Darius didn’t hesitate once the decision to settle was made.

"We’re not wasting time," he said, turning toward the class as his gaze swept across the clearing. "This place has everything we will need, and we will set up a base here."

Students straightened slightly, attention snapping back to him.

"Front line, you’re with me. We establish the outer perimeter first. I want a defensive ring set up before anything else."

He pointed toward the edges of the clearing.

"Use the terrain. Trees, elevation, anything that limits approach angles. Do not stand in open ground unless you have to."

Several students moved immediately, weapons drawn, spreading outward in controlled arcs.

"Elara."

"I’m handling internal organization," she replied, already stepping forward. "You heard him. No one clusters unless assigned. We need space to move, but not enough to lose sight of each other."

She gave instructions, but they were a lot more scattered than Darius’. While Darius was clearly trained in leadership, Elara was still unaware of how to approach the role.

Her eyes flicked across the group, picking out inefficiencies instantly.

Students adjusted quickly under her direction.

"Scouting groups," Darius continued. "Five per group. You move outward in short sweeps, no more than a few hundred meters. You find anything – terrain changes, movement, other classes – you come back immediately. No exceptions."

A few nodded, forming into smaller units.

"Resource group," Elara added. "Try not to go too far either."

The students nodded, surprisingly compliant with the instructions. The class B students didn’t function on ego, and it seemed they were willing to follow even Elara’s leadership since that was who Darius had chosen.

Ronan had been assigned gathering materials to build the base.

That meant

That meant he would be moving.

Freely.

Not far enough to draw suspicion, but far enough to step outside the structure Darius was building. Most of the class would be focused inward – on the perimeter, on organization, on immediate stability. The resource group would be the only ones consistently crossing the boundary between controlled space and open terrain.

Ronan adjusted his grip on the pack slung over his shoulder, his gaze drifting briefly toward the edges of the clearing. The trees still stood dense beyond the perimeter, their shadows layered and uneven, creating natural blind spots that the current formation didn’t fully account for.

"You’ll be working with them," Elara said, her voice cutting into his thoughts.

Ronan glanced at her, then toward the small group she gestured to: four other students, all carrying basic tools or empty packs. None of them looked particularly experienced, but they weren’t completely useless either.

"Stay within range," she added. "We don’t need anything deep in the forest yet. Focus on what’s nearby."

Ronan nodded once.

"Understood, boss," Ronan teased.

She hesitated for half a second, looking a little uncomfortable at the nickname, but surprisingly she didn’t correct him.

So the leadership role is that important to her?

Her control wasn’t the cleanest, especially when compared to Darius, but it was holding up. She was obviously trying and it was clearly important to her.

Elara stepped away from him, trying to organize the rest of the groups she was assigned to.

Ronan fell into step with the others assigned to gathering, their group moving toward the edge of the clearing where the terrain shifted back into thicker growth. The sounds of the base – voices, movement, orders – faded slightly with each step, replaced again by the quieter sound of the forest.

One of the students glanced at him.

"You know what we’re looking for?" he asked, voice low but steady.

"Wood. Vines. Anything usable for structure," Ronan replied. "Nothing too heavy. "

The student nodded, reassured by the answer.

Ronan’s gaze moved past him, deeper into the forest.

The materials didn’t matter to him much.

There would be enough nearby to satisfy Darius’ requirements.

What mattered was the space beyond that.

He had to familiarize himself with the terrain first.

Ronan slowed his pace slightly, letting the others move a step ahead as his attention shifted away from the materials they were gathering.

The forest here felt... ordinary.

Too ordinary.

He let his senses extend outward, not in a blatant surge of mana, but in small, controlled pulses. Subtle enough that no one nearby would notice, but enough to brush against the ambient flow of energy in the environment.

Nothing.

No distortions. No irregular density. No fluctuations that hinted at instability.

He crouched briefly, brushing aside a patch of damp soil, his fingers hovering just above the ground as he observed the faint traces of mana lingering there.

Stable.

Too stable.

The parasite wouldn’t appear in a place like this.

It fed on imbalance. On impurities. On environments where mana flow was uneven, strained, or disrupted. Clean terrain, even wild terrain, wouldn’t be enough.

He stood again, his gaze shifting deeper into the forest.

They moved again, spreading slightly as they collected what they could carry.

Time passed.

The forest had a way of distorting it, the repetition of movement and the constant vigilance dulling any clear sense of how long they had been out.

Ronan continued scanning, mana pulsing every few seconds.

Roots.

Water runoff.

Tree clusters.

Every detail.

Nothing.

After nearly an hour, he stopped.

Not because he had found anything, but because he hadn’t.

And it didn’t look like he would either.

Even if he searched for hours, days even, blindly combing through terrain like this wouldn’t lead him to the leech. It wasn’t something that revealed itself to casual observation. It emerged under specific conditions – conditions that this area simply didn’t meet.

Which meant–

He would have to create those conditions himself.

His gaze darkened slightly as the thought settled.

He exhaled slowly, straightening as he finally looked around properly.

The others were still nearby, though more spread out now, focused on their assigned task. Their voices were low, casual, unaware.

And the base–

Ronan’s eyes shifted back the way they had come.

He couldn’t see it anymore.

The clearing had long since disappeared behind layers of trees and uneven terrain.

He had gone farther than intended.

A small miscalculation.

Either way, it didn’t matter.

Then suddenly, he went dead silent.

Voices.

And they seemed to be getting closer.

Ronan stilled, trying to escape silently without making noise, but it was too late.

"Who goes there?! Reveal yourself!"