"Your trial in energy control is about to begin," Warrior Jiro announced to the assembled group. "You will be matched against your fellow squadmates in live sparring sessions, and I will personally evaluate every contest. You have completed two months of physical and spiritual conditioning, but your newly refined energy must now be stabilized through actual combat."

It's still not over?!

The young operatives realized that the two grueling months of conditioning had merely been preparation—building their physical vessels and expanding their internal circles to resonate with atmospheric mana. Actual combat application was only just beginning. Official sparring matches would commence the following morning, with Warrior Jiro presiding as judge and referee.

As late afternoon approached, Alicia was asked to conjure a spatial portal back to the Sky Squad headquarters. Returning to their quarters, the operatives spent the evening practicing meditative focus—learning to compress their internal aura into a microscopic point before expanding it rapidly and precisely on command.

At the time, they did not fully grasp the practical application of the drill, but they held unshakeable faith in Jiro's curriculum. They remembered how their previous conditioning had allowed them to dismantle dark forces during their recent field deployments against Mondu sleeper cells.

This phase of training was exceptionally strict, designed with a single objective: preparing them to face the Five Gates when the battle for the Moon Flower broke out.

When dawn arrived, the squad gathered once again in the open green expanse to begin their sparring matches. Warrior Jiro had already prepared a structured matchup list, requiring each combatant to seamlessly alternate between high-speed offensive strikes and absolute defensive guards.

While two operatives engaged in combat, the rest observed intently from the perimeter. The opening match featured Aaman against Barsha. Bound by blood as cousins, the two knew each other well, but on this field, neither intended to hold back.

Aaman drew his sword while Barsha unslung her dual daggers. The two clashed at blinding speed, exchanging heavy blows as each attempted to force the other off balance. Barsha relied on her high-speed assassin techniques and stealth maneuvers, but Aaman had refined his natural perception to a high degree.

By tracking the subtle air currents displaced by Barsha's movements, Aaman successfully parried her lightning-fast dagger flurry.

Watching from the sidelines, Warrior Jiro nodded in approval. The squad was actively applying their two months of atmospheric conditioning, tuning their senses to the environment around them.

Jiro offered tactical guidance during the exchange, emphasizing that when a warrior commits entirely to an attack, they instinctively focus on felling their opponent, leaving themselves vulnerable to sudden counter-strikes.

Without high-level concentration, a warrior who focuses solely on offense will inevitably be caught off guard by a swift counter, lacking the preparation to deploy a proper guard.

True combat focus required the ability to execute high-speed attacks while maintaining the instant reflex to transition into defense. No matter how fast an incoming counter-strike arrived, a warrior had to compress their offensive aura and expand it into a defensive shroud in a split second.

This was precisely why Warrior Jiro had spent the previous two months forcing them to rapidly compress and expand their internal aura during meditation. They had to learn to manipulate large and small volumes of energy seamlessly. That conditioning had sharpened their focus, ensuring their offensive precision was matched by an impenetrable defense.

The Sky Squad members finally understood why two full months had been dedicated strictly to physical conditioning, internal expansion, and energy manipulation drills.

The sparring sessions continued in earnest. Every member of the Sky Squad and Aaman participated—except Aji. The squad remained under the impression that Aji was undergoing specialized cultivation inside Dompai to stabilize his vast parameters, as Jiro had explained.

Jiro had claimed to be supervising Aji's private regimen personally.

As the matches progressed, Jiro meticulously recorded their performances, pairing combatants with contrasting archetypes—matching assassins against heavy warriors, swordsmen against vanguard tanks, and mages against physical brawlers.

Fighting against unfamiliar archetypes was vital: it accelerated their adaptability and forced them to synthesize internal aura with external atmospheric mana under pressure. Operatives had to deploy physical techniques and external energy manipulation simultaneously.

Consider a physical vanguard facing an elemental mage: the mage would naturally deploy long-range spellcraft to keep the vanguard at bay. To win, the vanguard had to navigate the barrage, closing the distance while evading elemental projectiles.

This differed entirely from a duel between two heavy vanguards, who would engage in close-quarters clashes of raw kinetic force. These specialized matchups maximized energy efficiency through rapid transitions between offense and defense.

The drill proved remarkably effective. As Jiro observed match after match, he noted that the young warriors were adapting to the rhythmic shifts in combat with impressive speed.

Next, Nora was pitted against Alicia. Nora, a heavy swordsman, was tasked with defending against Alicia's high-tier spellcraft.

Though Nora struggled to close the distance for an offensive strike, he successfully parried Alicia's relentless barrage. Instructed by Jiro to hold nothing back, Alicia unleashed high-density elemental projections from multiple angles. Despite initial difficulties in regulating his defensive output, Nora held his ground, deflecting her strikes with his broadsword.

Nora even attempted a counter-charge, but when Alicia immediately released a follow-up arc of blade energy, he aborted his advance, instantly compressing his aura into a defensive barrier to absorb the kinetic shockwave.

When the duel concluded, Nora smiled broadly, thrilled at his ability to hold off Alicia, who had recently attained rank 9—the peak tier for a spellsword master.

Nora himself had reached rank 8 cultivation. In fact, every single member of the Sky Squad now commanded a cultivation level of rank 8 or higher. Several operatives had even broken through into rank 9, though as recent ascendants, they still required time to stabilize their newly expanded cores.

Cultivation ranks were determined by the maximum volume of internal aura a warrior could output, measured through specialized diagnostic artifacts. While rank designations were not absolute absolutes, they served as a reliable guideline for comparing the energetic capacity and martial comprehension of different cultivators.

Occasionally, a warrior might experience a sudden breakthrough simply by observing another master's execution of a high-tier technique. In that moment of enlightenment, their understanding deepened, enabling them to execute advanced maneuvers they had previously deemed impossible.

Such breakthroughs were earned through exhaustive practice and high-level meditative concentration. Harnessing external atmospheric energy, however, required a different discipline: unifying internal aura with natural mana in a seamless, balanced resonance.

If a cultivator failed to achieve harmony, their internal aura and atmospheric mana would clash violently, repelling each other and damaging the user's vessel. That was why precise concentration and physical balance were paramount—allowing the body to safely process vast quantities of environmental energy without overloading the core.

Warrior Jiro informed the squad that for the next week, he would personally join the sparring sessions. He intended to step onto the field himself to demonstrate firsthand how to execute flawless offensive transitions paired with absolute defense.

Through real-time combat against a legendary master, their practical experience and combat reflexes would evolve at an extraordinary rate.