Two days passed in a blur.
In this time, Zion almost always followed the same cycle. He'd train, recover, and repeat it again.
On the rare occasions he broke that rhythm, he wandered through the ship's halls or sat alone in the mess hall to eat.
Now, lying on his narrow bed, Zion listened as Uriel's voice echoed softly in his mind.
[Host's progress has been great,] he said, a familiar holographic image popping up inside Zion's eyes. [It won't take too long to advance at this rate.]
Zion's eyes moved over the holographic display, showing the same three statistics that had greeted him after every completed round.
[Neural synchronization rate: 32.9%.]
[Muscle integration: 12%.]
[Physique: 22.1%.]
Zion stared at the numbers for a moment, then closed the display with a blink.
"It's progress," he muttered. "But it feels really slow."
[Don't worry, host,] Uriel said lightly. [Your progress is far above average people.]
Zion let out a small sigh, eyes fixed on the ceiling. "Above average, huh?"
He fell silent again, his body completely exhausted from the continuous training. Especially his arms were burning up from blocking several heavy punches.
"When do you think I can beat level thirteen?" Zion asked, closing his eyes for a moment of rest.
[Host still lacks reaction speed and a higher level of control over the body,] Uriel explained patiently.
"Ugh," he muttered, rubbing his eyes. "Fair enough, just the control is so difficu—"
Before Zion could finish his sentence, Uriel interrupted him.
[C-rank energy signature detected outside,] it said. [Ravel is heading this way.]
Zion didn't react at first. "He's been checking in a lot lately," he muttered.
[Likely due to host's irregular movement patterns during training,] Uriel noted. [Several crew members have expressed concern.]
Zion opened one eye, staring at the door. "Figures."
A few seconds later, the door slid open with a loud hiss. Ravel stepped inside, his usual relaxed posture gone and his expression unreadable.
He stayed silent for a few seconds, just watching Zion sitting on the bed, breathing steadily.
"What exactly have you been doing in here?" Ravel said, his tone serious and heavy. "Those noises don't sound like rest, and I don't appreciate these kinds of surprises on my ship."
Zion answered slowly with a calm and measured voice. "Just training. Didn't mean to cause problems."
Ravel's eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze flicking across the room. The faint marks on the floor and thin condensation along the walls practically confirmed Zion's story.
"Training," he repeated. "You sure that's all it is?"
Zion nodded calmly. "That's all."
Ravel didn't respond right away. His eyes lingered on Zion for a few seconds longer before he finally exhaled through his nose, crossing his arms.
"I don't know what kind of training you're doing," he said slowly, "but it made such noise, one of the passing crewmembers thought you were trying to sabotage the ship."
Zion raised an eyebrow. "If I wanted to sabotage your ship, I wouldn't start by punching the walls."
Ravel's expression didn't change, though the faintest hint of amusement flickered across his face.
"You've got a smart mouth on you," he said. "But don't mistake this for a joke. I don't like this kind of bullshit on my ship."
Zion gave a small nod, understanding where Ravel came from. "I swear I'm not hiding anything. It's just training… nothing else."
Ravel studied him in silence, trying to determine what to do. After a moment, he sighed. "Fine. I'll take your word for it."
Before Zion could thank him, he continued in a serious tone. "But if I hear another loud impact coming from this room, I'm putting you in cuffs and under strict supervision."
Zion nodded once, keeping himself calm. "Understood. I'll keep it quiet from now on."
Ravel lingered at the door, clearly not convinced yet. After a moment, he gestured with his chin. "Come on. Walk with me."
Zion blinked, caught off guard. "Now?"
"Yeah," Ravel said flatly. "You've been practically locked in here for two days straight. Figure it's time we talk properly before we reach Daresk, and we might as well do that over some food."
Zion's eyebrow raised, hesitating for a moment as he tried to figure out what exactly Ravel could be trying. 'Talk properly, huh? Is he going to try and pry information out of me?'
It wasn't unlikely for Ravel to be interested in the cave where he'd supposedly found the ancient ship, after all.
'That seems the most likely,' he thought, his mind still churning. 'I don't really have a reason to decline either.'
Though his body still ached because Uriel was still injecting nanobots into his muscles, he quietly pushed himself off his bed to follow Ravel.
They walked through the ship's corridors side by side once again, both silent with only the metallic sounds of their footsteps echoing softly.
After a while, Ravel finally spoke. "So what's your plan, Zane?"
"My plan?"
Ravel glanced at him. "You know… after Daresk. You've got no crew, no ship, and judging from your supposed training, no intention of sitting still either. So what happens next for you?"
Zion glanced at Ravel in surprise before lowering his gaze to the floor. The story he'd fed him about being an explorer with a lost crew was nothing but a lie, yet Ravel's question still struck a chord somewhere inside him.
'That's a good question,' he thought silently. He wanted to take revenge on the Echelon Empire… but he didn't even have a ship, much less a crew, resources, and even his personal strength was lacking.
'What am I going to do after reaching Daresk?'