Location: Pavilion - Training Halls
Time: Day 572-574/211 (Subjective/Actual) - Days 1-3
Realm: Lower Realm (Doha)
Hour four.
Jayde's hands trembled from essence depletion despite the three Qi replenishment potions she'd already consumed. Sweat soaked through her training clothes, making the fabric cling uncomfortably to her skin. Her head pounded from the concentration required to maintain borrowed essence flowing through meridians that—despite being universal—still found channeling Terracore and Radiance fundamentally exhausting.
The Earth Dragon Ward flickered around her, brown-gold sphere pulsing with that living rhythm Green had taught her. Thirty-seven seconds this time before it collapsed, essence dispersing like smoke in the wind.
"Better," Green said from where she stood ten meters away, arms crossed and expression carefully neutral. "But not good enough. You're at thirty-seven seconds. You need thirty minutes minimum. Possibly forty."
