First training session completed

"Now it's time to practice. I'll show you the posture to perform, and you'll repeat it until you've mastered it completely."

Loran took up a two-handed wooden practice sword, then starting from the top lowered the practice sword in one swift motion, making the wind whistle.

When the sword stopped, before the stunned eyes of the students, Loran continued to make several technical gestures for beginners, but always with a lot of energy.

He repeated the gestures a dozen times so that the students could get a good feel for the movements.

At this stage, the students almost felt as if they were watching a sword dance performance, so well had their teacher mastered the basics.

When he finished, Professor Loran announced the start of the students' training.

"At first, don't use your talents. Take a practice sword from the rack and start by working on the technical gestures I've shown you."

Adam grabbed a practice sword like the other students. It was slightly heavier than he'd imagined, so he immediately felt the difference from his dagger.

As he moved in front of a training dummy, he found himself paired up with a slightly taller boy with a superior look. The latter raised an eyebrow at the sight of him.

"You? You're wielding a sword now? Wasn't that a dagger last time I checked?"

Adam didn't answer, contenting himself with getting into position as the professor had instructed.

"Come on, show me what you can do," the boy insisted with a wry smile.

Adam ignored the other student and began to perform the gestures shown by the teacher in all seriousness.

In this world, only seriousness and rigor could keep him from falling too far behind the other students.

Of course, the gestures were clumsy and imprecise.

After a few minutes, the pair looked at Adam with petty eyes.

"Is that all?"

"I guess that's not surprising with a 9 in compatibility."

Other students were also watching the scene and began to emit muffled laughter.

The teacher noticed all this but said nothing, leaving everyone to practice.

For about thirty minutes, he went through the rows, pointing out everyone's shortcomings.

Finally, it was the turn of Adam and his partner.

Loran approached the duo, but saw that one of the students seemed simply to be watching his partner practicing while making fun of him.

 He fixed the mocking boy with a piercing stare.

"Any reason why you're distracted, Mr. Ferad?"

The teacher had already memorized all the first names of the class he was responsible for, as well as their talents, so it was easy for him to call all the students by their surnames or first names.

The boy lowered his eyes slightly, but his smile persisted.

"No, Professor. I was just looking at my partner... trying."

The professor rested his gaze on Adam, then on his sword.

"Trying? Adam, will you show us your routine?" asked Loran, frowning.

Adam nodded, going through the technical motions as best he could. He felt the pressure of all eyes on him, but he wasn't trembling. Slowly, he reproduced the movement, concentrating on every detail.

Professor Loran watched in silence, then nodded slightly.

"That's pretty good for a start."

"When you do an estoc, which is a straight sword thrust toward your opponent, bring your body further forward so that not only your sword soaks up the strength of your arm, but of the whole body."

The murmurs stopped, surprised by these positive comments. Loran turned to the other student.

"As for you, since you seem so sure of your abilities, show me the gestures you've practiced."

The latter complied, but his movements were very wide, with a lot of energy invested in the wrong place, and no fluidity between each movement.

"It's bad," Loran commented dryly.

"Nothing to comment on since you haven't practiced enough for me to say anything.

"Talent helps practice, but without practice talent is nothing."

The mockery died away immediately as Adam looked at this teacher with a good first impression.

"Maybe this year won't be so awful all things considered."

Then he resumed training as Loran moved away to advise other pairs.

Adam's pair looked at him with strange eyes, then began training in earnest as well.

The class drew to a close, but the training hadn't stopped.

Meanwhile, Adam was neither the fastest nor the strongest, but he made up for it with his unwavering concentration.

He remembered every mistake he made and tried to avoid it on the next shot.

When the bell rang, bringing the class to a close, Professor Loran called the students together one last time.

"In this class are gathered the worst talents of the school."

Surprised eyes opened wide at the teacher's words.

But he obviously didn't care, and continued speaking.

"So what I want to see in this room is effort and perseverance. For these are the only weapons you can use to hope to catch up with those who have better talents than you."

"Those who persist may be surprised at what they can accomplish."

Adam felt the teacher's gaze land briefly on him before sweeping over the rest of the students.

"Good day to all, we'll meet again tomorrow at the same time."

Everyone went to put away their wooden swords in the rack and then went out while chatting, which again left Adam alone.

But just as Adam had waited for everyone else before putting away his training sword on the rack himself, a voice called out behind him.

"Hey, Adam, right?"