By the third day of lessons, the cadets had settled into their usual formation: the confident front row, the eager middle, and the forgotten shadows in the back.
Kael, of course, sat in the back.
Feyla sat a few rows ahead. She glanced back once, gave a small nod, then turned back to her notes.
Kael appreciated that. No pity. Just recognition.
The classroom lights dimmed as Instructor Arvan stepped forward. A former Rift scout with a missing left arm and a crystalline implant in his jaw, he didn't speak unless it mattered.
On the holo-wall behind him, a massive beast rotated in 3D. Long limbs, split jaw, gemstone-like growths across its spine.
"Class: B-Grade Hunter."
"Name: Spined Maelor."
"Environment: Crag deserts. Pack behavior. Non-aggressive until provoked."
He tapped a panel, and a colored overlay appeared — red zones for kill strikes, blue for distractions.
"Now," Arvan said, scanning the class, "if your squad was being flanked by a Maelor pack, where would you aim to disable one without triggering the others?"
Hands rose — mostly from front-row cadets eager to flex.
"Jaw!" one shouted.
"Eyes!" another.
Arvan didn't even blink. "Incorrect. And suicide."
Kael looked down at the diagram.
The answer seemed obvious.
But no one said it.
So he raised his hand.
The room turned.
Even Arvan's head tilted slightly.
"…Yes?"
Kael spoke calmly. "Strike beneath the front shoulder. Vein cluster. It bleeds fast, drops slower. Doesn't alert the others unless it vocalizes."
A long pause.
Then Arvan grinned — the faintest twitch of his implant flaring.
"Correct."
Whispers followed as Arvan moved on. Kael didn't listen.
Nathan's voice hummed faintly.
"You hunt smarter now. Not bad."
After class, Kael packed up silently, but not fast enough to escape attention.
One of the elite cadets — a tall boy from Group One — bumped into him "accidentally," knocking his notes to the floor.
Kael bent down calmly.
"Didn't see you there, Blank," the cadet muttered.
Kael didn't reply.
He didn't need to.
Back in his room, Kael reviewed his notes. Half the class was wrong about the Maelor. The pack hierarchy. Their blind zone. Their delayed response time.
But Kael wasn't wrong.
Not anymore.
[Passive Knowledge Sync: +2%]
"Survival isn't just strength," Nathan said. "It's knowing when not to fight."