I woke up at 4:47 AM feeling like I'd slept twelve hours instead of five.
My eyes snapped open. No grogginess. No fog. Just clarity and energy humming through every muscle.
The Silver essence was doing its job.
I sat up and checked the system interface floating in the corner of my vision.
Lifespan: 8 Days 22 Hours
Points: 1,740
Level: 4
The numbers looked better than they had any right to. I'd started this week with seventy-two hours. Now I had over a week. Real breathing room.
My shoulder still ached from the Crawler bite, but the pain felt distant. Manageable. Like my body was processing recovery faster than normal.
I stood and stretched. My joints popped in four different places.
The uniform hung on my desk chair where I'd left it. I grabbed it and headed to the bathroom for a shower that would hopefully wake me up enough to handle whatever fresh hell Misato had planned.
