"Is there really any point in doing this? Hand-to-hand combat doesn't add anything to a recruit's evaluation. Most people just go through the motions, don't they?"
Annie sighed as she traded blows, complaining all the while. She still looked completely uninterested in this sparring match. Some of the other recruits on the training ground were even yawning as they weakly traded punches.
Even so, Annie did not relax her focus. Her attacks and defenses still flowed as smoothly as running water. Though she remained unenthused, her pride would not let her admit defeat so easily.
"I know that." Lianye curled his lip. "But for me, whether something has meaning doesn't depend on the Training Corps' assessment. It depends on whether I'm interested in it."
If they had to put it that way, Lianye's evaluations in training such as "ODM Gear," "combat drills," and "expeditions" were all among the very best. Although "hand-to-hand combat" carried little weight in recruit evaluations, he was actually more interested in it. In any case, he did not need to worry about falling behind in the other subjects.
The same was true for Annie. Though she wore an icy expression as if she did not care about anything, there was no questioning that her evaluations placed her among the best recruits of the 104th class.
These two were the kind of top students who cried about how hard an exam was before getting a perfect score afterward. It was a merciless taunt, like they had cheats enabled. In fact, compared to ordinary people, the two of them—including Reiner and the others—really were cheating players.
"And you too. If you truly thought hand-to-hand combat was completely meaningless and did not care about it at all, you wouldn't have such excellent technique, would you?"
Annie had learned martial