Chapter 619: Sparring
Bai Ning spoke plainly as she smiled. “You didn’t use your full strength.”
“You didn’t either.” Xiao Lin shrugged. He felt a bit of regret since the sword he threw did not hit Bai Ning and because his perception had been interfered with by Bai Ning at the last moment. He was helpless against the difference in their Intelligence attributes, but if he had Miracle or even Ruin active, it might not be the case.
However, in the same way, Bai Ning did not use her full power either. It was obvious that she had held back a great deal in her last spel. Otherwise, Xiao Lin might not even have been able to attack under the intense power.
“Alright, let’s stop here!” Yu Mei stood out at the right time. She stared at the two of them, blaming them a little for taking it too far. She looked around the training hall, as it was in a mess, but thanks to Yu Mei using the defensive magical scroll, no one else was injured.
“I think he can partic.i.p.ate in the individual events.” Bai Ning walked over and told Yu Mei.
Yu Mei laughed. “It seems like you hold him in high regard.
Bai Ning looked at Xiao Lin, who was not far away, before nodding. “It has nothing to do with his skills. His combat experience is definitely not at a first-year’s usual level. We all know that the first-year tournament is more about who has the most experience.”
“He does indeed have a lot of experience.” Yu Mei had a strange expression. She knew what Xiao Lin had experienced during this time. In terms of actual combat experience, Xiao Lin definitely had more than anyone else.
“Xiao Lin can just be one of the ones taking part in the individual tournament. dDo you have any suggestions for the other candidate?” Yu Mei made the decision immediately. As the one in charge of the training, she naturally had the authority.
“Oh, I think I won’t partic.i.p.ate in the individual tournament.” Xiao Lin coughed dryly after eavesdropping on the conversation, not able to stop himself from objecting.
“What?” Yu Mei widened her eyes.
“I want to take part in the secondary profession segment.” Xiao Lin knew that the others were looking at him with a strange expression, but he still thickened his skull and spoke. Since the secondary profession candidates could not overlap with the individual ones, he could only pick one. If he was just partic.i.p.ating in the tournament for the experience, Xiao Lin would naturally be happy to fight in the individual tournaments.
Being able to fight against the strongest students from other academies was something Xiao Lin antic.i.p.ated. However, if they needed to win, then this was actually the better choice.
This time, the other academies had worked together to mess with Dawn Academy, which meant that the other academies had a lot of confidence in their secondary professions. Dawn Academy was the only one that was not prepared. Yu Mei and the president planned on giving up on those points, but that meant that they definitely needed to win at least one of the individual fights as well as the team battle, which involved countless variables.
Xiao Lin knew that Gu Xiaoyue cared more about the rewards of the tournament than he did. That medicine could potentially cure Gu Xiaoyue’s sister, and Xiao Lin had a deep impression of Gu Chengyun as well. He also did not wish for that innocent and happy girl to be confined to a wheelchair for her whole life.
The result of that deliberation was Xiao Lin’s partic.i.p.ation in the secondary profession segment, so the best choice was for him to win that point.
Thanks to Bell’s help, the medicinal studies knowledge that Xiao Lin grasped at that moment, at least compared to those from the same year, was practically incomparable. He was actually even more confident in his ability to succeed in that than the individual events.
Bai Ning wanted to advise against it, but Yu Mei stopped her. Yu Mei understood Xiao Lin more than Bai Ning, and knew that the guy was not joking, so she understood that it would be hard to change Xiao Lin’s decision.
“Since that’s the case, then you should just be a sparring partner during this training period.” Yu Mei decisively changed her words.
“Sparring partner?” Everyone exchanged a look.
Only Xiao Lin smiled bitterly. Yu Mei calculated things very well. He was actually very suited to be a sparring partner since his skills were far above everyone else. Most importantly, he was proficient in magic and swordsmanship, which made him a very good opponent.
The others were filled with antic.i.p.ation because that meant that they had earned a chance to officially fight Xiao Lin. That man who had been a monitor since the start was definitely the person that stood out the most among the first years. However, at some point, everyone started to view Xiao Lin as the strongest person in the year.
It was possibly since that combined monthly examination, or it might have been when he was the first to reach Black Iron and Bronze rank. As time went on for longer, that sentiment was more and more prominent.
The regular students did not really care about that. When the second semester started, the gap between them and the monitors was stretched even further. However, to the monitors, not everyone was as generous as Cheng Ming. Even if they understood that Xiao Lin might be very powerful, it was hard for them to completely acknowledge it.
“Why does everyone think that he’s stronger than us?”
“We’ve been putting our lives on the line and frantically training too.”
“Maybe we’ve already surpa.s.sed him?”
Being eager to win was a natural human trait. They usually did not have many chances to spar against Xiao Lin, especially since Xiao Lin regularly disappeared. Even if they voiced out that request, there was a big chance of them being rejected, so they finally had their chance.
Feeling various looks around him, Xiao Lin sighed again. He understood that he would probably be very busy in the following days.
…
The training hall for the monitors had been specially arranged, but there were no secrets that were foolproof. It might have been due to the upper-year students unintentionally leaking it, or maybe a monitor talked about it, but after training for a week, news of the results of the duels between the various monitors surfaced on the first-year forums, and even the general rankings were announced.
Even though their training hall was specially arranged, the training halls themselves were open to the public. More and more people started to spectate the training, and various pictures would appear on the forums every day.
Xiao Lin took his role as a sparring partner seriously, and was even a bit merciless. When he was sparring, he did not hold back like he did against Bai Ning. He even used Miracle and Ruin. If he really lost while using those skills, then Xiao Lin felt that he might as well quit the academy.
Gu Xiaoyue was the only one that did not need to partic.i.p.ate. As a support role, Yu Mei had given her specialized tutoring, which spared Xiao Lin some awkwardness.
In the initial few days of sparring, XIao Lin practically stomped everyone with his victory. The only ones who could stand up against him were Cheng Ming and Chen Dao, but when Xiao Lin used Momentary Blink, the two of them still fell in seconds.
Xiao Lin’s attributes were already at Bronze rank, and with Ruin, even facing talent-holders like himself, the difference was just being able to hold on for an additional few seconds.