By the fourth day, the coastal zone carried an entirely different atmosphere.
The threat population itself had certainly thinned, leaving their sector work running at a much lower, manageable register compared to the violent chaos of the first three days. But the real difference was inside the unit itself. Three days of lethal output with real, bleeding stakes had fundamentally burned away the rigid, performative layers of the Academy.
Nobody was standing with perfect, textbook posture to impress an invisible evaluator anymore. The desperate, exhausting fuel of "I am currently being graded" had completely evaporated. What remained was just the raw, brutal work, and the hardened people doing it.
Kael no longer looked like a terrified first-year student frantically managing his appearance. Covered in rock dust and dried monster blood, his movements were efficient and grounded. He looked like someone who actually belonged in a combat zone.
