The number is stored it a "safe" place until it is recalled
It doesn't even have to ever be used.

Right, but if you did something as simple as

4^*B+2->(r1,r2)
Should it add 2 to both numbers before storing into r1 and r2?  Or should it only affect r1?

I still think just using another token would be easier... it is more flexible since you don't have to use it on the same line, easier to parse, and I personally think it is easier to use and understand since it is easy to confuse exactly what the syntax is supposed to do as Builderboy has already done.  Also, by using another token, I don't mean redefining an existing one, I mean just using one of the OS tokens with its original name.  I was thinking maybe "Seq" from the mode menu?

@Happybobjr
The problem is that it won't know the size until it finishes the entire compile.  If I make it pause the size at the end, it will annoy many users who want to compile as quickly as possible.  But I just had a great idea as I was typing this.  What if I use the homescreen to display the final size of the program?  Axe clears the homescreen anyway when it quits, it might as well do something useful with it.  I like that, I think I'll add that feature.  By the way, the size displayed will not be the same as what you see in the memory management menu because it will not include the symbol table entry.

It will know the executable size after pass 1, but it won't know the total size including the data until after pass 2.

EDIT: Maybe make a "statistics" option then?  Display executable size, native subroutine size, data size, total size, amount saved by peephole optimization, etc. when it finishes.

I still think the percent complete option should ignore included programs, and only report how far through the main program has been compiled.  Because with many subprograms, the compile percent is next to useless

I could at the same time display the percentage of the subprogram elsewhere at this moment.

That's a really cool idea, and I like it a lot.
Maybe you could display it in the very bottom row of the screen.

That would be pretty awesome

Alright, I'm just going to redesign the compiling progress menu in general.  I think I can include 3 or 4 feature requests into that screen by just readjusting the layout.