Legendary-Tier Crap

78. Tempering

Clang!

Clang!

Lee Hyunjin fell back onto the floor, his blade dropped a few steps away from him.  When he looked up, a pair of vivid green eyes were indifferently looking down at him.

"We're at the mercy of time, pick up your blade and fight," Marcel said as he walked away and took a fighting stance when he was four metres away from Lee Hyunjin.

Lee Hyunjin calmed his breathing and got up. There was a lot on his mind; from Zhange Jue's case, to Lee Byeol and the missing Qin Yu and Minju. All of this was making it hard for him to focus at all when sparring with Marcel, he'd been disarmed more than ten times in only the first two matches.

Lee Hyunjin grit his teeth, he held the dagger in his hand and also took a stance.

The two of them moved at the same time and the loud sound of metal grinding against metal reverberated in the large open space of the training hall.

Marcel spoke to him whilst they fought, "your technique is still sloppy, practice your swings more," he deftly deflected Lee Hyunjins attack.

Lee Hyunjin gathered his strength and tried to push back Marcel when their blades met again but to not avail, the assassin was not weak at all. So Lee Hyunjin retreated, he flipped back, creating some distance.

Marcels specialty was also speed and he quickly covered the distance with impeccable timing, "your speed and reflexes make up for your lacking technique but it's not enough!" He struck the blade out of Lee Hyunjins hand with his own, the force was so great that Lee Hyunjin fell back again.

Lee Hyunjin asked with a tired and frustrated voice, "what.... what should I do?"

Marcel was able to gauge Lee Hyunjins current state easily but that didn't allow him to go easy on the other because they really didn't have the time for it. He spoke briefly, "what you lack most is experience. From what I can tell, you've done a lot of running but that's all you've ever done."

Marcels words cut like a knife and Lee Hyunjin didn't know whether Marcel was aware of it or not, "you've never actually fought before, have you?"

Lee Hyunjin knew the truth but he felt it catch in his throat and he couldn't admit it, Marcel understood.

On the other hand, Han Shinwoo, Riven and another knight who'd just made a full recovery from the wounds he received in ifvnar were watching the two fight.

"Their speed is incredible honestly," the elite knight said.

"Right isn't it amazing how that kid is keeping up with Marcel? Even if his movements are really sloppy, he recovers fast," Riven added on.

Eliot, the elite knight, continued his earlier statement, "he must be really talented."

Riven arched a brow, he chuckled, "talented? Trust me when I say that kid is far from talented. In fact, aside from his speed and reflexes that only fully reveal themselves when he's scared out of his wits, he really has nothing else going for him, take those away and he's average at best," Riven looked towards Lee Hyunjin who was attentively listening to whatever Marcel was telling him. "I'm not insulting him, what I'm trying to say is what he's capable of now, it's not because of something like 'talent', it's more like hard work. He's not a natural born fighter. That kid runs like he's been running his whole life, you don't get that kind of speed with just talent."

Eliot was surprised, "are you serious? No way... how much training would you have to do, how much hard work would you have to put in...? Is it perhaps some technique with spirit?"

Riven shook his head with a hint of useless pride in his smirk, "I'm telling you that what you're calling talent is nothing but that kid's hard work and it isn't spirit either, his training with Marcel was  restricted to physical training only, he isn't allowed to use spirit in these sessions at all."