Chapter 200 - Training Payoff

Each of Jien's friends and members of his old cohort had gained a lot from their prior training. They had learned new skills, polished those they had gained prior and among many advancements had learned a level of flexible teamwork that made life easier in a terrifying place like the Warping Forest. However if you were to ask anyone from that training time, even their mentors, who had gained the most out of it, their answer would simply be "Jien".He hadn't started training until a later stage in life than all the others. Even when he had started training it was on what Mark would call basics. These basics weren't basics for those of his age, no, they were basics for children as they took up their first weapon shortly after being able to walk. Of course Mark had increased the difficulty to match what Jien could handle but he truly lacked what so many children had been training on for years and he hadn't really had a chance to truly catch up. Even Emily's training could be considered standard, though her school of swordsmanship was slightly unorthodox.When he was put into the constant crucible of battle in the fog laden, cold forest with his friends, first against the many beasts lurking there and then against his own mentors, Jien had sharpened his blade truly for the first time. First he had to learn how to combat someone of something stronger than him. He used speed at first, fighting a battle of a hundred cuts until the stronger foe wore themselves down before finishing it with a simple piercing blow to the wolf's eye and into its brain. Then he had to face those that were faster.Jien would not be considered strong in the grand scheme. He could not match up to someone like Rosalind, writing a polehammer with ease, nor likely even Bernard with his longsword. So the question came to be, how would he fight something much faster than himself if speed was his main asset. The answer came through a fierce battle that placed him on the razor's edge. That answer came in the form of technique, a bit of spellcraft and mana manipulation.These struggles continued and Jien seemed to suck them in like a sponge in ways that the others couldn't seem to grasp. While many would call Jien a bookworm and some would even call him lazy, only those that were in those woods with him knew they truth. This form, this simple look of relaxation was a vast part of what he had gotten out of those four hellish years.They didn't think that he took this training session so seriously, after all this was just the first of several sparring matches this morning. As the coin touched the ground Julie charged forward just like during her previous match. She couldn't put everything behind this rush without risking the same outcome but she could at least push her legs a bit harder, forcing mana to circulate through them in bursts. She rocketed right past Bernard before he could even try and block her path.Within moments she was steps from Jien, her spear forcing forward in an attempt to skewer his throat and end this before there was danger. Only as the tip of her spear came within an inch of his throat did a clarity appear in his eyes, small specks of golden light hidden in the depths of his pupils. His rapier flicked up and parried the blow just enough to force her spear between his neck and shoulder. His rapier, still loosely held, seemed to ride up the shaft of her spear like a sparrow on the currents of mighty gust, reaching for her eye as if to pierce it through and end his foe in a single movement.Julie was forced to duck behind her shield, eyes wide as the should of his dull training rapier rubbing against her shield rang across the arena like the sound of a whetstone against a blade. She instinctively pushed back with her legs, shooting backward a distance breathing as hard as if she had run a marathon. As much as she thought her own strike to be merciless Jien's frightened her. She had indeed aimed for his throat but she would have never actually attacked it fully, only going far enough to knock him out or make him surrender. However she did not feel that level of mercy from Jien's own strike. No, she was positive that he would have actually killed her if she was stupid enough to face the blow or too slow to dodge.She was flabbergasted by the sheer ruthlessness of the exchange. She felt like she was back in the Dungeon Ring with creatures that could tear a human into scraps in a moment. She looked over her shield once again and saw the same relaxed posture, rapier hanging loosely to his side like nothing had happened. The only difference was that his eyes were now focused on her new position, staring her down with a cool emptiness.It had only been mere moments, a single exchange made between leaders before the others could act, and Julie knew that this was not going to be an easy match in the least.