Alexander scrolled through the team's collective inventory dispy, his expression growing increasingly grave as he completed the assessment. The preparation for the Alchemical Abomination guardian battle had revealed a critical shortfall they hadn't anticipated.

  "This isn't sufficient," he said finally, looking up at the others gathered around the glowing inventory interface. "The elemental transformation phases will require specialized catalysts we don't have enough of. And our medical supplies won't cover the projected injury rate."

  Elijah swiped through the digital catalog of their remaining resources. "How bad is it?"

  "With standard consumption rates, we have approximately sixty percent of required resources," Alexander replied, his voice clinically detached as he delivered the assessment. "Valeria transferred almost a third of our shared supplies to her personal inventory before leaving."

  Lyra's quick calcutions confirmed his estimate as she reviewed the inventory dispy. When Valeria left, she had transferred to her personal storage almost all the team resources that had been assigned to her inventory slots for carrying efficiency.

  "Can we gather more before the guardian encounter?" Riva asked, her fingers maniputing her own nearly-depleted inventory grid.

  Alexander shook his head. "The difficulty scaling on this floor has increased the competition for resources. The remaining alchemy bs have been stripped by other teams."

  "We could dey," Elijah suggested, closing his personal inventory dispy. "Wait for new resource spawns."

  "The guardian's chamber seal activates in eighteen hours," Lyra pointed out, checking the timer on her interface. "If we miss this window, it's a three-day cycle before it reopens. We can't afford that dey with the quota deadline approaching."

  Silence fell over the team as the implications settled in. Four pyers, resources for maybe two and a half, and a guardian battle that would demand everything they had.

  "We need to prioritize," Alexander said finally, shifting into problem-solving mode. "Lyra, your technical role is essential for the catalyst transformations. Elijah, we'll need your healing capabilities at maximum effectiveness."

  "What about defensive shielding?" Riva asked quietly.

  Alexander frowned at the inventory screen. "We have enough shielding components for two pyers at full capacity."

  "I can manage with reduced catalysts," Lyra offered. "If I focus on only the critical transmutation phases—"

  "Too risky," Alexander cut her off. "One failed transformation could be catastrophic."

  Riva began rearranging the virtual inventory, creating a new configuration on the shared dispy. "If we redistribute like this, we could maintain three core functions at reduced capacity."

  "Still insufficient for survival probability," Alexander said, running the tactical simutions on his interface.

  The team fell silent again, the resource shortage creating a tension they hadn't experienced since their earliest floors. For all their growing skill and cooperation, they were facing a fundamental limitation that skill alone couldn't overcome.

  As they closed the inventory interface and dispersed to prepare their equipment, Alexander noticed Riva quietly accessing her personal inventory screen. He watched as she transferred advanced catalyst components—items crucial for her defensive role—to the shared inventory pool without comment.

  Later, as they materialized the evening meal from their dwindling food resources, Alexander observed a pattern emerging. Riva selected the smallest portion from the inventory, ciming she wasn't hungry. When preparing enhancement tonics, she diluted her own dose in the materialization settings to stretch the remaining ingredients. Each individual action seemed minor, but collectively they formed a clear strategy.

  After the others had settled in to rest, Alexander approached Riva as she conducted maintenance on her shield generator.

  "I saw what you did with the inventory transfers," he said without preamble.

  Riva's hands paused momentarily before continuing their work. "I don't know what you mean."

  "You're reducing your own resources to supplement the others," Alexander said. "Your shield catalyst levels are at forty percent of recommended capacity. Your nutrition intake is below sustainability thresholds."

  Riva didn't look up from her work. "The team requires certain priorities to function effectively."

  "Why?" Alexander asked directly.

  Now she did look up, confusion evident in her expression. "Why what?"

  "Why sacrifice your resources for others? It's not the optimal survival strategy for you individually."

  Riva seemed surprised by the question. "Because we function as a unit. My survival alone isn't the objective."

  Alexander studied her with genuine curiosity. As a Servicer-css pyer, Riva had been raised with significantly fewer resources than the twins. The corporate system had ingrained in her the necessity of maximizing personal opportunity. Yet here she was, voluntarily reducing her chances to improve others'.

  "This goes against your conditioning," Alexander observed.

  A small smile crossed Riva's face. "Perhaps that's exactly why I'm doing it." She set down her tools and faced him directly. "The system taught us that resources flow upward. That Architects deserve more than Privileged, who deserve more than Servicers, who deserve more than Workers. I never questioned it until I entered the Game."

  "What changed?" Alexander asked.

  "I saw that skill and contribution don't follow css lines," Riva said simply. "Lyra has tenth-level technical abilities despite being Unaligned. Your brother connects with the consciousness network in ways no one predicted. You've grown beyond your father's tactical programming." She gestured to their shared equipment. "So maybe the resource allocation system is equally artificial."

  Alexander considered this perspective, finding himself unable to dismiss it with the corporate ptitudes he once would have offered automatically.

  "We need to recalibrate our approach," he decided. "Full team review of resources with transparent allocations based on function rather than css designation."

  The next morning, Alexander called the team together for a revised inventory assessment. This time, instead of making decisions uniterally as he would have in the past, he opened the shared inventory dispy for all to view simultaneously.

  "We have a critical shortage for the upcoming guardian battle," he began. "But we're approaching this wrong. We've been thinking in terms of individual allocations based on standard protocols."

  He reorganized the inventory categories on the dispy, shifting from personal assignments to functional groups. "Instead, we need to optimize for team performance as a unified system."

  Over the next hour, they developed a completely new resource strategy. Critical healing components were assigned to Elijah's inventory slots, but with the understanding that they were for team benefit rather than personal use. Lyra's catalyst allocation was prioritized for key transformation phases, with Riva and Alexander accepting reduced elemental protections during those periods. Equipment modifications were distributed to maximize complementary effects rather than individual power.

  "This distribution provides us eighty percent effectiveness with our current supplies," Alexander concluded, closing the inventory optimization simution. "Not ideal, but within success parameters."

  As they finalized the new inventory assignments, Alexander noticed Elijah watching him with a thoughtful expression.

  "What?" Alexander asked.

  "Nothing," Elijah replied. "Just noting that Father would consider this resource allocation strategy highly irregur."

  Alexander realized his brother was right. The approach they'd developed—pooling resources based on function rather than status, ensuring banced distribution regardless of css origin—represented a fundamental departure from corporate resource theory.

  "Irregur but more efficient," Alexander replied. "And more sustainable long-term."

  As he closed his personal inventory dispy after accepting the new distribution, Alexander reflected on how naturally this new approach had developed. The resource shortage had forced them past artificial distinctions into a more equitable system—one that recognized value beyond css designation.

  It was a small thing, perhaps, this shift in how four pyers allocated their limited digital supplies. Yet Alexander couldn't help but see the rger implications for the system they'd been raised to inherit and perpetuate.