The Hero In The Military academy Suit

Chapter 13

(Part 07)The Noble Flower in My Clumsy Writing

“Spears and shields… Can you tell me why you chose those?”

After selecting my main weapon, I was given some time for an aptitude test with Instructor Alexa.

The aptitude test lasts anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes.

It’s a time for a brief feedback session where they assess and score your weapon choice based on your potential.

“They work well with my unique ability,” I replied briefly.

The unique ability was something precious, like the life of a hero, and asking about it was a huge breach of manners, so instead of asking more questions, Alexa just nodded slightly.

“All right. Put on the armoured mail and step back ten paces. Try attacking me.”

I lit up with excitement as I put on the thin training armour that looked like a life vest.

Finally, my first encounter with the armoured parts.

They looked clunky, but they were expensive gear, specially made to prevent training deaths from accidents.

As the armour touched my body, it emitted a hum and tightened to perfectly fit my size.

If I took a fatal blow, it would absorb the damage and break, but it was a one-time-use armour.

The reason it’s a one-time use? Probably to make production cheaper and easier to mass-produce.

By the way, if you break the armour during training for any reason, you lose points.

“Ready?”

“Yes.”

Alexa, gripping her twin short swords, ordered me to attack.

I steeled myself and prepared.

As soon as we aimed our weapons at each other, the [Hunting Time] timer began.

“Good dueling.”

Alexa smiled with satisfaction as she saw the change in my expression.

I couldn’t smile.

[Captive Eyes] was activated, but there were no glowing spots.

Even standing still, there were no weaknesses—meaning I had no opening.

I immediately raised a javelin.

‘First time throwing a spear.’

I’ve used swords against enemies before, but throwing a spear? Never done that.

Luckily, Russell, the original owner of this body, wasn’t completely inexperienced with javelins.

Letting my body remember its past experiences, I swung my arm wide.

Swoosh!

With a sharp sound, the spear flew directly toward Alexa.

But she easily deflected it.

“Power’s decent, but this isn’t very effective against a moving target.”

Without hesitation, she closed the distance.

‘…!’

She’s fast.

Just as I reached for another spear, she closed in right in front of me.

Her twin blades crossed, leaving afterimages behind.

‘This is bad.’

There wasn’t malice in her moves, but the intensity was enough to make me think I’d be done for.

I hurriedly raised my round shield.

The blade struck my shield with force.

Bam!

“Ugh.”

The enormous shock sent me skidding backwards.

I gritted my teeth and held on, but a groan slipped out.

The power coming from her small frame was unbelievable.

I automatically used the distance to throw the javelin in my hand.

But the throw was awkward, and I didn’t put much force into it, so it was a total mess.

Of course, she easily avoided it, and this time, she thrust her right sword toward me.

I quickly drew another spear from my quiver and swung it at her, like drawing a sword.

The swing was sloppy, but the trajectory was aimed precisely at her sword.

Clang!

The spear’s tip collided with Alexa’s sword.

Her blade didn’t even waver.

Instead, it was my spear that was deflected.

I could feel her sword’s speed slowing down, and I instinctively turned my head to dodge the blade.

‘She’s letting me escape.’

She deliberately slowed down so I could avoid her attacks.

That was a clear sign she was sticking to the purpose of this aptitude test—giving me a fair chance to show my skills.

We continued sparring for a while.

It wasn’t so much a battle as it was me desperately trying to avoid Alexa’s controlled attacks with my clumsy body.

Though the match was brief, the sharpness of her strikes made me sweat like it was raining.

Whether I rolled, blocked with my shield, or parried with my spear, every attack was a life-or-death situation, and failing to defend could easily result in my death.

‘So this is the skill of a named hero…’

She skillfully drew out my best effort.

And yet, she remained calm, confident that neither she nor I would get hurt.

Sweat poured over my heated body like aoptical illusion.

After what felt like an eternity, [Hunting Time] Level 2 activated.

I held on a little longer.

Level 2 wasn’t enough.

To land even one hit on this monstrous instructor, I needed to survive until Level 3.

“Hmmm.”

Alexa let out a confused sound I couldn’t understand.

She’d pushed me to my limits, but now, after some time had passed, she seemed to think I was holding on better than expected.

“You’ve got good stamina.”

But despite my struggling to defend, she didn’t seem too concerned, continuing her relentless assault.

“Stamina and perseverance are good qualities. But if stamina’s your strength, wouldn’t it be better to focus on using the shield more than the spear?”

“Please go easy on me, Instructor. I’m going to die.”

“From the way you’re talking, you seem pretty relaxed?”

A light laugh.

“You should speak more politely.”

If it hadn’t been for the merciless attacks right after, I might have thought her smile was pretty.

I was practically thrown across the room.

My body slammed against the floor, and I dashed to maintain distance.

It looked ridiculous like I was running away with my back turned.

“……”

A Moment of Silence in Panic.

But then, [Hunting Time] Level 3 activated.

30 minutes.

I had lasted exactly 30 minutes against that monster of an instructor.

As I was running backwards, I turned my body and threw the javelin with momentum.

My posture was still off, and my spear-throwing was terrible.

Swoosh!

She just looked at me with a proud expression as if to say, “Well, at least you’re trying.”

Bam!

“…?”

At the next impact, Alexa’s eyes went wide.

She had tried to deflect the spear lightly, but the trajectory had gone off, and the spear landed next to her foot. Her hand recoiled just slightly.

It was a different kind of attack from the previous throws.

She stood still for a moment, blinking in surprise.

“Oof. I can’t do this anymore, Instructor.”

I hunched over and sat down.

“Was that your power?”

“Yeah. Sort of.”

“…It’s the first time I’ve been hit by a recruit.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say you were hit, though.”

It was a bit of an exaggeration, but I had still made my mark.

The goal of making an impression early on was a success.

The final assessment of the combat class recruit’s performance mostly depended on her anyway.

“I’ve seen enough. Impressive.”

With that, I’d earned my mark.

“If your combat skills are this good at the recruit stage, I don’t think you made the wrong choice in weaponry. If you head left, you’ll find the weapon training area—go get more familiar with the equipment.”

“Got it.”

“First, you need to focus on throwing accurately with the correct posture. After that, you need to work on spear combat for close-range fights. If you only plan to throw from a distance, you won’t outclass a bow or a firearm.”

“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I can’t teach you advanced weapon skills at this stage, but there are trainers here who focus on spear techniques. So, take every chance to get lessons from them. Also, in the training hall’s library, there are spear-throwing and spear-fighting manuals for you to study. And don’t even think about shield techniques for now. That’s the last thing you’ll focus on.”

I nodded at her precise advice.

She was an excellent instructor.

Later, I found out that Alexa gave me a score of 9 out of 10 for my weapon aptitude, the highest score among the recruits in my batch.

Following the instructor’s guidance, I walked in the opposite direction from where I had come in.

I passed a line of recruits waiting for their turn to look at the next map and came to a small tent where worn-out training materials were stacked, the library of resources.

There, I grabbed a basic book on spear throwing and one on spear techniques, then kept moving.

Next, I noticed a variety of wooden dummies placed in the large training area.

It was the perfect place to practice different types of weaponry.

In this world, there are so many different weapon aptitudes.

The academy couldn’t provide a curriculum for every weapon type.

Even if they did, it would be inefficient.

The academy taught the basics—basic stamina, basic weapon skills, basic formations. It was a place for testing your potential, not somewhere to dive deep into advanced skills.

It was just teaching you enough to survive a random encounter with a monster like an ankora.

The real learning came from your own initiative.

I stood in front of a massive monster-model dummy and set my javelin case on the ground.

My main focus now? Posture and accuracy.

The manual on the dummy gave me the basics of basics, but for me, it was like rain in a drought—extremely useful.

I spent dozens of tries following the instructions to get the posture right, throwing and hitting the target.

Just as I was starting to get comfortable with the basic stance, a group of recruits approached.

“Russell.”

“Hm?”

It was Hugo and his group.

I stopped throwing and wiped off the sweat dripping down as I raised my hand to greet him.

“Got a minute?”

“What’s up?”

“Parsons is leaving.”

“…?”

What’s that got to do with me?

I swallowed what I was about to say and waited for him to explain.

“He wants an apology.”

Hugo didn’t look hostile, but there was definitely some discomfort on his face.

He seemed to feel a mix of sadness at losing a comrade and helplessness at not being able to oppose the unfairness of the situation.

“All right. Let’s go.”

“Huh?”

“Let’s go. Lead the way.”

I agreed quickly, and surprisingly, Hugo looked flustered.

It seemed he was expecting me to get all defensive and resist, considering how I had acted with the instructor earlier.

‘Whatever.’

Honestly, it was my fault that Parsons was leaving.

They say one good word can clear a thousand debts; there is no need to stir up a fuss with my mouth.

“Parsons, right? Sorry about that.”

“…Huh?”

At the training camp entrance, I gave Parsons, who was walking away with his shoulders slumped, a light tap on the back. It was a sincere apology.

“Work hard next year and come back to the academy. I’ll treat you like a proper junior. You don’t stand a chance in your current state, though.”

“…?”

“You should focus on physical training for the next year. What’s wrong with being the bottom of the pack out of a thousand?”

Immediately, strange looks shot my way.

What’s with this guy? was written all over their faces.

“Anyway, sorry again. Take care, and see you later, future junior.”

After giving one last neat apology, I turned and walked away with a bit of flair.