He sustained the blade's expression through the Celestial Realm's filling for a duration he did not track precisely.
Tracking duration had been a practice of the earlier stages, the Lower Domain's level thresholds and the Middle Domain's contribution accumulations and the contact zone's cycle counting, each of which had provided reference points for measuring progress against the development the current stage required. The Celestial Realm's restoration did not operate through that kind of discrete progress. The recognition's expression was not accumulating toward a threshold. It was developing through its own ongoing presence the way the contact zone's partnership had developed through its own ongoing rhythm.
He sustained the expression and the development continued and he did not count.
What he observed instead of counting was the quality of the Celestial Realm's character as the recognition's expression filled it.
