Isabeau and Metcalf continued to discuss and comment on random parts of each other’s history as they walked to the shooting range. Isabeau admired the thought of Metcalf becoming a stealthy warrior. She had heard of a few missions that required skills in being unseen and untraceable. There were classes designed specifically to teach those skills in the Field Quarter, once Metcalf had the time.
Metcalf on the other hand had second thoughts about accepting the challenge so hastily. She was unfazed by the presumed skill the regular participants groomed themselves with. However, Isabeau did not need to be there at all. She in the top eighty percent, almost an Aspirant! One does not reach that point without authentic skill. Metcalf was going to have to step up her game to even have a chance at winning.
Walking through the doorway, the commotion of the melee training area was nearly shut out behind the closing door. Isabeau and Metcalf took numbers onto their handhelds and walked to the back of the enormous seating area to prepare their weapons. The near silence revealed a completely different culture than that of the melee training area.
The ranged training area held a different type of madness. There were no grunts, clanging metal, or cheers of encouragement to the challengers. Instead, there was a deep silence held as all spectators watched; studying everything about the challengers. Most of the students were there for pure observation. They would record what they saw to practice the techniques later.
Two combatants stood on opposite sides of the testing platform on colored pillars indicating their team color. One student had a long wooden staff, taller than he was. It had to be about six centimeters. He swung it to launch discs at his targets. It had some kind of pump action reloading system. The exact operations of the staff escaped her from so far away.
From his motions, the other student seemed to have a tiny blow gun. It was invisible to her. She only saw brief glints of the darts in the light. His targets were definitely falling though. No doubt the two combatants used their energy skills to aid their aiming. They hardly missed and reloaded almost instantly.
This was the reality for Sword Mint Academy Students. They must strive for perfection. Guns and blasters were greatly frowned upon by the Grand Master. He considered them solely for Commoners. However, the ranged weapons available to them had to be just as effective. A missed shot or a slow shot would be very costly on the field. All the students needed to use the most effective techniques for any shot. Body stance, target choice, and reload strategy influenced each other and were key to hitting a mark.
The combatants towered over a maze of boxes and short walls. They launched projectiles from their nearly silent weapons at training robots pretending to be melee forces from either team. The training bots impersonated students as they fought each other to reach the opposing team’s pillar. The challengers tried to defend their pillar while assisting their bots.
Metcalf and Isabeau’s weapons were nothing like those of the challengers’. They had little interest in the battle and quickly made their way to the back of the seating to prepare for the contest.