The published read on Torren Ash ran to one page, which is the shortest Blackforge has ever issued on a competitor. It listed two certified interface disruptors, a four-metre suppression field, plus the observation that no opponent in six years had described a single thing about how the man fights.
"That is the read," Jia said, holding the page up at the workshop bench, "one page, and half of it is a sentence about what nobody knows."
"It is an accurate read," Vell answered, "and publishing it tells thirty-one other competitors that they should be asking the same question I am."
The preparation took two days and none of it involved the Forge. Yenna ran him blind against Jia in a covered yard, using a method she had built for herself after the poisoning.
