「At this moment, on Praxium.」

After exchanging a few pleasantries with the representative from the First Military Academy, Zoe Pierce was separated from Miles Sherman and the others, just as she had expected.

Praxium was huge. After they were separated, Zoe Pierce was led to a spacious and bright training room.

She was the only Omega there for individual training.

The instructors from the First Military Academy and Director Quinn all personally followed.

Inside the training room stood a tall female Alpha. She was nearly as tall as a supermodel, with sharp, short hair. Dressed in the red and black uniform of a First Military Academy instructor, she stood silently, ramrod straight.

"This is Linda Lynch," the accompanying instructor from the First Military Academy explained to Director Quinn.

Director Quinn knew of her. She was a renowned female Alpha from the First Military Academy, a top-tier Alpha in every sense, whose combat power ranked among the top three at the academy.

He just hadn’t expected them to pull out all the stops. After all, instructors with this level of combat prowess typically had packed schedules, held concurrent positions within The Military, and rarely participated in this sort of event.

"Linda Lynch, this is Zoe Pierce. I don’t think I need to say much more."

Zoe Pierce’s face had been all over the place recently. There was no way Linda Lynch wouldn’t recognize her.

She scanned Zoe Pierce from head to toe. Compared to what she had seen in the videos, the girl’s presence and the tone of her muscles were visibly different.

’It’s clear that even after the joint exam, Zoe Pierce hasn’t slacked off. On the contrary, she’s continued to hone her skills.’

"Teacher Lynch." Zoe Pierce bowed slightly to Linda Lynch in greeting.

"Come on. Let’s see what you’ve got." Linda Lynch’s style was incredibly direct. Not one for small talk, she extended the invitation immediately.

’To find out a student’s current skill level, there’s no faster way than a direct fight.’

’But if Zoe Pierce’s skills are still at the same level as the joint exam, I’ll be sorely disappointed.’

Zoe Pierce exhaled and slowly stepped forward.

’She’d long expected a moment like this would come, so she wasn’t the least bit nervous.’

’It was like a student who had studied for a long time finally facing their exam.’

Director Quinn and the instructors from the First Military Academy stood to the side, watching.

Linda Lynch stood in the center and said to Zoe Pierce, "Let’s begin."

At first, no one paid the fight much mind. After all, Zoe Pierce’s skill level might be enough to bully a few Omegas, but against a top-tier Alpha like Linda Lynch, she was completely out of her league.

Everyone was simply curious to see how much Zoe Pierce had progressed.

But no one had imagined that Zoe Pierce could be so fast.

She burst forward in a sprint, her immediate objective to seize Linda Lynch’s arm.

It took Linda Lynch a moment to react before she understood. ’Zoe is treating this like a real match, as if the elimination trigger is linked directly to our Intelligent Brains.’

She dodged backward in a flash, startled by Zoe Pierce’s speed.

’That speed... it’s almost on par with an A-level Alpha.’

Astonishment filled Linda Lynch’s eyes, but the shock Zoe Pierce delivered next was even greater. When Linda Lynch caught her sweeping kick, Zoe used her incredible flexibility and core strength to hook her legs around Linda’s neck and shoulders. Then, in the next instant, she snapped her body upright in mid-air.

The next moment, she was behind her, landing a series of blows.

Zoe Pierce visibly landed several strikes on Linda Lynch’s body.

The room was utterly silent.

Even Director Quinn couldn’t help but stare intently at Zoe Pierce. Of everyone there, perhaps only Ryan Jacobs was mentally prepared for this.

Ever since seeing Zoe Pierce effortlessly pin Morgan to the ground, Ryan Jacobs had known she was something else.

But even with that knowledge, watching her fight in person again still filled him with an irrepressible sense of awe. Every single time, she completely shattered their expectations.

Linda Lynch’s demeanor changed. She had initially planned to only dodge, not attack. But now, if she continued to hold back, she would surely be defeated by Zoe Pierce.

The girl had surpassed all her expectations.

She was like a leopard—precise, powerful attacks and astonishing judgment, predicting her movements throughout the fight.

’I have a feeling,’ she thought, ’if I don’t start fighting back, I’ll lose within five moves.’

But Zoe Pierce was even more perceptive. Noticing the shift in Linda Lynch’s expression, she immediately took several steps back, leaping out of the Alpha’s attack range.

Linda Lynch raised an eyebrow. Just as she was about to say something, she heard Zoe Pierce speak. "Teacher, please wait a moment."

No one knew why Zoe Pierce had suddenly called for a pause.

They watched as she pulled up her pant leg, unfastened a strap from her ankle, and even untied two more from her forearms, letting them all drop to the floor.

As instructors from a military academy, they were no strangers to those black cloth straps.

Gravity bands.

As the name suggested, they were special devices that could adjust gravitational resistance. Wearing them meant bearing at least twice the normal gravity, with no upper limit.

And Zoe Pierce had just casually, effortlessly, taken them off, as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.

A weight that even some Alphas couldn’t necessarily endure was being borne by an Omega—and one of the most slender female Omegas at that.

They stared at Zoe Pierce’s frame, which could hardly be called tall and showed no visible signs of immense strength.

One surprise after another had made it impossible for them to view Zoe Pierce with any semblance of normalcy.

Zoe Pierce had been inspired by Nathan Lockwood’s advice. ’No progress without a breakthrough.’ He had said that concealing her true strength was one thing, but this kind of physical conditioning was another form of refinement.

’It hadn’t taken her long to go from struggling to adapt in the beginning to moving freely with them on, after so many consecutive days of training.’

’After all, she had long been using her spiritual power to increase the gravity on her own limbs.’

’Still, with them all removed now, she felt a wave of relief and lightness.’

She faced Linda Lynch with the same intense focus she used when searching for weaknesses in Miles Sherman and the others. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

And Linda Lynch, for the first time in her life, felt her fighting spirit ignite against an Omega. Switching from passive to active, she lunged forward.

The ensuing fight was indistinguishable from a duel between two Alphas.

Freed from her restraints, Zoe Pierce was even faster than before. Her techniques were clean and decisive. When faced with a move she couldn’t block, she would evade with astonishing speed.

The representative from the First Military Academy standing beside Director Quinn couldn’t help but ask, "Director Quinn, how on earth do you train your students?"

"After the joint exam, almost all the Omegas in the military academies started training. But their current progress, at best, only reaches the level Zoe Pierce was at before—and that’s only for the most diligent ones..."

"But now... Zoe Pierce is no longer competing on the level of an Omega. She’s even stronger than some Alphas."

This...

How is that possible?

Time and again, she shattered everyone’s perceptions of her.

Director Quinn’s eyes remained fixed on Zoe Pierce. He watched her skillfully predict Linda Lynch’s every move. Only constant combat practice could build that level of experience.

’The only ones he could think of were Miles Sherman and his group.’

This time, he didn’t take the credit for his own school. Instead, he said, "She did it all on her own."

’To reach this level of skill, one must possess absolute conviction, training day in and day out. Talent and hard work—neither can be lacking.’

His gaze sharpened. He saw an opening in Linda Lynch’s movements.

In the next second, Zoe Pierce moved.

The outcome was decided in an instant.

The entire training room was dead silent.

Zoe Pierce had won.