Her amber-brown eyes found mine across the chamber. Fear. Real fear. But trust layered underneath it, the kind you didn't build overnight.
She closed her eyes. The Silver buff surged through her frame, and I felt the connection between us tighten like a violin string about to snap.
"The chest," she said. Her voice came out barely above a whisper. "Center mass. There's something inside it. Same signature as the core but compressed. Denser. If you can crack the shell—"
"Then we kill it."
"Maybe. Probably. I don't know, Jace, I've never scanned a dimensional guardian before!"
"Good enough."
I pulled up my status. Three percent mana. Three bottles of Belle's essence sitting in the vault. Enough for one Overclock. Four minutes with a two-rank boost. Bronze to Gold. Copper to Silver.
