"Thanks," Shang answered Soran.
When Soran heard Shang's words, he nodded in appreciation.
Why?
Because a lot of kids tried to appear too prideful or motivated. They would proclaim with a frown that they were sad they hadn't won or something similar.
However, that didn't make them seem endearing or motivated but stupid.
This had never been a fight where victory was up for grabs. If they said that they weren't fine with losing, it would only show their childishness. It would show that they weren't able to distinguish a winnable fight from an unwinnable one.
If someone truly thought like that, the chances were high that they would start a fight they couldn't win, and they would die early. If someone didn't think that but said it regardless, they would only be a people pleaser.
Accepting when someone was superior to oneself was one of the most important rules a warrior had to learn. It was an essential skill for survival.
"Hey, Soran, how about you let the kid actually show his skills?" Mervin said from his chair. "This entire fight was supposed to show us his sword skills."
Soran only smiled awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head. "Sorry. I just wanted to show him how annoying it can be when someone suddenly attacks out of nowhere."
"Anyway," Soran said as he looked at Shang. At the same time, his spear vanished, and he lifted his arms. "Let's see your sword skills. I won't fight back, but I will block and evade. Just treat my arms as shields. You don't have to worry. By using Mana, my body becomes so hard that you can't damage it."
Shang nodded as he readied his sword.
At the same time, the other three threw glances at Shang's abdomen.
There was still a cut on Shang's abdomen, but it was quickly healing.
This told the teachers two things.
First of all, Shang acted like he didn't even notice his injury, which gave more credibility to his claims of how he was training his body.
Second, Shang's injury was already closing, which meant that he had a warrior's body.
What was a warrior's body?
In this world, a warrior's body was seen as a disadvantage. In essence, having a warrior's body meant that one wasn't able to actively push Mana towards one's mind. Without a way to actively push Mana towards one's Spirit, one wasn't able to become a Mage.
Of course, in a world where Magic was the only way to true power, this was a bad thing.
It wasn't entirely impossible to practice Magic with a warrior's body, but it basically made no sense.
Why?
Because the mind would only become more powerful by the passive Mana-radiation of the strengthened body. In short, this meant that one's body had to vastly surpass one's mind in power to strengthen it.
Mages trained by pushing their Mana into their minds. In the beginning, Mages would retain normal bodies until they became Adepts. When they became Adepts, the power of their mind would slowly strengthen their bodies.
This meant that an Early Adept would have a body equal to an Early Soldier Stage warrior.
That was an entire Realm lower.
Of course, one could also train both at the same time, but that would consume double the resources and double the time for only a minuscule increase in strength.
Someone with a warrior's body would be forced into training the opposite way.
If they wanted to become Mages, they would need to become a warrior in the General Stage first before they could start learning Magic. When the warrior had already reached the Second Realm, they could learn to cast spells at the same levels as a beginner Apprentice.
In short, it made no sense.
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Someone with a warrior's body was essentially forced into the path of a warrior.
However, having a warrior's body wasn't only a bad thing. The good thing about having a warrior's body was that the body kept most of its Mana stored in the body itself, not the mind.
This gave the person with the warrior's body a faster rate of regeneration.
How many people had a warrior's body?
Around 2% of the students in the academy.
It was a bit more common outside the academy since a lot of peasants were peasants because they couldn't practice Magic.
But, of course, the academy still preferred students that had a warrior's body. After all, this was an academy for warriors.
While the watchers were taking note of Shang's injury, Shang began to unleash a relentless offense on Soran.
Shang shot forward and quickly unleashed a slash, which was blocked by Soran's arm.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Shang attacked more and more times as Soran jumped around the room to keep Shang on his toes.
Soran was even jumping on the table, the backs of chairs, and other furniture.
Shang, obviously, jumped after him every single time, also using the environment to his advantage.
Surprisingly, no furniture got damaged.
One would think that with Shang's instincts and offensive, he would destroy the furniture. After all, it wasn't his style to hold himself back.
And that was true. He wasn't holding himself back.
So, why was the furniture not damaged?
Control.
A good warrior had to realize when they had to stop their attack and adapt.
If the enemy didn't evade, a good warrior wouldn't hit the surroundings. Their attacks would hit the enemy.
If the enemy evaded, it made no sense to continue the attack, which would result in Shang not hitting the furniture.
Only someone that wasn't able to take in their surroundings and adapt to them would mindlessly continue attacking when they couldn't hit the enemy.
When the other two teachers saw that, they nodded in appreciation again.
Up to now, Shang had shown extraordinary habits and battle instincts.
These were the habits of someone that had been in many real fights in their life.
However, they had also noticed some glaring flaws in Shang's style of battle, which showed that Shang hadn't truly fought humans before and that he hadn't been in a truly chaotic battle before.
They suspected that Shang had only fought beasts in one-on-one duels before.
Soran decided that they had seen enough to make a judgment, but he still wanted to show Shang one of his glaring flaws.
Soran stopped in front of a column.
Shang attacked Soran, and Soran blocked the attack with his left forearm.
Then, Soran lightly stepped to the side.
Shang wanted to charge after him.
BANG!
Suddenly, Shang's vision warped violently as white stars sprung up everywhere.
Out of reflex, Shang jumped backward but fell over. One of his hands went to his head.
Shang felt blood coming from his head.
Shang looked to the place where he had just been and saw a thick vase made of stone rolling to the side, a bloody spot on it.
When Shang had attacked Soran near the column, Soran's foot had slightly shaken the column.
The vase above the column tipped over, and it fell on Shang's head.
That thing was hard and heavy.
This was one of Shang's glaring flaws.
The enemy fully consumed his vision and mind, making him blind to his surroundings. Shang could still see how his enemy interacted with the surroundings, and he could also use the surroundings to his advantage, but that only included the surroundings immediately involved in the battle.
Shang wasn't paying attention to anything else, and he wasn't thinking about checking his surroundings from time to time or listening to the noises.
If Shang had been paying attention, he could have heard the column behind Soran shake.
Sadly, his vision had been consumed by Soran.
"Alright," Soran said with a smile. "That should be enough."
"Want to hear your evaluation?"