Chapter 17: Selection for Training Dungeon Run
The selection tournament began with a speech from the Headmaster aimed at emphasizing the importance of dungeon training to the students.
“The dungeon offers three kinds of benefits; you get tempered in battle, you receive resources that will help you advance on your path, and you may receive insights that will help you reach the next level of your cultivation. The Northerners have a saying that good steel must be tempered through fire. This is your fire, your opportunity to determine how you would fare in a life-or-death fight. Of course without the dying part.” He chuckled.
Master Jalid came next to explain the format of the fights. “This opportunity is only available to those interested in the martial path. Since only 48 of you showed interest, we will use 2 single elimination rounds that will be structured based on your current rank in the Academy. The final 9 positions will be contested through the right of challenge following the illustrious tradition of this institution.”
"Before I forget, let us all take this time to congratulate the youngest Rank 2 cultivator in the Academy in recent memory. Student Uzman please step forward” The Headmaster said.
There were some halfhearted claps while Uzman could hear his immediate friends shouting and clapping loudly.
"He has been allowed to claim one of the spots in the training dungeon. However, he will engage in three exhibition matches with 3 upperclassmen of commensurate rank.”
This news had a more enthusiastic reception as many students were excited to see how those higher in the ranks fought.
Uzman stood five meters apart from his first exhibition match opponent. He faced a dark-haired girl who stood about 1.8 meters in height. She held a short sword in her right hand and a dagger in her left. She was shorter than Uzman by close to a head, her serious expression and keen eyes spoke of a dangerous foe. Uzman used his energy sense to gauge the strength of an aura and found her to be in the mid-tempering stage.
“Fight,” Master Jalid’s voice boomed out.
Neither of the two combatants made any move to attack first. Uzman waited to see what his opponent would concoct. She was an air cultivator which made the wait most confusing as they were known for their lightning-quick attacks and lack of defense. Uzman surmised that the girl was underestimating him on her account of being in the second year.
Uzman held his glaive loosely in a quarter guard position; the left hand holding the center of the glaive and the right a shoulder span behind. He closed the distance slowly, carefully observing his opponent. Once he got within striking range, the girl exploded into motion striking quickly aiming for the upper chest. Uzman simply repositioned the glaive to parry the strike and swung the tip in a low arc expecting the girl to step back. He was surprised when the probing blow connected grazing the girl on the shins and drawing blood. Uzman disengaged stepping back and giving his opponent time to reset.
The girl looked enraged, her face contorted in fury. The supercilious smile that had been stuck on her face disappeared replaced with grim determination. She attacked furiously appearing to blur to the watching students. However, Uzman met her speed with his own easily using the length of his glaive to keep her at bay and parry any blows that came close. After a few exchanges, Uzman realized that the girl posed no challenge to him. She was fast, but he was faster, his weapon offered him an advantage in reach. Additionally, he was also properly trained under the painful lessons of the golem.
Like most wind affinity fighters, the girl hoped to use her speed to get under the guard of her opponent to deal damage. Her frustration mounted as she failed to connect. She redoubled her efforts ignoring defense in the hope that she could at least strike a telling blow and draw blood. She was suffering from a multitude of nicks and scraps and the ground was watered in her blood. She at least hoped to have the blood of the monster before her mingle with her own.
Uzman tired of the dance and decided to end the engagement. Once the girl committed to a highline thrust with her sword, he angled his glaive under the thrust and spun the glaive clockwise throwing her off center. He stepped inside her guard quickly and struck her a ringing blow on the back of the head with the haft of his glaive. She crumpled to the ground unconscious.
“I hope you have all learned a few lessons from that exhibition engagement. You should all aspire to improve yourselves, as you can see, it will give you increased speed." Master Jalid said ending the match.
“More like the lesson was to stay away from him, snickered a muffled voice that sounded suspiciously like Fatima. Master Jalid accosted Uzman as he left the fighting ring.
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“Young man, your command of the glaive and space awareness does your teacher proud. I would be honored to know which master you trained with.” He asked.
“I trained with my grandfather, but he died before I came to the Academy,” Uzman answered skimming over the truth.
After the first round of the selection tournament, there were no surprises. All of the higher-seeded students easily managed to win their bouts. There were now 24 winners who would face off in the second round to determine the top 12 combatants. Uzman was slated to fight the exhibition matches in between the selection rounds.
His second opponent was a burly boy who spotted a long braid and fought with a sword and shield. He smiled at Uzman wolfishly while stating under his breath.
“I think it is time somebody put the boy wonder in his place. Don’t you think?” He asked rhetorically.
Uzman considered his opponent calmly. He was also at the same advancement level as Uzman but his aura felt more stable; as if he had been on the low Rank 2 for some time. He was an earth cultivator and his choice of weapons showed that he was a defensive fighter.
Once the fight started, the two combatants circled each other looking for an opening that would confer a minuscule advantage. The shield was very useful in blocking Uzman’s probing thrusts while the sword kept him from engaging at close range. The fight continued as a stalemate with neither fighter willing to commit to an outright attack, content to use probing thrusts.
Uzman augmented himself with fire to have a balance between speed and power and increased the ferocity and speed of his attacks. However, his opponent was quite skilled with the shield and sword combination, showing the experience of a warrior who had faced many such engagements. He positioned the shield expertly to counter low thrusts and used the sword to counter any upper thrusts. The two fighters jockeyed for position flitting from one end of the arena to the other with neither scoring a decisive hit. Uzman had sustained a gash on the side of the face from a shield bash when he had ventured too close while in turn, he had managed to score a light hit on the sword arm.
{A fight is first won in the mind, always seek to fight on your terms otherwise your opponent will lead you by the nose like a fattened calf to the slaughterhouse}
Uzman remembered the words of his grandfather as the fight progressed. He started to analyze how his opponent moved, his areas of comfort, and his preferred attacking style. He decided to implement an unorthodox strategy that was risky but could if successful win him the match.
He slowed his attack and allowed his opponent to take the upper hand. Earth affinity fighters relied on their resilience to win battles by attrition. Uzman allowed his opponent to think that he was getting slower by being outlasted by the resilience of earth affinity as was typical. He may have fought and won other engagements in the same manner and continued his cagy approach waiting for Uzman to tire further. Uzman continued flagging deliberately, only blocking at the last minute, counter-attacking sluggishly, and scrambling back as if he missed his footing.
At last, his opponent decided that it was time to teach the upstart lower classman a lesson in humility and increased the speed and power of his attacks. Uzman backpedaled, moving away from the attacks by his opponent who was growing more confident. As his opponent committed with a low thrust aimed at forcing Uzman’s guard to lower, he countered by pivoting right and angling his glaive past the thrust and under the shield. The glaive connected, thrusting deep into his opponent’s ribs. Blood erupted as the large tip bit into the ribs splitting nerve and sinew. Master Jalid quickly stepped between the combatants stopping the bout and signaled to the healers to race into the ring and start treating the fallen student.
After the second round of the elimination fights, all of Uzman’s friends had managed to secure their victories easily. The top 12 students were Ishraq, Tameria, Prazard, Ayyub, Divash, Kenzo, Fatima, Jurdur, Vinko, Zubiya, a second cohort boy named Malik, and Yasmin; a third cohort girl with long braids who had managed to stun Khalaf and win her match. The final selection was expected to be done using challenges to select the top 9 contestants. In this case, Malik, Zubiya, and Yasmin would challenge those with an established higher rank for dungeon selection. Zubiya challenged Fatima, viewing her as the weak link. Malik challenged Ayyub, while Yasmin chose Vinko.
Uzman’s third and final opponent was a third-year student who was on the cusp of ascending to the elemental realm. The instructors were determined to at least ensure that he was humbled. Uzman’s assessment showed that the aura of his opponent was considerably stronger than any other human fighter he had faced. The fight was short and brutal showing Uzman that he still needed to continue training.
His opponent was a fire cultivator who was able to summon a film of bright orange flames around his body. These flames served as a shield and increased his speed and power. His opponent used a double-sided axe which he skillfully used offensively relying on his fire defense to counter Uzman’s glaive. Another disadvantage was that the fire around the opponent made it harder to pinpoint a target.
Uzman was harried and beaten around the arena before conceding after a brutal strike on his leg that reduced his mobility significantly. Uzman sat outside the fighting ring as the selection challenges continued deep in thought. He contemplated the brutal manner in which he had been dispatched and identified areas of weakness that would need to be shored up in his fighting style.
Lady Zubiya managed to overwhelm Fatima with her combative approach against Fatima’s defensive strategy. Yasmin continued her impressive form by managing to eke out a victory, her fire overpowering water in a similar fashion to the Zubiya and Fatima fight. Ayyub managed to maintain his position by soundly defeating Malik. He was the only water practitioner who had survived the challenges.
The team selected for the training dungeon run would include Uzman, Prazard, Tameria, Jurdur, Kenzo, Ishraq, Ayyub, Yasmin, Zubiya, and Divash. They were instructed to meet with Master Jalid the next day to receive further instructions and make arrangements for the dungeon run.