Webnovel's Extra: Reincarnated With a Copy Ability-Chapter 157: Small Fractures

The next morning started quietly.

Lucas woke before the morning bell, which almost never happened unless something was bothering him. For a few seconds he lay still in the dim light of the dorm room, staring at the ceiling while his brain tried to decide whether the early wake-up meant something important or just bad sleep.

Eventually he gave up on figuring it out.

He swung his legs off the bed, stretched, and rubbed his face with both hands.

"Great," he muttered. "Too early."

Across the room his interface blinked with the day’s schedule. Lucas glanced at it while pulling on his training shirt.

Mixed rotations again.

He sighed.

The academy clearly wasn’t done with this experiment.

By the time he reached the dining hall, the place was already filling. Not as loud as the previous morning, but the tension hadn’t faded either. Students talked while scanning their tablets or replaying fragments of yesterday’s drills.

Lucas grabbed a tray and scanned the room.

Dreyden was already there.

Lucas sat across from him and dropped his tray onto the table.

"You’re early."

Dreyden looked up from his drink.

"So are you."

Lucas shrugged.

"Couldn’t sleep."

Dreyden studied him briefly.

"Something bothering you?"

Lucas stabbed a fork into his breakfast.

"Not exactly."

He glanced around the hall.

"Just feels like something’s about to shift again."

Dreyden didn’t answer right away.

Lucas noticed that.

"See? That face right there." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"What face?"

"The one where you already know something."

Dreyden shook his head slightly.

"I don’t."

Lucas narrowed his eyes.

"You’re lying."

"No."

Lucas leaned back in his chair.

"Fine. Then I’ll figure it out the hard way."

The training hall confirmed his suspicion.

The moment Lucas stepped inside, he felt the difference.

It wasn’t obvious. The room looked the same as always: projection grids humming softly across the floor, instructors moving slowly between circles, students preparing for the next rotation.

But the energy had shifted.

People weren’t just experimenting anymore.

They were competing again.

Lucas noticed it in the way formations moved.

Two B-tier teams ran adjacent drills near the center of the hall. Instead of adjusting calmly like the previous days, both groups pushed their formations harder than necessary.

One team collapsed their spacing aggressively, forcing the hazard arcs inward.

The other widened their formation dramatically and redirected the projections with sweeping suppressor lanes.

Both teams succeeded.

Then they glanced at each other.

Lucas sighed.

"Here we go."

Dreyden followed his gaze.

"Yes."

Lucas crossed his arms.

"So the experiment phase is over."

Dreyden watched the two formations reset.

"No."

Lucas tilted his head.

"Then what is this?"

Dreyden pointed toward the formations.

"Competition."

Lucas laughed quietly.

"Of course."

The academy had encouraged experimentation, but once people started seeing results, they couldn’t resist comparing themselves to others.

Lucas pushed off the railing.

"Well, if everyone’s competing again, we should probably join in."

Dreyden nodded once.

"That would be logical."

Lucas stepped into an empty practice grid and activated the projection system.

The hazard lines shimmered beneath his feet.

A suppressor from A-3 joined him in the circle along with two anchors Lucas had never worked with before.

Lucas glanced at them.

"Alright," he said. "Let’s keep this simple."

The anchors nodded nervously.

The suppressor folded his arms.

"Simple works."

Lucas smiled faintly.

"Good."

The first hazard wave rose.

Lucas widened his stance slightly and let the projections slide into the formation before redirecting them outward.

Clean.

The suppressor glanced sideways.

"Nice."

Lucas shrugged.

"Warm-up."

The second wave arrived faster.

Lucas tightened the formation at the last second, forcing the arcs inward where he shattered them with a short burst of pressure.

The anchors exchanged surprised looks.

"That was smooth," one of them said.

Lucas nodded.

"Keep your spacing."

Across the hall the two B-tier formations continued their silent rivalry, each trying to outperform the other.

Lucas noticed something interesting.

Other students were watching.

Not just casually either.

They were comparing.

Lucas stepped out of the grid when the cycle ended.

"Did you see that?" he asked quietly.

Dreyden nodded.

"Yes."

Lucas rubbed his chin.

"They’re treating this like a ranking match."

Dreyden glanced around the hall.

"Yes."

Lucas leaned on the barrier.

"That wasn’t the point of the rotations."

"No."

Lucas smirked.

"But it was inevitable."

Dreyden didn’t argue.

The tension grew during the next rotation.

Students pushed their formations harder. Some drills ended cleanly. Others collapsed when someone tried to prove a point instead of following the structure.

Lucas ran two more cycles with his temporary team.

Both worked.

The anchors started relaxing slightly as they realized the formation held together.

After the third success, the suppressor nodded toward Lucas.

"You lead a lot of these?"

Lucas shrugged.

"Enough."

The suppressor grinned.

"Shows."

Lucas glanced toward the opposite side of the hall.

Dreyden’s formation was running a different pattern entirely. Instead of pushing for speed, they maintained a steady rhythm that kept the projection arcs balanced across the grid.

Lucas watched for a moment.

"They’re stable," he said.

"Yes."

Lucas scratched his jaw.

"That’s annoying."

"Why?"

Lucas smirked.

"Because it works."

The projection cycle ended again.

Students stepped out of their grids, talking more loudly than before.

Competition had fully returned to the room.

Lucas leaned against the barrier and looked up toward the observation windows.

"You think they planned this part too?"

Dreyden followed his gaze.

"Probably."

Lucas shook his head.

"They let everyone experiment first."

"Yes."

"Now they’re letting everyone compete."

"Yes."

Lucas let out a slow breath.

"That’s clever."

Dreyden nodded.

"It reveals different weaknesses."

Lucas looked back at the practice circles.

Some formations succeeded because they adapted quickly.

Others succeeded because they pushed harder.

Both approaches worked—until someone made a mistake.

Lucas stretched his shoulders.

"You know what the real test is going to be."

Dreyden waited.

Lucas gestured toward the hall.

"When someone pushes too far."

Dreyden nodded.

"Yes."

Lucas stepped back into the projection grid.

"Let’s hope it’s not us."

The hazard lines rose from the floor again.

Around them the training hall buzzed with renewed energy as students tried to prove their methods worked best.

Competition had returned.

And somewhere behind the dark observation windows, the academy watched closely to see who handled the pressure when pride started interfering with adaptation.