Vella cleared Hajin for allocation the next morning, though the clearance still excluded every six-Ring manifestation.
Vella checked the Resonance lines from wrist to shoulder, then made him circulate ordinary mana through a slow clinic drill.
The pathways held without a heat spike, and Hajin watched her face for the catch while thinking, ’Clear for arithmetic, not for a victory lap.’
Vella folded his sleeve down with a healer’s finality and kept the progression panel closed until the examination ended.
"The burns remain present, yet they are stable, so you may assign the five held points," Vella said, tapping the clearance note.
Hajin returned to the bench while the unlocked bedroom remained visible beyond the corridor.
"I was not planning a celebration, and the points cannot make a clinic into a battlefield," he replied, rubbing the healed scar.
Vella clipped the note to Marrick’s ledger and pointed toward Hajin’s hand.
"You may not open the full set afterward, since people in this town invent celebrations around any number you display," she warned.
Juna leaned in the doorway with one ear angled toward the child’s room, where Loccy’s quiet breathing marked a better night than the first.
"Close the number before someone turns it into another rumor about secret healing," Juna said, keeping her voice below the corridor’s calm.
Ferra’s runner arrived from the forge with a soot-streaked scrap requesting that the allocation be recorded before anyone asked her to test a Ring-forged brace.
Hajin handed the scrap back with the fold still warm from the forge.
"Tell Ferra the points land on paper first, and a hammer may answer any brace request made before testing," Hajin replied.
Eirwen waited outside with embassy maps and did not enter until Vella invited her across the clinic threshold.
Lana sent a note from the registry stating that Ash had asked whether progression numbers could hurt a body.
Vella set the note beside the clearance sheet, then looked at Hajin until he opened the panel with his own hand.
Five unassigned points appeared beneath the Sixth Ring entry, untouched since the mountain kill and the days following Didi’s brother’s funeral.
Aria formed a small recording window beside the progression panel while the child watched from the open doorway.
"Aria, record the allocation before I confirm it, and keep restoration separate from capacity," Hajin instructed, holding his finger above the first point.
"Recording now, with no restoration of spent mana, stamina, or pathway integrity and no ability attached to these points," Aria answered inside his thoughts.
Hajin considered the mountain battle, the long road, and the ordinary strain that had forced him to fight with limited channels.
Three points moved into Mana, while two settled into Stamina without opening a Ring or replenishing the reserves he had already spent.
Warmth traveled through the relevant pathways, then stopped at the same scarred boundary Vella had tested that morning.
[ Ring Six Allocation Complete ]
[ Mana +3 ]
[ Stamina +2 ]
[ Resource Restoration: None ]
The panel closed after Aria saved the distribution beside the Ring Five record and the post-funeral notes.
Hajin kept his palm open while the new capacity settled, waiting for the familiar surge that never came.
Mana remained spent from the mountain road, and the two Stamina points did not erase the ache that ordinary walking had left beneath his ribs.
The choice answered a weakness rather than a fantasy, giving future circulation more room while keeping the body subject to every limit Vella had named.
Vella pressed two fingers to the same pathway and felt the change without asking him to test a Ring.
"The channel is wider on paper, and the scar still decides how much the body can carry today," Vella said, releasing his wrist.
Hajin nodded and kept the progression panel closed while the child watched from the latchless doorway.
"Allocation raises future capacity, but the injury, artifact strain, and hostile authority can still shorten manifestation," Aria said, keeping the distinction clear.
Ash appeared at the clinic rail with Lana’s hand near his shoulder and frowned at Hajin’s empty wrist.
"Is the larger number on paper, and does it leave your arm feeling exactly the same?" Ash asked, studying the closed panel.
Hajin opened both hands so the child could see that no light had appeared.
"The number widens future capacity, yet it does not refill spent power or make a six-Ring test safe," Hajin explained.
Ash accepted the answer with a small nod and returned to Lana’s side without trying to reach the old socket.
Marrick arrived with the clearance note clipped to the territory daybook and poised his pen above a clean line.
"I will enter this as a capacity change without recovery, so no merchant can claim arithmetic healed your body," Marrick said.
"Enter it that way, and keep the medical limit beside the number," Hajin replied, closing the daybook.
Hans read the same line over Marrick’s shoulder and tapped the page edge with one gloved finger.
"Soldiers get the short version at the gate, since points spent still mean arms break and miracle Rings remain a bad question," Hans said.
Eirwen stepped in after Vella nodded and kept embassy papers below the clinic desk.
"Husband, closing a held ledger is cleaner than carrying unused power, and my Court will list the change as maintenance," Eirwen told him.
"Keep it boring in the reports, and leave exaltation for people who have not met this scar," Hajin answered.
Didi’s funeral allocation remained closed on its own panel in the capital, leaving Hajin’s five points separate from her grief and her choices.
The distinction mattered to Hajin while the funeral ribbon remained folded inside Didi’s last letter, since no shared reward could make her brother’s death part of his arithmetic.
Eirwen read the allocation note beside the embassy maps and placed her seal below the medical restriction rather than above it.
"The future capacity can support a journey, yet the restriction remains the first line in every public report," Eirwen said, returning the paper.
Hajin touched the scar beneath his sleeve and left the report wording unchanged.
Rumi tilted her ears toward the progression window while Nari counted the open doorway exits.
"No thunder appeared, so the panel looks almost disappointed by the useful result," Rumi observed.
"Thunder would be a lie, and the lack of it is the useful result," Nari answered, returning her attention to the corridor.
Vella sealed the clearance with her mark and pointed Hajin toward ordinary work.
"Light circulation only, no six-Ring drills, and no mountain tests while the burns continue healing," Vella ordered.
Hajin stood when she released him and felt the new capacity as wider channels rather than a filled reservoir.
The Decree scar’s old memory stayed a memory while Sanctuary remained open for a child who had chosen no permanent name.
Hajin flexed once, stopped when the burns answered, and thought, ’The ledger closes in ink, while the body still decides the truth.’
The clinic drill continued for another quarter hour, with Vella making him carry a cup from the bench to the washstand and back without opening a Ring.
Hajin completed the route, stopped when his shoulder warmed, and placed the cup down before the pain could become another test.
The child pointed toward the cup and then toward the open room, choosing a small task for herself after seeing the larger number fail to change the body.
Hajin moved the cup within reach and waited while she carried it across the threshold at her own speed.
Loccy watched from the mattress, and the child returned the cup without dropping it before Vella marked the exercise complete.
Outside, clerks copied Marrick’s entry for both gates while the Stream argued over whether plain medical honesty counted as aura.
[ SwordMaster99: ] Mana three, stamina two, and zero aura farming is legendary restraint.
[ ashley (Mod): ] Keep claims limited to the displayed panel and the clinic’s actual clearance.
Hajin took the corridor chair outside the unlocked door while Loccy watched him from the mattress and the child kept the latchless frame in sight.
No test followed the allocation that morning, and no new ability appeared beneath the closed Ring entry.
A sealed Ranker tube arrived at the outer gate before the afternoon count, its wax unbroken and its courier waiting for the person whose number had changed.
Hajin looked toward the notice and kept his hand away from the ring while Vella’s restriction remained the last word in the clinic.
The five points had closed one unfinished ledger, while the unopened tube carried the next public demand toward the same wounded body.
Hajin placed the sealed tube beside the progression record without opening either item, keeping the medical clearance between the arithmetic and the next public demand.
Vella approved the placement with a nod, while Marrick carried the daybook back toward the gate and the clinic returned to ordinary work.
The five points did not brighten the room, yet the choice gave Hajin a wider future without pretending that his present body had recovered.
The distinction stayed beside the sealed Ranker tube while the corridor kept its quiet treatment schedule.