The interior of the War-Rig's sleeper cab was a disaster zone of discarded silk, tactical gear, and tangled sheets. The air was thick and heavy, smelling of expensive perfume and the musk of a night spent pushing the limits of the [Lucky Charm] attribute.
Daniel woke up feeling like he had been plugged into a high-voltage outlet. He wasn't just rested; he felt charged.
Mia was draped across his chest, her face tucked into the crook of his neck, her skin glowing with a faint, healthy pink. Sophia was curled at his side, her legs tangled with his, her usual prim glasses sitting crooked on the nightstand. Kafka, true to her nature, was sprawled over the both of them, her muscular arm locked firmly around Daniel's waist as if anchoring him to the earth.
Daniel stared at the ceiling of the cab. "I'm... I'm actually wide awake," he whispered to the silent room. "This is a nightmare."
"It's called 'Mana Saturation,' Daniel," Sophia murmured, her eyes fluttering open. She didn't move to pull away; instead, she nuzzled closer, her lips brushing his shoulder. "The intimacy acted as a conduit. You didn't just protect us—you absorbed the excess energy we were shedding. You're effectively a living battery right now."
"I hate being a battery," Daniel groaned, though he didn't have the heart to push them off. "Batteries have to work. I want to be a potato."
"A very handsome, very powerful potato," Mia giggled, sitting up and letting the sheet fall away. She looked at him with a gaze that was dangerously soft. "The medical readings are off the charts. My own mana-veining has completely disappeared. Daniel, you're literally purifying us."
Kafka groaned, stretching her limbs like a great cat. She sat up, her eyes immediately scanning the foggy windows. "As much as I'd love a 'Round Two' for scientific purposes, we've got a problem. Look outside."
She wiped a circle in the condensation on the glass.
The golden dome hadn't shrunk. If anything, it was now nearly a mile wide, shimmering with a crystalline brilliance. But at the edge of the shield, the mountain pass was blocked.
A massive, jagged wall of purple crystal had grown across the highway—a "Mana-Glacier." It was a byproduct of the apocalypse, a physical manifestation of the disease that was hard as diamond and pulsed with lethal energy.
"We can't ram that," Kafka said, her brow furrowing. "The Rig would shatter."
"We don't need to ram it," Sophia said, sliding out of bed and reaching for her tablet. She was completely unbothered by her lack of clothing, her mind already back in strategist mode. "Daniel, come to the front. We need to see if your luck can 'wish' a path through."
A few minutes later, Daniel was slumped in the passenger seat, wrapped in a blanket, staring at the hundred-foot-tall wall of deadly purple crystal. Kafka had the engine idling, the roar of the War-Rig echoing off the canyon walls.
"Okay, Daniel," Mia whispered, leaning over the center console, her chest pressing against his arm as she pointed at the glacier. "Just... think about a nap. Think about how much you want to get to that bunker so you can sleep on a real bed."
"I am thinking about it," Daniel muttered. "I'm thinking about it so hard it hurts."
He closed his eyes. He pictured the granite mountain, the reinforced steel doors of the bunker, and the silence of a underground vault. He felt the [Lucky Charm] in his gut begin to swirl, fueled by the "stabilization" from the night before.
I just... want... to pass...
Suddenly, the sky above the mountain pass darkened. A massive, tectonic groan rippled through the earth.
"Daniel, look!" Sophia gasped.
A freak localized earthquake—exactly the kind of "one-in-a-million" event Daniel specialized in—shook the canyon. High above, a massive boulder of pure white quartz, a natural mana-insulator, broke loose from the peak. It tumbled down the mountainside with the force of a meteor, striking the purple glacier at its exact structural weak point.
KRA-KOOM!
The purple crystal didn't just break; it shattered into a million harmless splinters, creating a perfect, truck-sized hole right through the center of the blockage.
"Go!" Sophia shouted.
Kafka slammed the Rig into gear, the tires screaming as they tore through the gap. As they passed through the center of the shattered glacier, the golden dome flickered, absorbing the dissipating purple energy and turning it into a shower of harmless golden sparks.
"We're through," Kafka breathed, a triumphant grin on her face. She reached over and squeezed Daniel's thigh. "Nice work, kid. Only twenty miles to the peak."
Daniel didn't respond. The effort of "wishing" had finally drained the excess battery life. He had slumped against the window, his mouth slightly open, snoring softly as the War-Rig climbed higher into the clouds.
The three women looked at him, then at each other. They knew the bunker wasn't just a fortress for humanity. It was going to be the ultimate bedroom for the man who saved the world by wanting to sleep through it.