On my way back, I held the details of the newly assigned squad members in my hands, but my gaze was fixed on the horizon. My palms were sweating, and my heart rate was high. It was not because of the new squad members. All my thoughts were occupied by the reminder Lieutenant Cicero had given me about my class trial.

  I finally had to admit something to myself. I could no longer postpone my class trial, something I had been subconsciously happy to delay.

  Initiating the trial felt like a major decision, one that would shape my future. Combined with the fact that I had a combat focused class, it meant my class trial would involve combat. And this would be my first fight since the beast tide.

  I was not sure if I was ready for that. Even now, the thought of stepping into another battle made my chest tighten.

  And it was not as if class trials were consequence free. Failing a trial could lead to widely varied outcomes. At the earliest stages, those consequences were not severe, but even at the Initiate level, the results could differ greatly.

  At best, a poor performance might result in a weaker class. At worst, it could permanently limit future progression. Failing more than three class trials could lock someone out of advancing to the Initiate tier entirely.

  The risk was real.

  But even with all that fear weighing on me, I knew I could not postpone it any longer.

  Not only would completing the trial provide a much-needed increase to my attributes, but if I performed well, I might gain a skill upgrade or even unlock a new one. Staying stagnant would only make things worse.

  It had also been more than three months since I had last cultivated my mana. A class upgrade would allow me to resume mana cultivation again.

  I returned to my room and closed the door behind me.

  The small space felt quiet, isolated from the noise of the fort. I set my papers aside and sat down on the floor, crossing my legs into a lotus position, mana crystals resting in both of my hands.

  I took a slow breath.

  Then another.

  Closing my eyes, it took a few minutes to push away the thoughts crowding my mind. Once I felt ready for the class trial, I focused on my temples and opened my class interface.

  Initiate Class Trial Available

  Find a secure location to undergo your class trial. Any excess experience will be assigned to your class level after completing the trial.

  I read it twice. I steadied myself and mentally selected the option to initiate the trial.

  Current Novice Class: [Junior Officer (Cadet)]

  Direct Upgrade Available:

  Initiate Class → [Field Sergeant]

  All skills at Uncommon tier detected. Potential class evolution condition met.

  Warning: Rarity increase detected.

  Possible evolved class: [Tactical Leader]

  Selecting an evolved class trial will increase trial difficulty. Please select a class trial.

  Note: Final class outcome may change based on trial performance.

  I was surprised when I realized my class rarity had increased.

  I had read about it before. It was rare, but such cases did exist. I did not know that for my class, the only requirement to access an evolved class trial was to raise my skills to the Uncommon tier.

  It was difficult to predict what would lead to class evolution. It depended heavily on the class itself and the skills one possessed. Still, this was an opportunity. If someone successfully completed a higher difficulty class trial and obtained an evolved class, each level afterward would grant greater attribute gains than normal.

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  Walking away from the chance to gain extra stats at every level was not something I was going to do.

  I selected the class trial for [Tactical Leader] without a second thought.

  The moment I confirmed it, I was pulled into my mental space. White stretched in every direction, no matter how far I looked. I stood alone in a vast, empty field.

  Then, slowly, the scenery began to change.

  At first, it felt like standing in a void. Then weight returned to my feet. The emptiness hardened, turning into solid ground beneath me. I felt as if I had been transferred directly onto a battlefield.

  As the white faded, I found myself surrounded by nine men.

  One of them stepped forward and saluted.

  I understood immediately.

  I would be leading them in this trial.

  None of them had any discernible features. Their faces were indistinct, almost unfinished, and their bodies were formed of white mana. In my mind, I started calling them mana soldiers.

  When I activated [Perceptive Instinct (UC)], I could feel their strength clearly.

  Tier Two.

  All of them.

  We were equipped uniformly. Armor, shields, and spears, all of it formed from the same white mana as the soldiers themselves.

  I positioned myself slightly toward the rear as the environment fully stabilized.

  That was when my heart rate spiked.

  The air felt wrong.

  Visibility dropped, shadows stretching unnaturally across the field. For a moment, it felt exactly like standing on the platform during the final moments of the beast tide. The same pressure. The same suffocating stillness.

  Then new shapes formed.

  Ten of them.

  Low, feline silhouettes emerged from the haze, muscles coiled, eyes faintly glowing. They surrounded us from every direction, boxing us in.

  Shadow Cats.

  My mind went blank.

  I stood there, staring at them. I did not issue a command. I did not call a formation. I did nothing.

  Without giving me a chance to get my bearings, one of them lunged.

  It went straight for me.

  I reacted too late.

  I raised my shield, but my hesitation had already cost me. The impact slammed into my chest, knocking the air from my lungs. Pain flared as I staggered backward, my vision blurring for a moment.

  That impact did something important.

  It reminded me that this was a trial.

  I could not die here.

  And more than that, this was the moment I had been preparing for.

  I checked my mana instinctively.

  MP: 1500 / 1581

  Fully restored at the start of the trial.

  I drew on the method Lieutenant Cicero had drilled into me earlier that day. I infused mana into my voice, forcing it steady despite my racing heartbeat.

  “Scattered agile formation!” I shouted.

  It was the same formation we had used against Shadow Cats during the beast tide. Three fighters in front, two on each flank, and three in the rear, including myself.

  As my voice carried, I continued, letting the mana reinforce every word.

  “This is our chance to prove ourselves,” I said. “These are nothing but beasts hiding in shadow. Let’s crush them so completely that they never stand before us again.”

  I had started speaking mostly to sort out my own emotions, but halfway through I realized something. Speaking with emotion was not disrupting my command. It was helping. It sharpened it.

  The mana soldiers around me straightened. Their movements became cleaner, more precise, as if my intent had reached them directly.

  The fight erupted immediately.

  And the problems appeared just as quickly.

  But my earlier hesitation had already caused injuries among the soldiers. Two soldiers were injured. One on the front line and one on the right flank began moving slower than the others. I could not see them directly while facing the Shadow Cats in front of me.

  But I did not need to.

  I had trained for this. I had asked Lieutenant Cicero for help, and every day, for at least an hour, I trained to avoid repeating the mistake that had cost Jack his life.

  I layered my skills together.

  [Perceptive Instinct (UC)] gave me the positions of both the enemy and my squadmates.

  [Triage Ward (UC)] fed me the physical condition of my squadmates. Surprisingly, it worked even on the mana soldiers in the trial.

  [Mana Manipulation (UC)] allowed me to sense movement and fluctuations in mana.

  At the same time, [Applied Military Theory (UC)] and [Memory Recall (UC)] worked together, processing information and matching it to practiced responses.

  Even then, it was overwhelming.

  Handling nine people at once pushed me to my limits. Any more, and I would have collapsed because of the cognitive overload.

  Still, it was enough.

  “Right center.”

  “Right, sixty degrees.”

  “Front center.”

  Issuing commands without names felt unnatural, yet the soldiers responded instantly. It was as if they were connected to my intent rather than my words.

  I fought as well.

  Using [Flowing Spear Style (UC)], [Unbroken Stride (UC)], and carefully controlled bursts of [Mana Reinforcement (UC)], I held my position and prevented breakthroughs.

  After several exchanges, I predicted a Shadow Cat’s movement and brought my spear down where it would land.

  The blade pierced its abdomen.

  “Front, center!” I shouted, still commanding the frontline soldiers as the creature in front of me let out a shriek and died while trying to retreat.

  With one threat removed, the pressure eased slightly.

  I shifted more of my focus outward, supporting the rear and flanks with positioning calls and timing adjustments.

  Ten minutes later, the battlefield finally fell silent.

  All the Shadow Cats were gone.

  I stood there, breathing heavily, waiting for something else to appear.

  Instead, everything dissolved.

  The ground faded. The soldiers vanished. The battlefield unraveled into white once more.

  Synergy detected between [Memory Recall (UC)] and [Applied Military Theory (UC)]. New Class Skill available.

  Higher-than-expected performance detected. High synergy between multiple skills confirmed. Class rarity increased.

  Class Available: [Battlefield Coordinator]

  I stared at the words, my chest still rising and falling.