The copper tea strainer rattled against the porcelain saucer as the first sonic shockwave hit the mountain.
Kaelen Vance did not look up from page eighty-four of his romance pamphlet. He reached out with two fingers, caught the shaking saucer, and pinned it to the table before a single drop of peony tea could spill.
A second jolt shuddered through the floorboards.
Fifty miles away, the dark shapes of Moons Seven, Eight, and Nine hung in the void like cracked iron teeth. The Dual Sovereigns had compressed the orbital ring overnight, squeezing the distance between the satellites until space groaned.
Azure sparks rained across the quartz domes covering the valley, leaving smoking trails of pale frost.
A soft chime sounded in Kaelen’s mind.
[The Fallow Slate: Day 120 reached.] [Track 1 (Cultivation Vessel): 2,880h 00m — 28,810x Active.] [Track 2 (Martial Combat): 2,880h 00m — 28,810x Active.] [Track 3 (Alchemy & Comprehension): 2,880h 00m — 28,810x Active.] [Track 4 (Dao & Array Comprehension): 2,880h 00m — 28,810x Active.] [Four-Month Milestone synchronized. Current baseline multiplier: 28,810x | Combined Cash: 1,159,656 SJC.]
Twenty-eight thousand times baseline, Kaelen thought, turning the page. A single strike right now could shear Moon Seven in half. But moving a finger resets the streak to zero, and I still have thirty days of paid leave.
