Assessment

After a brief pause on the boundary credential, Hongfu's voice rang out again: "Trainee Chen, your application has been accepted. The assessment is scheduled for June 5th at 3:00 PM in the 60th Floor Dedicated Assessment Venue. The lead examiner is Jiang Tian. Please arrive at the designated testing location on time. Lateness will result in the cancellation of your qualification for this assessment. Please consider carefully." Because the assessment was the following day, Chen Chuan avoided overly taxing training to ensure he would earn a higher evaluation score. After taking his medicine, he only did some ordinary loose-hand drills and practiced his breathing technique to conserve his energy. On the afternoon of the fifth, at ten to three, Chen Chuan changed into his school uniform, gathered the things he needed to bring, and, holding the Xuejun Saber, took the elevator up to the sixtieth floor. When the elevator doors opened, he walked through a short corridor and entered the assessment venue. He found that the entire floor was a training ground; looking across it gave the impression that it stretched on without end. By the arena entrance, the instructor and a student responsible for the assessment were already waiting. The one standing in the center was clearly the lead examiner, Jiang Tian. He was in his thirties, with long hair and scruffy stubble around his lips. The top buttons of his collar were undone, and his hands were shoved into his trouser pockets—his casual, unrestrained air made him look more like an artist. Not far away stood an assistant instructor tasked with recording the assessment, and the last person was a student around twenty years old, likely the upperclassman assigned to spar against him. After all, the gap between an instructor and a newly enrolled student was quite large. While an instructor could certainly make better judgments, a contest with no suspense whatsoever would to some extent hinder the trainee from performing at their best. "You're here," Teacher Jiang said, glancing toward him in a way that sounded more like he was asking if he had eaten yet. "Hello, Teacher Jiang," Chen Chuan greeted him. The upperclassman sized Chen Chuan up and gave him a friendly nod. Chen Chuan returned the nod with equal politeness. The assistant instructor responsible for recording looked up briefly at the two of them, then lowered his head again, absently tapping his pen. He was already hoping things would wrap up quickly. After all, any student listed for this kind of assessment had very limited technical skill; there was truly nothing interesting to watch. Teacher Jiang flipped through Chen Chuan's file. "Oh? In just a few short months, your grades improved from lower tier to upper-middle, and that's not even a recent record. You didn't request an assessment right away back then—did you think there was still room for improvement? Well, let me see your performance in a bit..." Chen Chuan said, "Teacher Jiang, I'm ready." The assistant instructor chimed in from the side, "Trainee Chen, wait a moment. You aren't the only one applying for an assessment today. There's another trainee ahead of you." Right then, they heard the chime of the elevator doors opening outside, followed by a male student about half a head shorter than Chen Chuan walking in. He approached them with slight nervousness and greeted them, "Hello, instructors, and hello, Senior. My name is Liang Xin." Teacher Jiang said, "Even though it's not quite time yet, since you're here, let's start now. The sooner we finish scoring, the sooner we can all head back and rest." The assistant instructor added, "You may use weapons you brought yourselves, or you may choose from the weapon racks here. You should have already read the specific assessment rules beforehand, so I won't remind you again." Liang Xin had not brought a weapon with him when he came up. He walked over to the side, picked up a three-meter spear, hoisted it up, and strode to the center of the arena to take his stance. The assistant instructor observed him. It was relatively rare for students to use such long spears, mainly because weapons of that size were inconvenient to carry around. Even with telescoping or detachable shafts, using one in a fight required an extra step to pull it out and assemble it. Without teammates providing cover, who would give you the chance? It was far better to carry a pair of short batons or short spears; even a two-section or three-section staff was more convenient than this. Teacher Jiang turned toward the upperclassman and asked, "Trainee Guo, how about it?" Trainee Guo replied, "Instructor, no problem." He walked to the side and likewise picked up a spear, though it was slightly shorter than the one in Trainee Liang's hands, just over two meters long. The assistant instructor picked up his clipboard to record. Although Hongfu could capture the entire process, this type of assessment still required a paper record for archiving and cross-referencing. What kind of performance a trainee displayed and how much they could bring out was up to them, but the final score rested in the hands of the lead examiner. Being slightly stricter or slightly more lenient could result in a massive difference. These two trainees were fairly lucky. The lead examiner they drew was an easygoing man; as long as someone didn't perform too terribly, he would let them pass. Once Trainee Liang held his spear, his earlier nervousness quickly faded, and he instantly appeared spirited and confident. The moment Teacher Jiang announced the start, he leveled the spear, aiming directly at Trainee Guo opposite him. After a brief clash of gazes, Trainee Liang made the first move, thrusting his spear straight at Trainee Guo. At that moment, Trainee Guo suddenly dipped forward into the incoming attack. Riding the upward momentum of his rising body, he violently rubbed along the shaft of the thrusting spear. Instantly, a rolling surge of jin transmitted through the wood. Trainee Liang felt his hands go numb, losing his grip on the shaft as it spun right out of his palms. Realizing something was wrong, he tried to grab it again, but Trainee Guo's spearhead had already moved first to point squarely at his chest, forcing him to step back. Trainee Guo then hooked the instep of his foot upward, catching the fallen spear in his hand. He took a step back, planted the spear upright against the floor, and said, "Junior, no need to continue." This assessment mainly evaluated weapon proficiency. Once a fighter's weapon was knocked away, there was naturally no point in carrying on. Trainee Liang truly had not expected the assessment to end in a single exchange. His face went pale. Watching the entire exchange from the side, Chen Chuan recognized that while on the surface Senior Guo appeared to have simply timed it exceptionally well, in truth he had accurately predicted beforehand where the opponent's opening thrust would aim. It was not that his reflexes were superhuman, but rather that his initial stance and weapon posture had subtly lured his opponent into striking a specific target. This was simply the difference in combat experience and battle acumen. Trainee Liang had actually lost somewhat unfairly; if they had truly contested purely on technique, the gap between them would not have been that wide. By now, Trainee Liang seemed to realize where he had gone wrong. His face showed clear reluctance and indignation. He felt he had merely been careless for a single moment; in a proper fight, he would never let himself be led astray again and would certainly be able to display his true skills. Teacher Jiang spoke up: "Alright, Trainee Liang. If you feel unsatisfied, you'll have one more chance later, but you'll have to wait until Trainee Chen finishes his assessment." Hearing this, Trainee Liang obediently stepped aside. Even though he had a second chance, the evaluation score would definitely not be as high as on the first attempt, but it was still better than nothing. The assistant instructor turned toward Chen Chuan. "Trainee Chen, it's your turn." Chen Chuan looked at Trainee Guo and said, "Senior, why don't you take a break first?" Trainee Guo nodded and stepped aside to regulate his breathing. Although he had only used one move, that burst of power had actually condensed the strength of his entire body. Moreover, taking down an examinee quickly would likewise raise his own evaluation score, so he needed to face his opponent in prime condition. Two minutes later, having finished adjusting, he walked back to the center of the ring with his spear and nodded to Chen Chuan. "Junior, I'm ready." Chen Chuan drew his saber from its sheath and stepped opposite him, holding the blade with both hands in front of his body, the tip aligned squarely with the man's centerline. Trainee Guo parted his legs and sank his waist. One hand gripped the butt of the spear, leaving only a short nub extending past his palm, while his other hand held the mid-rear section of the shaft, pointing it diagonally toward Chen Chuan. After facing off for a moment, Senior Guo launched a probing attack. With a twist of his waist and hips, his spear shot forward. Chen Chuan remained completely motionless. Even when the spear was about to reach his body, he still made no movement. Trainee Guo frowned slightly, but he would not let that deter him. A spear could shift between feint and real strike, but seeing that Chen Chuan had left himself no room to evade, he flicked the point straight in. Yet at that exact instant, Chen Chuan executed an astonishingly fast sidestep, impossibly evading the spearhead. Slipping along the line of the spear, his long saber skimmed the shaft, slashing toward the opponent's forward hand! At this moment, Trainee Guo only needed to generate power from his core and parry outward with the shaft to sweep the blade aside; if he exerted enough force, he could even knock Chen Chuan himself away. Yet he suddenly discovered that a heavy, adhesive jin had adhered to his spear, and for a moment he could not shake it loose. This was clearly a case of his strength being overwhelmed by his opponent's. In the end, he had no choice but to let go and abandon the spear. Even so, he did not panic. He would never let himself be subdued immediately upon losing his weapon like Trainee Liang. His spear art included a maneuver known as the Drop-and-Catch Stance, which allowed a fighter to reclaim an abandoned spear and counterattack. Usually, as long as one hand could hook the butt of the spear with its fingers, jin could be channeled to twist it back up. However, Chen Chuan's saber advanced with such steady swiftness that it afforded him no such opportunity, leaving him no choice but to evade the slashing and thrusting blade first. As he pivoted his body, he hooked and dragged his back heel, sweeping the spear that had fallen toward the floor back upward. Now, all he had to do was twist around with the momentum, grip the shaft with both hands, and reverse it to impale his opponent with the butt spike. Watching the movement, the recording instructor couldn't help silently praising him. This Dragon Swings Its Tail was executed to perfection, simultaneously dodging the enemy and delivering a counterstrike. As Trainee Guo spun away to dodge, Chen Chuan's forward thrust seemed to have run its course, requiring a pause before he could link into the next burst of power. That was the primary reason Trainee Guo dared to follow through with his maneuver. Yet at that precise moment, driven by the mutated tissue within Chen Chuan's body, his form flowed smoothly like drifting clouds and flowing water, propelled forward without the slightest hitch. Stepping forward with his left foot, Chen Chuan pressed his left hand down onto the spine of the blade and drove it forward. An instant later, a glint of cold light came to rest against the neck of Trainee Guo, who had not yet finished his turn. With his spear only halfway reversed and the chill of steel touching his throat, his movement froze on the spot.