122 - entrance exam

*bashi* Blocking my overhead swing with ease, a slight curvature appears on the ends of the instructor's lips. As our swords clash in mid-air, the instructor readies his footing before exerting Strength into his shoulders and elbows, dragging his sword horizontally with a portion of his strength. That was the reality of the test, the instructor wields insurmountable strength for the average student to overcome.

Even with a mediocre horizontal slash on the student's attempted parry, the strength was enough to push any child back and lose their balance. I was no exception, even with 400 level, isn't this instructor's 700 quite absurd? This was probably why the school isn't flooded with students, despite the lifts on admission requirements. Though I have to say, this would make all the students quite a terrifying bunch, to even pass this test.

Taking advantage of the enemy's strength, I sent all my strength into my body to roll over and used my legs to spring back up. I won't let you use my rolling as an excuse to disqualify me! Exerting my full amount of Agility, I swung my sword with great speed. Sound was left behind, yet I could still hear the instructor say "Too slow". Slashing from the right, I pushed my dexterity to the limits as my left hand flows under my right and pushes the flat side of my blade.

As a great force pushes down on my whole body, my left hand is crushed under the pressure. The blood vessels in my left hand burst as a searing pain envelops my arm. Regardless, this wasn't the end. With my arms still on the sword, I lifted my legs onto my sword and bent it around the opponent's overhead slash to come out on top. Aided by [Shadow step]'s anti-gravity, the force was so great that I was sent flying into the air. Spinning around I landed on my feet, before going for another rush.

Shocked at the flying, the instructor was caught off-guard for a second before resuming a defensive stance. This time, I tried out the instructor's technique. Placing my ragged left arm on my wooden blade after I swung from the right, I dragged it off horizontally relative to the instructor's sword. Though he still displayed no openings on his body, his sword was an opening itself. Spinning a quick round, all the force in my body was sent into his sword once more. With that his grip strength was halved, while I had sliped under his bosom. Switching the side that the blade was facing, I swung it near his neck.

Mists of breath wade around the air as my breathing grows louder.

"haa~ haa~ haa~"

With my eyes still glued to my enemy, my muscles screamed of fatigue while my ears started ringing. My body was starting to recover, I hadn't pushed my Agility this far before. Going at max speed just consumes through my stamina like an inferno, it was rather tiresome to keep fighting like this. Sweat continued to pour down the sides of my hair.

"You passed!" (judge)

An announcer exclaims to break the silence that befalled the match grounds. No one had defeated the instructor before, rather, their performance was calculated by their endurance and how long they lasted against the superior swordsmanship of the instructor. The eyes of some spectators were bulging, some have their Jaws almost dropped to the ground. Just who is this girl? They collectively thought in the back of their conscious.

After a year of training, I sported a simple ponytail, though some locks of my fringe was still left down the sides of my ears.

It was a stile of hair that ensured none of it gets into my eyes, while also being partially stylish. My stats weren't much different from before the training as I rarely went to the dungeon after what happened. On the other hand, Cress had been working hard to level up.

The wind blows through the match grounds, located at the back of the school. Since there were many people trying out the entrance exam to be a student, it takes a month to a couple months to finish testing all the students. On the side were spectator seats for people who were interested in watching the ensuing battles. For now, I had a humble brown vest and shorts and some tan brown boots. I was incredibly drenched in sweat, I prioritised cleaning up.

"Yoh! That was the first time I've seen the instructor bring out a huge smile and shout out that you passed! Wanna go to the public baths? " (Cress)

"Hot spring baths? Sure why not."

"Oh yeah, no jumping in like last time! Don't you understand how embarrassed I was back then?" (Cress)

" Yes, yes. I won't jump in and embarrass you~ come on, let's go!"

Observing our nonchalant attitudes, some spectators breath a sigh of exasperation as we made our way out of the match grounds. Information was barely distributed by some posters around the neighbourhood, it seems that they didn't bother putting up a website on the magic mobile devices.

It would require you to walk around in the capital looking for posters, just to gain the information of the venue. Then you had to go to the school itself and book an appointment. An alternative was to casually walk into the school and ask the receptionist for the venue, but people weren't taking their chances, saying it was part of the exam. How foolish!

After covering some distance, the public baths facility enters our sight. There stood a singular floor building that sported a traditional Eastern look. It had wooden pillars outside, which supported ceramic roof tiles arranged in a way that it looks like an incredibly long rhombus on all 4 sides. Naturally this made the roof bend inwards into the building like the bottom half of a pyramid.

The remaining square shaped hole was filled with a material lower than the roof tiles, so the only way to see it was to fly or jump high into the air and look down. In between the pillars were concrete walls with decorative murals and the front of the building had a pair of windows, exposing the receptionist and the insides of the building.

On the inside of the building, the floor tiles, wall, ceiling were all white along with white ceiling lights and air conditioning much like a hospital, hence it gave off a refined atmosphere different to the outside. The windows exposing the cleanliness of the inside and the murals outside of the building made an enticing contrast that usually lured customers.

Walking in, we paid for our services and proceeded into the direction of the female section. Following procedure, we took off into the bath section.

The moisture filled humid air, combined with my sweat formed a viscous layer that stuck my hair to my skin. It was getting rather uncomfortable. However, I had promised Cress not to jump in. Going to the washing section, I sat on a small plastic chair before turning on the shower head.

*pshaaa* A stream of water burst forth, cleansing my fair skin.