By the evening of Day Four, Ash had a routine.
He woke up in short blocks of three or four hours, whenever his body said it was done. He ate a ration pack and drank an energy drink while standing at the counter. He did a few stretches. Then he sat in the array and cultivated for five or six hours, took a break, ate again, and went straight back in.
On the second night he washed his robes in the bathroom sink because he was running out of clean ones and didn't want to waste time asking for more. He hung them over the shower rail and stood there looking at them for a moment.
"Laundry," he said to the empty room. "I'm doing laundry in a sealed training room. Okay."
He talked to himself a lot now. It wasn't because he was going strange. The room was so quiet that his own voice was the only sound he could add to it, and talking helped him think. He said good morning to the array. He gave himself short pep talks. He counted levels out loud.
"Layer two, done. Layer three, starting."
