Date: TC1853.09.15
Location: Seven Peaks — Luminous Dawn Sect
The smell of burnt copper woke Jace before the morning bell.
Not real copper — spiritual energy pushed past its tolerance point, overheated meridians venting excess heat through skin that shimmered with faint luminescence. He'd fallen asleep mid-cultivation again. Third time this week. His body kept trying to cross a threshold his mind hadn't quite mapped yet, and each failed attempt left him smelling like a blacksmith's quenching tub.
Foundation Anchoring Level Eight. Three days into it, and the difference between seven and eight felt like the difference between swimming and drowning in the same water. His Essence Sea had expanded overnight — more liquid essence condensing from the compressed gas, settling into depths that hadn't existed yesterday. Progress. Real, measurable, agonizingly incremental progress.
