'Interesting.'
Damien took that feeling—thick, subtle, like the silence before movement—and stored it. Catalogued it. The system didn't spell things out in neon. It suggested, nudged, highlighted threads others might walk past. It was up to him to pull.
This was the first time he'd felt it this directly. And already, he could tell—it wasn't about making decisions for him.
It was about showing him where to look.
The rest?
That was interpretation. Judgment.
Instinct.
Damien took the seat across from Harren Kael, crossing one leg over the other with easy precision. The screen on the table between them hovered passively, displaying Kael's profile—Logistics, C-tier, formerly contracted to Central Supply Coordination, graduated from Duskshore Institute with a degree in resource optimization and field deployment theory. Not top of his class, but not bottom either. Clean grades. Unremarkable evaluations. Nothing that stood out—
Except for the glow.
