The moment the restriction lifted, it didn't come off gently.
It came off like a snapped shackle, like something that had been clamped around his throat for a year finally giving way, and the recoil slamming straight into his ribs. Kael didn't even have time to blink.
One second he was standing there with his rings biting into his skin, sweat dried into old salt lines, lungs still used to listening for the next order… and the next second the system dropped its entire weight on him.
Not as a reward.
As a backlog.
As if it had been sitting there with a ledger, patiently tallying every climb, every fall, every breath held too long under water, every time his bones screamed and he didn't get to stop. Then it decided, now, all at once, that he was allowed to know what he'd actually earned.
It hit his vision so hard it felt physical, like a stack of plates dumped onto his face.
[Stat Restriction Removed]
[Accumulated Growth Applying…]
