[You purchased a Basic Intelligence Pill. 500 credits have been deducted.]
[You purchased a Basic Intelligence Pill. 500 credits have been deducted.]
[You purchased a Basic Intelligence Pill. 500 credits have been deducted.]
The sound of deduction chimed through her consciousness like coins dropping into a bottomless well.
Fifteen hundred credits vanished.
She did not open her inventory to consume them.
Instead, she let them sit there.
Waiting.
Why buy now if she would not use them immediately?
The question rose, then dissolved. She could not articulate the logic. It felt instinctive. Like storing water before a drought she could not yet see.
"Impulsive," she murmured to herself, closing the shop interface. "Or cautious. I'll decide later."
She stood and stretched lightly, shoulders rolling beneath the fabric of her shirt, then glanced at Zion.
"Open the store."
Zion nodded once.
The shutters creaked upward. Dust motes danced in a shaft of light.
