The sect had changed overnight. What was once lively had become… focused.
From the break of dawn, disciples filled every corner of the outer sect.
The training arenas echoed with the sounds of fists colliding, feet scraping, and bodies slamming into reinforced stone. Groups sparred relentlessly, sweat soaking their uniforms as they pushed past their limits, driven by the looming disciple evaluation.
Some trained alone.
A lone spear user moved like a phantom at the edge of the arena, thrusting again and again, each strike faster than the last, his breath ragged but controlled.
A pair of beast-kin clashed nearby, claws against hardened gauntlets, their movements raw, instinctual, brutal.
Others sat in meditation circles, eyes closed, trying to stabilize their energy, their auras flickering unevenly as they struggled to refine what they already had.
"Faster!"
"Again!"
"Don't stop!"
