Hours later after the recovery.
Arthur stood on his balcony in the pre-dawn darkness, testing his renewed but incomplete strength with practice swings of a mundane blade. The System flickered within him like a guttering candle. Present but not fully engaged. Stronger than before, but frustratingly unstable.
The partial restoration had revealed something troubling. What he'd thought was gradual recovery was actually temporary access to a dormant system. The energy from his partners provided glimpses of power, but nothing permanent. Nothing he could rely on when facing Lyralei in two days.
Below in the courtyard, Elliott's voice carried through the morning air as he drilled the integrated forces. The captain had been pushing the troops harder since Arthur's partial recovery, but whispers still circulated. Soldiers needed to see their king at full strength, not flickering between power and mortality.
