Chapter 273: Five Days to Hold

Jin woke up inside the Top 20 and found Glitch’s breakfast waiting on his phone.

[Supplementary ration request — approved]

[Collection: west store, 07:00–09:00]

He read it with one arm over his eyes, then checked the time. The extra portion he’d given Glitch after the bear match had apparently been an excellent idea right up until it ran out.

By the time Jin reached the care stalls with the feed, the lizard was waiting against the gate. He leaned forward at the sound of the bag, making the hinges complain.

"I can open it if you stop doing that," Jin said.

Glitch stepped back just far enough. Jin squeezed through, set down the bag, and had to move it again before a broad nose tipped it over.

"Bowl first. We’ve done this before."

The muzzle scrape was already half gone.

Jin checked it while Glitch ate. The pale line across his snout had narrowed overnight, another small injury Lesser Regeneration was dealing with. The skill drew on stored energy to restore minor wounds and stamina, and Jin was getting very familiar with the appetite that followed.

The right foreleg still needed watching. It was warm at the shoulder, and Glitch shortened one step coming off a left turn. Jin entered both observations in the log. Healing skin didn’t tell him how much strain remained deeper in the limb.

Doyen came by at eight, put her hands on the shoulder, and confirmed all of it in about ninety seconds.

"Nothing torn. He’s just been used." She straightened. "Light movement today. No claw work, no burst practice, and if you’re grinding him somewhere I can’t see, don’t."

"He’ll rest," Jin promised. "I’ve got the extra feed too."

Doyen glanced at the empty tray. "I see he’s made a start. Keep recording what he eats and how that leg feels after walking."

By lunchtime, Jin had heard several versions of his own match, most of them secondhand. A fourth-year stopped him outside class to ask how he’d trained Glitch to turn inside a Stoneback’s grip. Jin explained that they’d checked the stance in the warm-up, then admitted that the bear lifting him hadn’t been part of the plan. That earned a laugh and a few more questions.

Later, on Glitch’s short walk, a girl from Jin’s year asked if she could look at him. She approached slowly and stopped a couple of meters away. Glitch turned his head so she could admire the other horn as well, or at least that was how it looked to Jin.

Dell Varro found him at lunch, which Jin had not expected at all.

"Anvil’s back in training," Dell said, sitting opposite him. "Still building up the shoulder, but he’s moving well."

"I’m glad," Jin said. "Really."

"So am I." Dell turned his cup around a couple of times. "I watched the bear match. The angle thing." He shrugged one shoulder. "You did the same thing to me, didn’t you. You knew where the plates opened."

"Different opening," Jin said. "Your charge gave us the shoulder. The bear had to reach."

"Same idea, then." Dell pushed back his bench. "Still wish I’d seen it coming. Hold the twenty, Astor. I’d like to have lost to somebody who actually gets a place."

He left before Jin worked out what to say to that, which was probably the intention.

The ranking board hadn’t stopped moving because Jin had gotten onto it. Two positions above him swapped in the afternoon. Somebody at 26 defended successfully against 29 and both of them stayed where they were. Five days remained, and several students below him could challenge directly into the qualifying places. He checked their names before closing the board.

At least I don’t have to pick the next one.

He wasn’t sure waiting to be picked was much better.

The quarry took the rest of the day.

The Lower Gallery route was becoming familiar. Glitch’s avatar held the mouth while Flicker drew off the workers, leaving room to rush a guard and bring Acid Breath across the returning group. Jin could spend less attention on the camera now and more on where the next patrol would meet them.

He still couldn’t leave it running by itself.

On run six a second patrol entered behind them before the first group had split. Glitch’s avatar died holding the junction while Flicker escaped along the ledge. On run seven Jin changed the entry point and it worked. On run nine the patrol simply wasn’t there, and he lost four minutes finding out where it had gone.

The queen remained in the inner chamber, directing the colony through the connected stone. Jin kept away from the approach to her shelf. The patrols were enough work without reminding himself how quickly she could close the entire quarry around him.

Still not coming for you. Don’t get excited.

He ran it twice more and pulled out.

[Session complete.]

[Accumulated development: banked]

Jin left the development banked. Real Glitch was at the peak of seven-Star, and his recovery came first. There was no reason to schedule another transfer just because the Engine had something available to give him.

Flicker’s care sheet was waiting on his phone when he surfaced.

He read it twice, which was not necessary and which he did anyway.

[Temperature regulation: stable]

[Weight: continuing to improve]

[Walking circuit: three repetitions; recovery maintained]

[Care note — Verrick: appetite excellent. No assistance needed during the circuit. Recommend increasing circuit length.]

Jin read the last line again. He was used to notes about what Flicker had tolerated and what she still couldn’t attempt. Verrick was recommending more.

He opened the other panel.

[Recipient: Flicker]

[Stored development: substantial]

[Limited Controlled Sync: available]

[Transfer ceiling: automatically restricted to recipient safe capacity]

[Projected result: species-normal baseline]

The qualification in the earlier projection was gone. Jin sat on the feed crate with his phone in both hands until Glitch came over to investigate.

"She’s ready," Jin said.

Glitch put his chin on the crate.

For a moment he wanted to carry Flicker straight into the stall and start. Instead, he checked tomorrow’s schedule and requested a private care slot with the usual monitoring equipment. He could prepare tonight and give her the whole morning.

Verrick approved the booking and reminded him to keep the care record current. Jin set the feed and monitoring kit aside, then checked them once more before leaving.

Then he went and sat with Flicker, who was standing on her low padded perch inspecting a loose thread, and tried to imagine what she would be like if the only thing wrong with her was that she was young.