"Wake up, cadets! The Sed Incursion will begin in 30 minutes!" Musk announced.

  Oliver was already prepared, but much of the camp wasn’t. The calm that had reigned among the tents turned into chaos in seds. Cadets could be seen everywhere, rushing to the bathroom, trying to shower, eating their rations, or putting on their uniforms.

  Meanwhile, Oliver was walking toward where the Captains were waiting. Far from the camp, in an open field, ten captains were discussing the steps and how the sed incursion would proceed.

  He couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but he khat, at some point, the orders would e from them.

  'It’s better to wait here than in the chaos of the camp.' The boy thought.

  Other cadets slowly started gathering in the clearing. One of the first people Oliver reized was Astrid. She was walking again and seemed to have regaihe energy she always had during css. But she looked a little different. Her braided hair was tied up, giving the impression of being short, and she seemed more posed than the day before.

  Astrid reized Oliver as he walked toward her. "Up early?" The girl asked.

  "Yep. Yesterday, I just passed out in my tent." Oliver replied.

  Although the two had faced challehe previous day, they still struggled to talk to each other.

  "Are you feelier?" Oliver asked.

  "Much!" Astrid replied, her voice full of energy as she moved her leg. Oliver smiled at the girl’s excitement but didn’t expect what she would do .

  Without hesitation, Astrid lifted part of her shirt to show where her ribs had beeed, but now there was no longer a wound, just a faded scar. She didn’t seem to be ashamed, but the same couldn’t be said for Oliver, who felt his ears heat up. He didn’t need a mirror to know his face was bright red.

  "Thank you so much for yesterday. I promise I’ll repay you one day!" Astrid thanked.

  Oliver nodded, still too nervous to say anything without stuttering.

  "By the way, the advice I gave you in css still stands. You o be mgressive. You have what it takes to climb the rankings, but you’re still holding back. Think about it." She left, letting her words linger in the air.

  Oliver tinued p what Astrid had said. Soon, more cadets gathered in the area. At first, a few hundred, but as the 30 minutes heir end, the space was filled with thousands of students.

  At the end of the 30 minutes, Captain Musk stepped ahead of the other captains and walked toward the cadets.

  "Cadets! Today’s exercise will have some ges. Our sed incursion will no longer be ducted in small, isoted panies." Musk expined.

  The captain tinued walking in front of the students, who were still anized into panies.

  "Yesterday, the severely iudents were withdrawn from the exercise and will not be participating in the sed phase. There are close to twelve hundred of you remaining. Therefore, today, you will operate as a sitalion divided into six panies. We will return to the river north of this settlement and elimihe remaining Crabit hordes. Uood?"

  "Yes, sir!" The cadets responded almost in unison, making the air tremble slightly.

  At the end of the mission’s annou, the other captains began to report which groups would merge into new panies. Oliver had no trouble finding his group, quickly reizing familiar faces like Katherine, Astrid, and the boy who wielded a mace.

  ‘I think I remember his name… Hmm. I saw him in the rankings. It was Kyle?’ Oliver pondered.

  Oliver muttered, "So this is the invincible trio? Let’s see if it stays that way after this expedition." He had seen Kyle’s fighting style but had yet to face him in the ring.

  Ohe panies were plete, the march began. The battalion knew where they were headed. Eapany had operated separately at different levels the day before, but all had marched two hours away from the settlement to the river.

  They quickly passed the areas where they had fought the Crabits the previous day. The carcasses had mostly been cleared, and there were no signs of new Crabits in the region. They tinued marg across the pins until they began climbing the hills, a key sign they were approag the river.

  During the entire march, Oliver sensed something different from the previous day. It wasn’t the march itself but the people around him. He didn’t o use [Observation] to notice that some people were staring at ng at him quickly. The boy just couldn’t figure out why. He had already checked his hair and uniform for anything out of pce, but the feeling that people were watg him persisted.

  After nearly two hours of marg, the cadets weren’t tired. Uhe previous day, this group sisted of the best recruits, and the experience from the day before had prepared them for what to expect.

  At the top of the hill, the five panies finally saw the river. The river’s current seemed strohan the day before, and the rain from the previous night had spread even more mud along the riverbanks. The number of Crabits seemed to have increased as well. While there had been hundreds o day, today, there were at least two thousand.

  "Sir, does this ge anything in the pns?" one of the captains asked Musk.

  Although they were of the same rank, Musk had enough experieo oversee this expedition.

  "Let’s check the territory and see if there are other herds nearby, then we’ll discuss further," Musk expio the other captains and assigwo of them, oo explore upriver and the other downriver.

  "Rest! Cadets, you will wait 10 minutes while we check the perimeter." Musk expio the panies.

  Most cadets couldn’t see what was happening, but after the number of Crabits, they could imagine something was off-pn.

  A few mier, the ten captaiuro their posts.

  "Huff huff! I went up the river, and things didn’t look good. From the terrain, it looks like there was heavy raierday. There are several muddy areas, and the river is stronger. Some parts to the north have flooded, f the Crabits to e down to this level. Still, two or three thousand Crabits are moving upriver. If it rains again and they are forced to desd..." The captain didn’t o finish; his rades uood the situation.

  "It’s a bit better to the south. There doesn’t seem to have been any flooding, but there are still a few hundred Crabits. Nothing out of the ordinary." The other captain expined.

  The group was divided. Some wao cel the exercise, while others uood that dealing with the ued was crucial to the formation of officers of the h Army.

  "Enough! I hold the same rank as all of you, so I ’t order you around. But this exercise is under my and. We are not turning back. These students o learn how to handle impossible situations, and this will be one of them. Better that they learn it with ten captains able to support them." Musk ehe remaining discussion.

  ---

  ---

  Musk returo the front of the panies and prepared the cadets.

  "Cadets, the situation has ged. We inally expected to enter 700 to 800 Crabits. Due to yesterday’s storm, we will have to face between 1,000 and 2,000 Crabits, and the terrain won’t be in your favor."

  Many students' expressions became grim. Yesterday, the average was one Crabit per cadet on solid ground, and evehey had to retreat. Today, they would face more enemies on more challenging terrain. Acts seemed iable.

  "However, fag uable situations is part of your training and your daily life in the h Army. So, we will not be g the Sed Incursion. Prepare yourselves. We begin in 10 minutes!" Musk fihe annou.

  Oliver's situation had gone from bad to worse. Yesterday, his biggest hardship was the muddy terrain, nearly killing him. Today, not only would he face that same challenge again, but he would also have to fight more creatures.

  ‘Hmmm huff...’ He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

  He activated his Artificial Ranger Armor and held his Energy Pistol. His fingers drummed nervously against the side of the gun, a tic he had developed in the past few days.

  ‘I’ll have to take a risk,’ he calmed himself, trying to reassure himself that his pn would work.

  Oliver uood that if he didn’t take a risk, his ces of being injured were high, possibly even fag ahreat to his life. He wouldn’t be surprised if some of the cadets didn’t return to the Academy after this.

  He tio calm himself, fog on his pns. The ten minutes passed quickly, not giving him enough time to be sure of what he would do.

  "Prepare! Prepare! Begin the incursion!"

  GCLopes