Chương 34: Chapter 33 - Intermediate Class

The next morning, Kiara introduced the newcomers to Dustin. His social skills shone through as he quickly made them feel comfortable. After getting to know them as a group, he pulled them aside one by one to discuss their situation and future prospects. Beth had family in a nearby village, although not one that Kiara had ever been to, and decided that she'd like to go live with them. Dustin arranged an escort to help get her there safely.

Nancy wanted to stay at the estate, but wasn't sure how much help she would be with her illness and advanced age. Kiara assured her that she was welcome to stay as long as she'd like. Once Nancy had a chance to rest and heal up, Kiara was sure she would be able to find some way to pitch in around the estate. The Hemely family were all interested in employment, but wanted to find their own home nearby, rather than living at the estate.

Dustin offered them jobs at the new businesses he had started in Easton, which were all growing healthily. They didn't have the up front money for a home, having just come from Lord Grivalt's estate, so Kiara paid for one nearby with the understanding that they would pay her back with their wages. It was a small home compared to Kiara's estate, but well built and clean. It was larger than the home Kiara had grown up in, and Jesper assured her that it was more than adequate.

With Dustin helping get them all situated, Kiara knew they were in good hands, so she left for her first day of sword lessons in the intermediate class. It was late morning, and she arrived a few minutes early. The beginner's class was just finishing up when she got there, so she watched the end of a few spars. The ground level, where the beginner's class was held, was dominated by a single, large room. The room had a packed dirt floor, with pillars spaced evenly around to support the second level.

Hundreds of beginner students gathered there five days a week to learn the basics of sword fighting. When in the class herself, she had been so focused on her own progress that she hadn't taken the time to observe most of the other students, apart from the ones she had sparred with. The instructors had consistently paired her up with other students of her same skill level, so her own progress hadn't been as apparent at the time.

Now as she watched, she could easily spot some of the true newcomers, who barely knew how to swing the sword properly. They knew nothing of proper footwork, and wildly swung at each other, landing lucky hits. Others, who had been there a bit longer, focused on their footwork and sword forms, but she could easily spot openings in their defenses that she could take advantage of. Smiling to herself, she turned and took the stairs two at a time up to the second level, where the intermediate class would be held.

The second floor, unlike the first, had many smaller training and sparring rooms, and a single, modest sized arena for sparring and duels. The arena floor was interesting, it attempted to mimic various aspects of the natural world. It had some areas that were flat, other areas that were hilly, and even a wooden bridge spanning a rocky stream bed. Grass covered portions of the ground, while sand, rock, and mud filled in other areas. Bushes, trees, and a few boulders were scattered around to complete the look.

The intermediate class only had a few dozen students, which she hoped would allow for more personal training from either Instructor Handel or some of the instructors from his advanced classes. Most of the students were already gathered when she got there, and the room was buzzing with excitement. Ron waved when he saw her, and jogged over.

"Hey! Are you excited for our first day?" Kiara nodded and returned his smile.

"More than you know! I've been looking forward to it all week."

"Same!" he agreed. He excitedly handed her a sparring collar.

"Have you seen the new gear?" Kiara took the collar to check it out. It looked the same as the ones from the beginner class. She tilted her head slightly.

"What's different about it?" Ron just winked.

"Put it on, you'll see." Kiara moved to don the collar, but before she could, Instructor Handel appeared in the center of the gathered students.

"Attention everyone!" The room immediately quieted down.

"I'd like to introduce our two new students for the semester, Ron and Shian." Handel pointed them out, and the other students bowed their heads politely at the introduction.

"As you all know, Heather and Stephen both graduated to the advanced class last week, so they won't be joining us this semester." A few enthusiastic whispers echoed around the room at that statement.

"Brant and Andrew have returned to the beginner class for the time being," he added, looking sternly around the room. Kiara wondered what that was about. Handel faced Kiara and Ron as he continued, "Most of you know the format, but I'll explain for our two new students." His voice took on a passionate tone.

"The intermediate class is for students of the sword. I only invite those from below to join us up here once they've shown that they truly wish to learn and understand the sword, to become one with it.

"This class functions in a three month semester. At the end of every semester, the top two students from the intermediate class will be invited to join my advanced classes. The bottom two students return to the beginner's class." Kiara blinked. She hadn't realized that her and Ron had even been competing for a spot in this class until now. No one had ever mentioned anything of the sort in the beginner's class, and she had just assumed that Handel had invited them due to their skill level.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. In hindsight, it made sense. Not everyone in the beginner's class was interested in progressing the same way she was. Some of the students down there had been in the class for years, and treated it as much as a social gathering as they did a place to learn.

"Anyone else that wishes to return to the beginner's class is welcome to do so at any time! The second floor is only for those who are dedicated to the craft." Handel's gaze travelled in a full circle, meeting the eyes of each student present. No one said a thing. He gave a pleased nod. He pointed to a board on the wall.

"Your standings will be tracked and updated daily, you may check your scores at any time. Since today is the start of a new semester, everyone's score will start at zero.

"Class is held on weekdays at ten in the morning, after the beginner's class ends. Each day that you attend this class, you earn one point. If you wish to serve as an instructor in the beginner's class, that will earn you an additional point each day that you teach. If you're here, that means you know the material from the beginner's class well enough to teach it. There is a signup sheet on the wall if you're interested, it's first come first serve.

"Class will consist of a quick warmup, then thirty minutes of footwork and forms practice, followed by thirty minutes of personal study. Instructors will be around to answer questions and offer guidance. Each of you has different strengths and weaknesses that you should focus on, so unlike the beginner's class, your journey will be personalized here.

"After personal study, you will be paired at random with one other student for a sparring session. The winner of each spar earns two points! After everyone's sparring session, the class will end, but you are welcome to stay and continue practicing and sparring if you wish. Kiara's heart sped up as she listened, a smile slowly spreading across her face. This was more like it! He held up one of the collars.

"The dueling collars will ensure the spars are fair, but an instructor will moderate each spar all the same. The last week of the semester, we will have duels instead of spars, in the form of a tournament. Your final standing in the tournament will equate to the number of points you receive for the tournament. There are thirty one students in the class this semester, so the top performer in the tournament will receive thirty one points, and so on."

"With that, have fun! Let's warm up." The group of students made their way towards one of the walls, where one of the instructors led them in some simple stretches and warmup movements to loosen up. After that, they reviewed sword forms and footwork, then broke for personal study. Handel pulled both Kiara and Ron aside.

"Since it's your first day, I wanted to give you both some pointers for your personal study session, if you're interested?" They both nodded enthusiastically.

"Kiara," he started, "your instincts lead you to engage in short, erratic fights. While your aggression and training work in your favor against untrained or weaker opponents, it might lead you into trouble against more skilled opponents." Kiara's face flushed slightly. She knew this already, but wasn't sure how to address it. Handel continued, "I want you to focus on three sword forms for the time being. One offensive, one defensive, and one neutral.

Practice the footwork, thrusts, and parries for all three until you can do them without thinking, and then work on transitioning from one to the other fluidly." Kiara nodded, excited to get started. He studied her for a moment, then smiled.

"Go ahead and get going while I talk to Ron, I can tell you're rearing to go." She thanked him and flashed him a smile, then moved off to a spot on her own to practice, missing whatever instruction he gave to Ron. She found an empty area on some packed rocky ground, which gave her a sure foundation to practice on. She already knew the movements by memory, but sometimes fell out of the rhythm in the heat of a spar. She needed to drill it in until it was muscle memory, and anything else felt unnatural.

Her favorite offensive sword form was named Fire Form. It was her favorite due to its aggressive nature. It also had few counters among the nine main sword forms that were commonly practiced. Jeff and Hank had also taught her Mountain Form, which was a defensive sword form that focused on powerful blocks and parries, with footwork geared towards maintaining your current position. Fire Form was weak against Air Form and Wind Form, and Mountain Form also conveniently countered both of those forms nicely.

The three neutral sword forms were Lake Form, Earth Form, and Forest Form. Of the three, she had mainly practiced Forest Form with Jeff and Hank. It offered a lot of utility in open war and military situations, which is why the army taught it, but for sparring and dueling it wasn't ideal. Having said that, it was the form that fit her aggressive style, and she already knew it the best, so she decided to focus on that one for her neutral sword form.

She practiced the steps of Fire, Mountain, and Forest Form, as well as transitioning from one to the other at different parts of the movements. The thirty minutes of personal study passed far too quickly for her liking, and before she knew it the students were gathered in the center of the arena once again. One of the instructors announced the first few sparring pairs, and the rest of the students retreated to the side to watch.

The arena was large enough to accommodate four pairs at once, each of which was assigned to a random quadrant of the arena. Ron was in the first group to spar, and she watched his fight closely. He won by a narrow margin. His opponent was good, and Kiara thought she might go even with them in a spar. Kiara wasn't in the second group, so she was able to loosely watch all four spars at once.

She got the general sense that most of the students in this class were better than Ron, who she still lost to more often than not. It made sense, considering these students had all advanced from the beginner's class previously. A few of the students were very fun to watch. One girl, Olga, was very small and fast. She focused on sword forms that let her move around a lot, and used the terrain to her advantage.

She was able to duck behind the trees and boulders, using them as natural shields from her opponent's strikes. After the first thirty seconds, it was clear she was toying with her opponent, and she ended up winning five points to zero. Another student, Henry, was a picture perfect vision of form mastery. Kiara watched in awe as he transitioned flawlessly from one form to the next, always choosing a form that perfectly countered whichever form his opponent was using. His opponent was no slouch, either.

Kiara suspected either one of them could beat her every single time. Henry also won five points to zero. Kiara was in the third group to spar, and was paired up with a student named Seltzer. Seltzer was a young boy, about 16 years old. He had messy black hair, which hung so far down his forehead that she wondered how he could see properly. Maybe he couldn't. Kiara was finally able to test the new collars. She strapped one around her neck, and it resized itself to fit snugly.

As it did, she noticed a few things, and realized why Ron had been so excited about it earlier. Once the collar had a snug fit around her neck, she couldn't feel it anymore, it was that comfortable. The ones in the beginner class had been bulky and annoying, but worth it to help even the playing field for sparring practice. This one, on the other hand, felt so natural to wear that she wouldn't be surprised if she forgot to take it off after.

The more interesting thing though, was that as soon as the collar fit into place, things changed. The world sped up around her, and she belatedly realized that her perception had slowed down. She suddenly felt heavier than normal, her movements more sluggish. Jumping up and down a few times, she felt more winded than she expected. She realized with a start that the collar was affecting her stats.