought. ’Damn, in a normal scenario I would’ve been happier but this isn’t one.’

He looked at the reinforced wall.

’Damn,’ he thought. ’I don’t think I have that kind of time.’

The system surfaced.

『 The threshold has been crossed. She is in genuinely close tier. The data confirms she genuinely likes you. 』

’Hope you didn’t lie to me system,’ Zane thought.

『 The system does not lie about familiarity data. It is the one thing the system is completely honest about. 』

Zane looked at the training grounds entrance.

’She said she’d contact me,’ he thought. ’Not no. Not yes. Contact you.’

’17 hours,’ he thought.

He picked up his bag.

Pressed his palm flat against the wall one more time.

Impact Breaker at 75%.

The shockwave rolled through.

’Don’t lie to me system,’ he thought again.

『 The threshold has been crossed. Trust the data. 』

Then walked out of the training grounds.