THE NEXT DAY.
King woke before dawn broke across the Victorian estate. The training room had kept him occupied well past midnight, drilling spell rotations until muscle memory took over and conscious thought became unnecessary. He'd pushed his mana reserves to their limits, recovered, then pushed again, testing the boundaries of what his Mind stat could sustain in prolonged combat and how truly versatile his spells were.
Vi found him in the common area an hour later, dressed and ready. She wore her combat gear, the light armor that allowed mobility all the while still being proctective.
"You slept at all?" she asked.
"Just about enough," King said.
He opened his interface and selected Eli's name from the friend list. The message interface expanded, and he typed quickly.
[King: Status check. You good?]
The response came within few seconds.
[Eli: All clear, Maya's safe with me, we'll be engaging hostiles soon.]
