Webnovel's Extra: Reincarnated With a Copy Ability-Chapter 156: Quiet Signals

The dining hall filled gradually that evening, but the atmosphere never quite reached its usual volume.

Lucas noticed it before he even sat down.

Normally dinner at the Triangle felt like controlled chaos. Dozens of conversations overlapping, chairs scraping across stone floors, people laughing too loudly after exhausting training blocks. Tonight the noise existed, but it stayed lower, as if the entire room had agreed—without speaking—to keep things just a little restrained.

Lucas grabbed a tray and paused near the entrance.

The first thing he saw was the seating patterns.

A week ago, students had scattered themselves randomly across the tables. Friends sat with friends, teammates with teammates. Rank mattered a little, but not much.

Now it looked different.

Certain tables were crowded.

Others stayed half empty.

Lucas watched one of the crowded tables for a moment. A B-tier striker he recognized sat there explaining something with his hands, sketching a formation pattern on the tabletop while three other students leaned forward listening carefully.

Across the room, another table had the same shape. Someone explaining. Others watching. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Lucas exhaled slowly.

"Yeah," he muttered. "Dreyden was right."

He walked across the hall and found Dreyden near the far wall, already eating in his usual calm, unhurried way.

Lucas dropped his tray onto the table.

"You saw this coming."

Dreyden glanced up.

"Which part?"

Lucas gestured toward the room.

"The seating."

Dreyden followed his gaze briefly.

"Yes."

Lucas sat down.

"You didn’t warn me."

"You didn’t ask."

Lucas stabbed a fork into his food.

"That’s not the point."

Dreyden took another bite.

Lucas watched the room while he ate.

The conversations weren’t random. They all circled the same ideas: spacing adjustments, timing corrections, when to compress a formation and when to let it breathe.

The academy had always pushed people to improve, but now the improvement felt... collaborative.

Lucas leaned back in his chair.

"You know what’s weird?"

Dreyden looked up.

"What?"

Lucas pointed subtly toward the center of the hall.

"Half the people explaining things aren’t the highest ranks."

Dreyden nodded.

"Yes."

Lucas frowned.

"That never used to happen."

"No."

Lucas rested his chin on his hand.

"So now people follow whoever adapts fastest."

"Yes."

Lucas laughed quietly.

"That’s brutal."

Dreyden didn’t disagree.

Lucas took another bite and chewed thoughtfully.

Across the room two students began arguing over the timing of a suppressor lane. Their voices rose slightly before one of them grabbed a tablet and started replaying the training log from earlier.

Lucas nodded toward them.

"See? Nobody’s arguing opinions anymore. They’re pulling up footage."

"Yes."

Lucas shook his head.

"This place turns everything into data."

Dreyden finished his drink.

"That’s the point."

Lucas leaned back again.

"You know what the funniest part is?"

"What?"

Lucas gestured toward the entire hall.

"Most of them still think they’re just studying for drills."

Dreyden remained quiet.

Lucas raised an eyebrow.

"You don’t think so?"

"They are studying for drills."

Lucas frowned.

"But that’s not the real reason, right?"

Dreyden met his eyes.

"No."

Lucas smiled faintly.

"Thought so."

After dinner the training halls filled again.

Night rotations were optional, but plenty of students showed up anyway. The mixed-tier formations had made the drills unpredictable, and unpredictability had a way of attracting ambitious people.

Lucas stepped into the main hall and felt the difference immediately.

The room buzzed with energy.

Projection grids shimmered across the floor while students ran practice rotations in almost every circle. Some drills ran smoothly. Others collapsed halfway through and reset.

Lucas walked along the barrier rails, watching a few formations before joining one of the empty grids.

Dreyden followed a few steps behind.

Lucas stretched his shoulders.

"You know what I noticed today?"

"What?"

Lucas activated the projection grid.

The floor beneath him lit with soft geometric lines as the hazard system warmed up.

"People are watching each other’s mistakes more than their successes."

Dreyden leaned against the barrier.

"That’s efficient."

Lucas snorted.

"Yeah, but it’s weird."

The first hazard arc rose from the grid.

Lucas widened his stance slightly.

The projection slid through the formation space and he redirected it with a quick strike.

The arc shattered against the barrier.

Lucas exhaled.

"That felt smooth."

Dreyden nodded.

"You anticipated the pressure shift."

Lucas ran another sequence.

This time the hazard arcs appeared faster.

He tightened his stance instinctively, pulling the projection toward him before redirecting it.

The grid dimmed.

Lucas stepped out of the circle.

"Okay, that one felt better."

Dreyden watched him carefully.

"You’re switching approaches naturally."

Lucas wiped sweat from his hands.

"Yeah."

He glanced across the hall.

Several other groups were doing the same thing.

One formation widened their spacing until the second wave hit, then collapsed inward at the last second.

Another group started compressed but expanded outward when the projection lanes shifted.

Lucas rubbed the back of his neck.

"I think everyone’s starting to figure it out."

"Yes."

Lucas leaned on the barrier beside Dreyden.

"You think the instructors expected that?"

Dreyden considered the question.

"Probably."

Lucas raised an eyebrow.

"You give them a lot of credit."

Dreyden gestured toward the hall.

"They designed the environment."

Lucas followed his gaze.

Dozens of students ran drills simultaneously, each formation adjusting in slightly different ways.

Nobody gave lectures.

Nobody announced official solutions.

The academy simply let people experiment.

Lucas laughed softly.

"That’s kind of terrifying."

"Yes."

Lucas glanced toward the observation windows above the hall.

The glass panels remained dark.

"You think they’re still up there?"

"Yes."

Lucas smiled faintly.

"They must be having fun."

Dreyden tilted his head.

"Why?"

Lucas gestured toward the entire room.

"Because we’re doing exactly what they wanted."

Dreyden didn’t answer.

Lucas pushed off the railing and stepped back into the projection grid.

"Alright," he said. "One more cycle."

The hazard arcs appeared almost immediately this time.

Lucas widened his stance, letting the projections slip through before redirecting them outward.

The second wave arrived faster.

He collapsed the formation slightly and shattered the arcs with a controlled burst.

The grid faded.

Lucas stepped out again.

"That one felt perfect."

Dreyden nodded once.

"Yes."

Lucas grabbed his water bottle and took a long drink.

"You know what I think now?"

"What?"

Lucas wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I think the academy underestimated something."

Dreyden watched him.

"What?"

Lucas gestured toward the busy training floor.

"They thought everyone would split into two camps."

"Yes."

Lucas shrugged.

"But most of us just stole the useful parts from both."

Dreyden’s expression shifted slightly.

"That’s efficient."

Lucas grinned.

"Exactly."

Across the hall another formation collapsed against the barrier, followed by frustrated laughter.

Lucas stretched his arms.

"Alright," he said.

"What now?"

Dreyden activated the grid again.

"Now we keep going."

Lucas stepped back into position.

Around them the training hall continued buzzing with late-night rotations.

Some formations failed.

Others held.

Each group adjusted slightly faster than before.

And above the floor, hidden behind the dark observation windows, the academy continued recording everything.

Not just victories.

Not just mistakes.

But the small changes people made between attempts.

Because those small changes revealed the one thing the Triangle valued most.

Who learned fast enough to survive the next pressure shift.