The time came for the final swordsmanship class. John looked at all the apprentices before him, coughed twice, and then said:
"Now is the final Assessment for this course. Everyone will first demonstrate your basic skills, and then have a sparring match with me..."
Before his voice had even faded, some among the apprentices let out exclamations of surprise. Sparring with Teacher John?
Previously, everyone had only competed against their peers and could already feel the gap between themselves and others. Now they had to spar with John, who was clearly much stronger than them... Everyone felt apprehensive, but John smiled and explained:
"I will try my best to only exert power equal to yours. This isn't to defeat you in a match, but to feel in detail exactly how you perform in combat..."
Only then did everyone relax and begin to take their stances on the spot according to John's instructions. Once John had finished grading everyone, the sparring matches with him began.
Mason was the first to take the stage. John specifically chose him to go first because he felt Mason's strength was very representative among the group.
Through his own long-term hard work, his level had gradually risen to the top ranks of the apprentices, and he had many bright performances in combat.
Moreover, he wasn't like those two who had already far surpassed all the other apprentices. If he were to fight them first, the apprentices below might not even understand what happened before the wooden swords finished clashing and it was all over.
Recognizing his opponent was Teacher John, Mason chose a steady approach, only performing probing attacks without being overly aggressive.
After a "bang" sounded, silence briefly returned. Mason's attack this time was merely a probe, and he immediately retreated after attacking to prevent himself from being hit.
Seeing that Mason didn't choose to follow up his attack, John didn't let the opportunity slip by; he immediately stepped forward and launched an attack.
Of course, this attack was easily blocked by Mason. John did not use a level of force that Mason couldn't withstand.
After a few probing exchanges, Mason also understood the level of skill John was displaying.
He began to boldly attempt some aggressive attacks, but they were all parried by John, who did so with great ease and without the slightest hint of panic.
After being unable to break through for a long time, Mason took a risk and used a Combat Skill. After John suddenly increased his force and knocked him back, he said:
"Alright, you can step down. Let the next person come up."
After Mason left the field, John began to contemplate. He really wanted Mason to get the recommendation qualification, but to be honest, it would be difficult.
Although Mason's performance just now was very good—and from his perspective, Mason improved every time he took the field and became increasingly proficient in combat—in terms of actual fighting, he could very likely rank in the top three among the current apprentices. Of course, that was including those two.
However, Mason's deficiency lay outside of combat; his constitution was too poor, much worse than those apprentices from noble families. Constitution held significant weight in the Sword Chant School's recommendation considerations.
To become a Formal Mage within the Sword Chant School, constitution was an unavoidable hurdle. Without a strong constitution, one could forget about promoting to a Formal Mage.
Originally, he thought the third-place candidate should have been Mars. As long as he performed even slightly impressively in this Assessment, John would have no reason not to choose Mars.
But now that Mars was dead for some reason unknown to him, the originally certain allocation of spots had become blurred.
In terms of constitution, Mason lagged far behind those noble children who had used Body Tempering Methods since childhood. Even if he started the Body Tempering Method after entering the School, it couldn't be said he would catch up.
Unless those noble children all lost their heads during this Assessment and showed a very low level of Combat Skill, only then could Mason deservedly take that spot.
Next, many apprentices took the stage for their Assessment. Some disappointed John, while others surprised him. He graded them all fairly, without favoritism.
"Bella."
When John said this name, many apprentices who were chatting or spacing out turned their gazes over, somewhat anticipating how Bella's Assessment would go.
As soon as Bella took the stage, 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 when Bella activated her Breathing Technique before, it was very time-consuming. While it could be used in combat, it was difficult to find a moment to activate it.
This change gave Bella a huge boost in actual combat. He knew that Bella was now stronger than many members of the Sword Chant School.
Many members of the Sword Chant School didn't have Bella's physical fitness or proficiency in Combat Skills. He believed that if Bella went to participate in the Assessment now, she might even get a ranking if she was lucky.
The reason Bella could activate her Breathing Technique in a split second was entirely thanks to Furan's attrition-style sparring. In her practice matches with Furan, Furan would often activate her Breathing Technique, and then she would activate hers as well. When both were tired enough to cancel their Breathing Techniques, Furan would always win the match with some mysterious Combat Skill, as if wearing her down like this was specifically to defeat her in that way.
Later, to reverse this situation, she had to learn to activate and deactivate her Breathing Technique at will, canceling it in advance to preserve stamina, and then instantly activating it when Furan thought she was out of energy... She had won many times relying on this.
Truth be told, back in her own family's territory, she didn't have such high-intensity mutual attrition in every match. Even after learning to use the Breathing Technique in combat, she didn't use it every time.
After all, there were usually things like patrolling the territory to be done; it was impossible to spend the entire day just sparring and training.
It could be said that it was the pressure from Furan that forced her to make such great progress.
Next, John also focused his mind. He couldn't afford not to concentrate; if he were hit by these apprentices, he would be ridiculed by others in the Sword Chant School.
Ultimately, three minutes later, John caught a opening after Bella released a Combat Skill and struck the sword against her wrist, ending the match.
After the match ended, he looked at the slightly bent wooden sword and couldn't help but marvel that her constitution was truly excellent. Her strength was far greater than his own when he first joined the Sword Chant School.
"Bella, you've made great progress. It seems I'll be seeing you in next year's Assessment."
Bella said some words of thanks and then stepped off the field.
John intended to strike while the iron was hot. Using the feel he had from just sparring with Bella, he wanted to take this opportunity to settle the match with the other person as well. After all, only these two required him to fight seriously; he wouldn't need to be so focused for the rest.
Furan also walked up holding a wooden sword. From her subtle movements, John could feel that Furan's constitution seemed to have improved again.
He heard that Bella and Furan often sparred together. Since Bella had made such great progress, Furan might be the same.
It seemed the Sword Chant School would be able to send two very formidable apprentices to participate in the Assessment next year.