By dinner time, an overseer led a team into the cell block. One by one, they dragged the prisoners out into the corridor for body searches and interrogation.
When it was Shane's turn, he calmly spread his arms, letting them pat him down.
The Class Card was hidden in his mind; naturally, they couldn't find any clues.
By the time the last person was checked, it was completely dark. The cell was unusually quiet. The prisoners, conditioned by long-term routine, lay down early despite having the afternoon off.
Shane closed his eyes, too. He was probably the most exhausted person there, the wound on his back throbbing faintly.
It was a dreamless night. Only the warm current overflowing from the card flowed slowly through his body, nourishing him.
He slept incredibly well. So well, in fact, that he woke up naturally the next morning before the overseer even blew the whistle.
"Haa..." Shane stretched his body as if he were in his own bed.
He reached back to gently touch the wound. The scabbed area felt itchy. With a light touch, the black scabs flaked off, revealing fresh, pink skin underneath.
"Amazing recovery speed." Shane couldn't help but marvel. Aside from the visibly powerful Noble Phantasm, the warm current from the Archer Card was not to be underestimated.
It restored stamina and accelerated healing, though its effects were more subtle and gradual.
"Nice morning!" The improvement in his physical condition lifted Shane's mood. But what puzzled him was that the Archer's memories, which should have appeared last night, were strangely absent.
"Is it because using the Noble Phantasm consumed energy? Or is the frequency of the dreams just irregular?"
The Book of Heroic Spirits didn't come with a manual. Shane had to guess and figure out a lot of things on his own. But soon, he had no time to dwell on it.
The piercing whistle sounded again. The overseer stood at the cell door, banging his club against the iron bars as if nothing unusual had happened yesterday, driving the slaves out once more.
"This shouldn't be..." Shane woke up Simon and Erza, who still weren't used to the schedule, and walked forward with the line.
"Based on their reaction yesterday, there's no way they'd resume work this quickly after an attack. There should be internal chaos for a while at least..."
A bad feeling rose in his heart. Shane quickly ran through various possibilities:
The most likely scenario was that the construction of the Tower of Heaven was nearing completion, and the schedule was too tight to allow for a pause.
Or, there was a calm enough commander among them who had quickly stabilized the situation.
The worst-case scenario was that both were true.
Walking down the dark corridor, Shane unconsciously cracked his knuckles.
If his guess was right, this would undoubtedly disrupt his plan, forcing him to make a trade-off.
In the end, he decided he couldn't drag this out any longer. Regardless of whether the dream appeared tonight, he would try to call out that True Name.
He didn't want his own petty whims to cause unpredictable changes. That was something he couldn't accept.
After making the decision, he felt much lighter. However, when he arrived at the work area and saw the mountain of stones in front of him, he fell into a brief silence.
Thinking so much, I almost forgot I'm still a beast of burden.
Shane didn't dare delay. He rolled up his sleeves and started moving rocks. He might be recovering fast, but he didn't want to take another whip for no reason.
Clatter...
Shane picked up a rock and threw it into the cart. The heavy load soon made him break out in a fine sweat. But maybe it was his imagination, moving these stones today seemed a little easier than yesterday.
It was still strenuous, his arms still ached, and his breathing was heavy, but he definitely had a bit of energy to spare.
He wanted to open the Book of Heroic Spirits right then to check, but that required deep focus. Zoning out on a construction site was too conspicuous, so he gave up on the idea.
Shane decided to use his extra energy to observe his surroundings.
He noticed that the frequency of overseer patrols had clearly increased, and their numbers seemed to have grown by a few percent. They gripped their whips and clubs tightly, their eyes scanning every slave's movement like hawks.
"Looks like they did learn a lesson, after all." Shane looked at the result of his actions, a slight smile crossing his lips.
It was worth mentioning that his cellmates were working exceptionally hard today. It wasn't the mechanical movement driven by the whip, but something with a long-lost vitality. Everyone's back was straighter.
Shane could sense something extra in their eyes. It was hard to describe, hard to find the right adjective.
But he soon found an accurate description: It was a rekindled passion for life mixed with a faint longing for the future.
Although this change was tiny, and it was very likely that after a few days of enthusiasm, they would realize the harsh reality again and revert to their numb selves.
But this was undoubtedly a good trend. Shane didn't believe this change came from just a few casual remarks yesterday. He preferred to believe that deep down, they always yearned for something better—it was just that before, no one had ever given them a reason to change.
Seeds buried in the mud for too long sometimes forget they can sprout.
Shane stopped distracting himself and focused on the environment and the patrol patterns of the overseers.
Now that he had extra energy, the daily work hours were the best opportunity to familiarize himself with these details. He couldn't waste it.
He endured until noon. Since there were no further accidents, food was distributed on-site.
Shane didn't eat with Jellal and the others. He found a shady corner to sit alone. While gnawing on the hard bread, he sank his consciousness into his body.
He needed to figure out the change in his stamina.
"Book of Heroic Spirits." He called out in his mind, and the plainly decorated tome appeared before his eyes.
Shane flipped directly to the title page recording his physical status. His gaze swept over it quickly, then froze.
Name: Shane
Alignment: Neutral Good · Human
Strength: E- (Meager strength flows through your muscle fibers; you are now a qualified child)
Endurance: E- (Your body is still fragile, but it seems to have gained a trace of resilience)
Agility: E- (Mobility is practically zero; cannot rely on physical speed to dodge)
Magic Power: E- (There is indeed a trace of imperceptible flow within your body, though it is so weak it almost doesn't exist)
Luck: EX (Holder of the Book of Heroic Spirits; cannot be measured by normal standards; maximum resistance to "Destined Fate")
Active Skills: None
"The evaluation... changed?" Shane was slightly stunned.
Although the rank itself hadn't changed, the comments behind Strength, Endurance, and Magic Power had all subtly shifted in a positive direction.
He instinctively clenched his fist, tightening his muscles, focusing entirely on the sensation.
A faint but very real sense of strength was indeed flowing through his muscles—a sign that had never existed in this weak body before.
"Are my stats... about to rank up?" Shane muttered to himself.
But why?