“Please wait here a moment, Apprentice Quarrier.” An assistance staff told him. “I will inform Apprentice Sierra Frial that you have arrived.”
“Please do.” Rui nodded, as took a seat in the reception of the Martial Academy.
Five minutes later, he felt the presence of a tall and burly Martial Apprentice enter the room, recognizing her immediately, the Frial Family had provided him with a picture of her.
“Apprentice Frial.” He began. “Pleasure to meet you. I’m-“
“I know who you are.” She rudely cut him as she folded her arms. “Follow me to the sparring facility immediately. I want to see what you’re made up of.”
Her tone had more than just a little hint of challenging hostility.
Rui stared at her for a second, before wordlessly getting up. They both headed towards the Apprentice sparring facility of the Martial Academy. Rui felt like a celebrity as everyone he walked past. Staff, foundational and explorer students, Martial Apprentices etc all recognized him as their eyes widened. It got even worse once he actually entered the sparring facility. It turned out there was an ongoing regular Apprentice sparring session. Nothing odd about that, his Academy had held plenty of those as well.
He just felt countless eyes widened with surprise as each and every single one of them recognized him.
To be fair, he understood their emotions. He would be surprised as well if someone like Fiona walked into his Academy one day wearing her Martial uniform. He just ignored all of them as Siera Frial dragged him to an empty ring.
Yet before they could even reach it. Siera had been flooded with Martial Apprentices who all pestered her with questions.
“What’s going on here?!” One of them asked in a barely concealed whisper.
“Why’s he here?”
“My Family hired him as a sparring partner.” Sierra huffed with a hint of pride. “He’s mine for the next seven hours.”
A flash of surprise made its way through the small crowd as the Martial Apprentices glanced at him with expressions of curiosity and admiration.
“Enough.” A powerful voice drew everyone’s attention as all of them experienced a familiar pressure.
“Get back to your places and leave them alone.” The Martial Squire instructor of the facility ordered, much to Rui’s relief.
Yet just as they were about to enter the ring;
“Hey Quarrier, it’s been some time.” A deep voice called out to him.
Rui turned around, recognizing the towering, imposing man. “Arjun Erigaisi. I expected to run into you.”
“Well, I didn’t.” He smiled friendlily. “What brings you here?”
“Sparring partner mission.” Rui gestured to Siera Frial.
“I see… that’s pretty interesting heh.”
“Hey!” Siera complained. “Don’t waste time, let’s go!”
Rui sighed as he turned around. He quickly put his standard gear and kit aside the ring, before entering the ring.
“Take your stances.” The referee said.
To Rui’s surprise, Siera adopted a closed defensive stance. She brought up her arms up and close to her in a solid guarding position. She even planted her feet apart, a position unconducive maneuvering.
The reason he was surprised was because Master Rana Frial was part of the Fire Sect, which meant he was an offense-oriented Martial Artist. Yet Siera was a defense-oruented Martial Artist. It seems that her Family had not influenced her Martial Path.
Rui adopted an offensive maneuvering stance. Positioning his arms in a way that made it easy to launch both quick and powerful strikes while remaining light on his feet.
“Begin!” The referee commenced the fight.
Rui immediately dashed towards her swiftly. As the only fighter with an offensive fighting style at all, the initiative of the fight was in his hands.
POW POW!
He threw two short speedy jabs, yet they harmlessly bounced off of her hefty guard.
(‘Solid.’) He mused.
POW POW!
He swiftly shifted to her side, launching another swift combo. Siera turned trying to block in time, yet she was too slow.
However, he was impressed when his strikes still failed to do any meaningful damage. He wasn’t accumulating momentum or using his weight, but it was still a proper strike empowered with Outer Convergence and Vital Pressure.
(‘That alone is not enough at the higher echelons of the Apprentice Realm, it seems.’) He mused. (‘How well will she handle a proper swing?’)
He swung his fist from behind him as he threw his weight behind it.
BAM!
It crashed into her guard, yet she remained steady even if she had to exert herself.
Rui retreated before accelerating towards her.
BOOM!
A powerful Flowing Canon crashed into her guard.
She gritted her teeth yet she stood her ground, expressionless throughout.
“Is that the best you can do?” She taunted.
Rui’s expression broke into an amused smile. He wordlessly rushed in, launching another strike, she quickly shifted to block it.
WHOOSH
The attack disappeared.
It was a feint.
BAM!
She gasped in pain and shock as a powerful Flowing Canon crashed into her gut, the impact overwhelmed her.
She fell to her knees as he head hit the ground. She grimaced as she cradled her wounded gut.
“Your defense isn’t dynamic enough.” Rui sighed. “It’s tough, but it’s like a heavy shield that can barely be moved. I can easily circumvent it.”
In terms of toughness and durability, she was quite impressive. She just had a gaping weakness that made her easy to take down. Rui could easily see why she was not able to become the representative of her branch.
“There are two straightforward solutions.” He told her. “You either improve your dynamic defensive prowess. Or you improve your foundational defense, you need to be as solid as a rock everywhere. Much like Arjun Erigaisi. Although his defense is also more dynamic than yours.”
Her eyebrows knitted as she got up. “Shut up!” She shouted defiantly. “You beat me only once! Don’t get too cocky you hear me? Let’s go another round!”
Rui sighed. “Well, atleast you’re not a pussy.”
She had the defiance needed to grow stronger, as long as she directed her energy in the right direction.