Jelo stared at the notification for a moment.
The others didn't see it. They never did. But they saw him go still—the particular quality of stillness that meant something was happening that existed only for him.
"Jelo," Ken said.
"One second."
He looked at the two crystals in his hands. He'd done this before. He knew what was coming. The rush was never comfortable, never clean, but his body was at the edge of what it could sustain and the reserve needed rebuilding now.
He consumed the first crystal.
The effect was immediate—heat spreading from his sternum outward through his limbs like warm current moving through cold water. His breathing steadied. The throbbing behind his eyes dissolved. The stiffness in his left arm from the Daba's grip released and his hand opened and closed without resistance.
He consumed the second.
The enhanced variant hit differently.
