Chapter 215 - Learning From the Each Other

Jien lowered is rapier slowly and calmly as he saw Carmichael raise his hands in surrender. His vision was filled with a number of images, mainly of his own teammates raising their own in surrender. There was a clear reason why the majority of them shuddered at the scene of the boy's relaxed state the first time. They had tasted defeat to it more than once in sparring matches against their leader. His fighting style wasn't perfect by any measure, but it was very flexible and the more it was used the more varied it became.Jien closed his eyes and breathed out a deep sigh, all the tension in his muscles leaving him. He nearly dropped to his knees but once his eyes opened his body seemed to regain equilibrium and he stood straight once again. He looked around with a curious gaze before he saw that the match was over with Rosalind and Andrew working together with potions and healing spells to get the unit of swordsmen back on their feet.After he was done looking around, he walked forward and held out his left hand to shake the other boys like it was natural despite it being his off hand. "Good match." His statement was calm and carried a sincerity that Carmichael couldn't bring himself to doubt. "Same to you!" the blonde boy stated shaking his opponent's hand firmly. "I don't know what you were doing to fight like that, and I won't prod into your secrets, but it gave me a truly hard time."After saying that the swordsman's slight smile dimmed into a serious expression, and he looked Jien firmly in the eye. "Like I said, I won't dig into your secrets, but I will give you some advice regarding that style." He took a moment and sheathed his blade in a fluid motion much like all of his prior movements had carried. "That style is fragmented at best and not even a style at worst. You may have beat me but if you are just planning to fight with that style on a battlefield you will find yourself in a world of trouble. I may not be skilled enough to do so at the moment, but you had a number of openings that a more experienced warrior could exploit"Jien pondered the statement calmly and then nodded firmly. "I knew that weakness but am not quite sure how to bridge that gap. In all honesty what I was using was a mixture of styles and attack patterns. I am just using what I find to be the most optimal, but it is not a congruent style, so it leaves openings when switching from one strike to another." The one-armed boy's gaze seemed to light up at the statement. It explained everything about what he was feeling but lacked the details of how the boy in front of him could replicate so many different strikes so fluidly. Sure, it wasn't a style and left a fair number of openings, but each attack was polished in and of itself.Before he could take that topic a step forward Jien returned the favor of advice his gaze turning a bit colder as he spoke. "You focus too much on individual strength. You have a refined style, which is the reason I couldn't defeat you, but you lacked real cohesion in your actions. I feel that your use of the formation you used was to make up for this, and that in a way is a fine thing but the formation itself was flawed and trapped your members in the center, forcing them to act as nothing but a punching bag."Jien sighed, "I am not sure if your members have any specialties beyond that as swordsmen but if not then your lack of balance will make your life difficult. I would suggest taking your time here in the academy to find ways to diversify among yourselves. A real unit will have a mix of the standard roles, not just Vanguards." After saying those words in a tone that was more akin to a teacher lecturing a student his gaze seemed to brighten a bit."I look forward to learning more as we attend the academy and hope that you and your unit will help us continue to improve." Jien offered his hand once again as a sign of respect and of friendship. Carmichael didn't hesitate to take the hand, knowing that Jien would be a source of growth for him and his unit as long as they stuck close to him. After another shake of their hands, they separated to attend to their separate units, Andrew and Rosalind having finished checking on the unit of swordsmen.Meanwhile, up in the stands Rebecca's eyes were practically sparkling with joy. The thing about betting houses and gambling dens was that the house always won, and in this case, she was the house. She took her percentage of the earnings before redistributing the winnings to the winners, leaving a few members of the bandit unit, including a furious Bennet with no pocket money. The tall boy of course had bet against Julie, hoping that she would be crushed, and he could enjoy the look of defeat on her face. Now he only found himself gritting his teeth so hard they were lucky not to have cracked.