Training changed after that.
Samuel pushed harder than he had before, drills running longer into the evening, coordination exercises growing more complex as the days ticked down toward the meeting with the Ashen Circle. Victor absorbed his fourth core on the sixth day, this time with Samuel present, watching with a clinical attentiveness that made the process feel less like reckless self-experimentation and more like something approaching an actual method.
"Your efficiency keeps climbing," Samuel noted, checking the notification Victor read aloud after the absorption finished. "That's not normal, even for someone with your background."
"Is that good or bad?"
"Depends on what's causing it." Samuel's eyes lingered on him a moment too long. "I'd like to know the answer before the Ashen Circle does."
That comment sat uneasily with Victor for the rest of the day.
