Chapter 206 Bamboo Balance

Chapter 206 Bamboo Balance For the final drill, the students followed Rerth to one of the stone platforms. By now, they were all quite tired. To Rerth's surprise, however, not a single kid had failed the exam. He had a good bunch this year.

Seeing that they were next to the fighting arena, Lyrian got an idea of what the last drill of testing would be.

'Fighting... huh. I guess that makes sense to be a foundation of hunting. If it's just that, then I don't need to worry too much,' he said, slightly relieved. 'But... what are those long sticks he's holding?'

Lyrian followed up those thoughts with a confused one. As he looked at Rerth, he saw him carrying a large pile of long bamboo shoots on his shoulders.

"The first test was your speed! Speed is essential in hunting, I'm sure you all can understand why. The pull-ups might have been a bit more confusing, but they are also essential. You will need to be able to travel when hunting, not just to get to the places to hunt, which are vast in terms of choices for a hunter, but also to move inside of the place you hunt in. This includes dungeons, caves, ruins, temples, and much more. To traverse well, one needs to learn how to handle his own body weight, and pull-ups are a perfect indicator for that."

The students nodded as Rerth continued his lesson. What he said made sense so far.

"Now, the final test will be for your third and most important foundation of hunting!"

He paused, allowing everyone to think about what it could be. Inwardly, Lyrian said, 'Fighting...'

"Balance!" Rerth suddenly exclaimed, throwing Lyrian off slightly. 'Balance? I wasn't expecting that.' Others had similarly confused reactions. Rerth wasted no time and began to explain his thoughts.

"That's right! The most important one is balance! You may be fast, and you may have leverage over your body, but those things don't come together in harmony nearly as well without having balance over your core! This applies not only to hunting but also to fighting as well."

Many let out sounds of realization as Rerth finished up his speech. Lyrian found it to be familiar to something he heard from Brokkr back in the Flat Stone Mountain caves.

'Brokkr spoke about Smithing in that way... a way to precisely and calmly calculate your next move to make the best choice and action possible. It is similar to balance.'

Rerth began throwing two long bamboo shoots at each of the students there.

"Catch them quickly! Do not let these touch the floor!" He yelled as the students hurried to grab the shoots being thrown at them. They were light, as they were made only of bamboo. However, kids still struggled to follow Rerth's directions.

In mere seconds, over half of the kids' bamboos had touched the floor. This was because even though the bamboo sticks were light, the kids rushed and grabbed onto their ends, and not the middle of the sticks. Due to this, their leverage was bad, causing one side of the 20-foot bamboo poles to touch the ground.

The other half who made sure their bamboo didn't touch the ground were patient and caught them in the middle. All, except Lyrian. He caught one in the middle, but the other at the very edge.

This wasn't because he was clumsy, at least, he didn't think it was. When he caught it, the same way he caught his other one, he realized that it traveled stunningly faster.

'Maybe it was a small challenge,' Lyrian thought to himself, looking at his teacher. Still, even though he caught it at the very end, Lyrian used his raw strength to keep it from touching the floor.

Those who failed looked at Rerth with concerned expressions. "Don't worry, that's not the test, so none of you fail the exam from just that. It was only a heads-up for what's to come, so be prepared!" He spoke loudly, as the kids breathed a sigh of relief.

As they continued to balance their shoots, Rerth reached into his pocket and took out a handful of small pebbles.

"Do not drop these!" He yelled, tossing them into the air toward each of the students. "If you do, you will be eliminated!" He followed up, making many tense their bodies up in nervousness.

One of the kids looked at the small pebble flying at him from the sky, the sun blinding him slightly.

'What the hell!? Both of my hands are busy holding the bamboo... how am I supposed to catch that thing!?' He said as the pebble hit his face, flinging off to the ground. As this happened, he dropped the bamboo, knowing he had failed. Seething with anger, his entire body began to shake.

"You!" Rerth called him out, gazing at the boy with furrowed eyebrows. "Are expelled from my class." He said coldly, as the boy looked at him with a sorrowful expression, which soon contorted into an angry one. Without warning, he stormed out of the field and back inside.

Two other kids were expelled as well, seeing no way to get the pebble with both hands tied up.

"Damn it! What an unfair test!" One blurted out as he left. Others had found creative ways to catch the pebbles. Lyrian had used his mouth, allowing the pebble to fall inside.

'That was it? I passed? Then... what was the need to be near an arena?' He thought to himself, slightly confused. At that moment, Rerth continued.

"Those three fools failed to see what you guys saw. They saw an impossible task, but you guys saw a chance at innovation, and look, it worked. Catching the pebble isn't the main test either, by the way. It was only a small test to see if you are all willing to learn and grow--if you were all willing to create new opportunities for yourselves, instead of just giving up."

Rerth turned around. "Now, the real test will begin. Everyone!" He addressed the group. "Find a way to get up onto the bamboo shoots. Stand up on them with both legs, fully balanced!"

'What? Get onto the bamboo sticks on both legs!? Isn't that a bit too much? By normal standards... that's near impossible.' Lyrian thought to himself on hearing Rerth's words. Other kids also looked around, seemingly confused.

"I know what you all are thinking... and your thoughts are correct. Doing it normally is far too difficult, even for students of Anaviotis, at least those at your level. Because of this, you are all granted permission to use magic for the first and only time in these drills. Still, I won't give you a step-by-step guide to doing your task. Figure it out how you see fit." Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ n0vᴇl(ꜰ)ire.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Lyrian was relieved to hear those words. Others still seemed a bit clueless, but he instantly came up with a plan. Firstly, he Enhanced his legs. Next, he stuck the bamboo sticks in the ground and then jumped up exactly above them. It was a perfect landing. Both of his feet were placed right on the tops of the bamboo.

On top of that, he noticed for the first time that there were a few holes on the end of the bamboo, and also a small thing of rope. He got the point of them and tied his feet to the top of the bamboo as soon as he got up there. It was hard to balance himself while doing so, but he managed to stay up.

Others used magic to propel themselves up, and others used different tactics. In the end, many found it quite easy to get onto the sticks, but staying there was the difficult part. Especially when tying their own feet to the sticks or when trying to move around. It was almost impossible without falling.

After a few minutes of kids falling around, Rerth jumped up onto the platform and spoke up. "Here is your final drill for today!" He shouted as heads darted towards him.

"Two of you, each called up randomly by me, will duel each other on the platform while balancing on the sticks. The winner is not decided by who defeats the other in combat, but by who gets the stone of the other fighter."

This caused some concern within the students. The passing rate seemed to be only 50 percent, which was awful. They looked around at their potential opponents. Many looked at Lyrian with grim expressions. After what they saw of him today, they prayed not to receive him as an opponent.

"But don't fret about failing as much as you are! You will only fail if your stone touches the ground. This means that after the winner gets your stone, he can either choose to let you pass or eliminate you. If he chooses to eliminate you, you still have hope. The winner will need to throw your pebble to the ground. It will be your job to catch it, that is, if you want to pass."

Being in Rerth's class turned out to be quite the emotional roller coaster for some. It felt like they were being anxious, and then relieved, every few seconds.

'So I have to walk in these?' Lyrian questioned himself, taking a step forward. Suddenly, his foot became a little looser in the rope, causing him to slip slightly and lose his balance. He almost began to fall but used what he knew of Smithing to balance himself. 'This won't be fun...' He thought to himself, taking a deep breath.