At Last, He Graduated from the Marine Academy!

In Marine Calendar 1503, Wood, who had been forced to spend an extra year at the Marine Academy, finally reached graduation.

Throughout that year, apart from his initial spar with Gion, Wood had kept an unassuming profile, just as always.

After a year of systematic training, Wood had learned Kami-e, Finger Pistol, and Tempest Kick at the Marine Academy.

As for Geppo and Iron Body, he had taught himself both in the hills behind the school by studying Kaji's training notes.

So everyone, including Zephyr, believed Wood had only mastered four of the Six Styles: Kami-e, Finger Pistol, Tempest Kick, and Soru. In reality, however, he had mastered all six.

Still, even mastering just four of the Six Styles put him among the best of the students.

After all, they had only had a year, and there was only one person in their class who had mastered all six: Gion.

The girl was still quite annoyed that Wood had used his advantage in Soru to run circles around her during their spar. So the first course she chose was the Navy Six Forms.

During that year, Wood had trained in the Six Styles at the Marines' academy, while also studying some martial arts combat techniques.

When Zephyr and Gion learned that Wood had chosen martial arts instead of swordsmanship, they were both surprised.

In Gion's eyes, Wood's decision was completely misguided. He had already become a Swordsman at such a young age, which meant he had exceptional talent for swordsmanship.

The proper path was to keep improving his swordsmanship and advance even further. Yet this guy had chosen martial arts, which had nothing to do with swordsmanship.

The Navy Six Forms were one thing. After all, abilities like Soru and Geppo were support techniques that could be useful in both swordsmanship and martial arts.

But martial arts and swordsmanship were entirely different disciplines. What kind of fool would abandon swordsmanship, despite being a prodigy, and take up martial arts instead?

After learning of Wood's decision, Zephyr had tried to talk him out of it as well. Martial arts were Zephyr's own specialty, but that didn't mean he wanted Wood to give up swordsmanship.

A person's time and energy were limited. No matter how brilliant someone was, they couldn't achieve remarkable success in both swordsmanship and martial arts at once.

Rather than trying to excel at both and ending up good at neither, it was better to commit wholeheartedly to the path that suited him best.

In the end, though, even Zephyr's earnest advice couldn't change Wood's mind. Each person chose their own path. Zephyr was frustrated that Wood was wasting his talent, but he had no right to interfere with his choice.

For the same reason, everyone considered Wood a fool: he was a Swordsman who was also studying martial arts.

He had exceptional talent for swordsmanship, yet he chose to squander it by learning something he wasn't suited for.

When school first began, Wood's spar with Gion had led everyone to agree that he was the strongest among them, after Gion.

But after a year, foolish Wood had chosen to focus on martial arts, a discipline he wasn't suited for. His swordsmanship had barely improved, and most of the others had now surpassed his overall strength.

In short, Wood, who had once been second in their class, had fallen back to the middle of the pack...

He'd been dealt a winning hand, only to play it terribly. Everyone laughed at him—but was that really the truth?

There was no doubt that martial arts and swordsmanship were completely different disciplines, and that one person couldn't achieve astonishing results in both.

But Wood was absolutely an exception—or, rather, there was no way to measure him by ordinary standards. He was a man with a cheat.

A person's energy was indeed limited, but with the Life Simulator, every time Wood simulated a life, it was as if he gained another lifetime's worth of energy and time.

Ordinary people might not be able to balance martial arts and swordsmanship, but for Wood, that wasn't a problem at all.

And even while studying martial arts, Wood had never slacked off in his swordsmanship training. The wild boars in the hills every night could attest to that.

Those who thought he hadn't grown stronger were only judging him by their own assumptions about his choice to study martial arts, along with Wood's deliberate efforts to hide his abilities.

Wood graduated with middling grades, so he wasn't immediately assigned to one of the available junior officer positions.

As for Gion, who had ranked first, she was assigned the rank of sergeant as soon as she left the Marine Academy.

And that sergeant rank was only temporary. Given Gion's strength and performance, she might rise through the ranks in a matter of just two years.

Because of their excellent grades, Smoker and Hina were also kept on for Marine officer training that year.

Just before they left the Marine Academy, Gion sought Wood out and said she wanted to spar with him again.

Without a doubt, Wood turned down the thankless request outright, saying that someone of middling strength like him could never be a match for a genius.

"Even though you wasted a year, your talent for swordsmanship is still exceptional, and you're several years younger than us.

"If you give up martial arts and get back on the right track, you still have a chance to catch up to me—and even surpass me!"

Gion didn't know why she was saying this to Wood. Perhaps she regretted seeing his talent go to waste, or perhaps she had considered him a rival over the past two years.

"I never said I'd given up swordsmanship. What you see with your eyes isn't necessarily the truth, Gion."

As Wood finished speaking, Gion felt a breeze sweep past her. A sudden sense of danger came over her. She had just reached for the hilt of Kompira at her waist when she realized a sword in a sky-blue sheath was resting against her neck!

Gion was stunned! She hadn't seen Wood move at all.

It was true that she'd been completely off guard, but the aura Wood gave off now made even Gion, a fellow Swordsman, feel her skin crawl!

The boy everyone had dismissed as a fool hadn't fallen behind in swordsmanship over the past year. He had only grown stronger!

"I hope you'll keep this a secret for me. I don't want them assigning me to some dangerous post because of this."

Perhaps it was because Gion had just acted as if she cared about him as a friend. Or perhaps Wood thought that since they were being assigned to different places, they probably wouldn't cross paths again.

Either way, Wood somehow ended up showing Gion the results of his training over the past year.