It was a blue flame.
Azure, steady, flickering.
She reached out instinctively, and her bracer went dark for a heartbeat.
Then it blazed.
<<[Trait Evolved: Azure Specter.]>>
A rush of heat filled her limbs, but it didn't hurt. Her fingers gleamed faintly with light. Her pupils, for a second, flickered silver.
"What the hell…" Yu Song stared. "Did you just?"
"I didn't mean to."
<<[Player Gu Qingran has achieved High Resonance. Environmental integration: 43%. Trait development accelerated.]>>
"Oh hell no.." Mora said, jealous. "I flap around for ten minutes and get a flying squirrel upgrade. She breathes and becomes a jungle ghost. That's not fair."
Qingran flexed her fingers. "It's just a cosmetic change. Don't worry."
But even she wasn't convinced.
The group continued onward, more focused now. The environment responded to them, glowing brighter when they worked together, darkening when they bickered.
It wasn't just a simulation. It was interactive ecology.
