Divine Milking System

Chapter 263: 263 | Don’t Stop Monitoring the Environment [PS BONUS]

We watched. The team moved in a formation I recognized as close to what Misato drilled us on, but tighter, the spacing between members constant despite terrain variation. When the Crawlers hit from the trees, the response was immediate and minimal. No wasted movement. The formation adapted without communication that we could see, which meant it had been internalized past the level of conscious decision-making.

"They’re not thinking about where to stand," Nishimura said. "They stopped thinking about it sometime around their fiftieth gate run. At that point, formation maintenance is as automatic as walking." He paused the footage. "You’re in your first month. You’re still thinking about it. That’s fine. It’s supposed to be where you are. The problem is confusing the current state with the permanent state."

He started the footage again. One of the hunters, a woman with a barrier ability, threw a shield sideways to protect a teammate’s blind side before the teammate had even registered the threat.

"She saw the Crawler’s targeting sequence three moves in advance," he said. "She didn’t calculate it. She recognized it. Same way you recognize that a car is stopping before the brake lights finish switching on." He let it play to completion. Full clear, eighteen minutes, zero injuries, eleven cores. "This is the standard you’re working toward. Most of you will get there in your second year. Some of you will get there earlier if you’re paying attention."

He looked at the room.

"Some of you are already closer than you think."

It wasn’t directed at me. He was looking at the middle of the room generally, the kind of sweep that encompassed everyone without landing on anyone. freewebnσvel.cѳm

But I noticed Maria Santos glance in my direction when he said it.

Interesting.

The last twenty minutes covered mana density mapping, how to read the environmental signals that indicated a fracture space approaching critical instability. The signs that a gate was moving toward collapse sooner than its predicted window. The difference between stable degradation and emergency extraction scenarios.

"Three percent of first-year gate deaths come from teams that stayed past stability threshold," he said, finishing his coffee. "Not because they didn’t know about the threshold. Because they got focused on objectives and stopped monitoring the environment." He shut down the display. "Don’t stop monitoring the environment. The gate doesn’t care about your core count."

He glanced at the time.

"That’s class. Reading for Wednesday is Chapters seven through nine in the supplemental text. Focus on the sections on mana flow disruption patterns." He picked up his jacket. "Questions can go through the academy portal. I check it occasionally."

He walked out.

The room loosened all at once.

"He’s actually good," Naomi said. She was going through her pages, the kind of careful review that meant she’d gotten something real out of it.

"He’s terrifying," I corrected. "Also great."

Belle clicked her pen. "That ’occasionally’ bit about the portal was either a joke or a warning."

"With teachers like that it’s usually both."

People were starting to filter out. The Amber girl who’d asked about swamp biomes was by the aisle talking to Maria, both of them bent over notes. Regular post-class debrief energy. Students comparing observations, trying to figure out if they’d absorbed the same material, the kind of conversation that turned into study groups if you gave it time.

Naomi finished organizing her notebook with the kind of methodical precision that came from actually caring about the material. She straightened each page, aligned the margins, made sure the corner tabs were properly distributed. Everything had its place in her world. Everything got the same careful treatment. She tucked it into her bag with both hands, the motion deliberate, then looked up at me.

Her expression was different. Less classroom focus, more something personal. The kind of look that made me aware we were sitting next to each other, not just occupying adjacent seats.

"You actually listened today," she said. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

"I take notes now. Mentally and otherwise." I flipped my notebook open and showed her the page. Half a page of actual observations about mana flow and environmental degradation patterns. The other half was monster sketches that would make any biologist weep. "See? Documentation."

She studied the drawings. Her lips pressed together like she was trying not to smile. "The Crawler does not have a hat."

"Artistic interpretation."

"That one appears to be waving."

"Behavioral documentation. It’s friendly." I closed the notebook before she could identify any more anatomical liberties. "Nishimura said prey behavior is about hesitation. I’m illustrating the concept from the monster’s perspective. Educational purposes only."

"You drew eyes on the spore cluster."

"They looked lonely."

She did smile then. Small, but real.

Belle was already moving toward the door. She’d retrieved the chips from her bag again, completely unbothered by the fact that she was eating in a classroom where food was technically prohibited. The Obsidian shoulder trim on her blazer caught the light. The blazer itself was doing its usual work, fighting physics and winning.

Naomi fell into step beside me on the way out, her arm brushing mine in the easy way she’d developed over the past week, not reaching for my hand exactly, just occupying the same space in a way that felt natural.

The hallway was warm with late morning sun coming through the high windows. Students spreading out toward different class destinations, the mid-morning lull before the next block of learning.

My phone buzzed. Aurora: "How was Nishimura? I hear he’s criminally underutilized."

I typed back: "Turned out he knows things. Swamp biomes apparently kill equipment faster than bosses. Relevant data."

Aurora: "I told you swamp gates were a disaster waiting to happen. You didn’t listen."

Me: "You told me to avoid them entirely. I thought that was dramatic."

Aurora: "It was accurate."

Belle looked at my phone over my shoulder with the brazenness of someone who’d decided privacy was a courtesy she extended selectively. "Aurora?"

"She’s gloating about swamp gates."

"She’s allowed." Belle considered this. "She’s earned it, honestly."