Zero One's postwar assessment reached Xu Wuyi's terminal on the morning of Day Twenty-Two. He sat on a tree stump with a cup of tea as sunlight crept in from the east, turning the mist over the river pale gold. He set down his cup, opened the report, and read through it item by item.
The first section covered casualties. Hundreds had died on the Northern Sector Defense Line, with nearly a thousand seriously wounded. Hundreds had died on the Central Defense Line, with hundreds more seriously wounded. The Western Defense Line had suffered fewer deaths, but nearly a hundred were seriously wounded. Together, the losses were substantial. The new Rootlines produced by Fang Yan's workstation at full capacity during the war had filled much of the gap, but their total numbers had yet to return to their prewar peak. Zero One appended an analysis: "Current personnel numbers are sufficient for routine readiness across all three defense lines, but reserve strength remains below its prewar level. Sustained forging will be needed for some time to restore it."
The second section assessed the network. Its overall energy density had fallen since before the war, chiefly because the inert impurities Xu Wuyi had diverted from the battlefield signals into the network's structure had caused a buildup of energy. Its autonomous response mechanism was functioning normally, however, and slowly clearing those impurities. Zero One estimated that recovery would take several months. A separate subsection covered the Hybrid Overlay. It now spanned a substantial portion of the network, and energy-barrier efficiency in the areas it covered had risen by more than ten percent on average. The overlay's composition remained stable, with no sustained increase in the proportion of Star Beast energy residue.
The third section assessed Xu Wuyi's core breakthrough. His Order Tree had