The sound of my alarm cut through the quiet stillness of the room, a sharp reminder that it was 5 a.m. Normally, I would have already been awake for hours, ready to face the day long before the sun crept over the horizon. But the exhaustion from yesterday's fight had weighed heavily on me, demanding a rare concession: rest.
I sat up slowly, feeling the lingering fatigue in my muscles. My body had needed time to recover from the strain. Physical exhaustion wasn't something I succumbed to often, but the battles had pushed me beyond what I could maintain indefinitely.
'A momentary lapse,' I mused, already brushing it aside.
Slipping out of bed, I stretched, loosening the stiffness in my limbs before retrieving a small vial from my spatial bracelet. It contained a shake—one I'd prepared earlier, optimized for quick recovery and sustenance. I added a few drops of enchanted caffeine into the mix, stirring the liquid.
