Fourth segment, fifty-nine percent draw.
Soren's estimate was right. The custom geometry was settling into the substrate's memory. The carrier function still held the shape actively, but the rock was beginning to hold it too—accepting the three-point asymmetric architecture the way it would eventually accept any carrier-built infrastructure, slowly converting the unfamiliar into the familiar.
He told Soren the draw figure when he surfaced.
"Twelve percent decrease from segment one. The template is establishing." Soren was already writing. "Projected cost for segment five: approximately forty-five percent. Six and seven: thirty-five. Eight onward: standard chain cost, adjusted for the adapted geometry. Roughly twenty-five percent per segment." He looked at his numbers. "Twelve segments total, based on the entity's Rift geometry. You are ahead of the curve."
