An opportunity

Borg was still frustrated from last week's beating. His friends seemed to not understand the importance of sword techniques. Sword techniques were widely used and for a reason: they used Essence in the most efficient manner. They always promoted practicing the boring fundamentals. Even when they became Warriors, they somewhat found that they needed to practice again those fundamentals but this time, with Essence. He was more and more fed up with them. The worst part was that his mastery in the 'Splitting Rocks' technique was not enough to prove to them the importance of sword techniques.

The group set the mornings as the time for practice and the afternoon as the time for sparring. There were still a few hours until dinner and Borg was taking a little break from perfecting his 'Splitting Rocks'. The power he wielded now was greater than his friend's by at least two folds. They would soon understand their mistake.

Climbing a tree near the training grounds, he chose a branch to lie on. From afar, he observed the other children his age training under their instructors.

The training consisted of three parts. The first part of training was physical conditioning. To develop stamina, they employed exercises such as running or skipping. To develop strength, they used both body weight exercises and weight training. The second part of training was skill practice. It mainly consisted in repeating cuts and thrusts on dummies. The third part was sparring. It was considered by most as the only fun part of training.

Borg and the others used mostly the same form of training. A first difference is the duration of training. Borg and his band trained most of the day whereas the other children trained only in the morning. They spent around the same time doing physical conditioning. However, they spent at least two times and sometimes up to four times as long on skill training and sparring. In particular, the intensity they gave during skill training was incomparable.

The lessons were soon finished. Before freeing the students, the instructors assembled all classes for an announcement.

"Next week, there will be no lessons. Instead, we will hold a tournament for you for those of you who are ten years old. You may know that Till, the City Lord's son has also turned ten years old a few months ago. Last week, he became a Warrior. To practice swordsmanship, he needs training partners. The top ten of next week's tournament will be given the opportunity to become his sword servants."

"This is without a doubt the greatest opportunity you will ever receive, so prepare well. Sword servant doesn't mean you will do manual chores around the City Lord's castle. It means that you will be able to train every day with the best teachers. You will be fed with high quality meals. You will become Till's first followers. Most sword servants end up becoming Great Warriors. And strong Great Warriors will be given the chance to become Knights. Knights that accomplish meritorious deeds become Barons. In short, if you do well as sword servants, you will be able to climb the social ladder and become nobles! Your children will also become nobles!"

Borg was ecstatic. He had already comprehended the 'Splitting Rocks' technique. He was more or less guaranteed to finish in the top ten. In a week, there wouldn't be another child his age with a sword technique. Apart from those three, he couldn't think of anyone strong enough to defeat him. Borg rushed to his friends to share the good news.

After a few minutes of running, he near a small pack of trees. Behind the trees was a small space cleared from branches and kept well maintained. It served as headquarters for the small band of friends. Borg saw Rael, Eith and Karl striking an half broken wooden puppet again and again. Rael and Eith seemed to work their 'Underhau' - upwards cuts. Karl was focused on thrusting his sword at the puppet.

Borg couldn't be more familiar with those motions. He practiced them for four years after all. The first two years, George, their teacher, taught them many movements. Captivated by the novelty, Borg trained with fervor. Soon after George left, however, there was nothing new coming their way. Little by little, he felt that the moves became dull. His friends, however, were still practicing with the same fervor. Over the next months, he practiced the moves with less ardor.

A few months ago, when he and the others became Warriors, he could finally practice new movements. In particular, becoming a Warrior allowed him to learn sword techniques. Keeping his training of the fundamentals to a minimum, he focused almost entirely on the 'Splitting Rocks' technique. This technique was given to all new Warriors and found in many books in the orphanage. Reading low tier sword techniques was relatively easy as manuals depicted the movements through illustrations and only higher tiered techniques included text explications on top of images.

"I bring great news! The City Lord's son is taking sword servants. There will be a tournament next week to select the ten strongest from our orphanage."

Rael was the first to respond. "I will not participate and I advise you not to. Those who become sword servants lose their freedom. Moreover, their future become limited by their liege, condemned to never grow stronger than him. Instead, by hiding in the mass like we've been doing, we can grow strong peacefully."

Borg was visibly not convinced. "Sword servants are given resources to better cultivate Essence, many sword techniques and instructors to teach them swordsmanship. For us, it is a guarantee to become a Knight."

Karl countered immediately. "And a promise to never go beyond. My ambitions lay further."

Eith added. "I agree with Rael and Karl. We currently don't need instructors and sword techniques are not a priority. Moreover, we should focus on controlling our Essence instead of reaching for more. As of now, we barely have any control over it."

Borg clearly disagreed. "Sword techniques are not that easy to get, especially the strong ones. Moreover, without sufficient resources, cultivating Essence is extremely slow. One can control one's Essence as well as they want, before a Warrior with more Essence, he is doomed."

Karl had no more to say. "This is where we disagree. Sword techniques will be tricky to get, no doubt. Cultivating Essence, however, is not the way to become stronger. What differentiates a strong Warrior from a weak one is his control over Essence and not the amount he has."

Rael saw that they would not be able to convince their friend. "Borg, I can see that you believe that becoming a sword servant will bring you further than the way we propose you. You won't convince us the same we won't convince you. Becoming a sword servant is not a bad choice, but not one we will take. Only time will tell us who was right. I can only give you my best wishes."

After a pause, Rael continued. "Upon reflection, it's best to participate to not raise suspicions."

Karl proposed. "Getting into the top 50 should be enough. It will show others that we are not pushovers, while not gathering too much attention to ourselves."

Rael responded. "It seems reasonable. Let's go with that."

Facing his friends, Borg sighed. "I never thought none of you would take this opportunity. I could guess that Rael wouldn't when taking into account his father's circumstances. But I never thought that you two, Eith and Karl, would also not be interested. I hope you won't come to regret your decision in a couple years."

Karl spoke. "Come on, what's with this heavy atmosphere? We still have a week before the tournament and two before its conclusion. Let's enjoy what we have while we have it. "

Eith answered. "Those are some beautiful words, Karl. Why not make a competition of our own? Rules as usual: A champion in the middle. Candidates affront the champion one on one until the champion loses, in which case they switch place. The one with the longest winning streak wins. The losers do double the physical conditioning tomorrow. Borg begins as the champion."

The others agreed to the proposition in quick succession.

The four friends held friendly competitions of this type at least once a week. It served as a motivation for the less enjoyable parts of sword training such as skill practice. Slacking in practice was very visible during those events. Lately, due to his lack of motivation for training his fundamentals, Borg often was last. And the outcome of losing was not pleasant. For these children, their physical conditioning was already very tiring. One could only imagine the effect of doubling the training load. Fortunately for Borg, he was never the only one to suffer as the rules stipulated that, with the exception of the one winner, or two in the case of a tie, all others had to do the additional training.

Borg took a few steps back from the group, readied himself and called. "I'm ready whenever you are."

Eith took him for his word and was the first to come at him. He began by cutting downward with his sword at his friend. Borg met the attack with an upward cut, before thrusting it towards Eith's chest. Eith sidestep to the left, escaping the thrust. Wasting no time, he immediately bounced back towards Borg with thrust of his own.

The exchange continued for a while and Borg felt that he couldn't continue this way. He would lose if this continued as Eith was both more agile and had more stamina. To win, he would have to dominate him with his strength. And he had, the perfect move for that.

Stepping back, Borg escaped another attack and faked a thrust of his own, which Eith avoided as was usual. In reality, the thrust lacked strength and under it, Borg initiated his 'Splitting Rocks' technique. After Eith sidestepped the thrust, he leaped and launched a downward cut at Borg. Borg met it with his 'Splitting Rocks' technique. During the clash, Eith could not handle the strength outputted by the sword technique. His sword was blown into the air. He had lost.

Borg grinned widely. He had finally showcased them the strength of sword techniques. And indeed, Eith, Karl and Rael were all stupefied. They all had downplayed the utility of sword techniques. Sword techniques proved stronger than they believed.

Since they became Warrior, they trained all basic cuts, thrusts, footwork once again. This time, however, they included Essence control into the fundamentals. As a result, they overall became much stronger but also complacent, not putting sword techniques in their eyes. Reality proved, however, that their beliefs were not completely correct.

Borg scored a single victory thanks to the 'Splitting Rocks' technique. His victory was also only possible due to a surprise effect. However, he only knew a single low ranked sword technique. But what if someone had multiple high grade techniques? It was no wonder that nobles could stay at the top in strength since they had both excellent teachers and high grade sword techniques. With an abundance in cultivation resources, a slightly talented noble would easily be able to defeat the most talented among commoners.

The friendly competition continued. Borg's 'Splitting Rocks' earned him a few wins. He placed third this time with a winning streak of four. Like most times, Rael was first with twelve consecutive wins. Eith finished second with six wins and Karl last with two wins. However, the results were of little importance for Rael, Eith and Karl. Instead, it was the lesson they learned about sword techniques that stayed on their mind.