"Now that everyone is here, let's begin."
After seeing that everyone had arrived, Jrake announced the start of the test.
He explained the rules thoroughly to the others, and how he will judge them. It was pretty much the same as how it went for me, with the only difference being he will be using his weapon.
Everyone understood the assignment, and so the test began.
The first to go is one of the guys. He seemed to be around 19-20 years old, a little older than me. From the sword and scabbard on his hips, anyone can tell he is a swordsman. And from the way his hair is spiked to the top of the world, it already made me dislike his style.
To make it worse, he is looking at me. Grinning.
Oh, dear. I hope I won't kill someone today.
"Begin!"
Jrake announced the start of the battle, and the young man in front of him rushed forward.
FTANGGG!!!!!
The man immediately used his sword to cut the air at high speed, and it impacted with Jrake's massive blade. The impact was powerful, that anyone can tell that the young man is pretty trained.
CTANGG!!!!
FTANG!!!!!
The continuous loud metal sound hitting each other can be heard from even the lobby of the Adventurer's Office. It kept going, making everyone wonder what was happening at the back of the office.
The fight has gone for only fifteen seconds, and I can already deduct that this guy is quite trained with swords. He wasn't slowing down with the hits at all. In fact, he kept on getting faster.
Maybe he is adjusting?
As he was about to hit what looked like his strongest attack, Jrake quickly moved his leg and tackled the young man.
The poor guy fell on the floor, face first. By the time he wanted to go back up, the tip of Jrake's blade was already right in front of his face.
"You are fast, but sloppy. If you do not be careful in your attacks, you might leave a wide opening in your defense. You did too many unnecessary movements."
Jrake said as he pulled his sword away, and the other guy also began to stand up as he listened.
"Though, you still have some holes in your techniques, you passed. Try to be careful next time, because your future opponents might be even more proactive in attacking than me. All in all, congratulations.
Red ranked!"
Jrake explained what this guy is lacking at, but he doesn't seem happy. After knowing that he had passed, he silently left the arena without saying anything back to anyone.
Jrake looked rather confused, and he turned to Klane who sat right next to me. Klane can only shake her shoulder at him, and the big guy lets out a sigh.
He then turned to me, and grinned after noticing the expression I'm wearing.
I was… watching them with focus.
A little too focused, I think.
Next to me, Klane wrote something down to note the progress of the test. Once she was done, she lifted a thumbs up at Jrake, which signaled him to continue.
"Next!"
As another test taker entered the fighting ring, I was dwelling in my own thoughts.
Oh my god… that guy was going super easy on me during my test...
The guy who came just now, he was fighting so professionally, using their swords like actual swordsmen. I could barely see his moves, but Jrake reacted to them almost perfectly without expending much energy. Like, he's not even sweating.
They were moving so fast my eyes couldn't see it…
What… rank is Jrake as an adventurer?
This next guy had dark blue-ish hair. That's a weird color of hair, but what I remembered the most was how his moves are extremely fast. Just like the previous test taker, he is also a swordsman.
But, he is so much better.
Even Jrake had to get serious. Judging from his reaction, Jrake is actually enjoying this battle. Swing after swing, hit after hit, the sound of metals hitting each other can be heard. It's not slowing down, nor was it getting faster.
The blue haired guy didn't go easy on his swings. He kept on hitting Jrake's blade continuously, as if trying to push the big guy into a corner. But just as I expected, Jrake is a master of sword arts. Despite being continuously attacked like that, Jrake can still manage his position. He may have moved a little bit to the left and right, but by all means, not a single step backwards was taken.
He is like… an immovable mountain.
The fight lasted for about two minutes until all of a sudden Jrake jumped backwards. Seeing that his opponent had created a far distance, the test taker stopped attacking.
"How's that?"
He asked Jrake, and the big bald guy lifted his thumb with his left hand.
"Amazing! Well done! Congratulations, Grey ranked!"
Jrake said proudly, which made the blue haired test taker grin.
Everyone else who was watching was in awe, because that sword fight was definitely already on another level entirely than the previous one. Without a doubt, this blue haired person will one day become a high ranking adventurer.
He immediately got promoted to the next rank above Red, which actually is amazing. If his starting point is already so fast, then reaching even higher rankings would be even easier for him.
And while everyone else is praising him for his performance, I was still silent.
I was in awe.
After watching that fight, it felt like something had awakened within me.
The feeling… of inferiority.
I want to become stronger… I want to beat everybody… and become the strongest…
Jrake noticed the expression I'm wearing, and this time, he let out a sigh.
Huh? What's wrong?
I gave him a confused look, but he only shook his head at me.
Did I… do something wrong?
The blue haired guy left the arena after a little talk with Klane to make sure he passed. Everyone was praising him as he left, and once he was out, another test taker entered the ring.
The next one is the only girl among the test takers. Her hat is wide, like those magicians hats they wear on magic movies. The hat is hiding her short hair on top of her head, which adds points to how cute she is. Her short and cute body is making me think she is actually a kid.
Wait… was she?
"Ah, a magic user! This is interesting!"
Jrake was still catching his breath, but he didn't seem to bother it.
"Begin!"
Jrake immediately started despite not catching enough breath, but the test taker did not care.
The girl raised her wooden magic staff, and spoke aloud some long but poetic words. But at the very last word she said, I can hear it clearly.
"Quick sand!"
Oh my god...
It's actually magic!!
As she finishes her words, a fluid like sand appears right around where Jrake's feet are at. It's a literal quick sand, created by the wish of a mage.
"Kuh…!"
Jrake lifted one leg and used that leg to step on a hard stone, and jumped really hard. He leaped over... 4 meters?
He can jump that high…?
Monster. That's what he is.
He landed right next to the quick sand, making a slight tremor when he landed.
"Not bad. But you have to use a much faster technique!"
"Then... Ocean's rage of the north, Water Bullet!"
A ball of water appeared right in front of her and shot at high speed towards Jrake. Jrake lifted his sword to guard it.
As the ball hits, a water explosion comes along with it, pushing Jrake a few meters backwards.
"Now, that's more like it!"
He lowered his sword, as if marking that he is purposely letting his guard down. Seeing this, the witch lady also lowered her magic staff.
"You still let out some openings. You should be more careful of your surroundings and read your opponent's movements. What happens if your opponent was too fast? Or what if you get stabbed in the back while you are so busy casting the magic?"
"Ermm..."
I see… That's totally important to know for mages.
Mages like her took a very long time to cast a magic attack, so it would be very unfortunate if an opponent suddenly sneaks up behind her. Another weakness to this was if the opponent is moving so incredibly fast, that they were able to dodge her magic attacks. There will be nothing she can do in those two situations.
The girl definitely already knows this, but Jrake still had to mention it. After all, it was very important to remember.
"Regardless, those magic are quite powerful, indeed. If you polish your senses and get even more powerful magic, I can guarantee you will be in a much higher rank! You passed. Red ranked!"
"Haha!"
She seemed quite happy after hearing that.
Everyone praised her for showing a wonderful performance of magic, which made her laugh even more. Seeing her reaction to all this made me realize something.
It looks like she didn't receive much recognition by being a magician… what a poor soul.
She left the room afterwards after confirming with Klane, and another test taker entered the fighting ring.
The other two test takers... doesn't seem to make much of an impression on me. They can barely swing their sword, and they are moving in a very predictable pattern. It's kind of like me when I first held the sword, except that they had no issues lifting the sword.
I was watching them while analyzing their mistakes. It was so easy to spot the issues after watching two sword plays back to back. I watched so critically focused, that I can feel the itch of wanting to fix their fighting style. But of course, I have no right to do that.
At least… that's what I thought.
"Hey, Rize!"
Jrake called me all of a sudden, in the middle of the spar.
He was fighting against the fifth guy, who is the last test taker on the list. But for whatever reason, he stopped midway and called for me on the bench.
"I'm a little tired, so wanna take my place?"
"... Eh?"
He actually did it… fucking psychopath…
I mean, I couldn't say no, could I!?
I slowly stood up from my position, and began walking towards the weapons rack that is right behind Jrake. As I walked past him, he patted me on the shoulder, which made me shiver.
God, I'm so annoyed.
But then again, this is a good chance for me to test out some things that I learned after watching him spar.
After picking my sword up from the weapons rack, I turned my gaze towards the opponent. He was staring at me with worry, as if he knew that I'm not so simple if Jrake just suddenly traded with me as a tester.
This guy is actually terrible at swords. Jrake only trades sword clashes with him for 30 seconds, enough to tell if this guy is actually bad at swords. I also know that he is bad, even just by watching, even though I myself probably wasn't any better.
But, am I really?
Now that I have higher points and have learned some tricks from watching those guys, could I be stronger?
There's only one way to find out.
Jrake sat down where I sat before. Klane leaned closer and whispered something to Jrake's ears. All of a sudden, Jrake looked very surprised. I think I had an idea of what Klane just told him.
In the arena, I tried lifting my sword up and formed a stance.
Bloody hell, it's very light... I can lift it with one hand now, and I can also form a pose that I know I could never do before this point of my training.
I lifted the sword high with my right hand and positioned my hand behind my body, while pointing the tip of the blade towards the opponent. My left leg is forward, while my right leg is bent and facing the right side. My left hand is also lifted without holding anything, and it basically works as a balancing method so I can move much more controlled, almost like a tail.
I took a deep breath and let out. I have done some practice earlier, so I won't need any warming up.
As much as I know my opponent is a newbie, something inside me doesn't feel like holding back.
I want to go… all out.
Jrake and Klane, who saw the sudden change with me, were completely surprised.
"Is that by any chance, the wrong sword?"
Klane suddenly asked, but Jrake answered for me.
"No, it is the sword she used previously."
"Is that really so…?"
Klane then remembered something, and she put her mouth on Jrake's ears again and whispered some more stuff. Jrake's confusion and shock couldn't be hidden from his face as he listened to Klane's hidden words.
Meanwhile, me and the test taker can only wait for their commands. I turned to them a little impatient, but it looked like they had already done conversing.
"R-Rize... I understand that you have grown quite a bit since you first started... So can you go easy?"
Jrake asked carefully to me, but I turned my gaze away from him coldly.
"That fully depends on his ability."
I said coldly towards him, and everyone at the arena could hear it clearly. In front of me, the test taker looked very confused as to what was happening, and he became rather ticked by my sudden provocation just now.
But, I'm not done.
"Hey."
I called him, and he quickly lifted his eyebrows.
"Hey…?"
"Don't hold back."