"Don't let the scammers pull you along. It feels good for a moment and then you regret it."
"The scammer's name is Selthia!"
She shouted, then murmured something about not being able to believe how small her rival was.
Selthia was still laughing, a sharp, duplicated sound.
The mushroom seemed annoyed at being called small but despite everything ignored the provocation. Didn't defend itself... Just continued with what mattered rather than wasting energy on more meaningless exchanges.
A pulse of light came from the center of Ren's core. Different from the detonation, slower... Like a hand pressing something gently back into place. The jade-gold roots moved, re-interlaced and found each other.
The crack didn't fully seal, but its edges came together enough to change the balance of everything.
Enough to matter.
The power flooding through Ren retreated. Not gone but contained. Like a river that had been about to overflow its banks suddenly redirected into proper channels.
