Chapter 148| Cooldown

Chapter 148: Chapter 148| Cooldown

Zane woke at 6:40 on Monday and reached for the quest notification out of habit.

『 DAILY QUEST: None available 』

『 Overdrive activation window: 0.50 seconds — MILESTONE ACHIEVED 』

’Finally done,’ he thought. ’No more numbers to chase.’

『 Future daily quests are in preview. The system is only giving the host a cooldown period. The next one will be due at the appropriate time. 』

’So I get a break,’ Zane thought. ’The system is giving me a break.’

『 The system is giving the host a cooldown. The host should not make it sound like a gift. 』

’Sounds like a gift.’

『 It is not. 』

Dex snored in the next bed over. Gerald wheezed in the vent. Zane pulled on his uniform and went out, leaving both of them to it.

_ _

Vael’s office sat at the end of the third-floor corridor, behind a door with a frosted glass panel and no nameplate.

Zane knocked at exactly 7:59.

"Come in."

The room was smaller than he remembered. A desk, two chairs, a shelf of binders, and a window facing the practical complex. Vael sat behind the desk with a single closed folder in front of her. No tablet. No communicator in sight.

"Sit," she said.

He sat.

For a moment neither of them spoke. Vael looked at him the way she looked at a drill sheet, steadily, checking the numbers against what she’d expected to see.

"You’re wondering why Mori ran my theory block on Friday," Vael said.

"I was previously," Zane said. He frowned. ’How did she even know I thought about that?’

Vael’s mouth twitched, as if she’d heard it anyway. "It’s on your face, Calloway. You’ve had it since the drill."

Vael continued.

"I was in a meeting. Two of them." She tapped the folder once with a fingertip. "And I spent most of Thursday night building the rails for the precision drill. That part was mine. The rest was not."

Zane didn’t ask what the rest was.

"The dual-output log has been flagged," Vael said. "Above me. Not by me."

His stomach tightened, but his face stayed flat. "Flagged by who?"

"The field division. They’ve requested a copy of the assessment data and the raw readings." She paused. "I sent the file. I didn’t have a choice."

"What did it say?"

"What it said when you took the assessment. Two separate Sigils, both B-rank, coexisting with each other." Vael looked at him. "Which is not what the readings look like."

Zane kept his eyes on hers.

"I don’t know what you mean," he said.

"I know you don’t." She said it so evenly it could have been agreement or accusation. "Which is why I’m not asking."

The window hummed faintly. Somewhere below, a group of second years were doing laps.

"The Glasswall slide," Zane said.

Vael didn’t move.

"Mori put it up on Friday," Zane said. "It was the same case my folder came from."

"Mori teaches what’s on the syllabus." Vael’s voice stayed level. "The case study was approved above my level. I’d have chosen differently."

"Would you?" Zane asked.

She held his gaze for a long, quiet beat.

"I would have chosen a slide that didn’t have your father’s coordinates on it," she said.

Zane’s breath caught. He covered it by shifting in the chair.

’She said coordinates,’ he thought. ’She knew they were there.’

『 System Note: Instructor Vael is giving the host more than she intended. The system recommends not pushing. 』

’I wasn’t going to,’ Zane thought. Then he paused. ’Or was I?’

『 The system is simply noting that the host is a very quiet person for someone with so many questions. 』

"What do you want me to do?" Zane asked.

"Nothing unusual." Vael opened the folder, glanced at a page, and closed it again. "No unsupervised testing. No off-campus activity without logging it. And if anyone from the field division approaches you, whether as an observer, a recruiter, or someone claiming to be a friend of your father, you come to me first."

"Before anyone else?"

"Before anyone." Her voice dropped a notch. "I can’t promise I can protect you. I can promise you won’t be walking into a room blind."

Zane studied her.

It was the closest anyone in this building had come to saying something real.

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked.

"Because I teach first years," Vael said. "And I’ve been doing it for nine years. In that time I’ve seen what happens to the ones who get flagged by the wrong people and don’t know it." She closed the folder and set both hands flat on top of it. "I’d rather you were irritated with me than unprepared."

"I’m not irritated," Zane said.

"You will be," Vael replied.

A faint hint of humour crossed her face and left again.

"One more thing," Vael said. "Your communicator. Don’t put anything on it you wouldn’t want read. I’m not saying it’s monitored. I’m saying I wouldn’t test it."

"Understood."

"Good." She slid the folder into a drawer and locked it. "Go. You have a theory block at nine. Mori is still covering for another week."

Zane stood.

At the door he stopped.

"Instructor Vael."

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

She didn’t answer. She just looked at him, and for the first time since he’d met her, her expression softened by a few degrees.

"Don’t make me regret it," she said.

He left.

_ _

The corridor outside her office was empty, and the light through the far window made long pale stripes across the floor.

He took three steps before realising he wasn’t alone.

Ryan was leaning against the wall beside the stairwell, arms folded, one shoulder resting on the paint. He looked like he’d been there for a while. He looked like he’d chosen the spot.

"Calloway," Ryan said.

"Ryan," Zane said, his voice flat.

Ryan pushed off the wall and took one slow step forward. His eyes went past Zane to the frosted glass of Vael’s door and then back.

"Morning visit?" Ryan asked. "You’re quite Early."

"Instructor’s request." Zane replied briefly.

"Funny." Ryan tilted his head. "I didn’t know she took requests on Mondays."

Zane said nothing.

"You and Vael," Ryan said. "You and Mori. You and Nyx on a Saturday morning in Arena 3, which I heard about from three different people before breakfast." His mouth curved. "You’ve got a lot of friends for someone who was nobody six weeks ago."

"You’re keeping count."

"I’m keeping track." Ryan said it so softly it almost sounded friendly. "There’s a difference."

『 System Note: Ryan Castellan is attempting to provoke the host. The system recommends restraint. 』

’I’m restrained,’ Zane thought.

『 The system recommends continued restraint. 』

"If you’ve got something to say," Zane said, "say it."

Ryan’s smile stayed where it was.

"Not here," he said. "I’ll find you."

He walked past, close enough that their shoulders nearly touched, and went down the stairs without looking back.

Zane stood alone in the corridor, listening to the footsteps fade.

’He’s not done,’ he thought.

He checked the time from his communicator. 8:21.

He had a Theory block in forty minutes. A whole day of lectures after that. And somewhere in the back of his head he thought about the four digits in a box, and a woman who’d said coordinates without being asked.

’What a way to start the day,’ he thought.

He started toward the stairs.