**Chapter 109 – The Third Day**
The third day began without any surprises.
The bell rang at the usual time. The group met in the courtyard as it had already become routine. No one needed to wait for each other for long anymore. They simply started appearing and, when the last one arrived, they began walking together.
— Third day — Astrid commented, still with a voice rough from sleep. — I'm starting to think we're actually going to stay here.
Harley laughed quietly.
— Of course we are. Where else would we cause this much trouble in the same place?
Joker didn't answer. He just shoved his hands into his pockets and walked ahead.
The first class of the day was practical.
The training field was already occupied when they arrived. Master Ragnar waited in the center, arms crossed, with the same expression as always.
— Today I don't want theory — he said as soon as the class approached. — I want to see application. You're going to train in small groups. Simple objective: maintain formation, protect the marked point, and stop the opposing group from invading. No big techniques. Control and field reading.
He began dividing the teams.
The orphanage group ended up split into different teams.
Joker, Harley, Astrid, and Marina stayed together.
Rina, Sylvara, and Lirien went to another team, along with one more student.
Kuroe ended up in a fourth group, on the same team as Elowen and two other students they barely knew.
No one complained. They were already used to splitting up when necessary.
The training began.
On Joker and Harley's team, the coordination came quickly. Harley moved in an unpredictable way, forcing the opponents to react, while Joker covered the spaces she opened. Astrid worked as an anchor — anyone who tried to break the formation from the front found her in the way. Marina used low, controlled vapor to disrupt the opponents' vision without overdoing it. Their group wasn't the noisiest, but it was one of the hardest to take down.
A few times Harley laughed in the middle of the movement, clearly having fun. Joker, beside her, kept his usual calm expression, correcting positions with small gestures.
On Rina, Sylvara, and Lirien's team, the style was different. Rina used her speed to intercept flanking attempts before they even fully formed. Sylvara created small barriers of low vegetation to limit the opponents' path — nothing flashy, just enough to get in the way. Lirien almost never attacked. She stayed farther back, watching the rhythm of the field and warning the others with few words when someone changed direction. Their formation was more patient, more defensive, but efficient.
And in Kuroe and Elowen's group, silence dominated.
The other two members of the team tried to communicate loudly and ended up getting in each other's way. Kuroe and Elowen, on the other hand, barely spoke. The two of them simply positioned themselves well. When an opponent tried to go around the side, Kuroe was already moving. When the center was left open, Elowen filled the space without needing to be called. The coordination between the two was clean, economical, and strangely natural.
On the other side of the field, Harley noticed at a glance and commented quietly to Joker:
— Those two are understanding each other.
Joker followed her gaze for a second.
— They are.
The exercise continued for a while longer. Ragnar shouted corrections every now and then, but most of the time he just observed.
Darian, in another group, spent more time trying to give orders than actually reading the field. His formation broke more than once from excess confidence.
When Ragnar finally ordered them to stop, most were sweaty and out of breath.
— Better than last time — he said, running his eyes over the groups. — Some of you already understand the basics of not abandoning your own team. Others still think fighting is theater. You may go back.
As the class dispersed, the eight from the orphanage gathered again at the edge of the field.
Astrid cracked her neck.
— That was actually fun.
Marina smiled, still a little out of breath.
— Did you see Rina? She barely let anyone get past on the side.
Rina shrugged, but couldn't hide the small smile. Sylvara beside her just nodded, satisfied. Lirien wiped the sweat from her forehead in silence, but she looked satisfied too.
Harley looked in Kuroe's direction.
— And you? You managed well with the quiet girl.
Kuroe simply nodded once.
— Fine.
She didn't explain anything more. But when Elowen passed at a certain distance from there, the two exchanged a brief nod. Short. Without a smile. Just recognition.
Then each continued on her own path.
The group began walking back toward the main building, talking quietly about the training. This time the conversation didn't revolve around just one person. They talked about Astrid's positioning, the way Marina had used the vapor, Rina's speed, Sylvara's patience, and Lirien's field reading. Kuroe listened more than she spoke, as always, but she was there in the middle, part of the same rhythm.
The third day was still only beginning.
But at least that morning, the entire group had shown that it worked — together or separated.
**End of Chapter 109**