The pressure that had settled over the courtyard didn't ease when the system spoke again. If anything, it deepened.
"From this point forward, growth alone will not guarantee survival."
The words rolled out over the forest, over the whole territory, carrying the same unhurried certainty as everything else the system had ever said to them. Above the courtyard, faint rings of pale light rippled outward across the sky, too clean and too deliberate to be mistaken for anything natural. Around him, Jin saw more than a few recruits glance upward, faces tight with the same mixture of dread and reluctant awe that had settled over him at the sight of it.
"You will be separated. Placed into trial spaces, isolated from one another, without guidance and without second chances. The groupings are not yours to choose. They are already decided."
Jin's jaw tightened. Not chosen. Random. Whatever came next, none of them would have any say in who actually stood beside them when it arrived.
