When the final Swordsmanship Class arrived, John looked at all the apprentices before him, coughed twice, and then said:
"This is the final assessment for this class. Everyone will first demonstrate your basic skills, then spar with me..."
Before he had even finished speaking, someone among the apprentices exclaimed in surprise. Spar with Teacher John?
They had only ever sparred with their companions before, and even then, they could feel the gap between themselves and the others. Now they had to spar with John, who was clearly much stronger than they were...
Everyone began to feel uneasy, but John smiled and explained:
"I'll try to use only as much strength as you do. I'm not trying to defeat you in a spar. I want to get a detailed sense of how you fight..."
Only then did everyone relax. They began striking poses where they stood, following John's instructions. After he had graded everyone, the spars began.
Mason was the first to step forward. John had deliberately chosen him to go first because he felt Mason's abilities provided a good point of comparison with the others.
Thanks to his own long-term efforts, Mason's skill had gradually risen to the top of the apprentices, and he had also shown some impressive performances in battle.
Besides, he wasn't like those two, who had already left all the other apprentices far behind. If they fought first, the apprentices watching might not even understand what was happening. A few clashes of wooden swords, and it would all be over.
When Mason realized he was facing Teacher John, he chose to play it safe, making only probing attacks and avoiding any excessive risks.
A wooden sword clacked, then everything fell briefly quiet. Mason had made only a probing attack, and immediately retreated afterward to avoid being struck.
Seeing that Mason wasn't attacking, John didn't let the opportunity pass. He immediately stepped forward and attacked.
Of course, Mason blocked the attack with ease. John hadn't used enough force to overwhelm him.
After a few probing exchanges, Mason had figured out the level John was displaying.
He began to boldly try more aggressive attacks, but John blocked them all with ease, without the slightest hint of panic.
After failing to break through for some time, Mason took a risk and used a Combat Technique. John suddenly increased his strength and knocked him back, then said:
"All right, you can step down. Let the next person come up."
After Mason left the arena, John began to think. He really wanted Mason to earn the recommendation, but, to be honest, it would be difficult.
Mason's performance just now had been very good. From John's perspective, Mason had improved every time he stepped onto the arena, and he was becoming more and more adept at fighting. In a real fight, he could very likely rank among the top three apprentices, though that didn't include those two.
But Mason's shortcomings lay outside of combat as well. His physique was far too poor, much worse than those of the noble-born apprentices. And physique carried considerable weight in the Sword Chant School's recommendations.
To become a Formal Mage in the Sword Chant School, a strong physique was essential. Without one, Mason could forget about advancing to Formal Mage.
John had originally thought Mars would take third place. If Mars had performed even a little impressively in this assessment, John would have had no reason not to choose him.
But now Mars had died for reasons John didn't know, and the allocation of the recommendation slots, once a sure thing, had become uncertain.
In terms of physique, Mason was far behind the noble-born apprentices who had practiced the Body Tempering Method since childhood. Even if he started practicing it after joining the School, there was no guarantee he could catch up.
Only if all the noble-born apprentices lost their heads during the assessment and showed a very low level of skill could Mason claim the slot without question.
Many apprentices stepped forward for the assessment after that. Some disappointed John, while others pleasantly surprised him. He graded them all fairly, without showing favoritism.
"Bela."
When John said her name, many apprentices who had been chatting or daydreaming turned to look, curious to see how Bela would do in her assessment.
As soon as Bela stepped forward, she activated her Breathing Technique. John was pleasantly surprised; he hadn't expected her to have learned that.
He knew that activating her Breathing Technique had previously taken her a long time. She could use it in combat, but it had been difficult to find the right moment to activate it.
This improvement had greatly enhanced Bela's performance in actual combat. John knew she was now stronger than many members of the Sword Chant School.
Quite a few members of the Sword Chant School didn't have Bela's physical strength or proficiency with Combat Techniques. He thought that if Bela took the assessment now, she might even place, if she was lucky.
Bela's ability to activate her Breathing Technique in an instant was entirely thanks to Fran's exhausting sparring sessions. During their practice bouts, Fran often activated her Breathing Technique, and Bela would activate hers too. Once they were both so tired that they had to stop, Fran would always win with some inexplicable Combat Technique, as if she had been wearing Bela down for the sole purpose of beating her that way.
Later, in order to turn things around, Bela had no choice but to learn to control her Breathing Technique at will. She would conserve her strength by deactivating it in advance, then activate it in an instant when Fran thought she was exhausted... She had won quite a few times that way.
To be honest, even on her own territory, she hadn't fought every sparring match at such a high intensity, wearing each other down. Even after learning to use her Breathing Technique in battle, she didn't use it every time.
After all, she still had things to do, like patrol her territory. She couldn't spend all day training through sparring.
It was fair to say that Fran's pressure was what had forced her to make such great strides.
John focused his attention for what came next. He had no choice but to concentrate; if any of these apprentices hit him, the Sword Chant School would laugh at him.
In the end, after three minutes, John caught Bela in the recovery after she used a Combat Technique and struck her wrist with his sword, ending the spar.
After the match, he looked at the slightly bent wooden sword and couldn't help marveling at how strong Bela's physique was. Her blows were far stronger than his had been when he first joined the Sword Chant School.
"Bela, you've made tremendous progress. It looks like I'll be seeing you at next year's assessment."
Bela thanked him, then stepped off the arena.
John decided to press his advantage. While the feeling of sparring with Bela was still fresh, he wanted to finish the other person's match too. Those were the only two who required him to fight seriously; he could afford to be less focused with the rest.
Fran also walked forward with a wooden sword in hand. From her subtle movements, John could tell that her physique seemed to have improved again.
He had heard that Bela and Fran sparred frequently. If Bela had improved so much, Fran might have made similar progress.
It looked like the Sword Chant School would be able to send two formidable apprentices to next year's assessment.
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