Garrett finished his debrief and dismissed us to the locker rooms. Students dispersed in clusters, so heading straight to the showers, others lingering to talk.
I walked slowly, letting my breathing even out, running the numbers.
◆ LIFESPAN: 48h 03m ◆
Two days.
Exactly two days remaining on the tir, which ant I needed to make a decision.
Belle or Naomi.
Both were viable targets. Both had attraction percentages in the actionable range. Both were Bronze and Silver tier respectively, which ant successful extraction would yield real points and real lifespan extension.
But they were different propositions.
Belle was a transactional thinker. She’d been raised poor and had learned early that nothing ca free. If I approached her with an offer, she’d evaluate it like a business proposal. Risk versus reward. Cost versus benefit. I could probably negotiate sothing that looked like mutual advantage, play to her material interests, and extract what I needed while giving her sothing she valued in return.
The problem was that Belle was also sharp enough to recognize when she was being played, and if she figured out I was running a long ga on her, the entire thing would collapse.
Naomi, on the other hand, was already at thirty-four percent without doing anything except existing near her and being minimally decent. She was kind, genuine, and clearly predisposed to seeing the best in people.
If I leaned into that, if I played the struggling lottery kid who just needed soone to believe in him, she’d probably open up naturally.
The problem with Naomi was that she was genuinely good, which ant manipulating her ca with a different kind of cost.
Not a practical one.
A moral one.
Which shouldn’t have mattered, given that I was literally dying and needed to extract essence from won to survive, but apparently my consciousness still had enough residual conscience to feel bad about corrupting the sweet pink-haired girl who looked at people like they were worth saving.
I reached the locker room and started stripping out of the gym uniform.
Marc was already at his locker, looking barely winded despite the run.
"You good?" he asked, glancing over.
"Yeah."
"You looked rough out there."
"I was rough out there. But I finished."
"That’s what counts." He pulled on his regular uniform shirt. "You coming to lunch after this?"
"Probably."
"Belle and Naomi said they’d be there. Jordan too, maybe Javier."
I nodded and headed for the showers.
The water was hot enough to hurt, which was exactly what I needed. I stood under the spray and let it hamr my shoulders while I thought.
Belle or Naomi.
The sly blue-haired fox or the cute pink-streaked bunny.
Belle would be a negotiation. Naomi would be a seduction.
Belle would see coming. Naomi wouldn’t.
Belle would calculate the exchange. Naomi would think it was real.
I turned off the water and grabbed a towel.
The reflection in the mirror was still soft and undefined, still carrying the weight of a year’s worth of poor choices that weren’t even mine. But the eyes were amber, distinctive, and focused.
I had two days.
I had two targets.
I had a system that would kill if I didn’t feed it.
And I had exactly zero room for error.
I dried off and got dressed, pulling on the Obsidian uniform that still fit poorly across the stomach. The blazer pulled when I buttoned it. The pants were tight on the thighs.
But I was operational.
I checked the system one more ti before leaving the locker room.
◆ DIVINE MILKING SYSTEM ◆
LIFESPAN: 47h 58m
TARGETS IDENTIFIED:
├─ Belle Fox [Bronze] - 24% Attraction - High Intelligence, Transactional
└─ Naomi Love [Silver] - 34% Attraction - High Empathy, Genuine
RECOMNDATION: Prioritize higher attraction target for ti efficiency.
The system was recomnding Naomi.
Of course it was.
Higher baseline attraction ant less groundwork required. Silver tier ant better point yield than Bronze. And the thirty-four percent suggested she was already halfway to being receptive without having to manufacture the entire relationship from scratch.
It was the smart play.
It was also the play that involved deliberately manipulating the nicest person I’d t since arriving at this academy.
I closed the interface and walked out of the locker room.
The hallway was full of students heading to their next classes or back to the dorms. I spotted Belle in the crowd, walking with another Obsidian girl I didn’t recognize. Naomi was nowhere visible, probably already headed to her next class in a different building.
My phone buzzed.
Group chat notification.
Belle: lunch at noon if anyone’s free
Marc: i’m there
Jordan: Sa
Naomi: I can co! ^^
I typed a response.
Jace: yeah
Belle sent back a thumbs up emoji.
I pocketed my phone and started walking toward Building C.
Two days.
Two targets.
One choice.
I needed to decide.
And I needed to decide now.
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