12 Just a Light Spar

Just as expected, what Ren thought would happen did come to pass.

'In the original, Isaac challenged Ray, but since I'm the obvious guy ahead of them, I guess I'm the target of both now.'

'I'm not really bothered about Ray, apart from being an annoying selfish bastard when it comes to people close to him, he is the classic righteous MC, so nothing to worry about. Isaac on the other hand… I have to be careful since it's not just him that'll be against me if he decides to put me on his bad side.'

Isaac was the young master of a big conglomerate after all, apart from the wealth, his family also had the power and connections to boot. He served as a major obstacle to the MC through various ways up until the end, and not every time was it direct.

"Alright everyone, settle down! Before we begin the sparring, each student will have to train independently while undergoing subsequent tests. Sparring will begin next week." Sgt Jones said.

'Huh? That's different, in the original they fought at random by picking their partners, but now they are going to test our capabilities through this method.' Well, Ren wasn't against it, so he had no complains.

Throughout that week they did just as it was said and performed various tests from 100m dash to weight lifting, to obstacle course, to reflex testing. These were all originally done later in the original story, but it seemed something had changed now.

Apart from the classes and training, Ren himself couldn't avoid all the attention he was getting from the opposite sex, for once, it was refreshing, though, he was sure it would soon become tiring.

Ren was also yet to have much interactions with the main cast, but he had confirmed the remaining for the time being. Even the MC was yet to befriend amongst of them, so he too felt it was ok and there was no reason to rush.

'These classes are too boring and don't seem that important, guess I really don't have to attend them.' Well, Ren could afford this way of thinking, after all, he wasn't weak.

The following week, just as stated, the sparring began.

"Quiet down and listen! I'll be doing the pairing now, so pay attention."

Sgt Jones went ahead to call out the pairing.

"Finn and Carl, step to the left, you two will be sparring mates for the time being. Garson and Kiva, to the left; Ava and Ivy, to the left; Anne and Lucy… Ray and Isaac, to the left…" Hearing their names, both of them glanced over at Ren who was paying little attention to all that was happening. It was clear who they wanted to be paired against, but there was no objection and they walked over to the side with those who had been paired up.

"Ashley and Ashley, both of you that way…" Well, even Ashley who was a healer had to learn to defend herself, even though for evasion only. Unluckily, her name sake wasn't a healer, but an attack class, though not a powerful one.

"Linda and Ren, that way." Both of them wore a nonchalant look on their faces as they walked to the side.

'Hmm? What's this?' Ren looked at Linda's arm. It seemed a little shaky for a bit there, he couldn't say it was because she was paired with him, well… 'is it excitement or fear or what?' He wasn't so curious, so he didn't think about it any further. After that the rest were paired and the sparring class began under the supervision of the instructor.

The pairing was done based on the individual strength of the students, so it was expected that Linda would be paired with Ren, after all, when it came to physical capabilities, she was better than Ray in fighting at the start of the original story, and her stats were also almost as much as his. During this time, Ray was yet to show he could fight close range, and Linda had showcased her abilities both close ranged and long.

It had already been a couple dozen seconds since everyone started sparring, but over at Ren's end, the air was still cold. He had yet to move from where he stood with his hands in his pocket, and Linda was yet to move either.

"Are you not going to make a move?" She asked, still nonchalant in attitude.

"Ladies first." Ren responded with the same attitude.

'Why's she playing cool and tough? This is definitely not her personality, or did something change between novel and reality?' Ren wondered. True, he never expected everything to go exactly the same with the novel, so he wasn't shocked, just a bit surprised. It was just that the change of character didn't fit with the image he had of her in his head.

After a couple more seconds of silence, Linda took a pose.

'Come to think of it, a lot of things do seem different.' He was sure there was a change. 'For one, she has been behaving a bit… not so girly, and she's wearing trousers instead of a skirt.

'I guess she really does differ from the novel's depiction.'

Even though Linda had taken a pose, Ren was still standing with his hands in his pockets and the same look on his face.

Linda took in a deep breath, then she charged forward towards Ren using a set of peculiar movements that caught his attention.

'These movements, is it a skill or technique… it has to be a technique.' He thought to himself. The reason for his conclusion was because skills weren't something people just get over the period of two week… 'well, except for the main character that is,' with that in mind, it had to be a kind of movement technique that allowed for explosive movements while still maintaining fluidity in motion.

'Like a gentle wave possessing great force…' Though he could not remember if she had any such technique in the original story.

As Linda got close, right up before Ren in an instant, she noticed how he was yet to respond, and ultimately, a bored look came over her face.

*thrust

She attacked using her left leg towards Ren's mid-section, stopping just before her leg hit his stomach.

The attack itself carried some weight behind it, and her sudden acceleration and halt created a blast of wind, not much, but enough for those around to feel it. Putting her leg down gently, the expression on her face had changed and she appeared not so relaxed.

'Ah yes, I remember now, though, she didn't use it this soon, and even now it seems not to be fully perfected yet. The one in the novel didn't even create any disturbance in the surrounding, it was like cutting through the wind current as they described it.' Ren remembered the technique she was using.

'This guy…' Linda felt that Ren was looking down on her the way he looked at her with that expression.

"You moved backwards just at the last moment, huh? So my kick couldn't reach you." Linda said.

"What are you on about, just continue."

'After all, this class also contributes to the final grading, not that I care about it much, but that's one aspect I shouldn't fail in.'

"Tsk, and here I thought I wouldn't be doing much." Ren didn't answer and just kept looking at Linda who was getting ready to attack.

*BAMM