No harm in accepting a small challenge to get in the mood to compete on stage.\u00a0 A drill like this was just what she needed.\u00a0 As good as she was, even she lost the occasional challenge.\u00a0 Losing the wrong one would be costly.\u00a0 A fast paced target drill would get her into the grove quickly.<\/p>\n
Walking with the elder student, she weaved through the bystanders towards the firing range.\u00a0 It was a bit of a walk to the far side of the training center.\u00a0 She went past the gloating Naoh and the now defeated and shamed opponent.\u00a0 That familiar victory stance that Naoh used seemed just as obnoxious now as it did six years ago; her jeweled basket hilt swords flashed in the light as she pumped her fists.<\/p>\n
In this arena, Naoh viewed opponents as Academy Point holders.\u00a0 Her wit and skill took as many points as she could, often more than she needed.\u00a0 Her opponent walked down the stairs from the platform completely distraught.\u00a0 Tearing off his helmet in frustration, it was apparent he had no hope of escaping The Red.\u00a0 Though nearly a grown man, he walked quickly towards the exit holding back tears.\u00a0 Whatever hopes and dreams he had when he was accepted to the school were all but completely out of reach.<\/p>\n
After the Final Exam, he had two choices.\u00a0 He could return home in shame or to take a lowly job as a pitiful guard.\u00a0 He could pass.\u00a0 However, the final exam was specifically designed for the older and lingering students to fail.\u00a0 He would have to train like mad in all the correct areas; areas that are personalized towards the weaknesses for each student.<\/p>\n
\u201cPoor guy,\u201d said the elder student as they passed him.\u00a0 \u201cBetter him than us I guess.\u201d\u00a0 It seemed as though she had come to the same conclusion as Metcalf about his situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess,\u201d Metcalf hesitated to say.<\/p>\n
Koh, in has white and red armor, was at the wall near his sister\u2019s platform.\u00a0 They usually worked as a team.\u00a0 Sometimes Metcalf worked with them.\u00a0 It seemed they had their usual \u201cking of the hill\u201d type of match going.\u00a0 The winning team stayed while the challengers waited in line for the next fight.<\/p>\n
However, this session was over.\u00a0 After seeing how Naoh mercilessly and utterly beat her opponent in every way, no one wanted to be next.\u00a0 One by one they left the queue to look for other challenges.\u00a0 Koh was trying so hard to hold back a laugh.\u00a0 He cared less about the other students than his sister.\u00a0 They were scandalous but at least they looked out for each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m Isabeau,\u201d the elder student spoke again.<\/p>\n
Metcalf shook herself from the scene and looked at the elder student again, \u201cMetcalf.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ice broken, they made small talk as they meandered around the challenge platforms.\u00a0 The short yellow skinned beauty, Isabeau Bo, was from the Field Quarter.\u00a0 She was a long time student at the academy but found that her training was a bit stagnant.\u00a0 Master Lu, head of the Field Quarter, thought it best that she train with students that had something to lose.<\/p>\n
Though she had no chance to fall into the Red Zone, Isabeau found that this training was well worth the time.\u00a0 Each drill had rules, but those rules could be stretched where details were lacking.\u00a0 Desperate students exploited every advantage they could find.\u00a0 This forced her to do the same and made the competition quite invigorating.\u00a0 With any luck, this training would prepare her for the life of a Protector.\u00a0 Their opponents played with no rules.<\/p>\n
Hearing her story, Metcalf thought in awe.\u00a0 <\/em>This is how training is supposed to work<\/em>. \u00a0This was the training she hoped to receive when she was safely out of the Red Zone.<\/p>\n They continued to chat.\u00a0 The conversation was exciting enough that they reached the shooting range before Metcalf expected.<\/p>\n #1<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Lost and Found #3<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a0Lost and Found #5<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" No harm in accepting a small challenge to get in the mood to compete on stage.\u00a0 A drill like this was just what she needed.\u00a0 As good as she was, even she lost the occasional challenge.\u00a0 Losing the wrong one would be costly.\u00a0 A fast paced target drill would get her into the grove quickly. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[47,89,26,91,88,143,2,142,107,58,170],"class_list":["post-200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-isabeau-bo","tag-koh-lai","tag-metcalf-luo","tag-mid-term","tag-naoh-lai","tag-red-zone","tag-sons-of-sword","tag-sword-mint-academy","tag-tales-of-glory","tag-training-center","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=200"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":713,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200\/revisions\/713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}