Chapter 24. Recomndation Qualification (Part 1)
When the final Swordsmanship Class arrived, John looked at the apprentices standing before him. He coughed twice before speaking.
“This will be the final assessnt for this course. First, each of you will demonstrate your fundantals. After that, you will spar with …”
Before he even finished speaking, a gasp rose from among the apprentices. Spar with Instructor John?
Until now, everyone had only sparred with their peers. Even that had been enough for them to feel the gap between themselves and others. Now they were expected to fight John, who was obviously far stronger than any of them…
Uneasy murmurs spread through the group. Seeing this, John smiled and explained,
“I will do my best to limit my strength to a level equal to yours. The purpose is not to defeat you during the spar, but to carefully observe how you perform in actual combat…”
Only then did the apprentices relax. Following John’s instructions, they assud their stances on the spot.
After John had finished evaluating everyone’s fundantals, the sparring sessions began.
The first to step forward was Mason.
John had deliberately chosen him as the first participant because he believed Mason’s ability was highly representative among the apprentices.
Through his own long-term efforts, Mason’s skill had gradually risen to the upper ranks among the apprentices, and he had displayed many impressive monts during combat.
Unlike the other two, who had already surpassed the rest of the apprentices by far, Mason’s level was easier to use as a reference.
If John had fought those two first, the apprentices watching below might not even understand what had happened—just a flurry of wooden swords colliding, and the match would already be over.
After recognizing that his opponent was Instructor John, Mason chose a steady approach. He launched only probing attacks and did not rush in recklessly.
THUD.
A brief clash sounded before the field fell quiet again. Mason’s strike had only been a test.
The mont his attack landed, he imdiately retreated to prevent himself from being counterattacked.
Seeing that Mason had withdrawn rather than pressing forward, John did not waste the opportunity. He stepped in at once and launched an attack.
Naturally, Mason blocked it with ease. John had deliberately restrained his strength to a level Mason could withstand.
After exchanging several probing moves, Mason gradually grasped the level John was displaying.
His confidence grew, and he began attempting more aggressive attacks. However, each one was easily defended by John, who showed no trace of panic.
After failing to break through for a long ti, Mason finally took a risk and used a Combat Technique. John suddenly increased his strength and knocked the attack aside.
“All right. That is enough. You may step down and let the next person co up.”
Once Mason left the field, John fell into thought.
He truly hoped Mason could obtain this recomndation qualification. Unfortunately, to be honest, the chances were slim.
Although Mason had perford very well just now—at least in John’s eyes—Mason showed clear improvent every ti he stepped onto the field.
His combat experience was steadily increasing as well. If judged purely by combat ability, he could very likely rank within the top three among the current apprentices. Of course, that ranking included those two.
However, Mason’s weakness lay outside of combat.
His Physique was too poor.
Compared to the apprentices from noble families, Mason’s Physique was far inferior. Yet Physique carried considerable weight in the recomndation evaluation of the Sword Chant School.
To beco a formal mage within the Sword Chant School, Physique was an unavoidable requirent. Without it, promotion to a formal mage would be impossible.
Originally, John had believed the third place would belong to Mars. As long as Mars perford even slightly impressively in this assessnt, John would have had no reason not to choose him.
But now Mars had died for reasons John still did not know. The allocation of the originally determined recomndation slots had suddenly beco uncertain.
In terms of Physique alone, Mason was far behind those noble apprentices who had practiced the Body-Tempering Technique since childhood.
Even if he began practicing it after entering the school, it would still be difficult for him to catch up.
Unless those noble apprentices completely lost their composure during this assessnt and displayed extrely poor combat ability, Mason would have no chance of confidently securing the slot.
After that, many apprentices stepped forward for their assessnts. So disappointed John, while others pleasantly surprised him. He scored everyone fairly, without favoritism.
“Bella.”
The mont John called her na, many apprentices who had been chatting or distracted imdiately turned their heads, curious to see how Bella would perform.
As soon as Bella stepped onto the field, she instantly activated her Breathing thod.
This surprised John slightly. He had not expected Bella to have improved in this area.
Previously, Bella’s Breathing thod required a long ti to activate. Although it could be used during combat, it was extrely difficult to find the opportunity to start it.
This change greatly improved Bella’s real combat ability.
John knew that Bella was already stronger than many mbers of the Sword Chant School.
Quite a few of them did not possess Bella’s physical condition or her proficiency with Combat Techniques.
In his opinion, if Bella were to participate in the examination now, she might even secure a ranking with a bit of luck.
The reason Bella could now activate her Breathing thod instantly was entirely due to her exhausting sparring sessions with Fulan.
During their training matches, Fulan often activated her Breathing thod first. Bella would respond by activating hers as well.
Eventually both of them would grow too tired and cancel their Breathing thods, but sohow Fulan would always end the match with a strange Combat Technique, winning at the very last mont.
It almost felt as though Fulan had deliberately dragged the fight out just to defeat her that way.
In order to reverse that situation, Bella had no choice but to learn to control her Breathing thod freely.
She would conserve her stamina, cancel the Breathing thod early, and then suddenly activate it again the mont Fulan believed she had run out of strength.
Using this thod, Bella managed to win several matches.
To be honest, even when she trained in her family’s territory, she had never fought such exhausting matches every single ti.
Even after learning to use the Breathing thod in battle, she did not activate it during every fight.
After all, she still had duties such as patrolling the territory. It was impossible for her to spend the entire day sparring and training.
It could be said that it was the pressure from Fulan that forced her to improve so drastically.
anwhile, John focused his mind completely.
He had no choice but to concentrate. If he were struck by one of these apprentices, he would beco a laughingstock within the Sword Chant School.
Three minutes later, John finally seized the opening after Bella finished releasing a Combat Technique. Taking advantage of the brief recovery mont, he struck her wrist with his sword, ending the match.
After the spar ended, he looked at his slightly bent wooden sword and could not help but sigh in admiration.
Bella’s Physique was truly remarkable. The force behind her strikes was far greater than what he himself had possessed when he first joined the Sword Chant School.
“Bella, you have improved a great deal. It seems I will be seeing you at next year’s examination.”
Bella thanked him before stepping down.
John then decided to strike while the iron was hot. The sensation from sparring with Bella was still fresh in his hands, so he wanted to settle another important match while he was still ward up.
After all, only two apprentices required his full attention in combat. The rest could be handled with less focus.
At that mont, Fulan walked forward with a wooden sword in her hand.
From her subtle movents alone, John could already sense that Fulan’s Physique seed to have improved again.
He had heard that Bella and Fulan sparred frequently. If Bella had improved so dramatically, Fulan might have advanced just as much.
It seed that next year, the Sword Chant School would be sending two very formidable apprentices to participate in the examination.
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