"Now, partner up with your roommate. Take one weapon each from that rack over there, and do light sparring.
"Try to not injure each other."
Thomas said.
The students rushed to the racks, took whatever wooden sword was available, and headed to different corners of the training room with their roommate.
Luckily, all the wooden swords were brand-new, so there weren’t some that were worn out and some that were in better condition than others.
"Here."
Devon tossed Ned a wooden sword, but he failed to catch it, and the wooden sword dropped to the floor.
"Ah, dang it."
Ned picked it back up and scratched the back of his head sheepishly, and then they saw that there wasn’t a lot of space to train at.
Except at the middle of the room.
They walked to the red mat and saw what everybody else was doing—there were already some fighting going on.
"Hehe!"
Rex kept swinging his sword at Nathaniel, who casually parried, and then occasionally swung back.
"Hai! Hai! Hai!"
A twintail-haired girl swung the sword from high. It headed for Angel’s head. She just gracefully dodged it.
Then.
She smacked the twintail-haired girl across her face with the sword, knocking her to the ground, who looked stunned.
"Owie..."
She held her cheek, looked at Angel with almost tears in her eyes, and then said, "Hey, that hurt!"
"You should’ve dodged it then. Get up. We’re not done yet."
Angel said with no mercy.
The twintail-haired girl gritted her teeth. She stood back up. And they continued fighting, but it was very one-sided.
Angel found cracks in her defenses and kept hitting her everywhere—the twintail-haired girl started to feel numb with pain.
"I am done here! This is stupid!"
She threw the wooden sword to the ground and ran out of the room—other students looked over, wondering what was going on.
"What happened?"
Thomas crossed his arms and asked.
"My roommate is too weak. It’s worthless to train against her. Can I get somebody else as my training partner?"
Angel asked coldly.
"...I’ll think about it. For now, you shall train with me."
Thomas pulled out his wooden sword, and Angel nodded, and then they clashed swords with each other.
In the red mat.
"So... I guess we will fight now?"
Ned asked, as that’s what everybody else was doing, but he had never been in a fight before, so he wasn’t quite sure what to do.
"Let’s start."
Devon told him and put the sword in his way.
He kept changing the hand grip that he had on the wooden sword because it felt unfamiliar and, honestly, quite awkward.
This was his first time holding a sword.
"Haa!"
Ned lifted the sword above his head and swung it straight down—it was a slow, sloppy, and awkward strike.
"Hup!"
Devon jumped out of the way just in time—the sword barely missing him—even though it was a slower attack compared to Thomas’, it still wasn’t that easy to dodge!
"Ngh!"
Ned kept pressing on. Chasing after him. This time around, he extended his arms and pushed the sword through the air.
A stabbing attack!
Devon again jumped out of the way and backed away so much that he almost collided with a couple of students at the back.
’Damn... This isn’t easy.’
He thought.
He just didn’t want to get hit, so he was scared of the wooden sword as if it were an actual sword made of steel.
"I-I think I am doing pretty good!"
Ned said.
"Is this your first time with a sword? If so, you’re pretty good."
Devon asked.
"Y-Yeah... I’ve never played Innerworld before. I used to be a strategy game player. I won a few tournaments recently."
Ned said.
’A strategy game player? Interesting.’
Devon thought.
It sounded like the New America’s Esports Federation didn’t just send accept the Innerworld players and those who had experience with fighting games.
They accepted all kinds of players that had shown great gaming talent.
’Innerworld is basically second reality, and fighting inside the game is the same as fighting in the real world.
’However, there are, of course, the classes, different skills, and then the leveling-up system, where you can make your character stronger.
’But the core of fighting is still the same.
’It’s not like Lords of the Mythic Legends... How can I use the skills I had there in real fighting? Is that even possible?’
Devon thought to himself.
With Lords of the Mythic Legends, all he needed were the fingers on his left hand to press on a couple keyboard keys and his right arm to move the mouse.
Even back in Lords of the Mythic Legends, he wasn’t the most gifted player when it comes to fighting mechanics.
However, he was really good at strategizing and planning out his moves in advance.
There were many opponents who were better at fighting than he was, but none could outsmart him in a battle of wits.
An idea appeared in his mind.
In that moment, Ned headed his way. The sword swung. Devon kept backing away from the sword’s range.
Devon threw a quick glance behind him.
Ned kept pressing forward. A hungry look in his eyes. He wanted to finish the fight right now—one hit was all he needed!
’I will win!’
Ned lunged forward with a sword thrust.
In that moment, Devon grabbed one of the students behind him and used him as a shield—the sword hit the student in the chest!
"Argh, what the hell?!"
The student cried out and looked at Ned with anger and then at Devon—not sure who he should be more angry towards.
"I-I am sorry!"
Ned shouted and forgot that he was still in a fight, so Devon swung his sword and patted him in the back.
The sting of the wooden sword woke Ned up, and he just let out, "ah..." as he realized that he just lost.
"Hehe, I guess this is my victory!"
Devon laughed.
’I was... outsmarted?’
Ned looked genuinely surprised.
This had never happened to him before. He had always been able to read his opponents like an open book.
That’s why he was considered the greatest talent of the 25th century of the strategy games.
The student, who got used as a human shield, just clicked his tongue and went back to sparring with his roommate.