Shirone’s body stiffened.
He distinctly rembered choosing answer number three. But in the end, he was wrong.
His score was 78. Just two points short of passing, and the realization choked the breath out of him.
"Number two... Number two..."
Shirone kept repeating the sa words until suddenly, he clutched the back of his neck and collapsed backward.
Nade and Iruki, who had been beside him, hurriedly caught his back and shouted.
"Shirone! Are you okay? Get a hold of yourself! Aren’t you supposed to be Iron-Bodied?"
"Number two? Why... How could it be number two..."
"Teacher, we’re taking him! Thanks for your hard work!"
Even as he was dragged away, Shirone continued to mumble the sa words over and over.
Watching in amusent, Sheena let out a small chuckle and turned towards the faculty office.
"Seriously, doesn’t he ever get tired? He’s full of energy every day."
Inside the faculty office, the teachers were busily grading papers.
Sheena took her seat and began marking the assigned test sheets.
At so point, sothing ca to her mind. She opened her drawer and pulled out the Math A-type exam paper.
"It was the last multiple-choice question, right?"
Sheena examined the proofing formula.
After briefly running through the solution in her mind, she smiled brightly.
"Ah, it was number three."
Arian Shirone.
Promotion to Class Four Confird.
Kaizen Swordsmanship School
The Kaizen Swordsmanship School, located in the capital of the Tormia Kingdom, had a history of 200 years and had produced nurous knights of great achievent.
It boasted more than ten officially recognized First-Class Swordmasters, among whom so held the prestigious title of Grand Swordmaster.
A bastion of iron will and a symbol of courage.
In Tormia, anyone who dread of becoming a knight aspired to enter the Kaizen Swordsmanship School. But wealth and power alone were not enough to gain entry.
Kaizen had no entrance exam. Instead, applicants underwent a month-long apprenticeship, during which their potential was evaluated. Only those who showed true promise were selected.
Each sester, 300 applicants vied for a spot, yet only 30 were accepted.
Among these elite few, Rian had secured his place and was now attending classes at Kaizen.
Urban Combat Training Ground
The training ground, designed to replicate the layout of an actual city, was one of Kaizen’s greatest prides.
A skeletal-looking instructor, with a face as harsh as weathered stone, glared at the first-year students sitting on the steps and spoke.
"Today’s practical lesson is on movent. First-years will be evaluated with a focus on weight shifting."
The instructor’s na was Parca Kuan.
An officially recognized Sixth-Class Swordmaster, Kuan had once been known as the ’Magician of Death’ before sustaining a leg injury in war.
"Weight shifting is a fundantal skill for any swordsman. The three essential elents of swordsmanship—speed, power, and accuracy—all begin with proper weight distribution."
Limping slightly on his right leg, Kuan walked toward the students and pointed at a particularly large-built boy.
"You. Where is a swordsman’s center of gravity?"
"Sir! It’s at the navel!"
"Wrong. You, answer."
Kuan gestured toward another student, whose eyes were sharply slanted like a shark’s.
Even if he didn’t know the answer, he had to stand up. Hesitation ant punishnt.
"Sir! It’s at the soles of the feet!"
"Wrong. You."
"T-The sword?"
Even his voice trembled.
"Drop down. 200 push-ups."
"Yes, sir!"
The student imdiately broke away from the line and started doing push-ups.
Wasting stamina right before an evaluation was a nightmare, but the instructors at Kaizen had no concern for such things.
Kuan unsheathed the long sword strapped to his waist. The blade flared outward like a fan at the tip, but the rest of the sword was relatively thin.
"Where is a swordsman’s center of gravity? The correct answer is—outside the body. In technical terms, this is called external gravity. Repeat after —external gravity."
"External gravity!"
The students shouted, their voices laced with both confusion and frustration.
It made no sense for Kuan to introduce a completely new concept just monts before an evaluation.
"I haven’t taught this before because I didn’t feel like it. Besides, there was no way you blockheads would understand. But today, I’m in a bad mood. So, I’m adding an external gravity assessnt. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!"
No one dared to object, but their voices dripped with murderous intent.
Adding a new evaluation criteria at this stage? It felt like months of grueling effort had just been thrown away.
’Damn it. What kind of teacher does this?’
"I’ll demonstrate it once. Watch carefully. The evaluation will begin imdiately after."
The once noisy training ground fell silent.
"Cut as you move forward. Cut as you retreat."
Kuan advanced and withdrew repeatedly, slashing through the air.
His limp made his movents look awkward, but the sound of his blade slicing through the wind was terrifying.
"This is basic sword movent. The body generates force, the shift in weight amplifies the sword’s power. And if enhanced with Schema, the destructive force of a sword increases exponentially."
The students swallowed hard.
They had heard this countless tis before, but the pressure of the impending evaluation heightened their nerves.
"...And yet, so of you are probably thinking, ’I just need to move faster and hit harder.’ But if you approach real combat with that ntality, you’ll be dead within three seconds."
’What a bastard.’
Their eyes burned with resentnt.
"Rember this. No matter how powerful your attacks are, if your movent is compromised, the battle is lost. That is why swordsn shift their center of gravity outside their bodies. Like this."
Kuan stomped the ground. Then, tilting his body forward, he maintained an impossible 70-degree lean without falling.
The students’ mouths hung open.
’Impossible.’
Unless he was tied to a harness, staying upright in such a posture was inconceivable.
"The force amplified by Schema allows the shifting of balance beyond the body’s normal limits. Right now, my center of gravity is outside my body—precisely, beyond my back. This is external gravity."
With just a slight lift of his chin, Kuan effortlessly straightened his posture.
"Using external gravity expands movent possibilities infinitely. For example—"
This ti, Kuan tilted backward until his back nearly touched the ground, then spun like a top.
Swish, swish, swish!
A vortex of wind roared as his blade whirled in a perfect, lethal arc.
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