The deeper they moved, the quieter the world became, but this time the silence carried a different weight. It wasn't the controlled stillness of the system or the calculated calm of faction territory. It was something more distant, more detached, as if the space itself was no longer fully under the system's influence. Adrian could feel it with every step. The structure that once defined everything around him still existed, but it no longer felt absolute. It felt like a layer—one that could be broken, one that could be bypassed.
He didn't slow down.
Behind him, the others followed without question. Their formation had changed subtly since the last battle, not in position, but in presence. The connection between them had stabilized into something more natural, something that didn't need constant attention to maintain. It wasn't fragile anymore. It didn't flicker under pressure.
It held.
