I remained inside the shrine for nearly an hour, dedicating myself to practicing the first stance of the Royal-rank footwork technique.

The "Light Steps" movement pattern was deceptively complex, requiring precise coordination between breathing, muscle tension, and energy flow. Each repetition felt slightly more natural than the last, and I could sense my body gradually adapting to the movements.

The full ten percent agility increase wasn't immediately obvious during the initial attempts since I haven't mastered it yet, but as my muscle memory began to develop, I noticed subtle improvements in my reaction speed and fluidity of motion. My footwork became lighter, more responsive, with each step carrying me slightly further than before with the same amount of effort and energy spent.

After an hour of intensive practice, I decided to take a break and check on my team's progress through the communication crystals. The examination was still ongoing, and I needed to ensure our Crest Mark collection was proceeding efficiently.

I contacted Emmet first, knowing he would give me a straightforward report on the hunting operations.

"Emmet, what's your status?" I asked through the crystal.

"We've collected ten Crest Marks so far, found three more groups of white donkeys near the river tributaries. We're moving along the waterways since that seems to be where they congregate."

"Excellent work. Keep maintaining your stealth and avoid other teams."

Next, I contacted the scouting teams to get updates on their scouting efforts.

"Scouting Team Alpha, report," I said into the crystal.

"Captain, we just found a shrine!" came the excited response from one of the team captains. "It's about two kilometres northwest of base camp, partially hidden by overgrown vegetation. The structure appears intact, and we can see magical energy emanating from the entrance. We're maintaining observation distance as ordered and waiting for further instructions."

"Perfect. Mark the location and keep two of you in the vicinity, the rest should continue searching for additional sites. Don't approach until we can coordinate a proper investigation."

Finally, I checked in with Marcus and the Survivalists team managing our base camp operations.

"Marcus, how are things at camp?" I inquired.

"Everything is proceeding smoothly," Marcus replied in his calm tone. "The shelters are holding up well, and we've established secure perimeters around our position. Elen has been processing some of the local herbs into basic healing supplies, and we've maintained watch rotations without any incidents. No sign of rival teams in our immediate area."

"Good. Continue maintaining security and be ready to process any injured team members when the hunting and scouting groups return."

The reports were encouraging. Our approach was yielding steady results while maintaining operational security. With ten Crest Marks already secured and a new shrine discovered, we were positioning ourselves well for the examination's conclusion.

Now I needed to decide whether to re-join my team immediately or spend more time mastering the Light Steps technique while I had this private opportunity.

Checking the follow-up movements within the first stance, I realized that practicing them effectively would be difficult back at the camp. The advanced footwork patterns required significant space and the ability to move freely without concern for detection or interruption.

In the past hour of focused practice, I had only managed to increase my agility enhancement by one percent, meaning I was merely ten percent of the way toward mastering even this introductory technique. The progress was measurable but slow - each movement needed to be repeated a number of times before it became natural enough to provide the full benefit.

I spent another hour in dedicated practice, pushing myself to understand the subtle nuances of weight distribution, timing, and energy flow that the technique demanded. By the end of this second session, I had achieved another one percent improvement.

My total agility enhancement had reached two percent - a noticeable improvement that I could feel in my movements, but still far from the technique's full potential.

In the grand scheme of developing a Royal-rank secret art, these were genuinely impressive gains for just two hours of initial practice. Most martial artists would spend months achieving similar progress. However, for my current situation with the examination ongoing and my team depending on my leadership, the time investment wasn't practical.

After calculating that mastering just this first stance would require more than ten hours of continuous practice, I made the decision to suspend my training. The technique would have to wait until I had proper time and facilities to dedicate to its development.

Then, I carefully stored the precious manual in my spatial ring where it would remain safe until I could resume training. The shrine had served its purpose - I had claimed the Royal-rank secret art and gained valuable initial experience with its applications.

As for the fact that I had stolen it from kyle, I didn't care. Every man was for himself in this world.

Now it was time to return to my team and focus on maximizing our Crest Mark collection for the remainder of the examination. The footwork technique would be valuable for future challenges, but winning this current test required my immediate attention.

I made my way toward the shrine's exit, already planning how to best utilize the remaining examination time.

As I stepped outside the shrine and started making my way back toward the camp, I moved with purpose through the forest terrain. The Royal-rank secret art was safely stored, and now I needed to re-join my team to maximize our remaining examination time.

Two minutes into my journey, I encountered a team of students moving through the underbrush ahead of me. From their equipment and coordination, they appeared to be from one of the lower-ranked classes participating in the examination.

While I had instructed my team to avoid confrontations with rival groups, I had no such personal restrictions. These students likely possessed Crest Marks and resources that could benefit our overall score. I could eliminate this team now and take whatever they had collected.

More importantly, I could then mislead them about my direction to avoid detection, something I wasn't confident my team members would execute effectively. This was precisely why I had forbidden such aggressive tactics for the group.

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