Recommended Qualification (Part 1)

The time had come for the final swordsmanship lesson. John looked at all the apprentices before him, cleared his throat twice, and spoke:

"This is the final assessment for this course. Everyone will first demonstrate their basic skills, and then engage in a sparring match with me..."

Before his voice had even faded, gasps erupted among the apprentices. Spar with Teacher John?

Everyone had only sparred with their peers before, and even then, they could clearly feel the gap between themselves and others. Now, they were to face John, who was obviously far stronger than them...

Murmurs rippled through the crowd, but John explained with a smile:

"I will try my best to use only the same level of strength as you. This is not to defeat you in the match, but to feel exactly how you perform in combat..."

Only then did everyone relax. They began to take their stances according to John's instructions. Once John had graded everyone's basics, the sparring matches began.

Mason was the first to step up. John had specifically chosen him to go first because he felt Mason's strength was a very good benchmark among the group.

Through his own long-term efforts, his level had gradually risen to the forefront of the apprentices, and he had shown many impressive performances in combat.

Moreover, unlike those two who had already far surpassed all the other apprentices—if he had sparred with them first, the apprentices below might not have even understood what was happening before a flurry of wooden sword clashes ended the fight.

Realizing his opponent was Teacher John, Mason chose to play it safe, attacking only tentatively and avoiding any reckless moves.

After a "thud" echoed, silence returned briefly. Mason's attack had been merely a probe, and he retreated immediately afterward to avoid being struck.

Seeing that Mason chose not to press the attack, John did not let the opportunity pass and immediately stepped forward to strike.

Of course, this attack was easily blocked by Mason; John did not use force that Mason couldn't handle.

After a few probing exchanges, Mason understood the level John was displaying.

He began to grow bold, attempting some aggressive attacks, but John parried them all with ease, showing not a hint of panic.

When Mason risked using a combat technique after a long, fruitless offensive, John suddenly increased his force to deflect him and said:

"Alright, you can step down. Let the next person come up."

After Mason left the arena, John began to ponder. He really wanted Mason to earn the recommendation, but to be honest, it was difficult.

Although Mason's performance just now was quite good—and in his eyes, Mason improved every time he stepped up, becoming more proficient in combat—if they were to truly fight, he could likely rank in the top three among the current apprentices. Of course, that was excluding those two.

However, Mason's shortcoming lay outside of combat: his physique was too poor, much worse than the apprentices from noble families. In the Sword Chant School's recommendation criteria, physique carried significant weight.

To become an official mage in the Sword Chant School, physique was an unavoidable hurdle. Without the physique, one could forget about advancing to an official mage.

Originally, he had thought the third place would be Mars. If he had performed even slightly impressively in this assessment, there would have been no reason not to choose him.

But now that Mars was dead for reasons unknown to him, the distribution of the allocated spots had become murky.

In terms of physique, Mason lagged far behind those noble-born apprentices who had used body-tempering methods since childhood; even if he started now, it was hard to say if he could catch up.

Unless those noble apprentices all lost their heads during this assessment and displayed very low combat levels, Mason would have no way to rightfully claim that spot.

Next, many apprentices stepped up to be assessed. There were those who disappointed John and those who surprised him, but he graded them all fairly without bias.

"Bella."

When John said this name, many apprentices who had been chatting or distracted turned their gazes toward her, some looking forward to seeing how Bella's assessment would go.

As soon as Bella stepped onto the field, she immediately activated her breathing technique, which pleasantly surprised John. He hadn't expected Bella to have this trick up her sleeve.

He knew that Bella's breathing technique used to be very time-consuming to activate; while it could be used in combat, it was hard to find the right moment to start it.

This change had greatly improved Bella's practical combat ability. He knew that Bella was now stronger than many members of the Sword Chant School.

Many members of the Sword Chant School didn't even have Bella's physical fitness or proficiency in combat techniques. He believed that if Bella went to take the assessment now, she might even place if she were lucky.

The reason Bella could activate her breathing technique in a second was entirely due to Fran's attrition-style sparring. During their practice, Fran would often activate her breathing technique, and Bella would follow suit. When both were so exhausted they had to cancel their techniques, Fran would always win the match with some inexplicable combat technique, as if she had been wearing her down just to defeat her that way.

Later, to reverse this situation, Bella had to learn to control her breathing technique at will, canceling it to conserve stamina and then activating it instantly when Fran thought she was spent... She had won many times using this method.

Truth be told, she hadn't even engaged in such high-intensity attrition in every match on her own territory, and even after learning to use the breathing technique in combat, she hadn't used it every time.

After all, there were daily tasks like patrolling the territory; it was impossible to spend all day sparring and training.

It could be said that it was Fran's pressure that forced her to make such great progress.

Next, John focused his mind. He couldn't afford not to; if he were hit by these apprentices, he would be ridiculed within the Sword Chant School.

Finally, after three minutes, John caught the recovery frame of Bella's combat technique and struck her wrist with his wooden sword, ending the bout.

After the match, he looked at his slightly bent wooden sword and had to marvel at her physique; it was truly excellent, with force far greater than his own when he first joined the Sword Chant School.

"Bella, you've improved a lot. It seems I will see you at next year's assessment."

Bella thanked him and stepped off the field.

John intended to strike while the iron was hot. Taking advantage of the feel from his match with Bella, he wanted to resolve the other person's assessment as well. After all, only these two required his full attention; the rest could be handled with less focus.

Fran walked up with her wooden sword. Through her subtle movements, John could sense that her physique seemed to have improved once again.

He had heard that Bella and Fran often sparred together. Since Bella had made such great progress, perhaps Fran had as well.

It seemed the Sword Chant School would be able to send two very formidable apprentices to the assessment next year.