[Location: Morningstar Manor, New York]
Let's see the other things.
I kept my breathing slow and shallow, matching the steady rhythm Grayfia's frost sigils enforced around my ribs. On the surface, I was resting—eyes half-lidded, aura quiet, posture limp enough to convince anyone watching that I was barely conscious.
Inside?
The system continued unfolding itself with infuriating calm.
Tti-ring.
[Job Advancement Card — Ready for Use]
[Available Paths: ???]
[Warning: Job Advancement will irreversibly alter the soul-framework.]
[Proceed?]
"…Later," I murmured silently.
There was no rush. A job advancement was not something to pick while lying half-broken on a ritual bed with half the people who loved—or wanted to possess—me hovering just outside a crystal partition.
Besides.
Something told me this was the kind of choice that would echo.
The interface responded with quiet compliance.
[Deferred.]
Good.
