With a thud, Slipstream landed on the ground from his Seth’s last hit.

Clap, Clap, Clap.

Clapping can be heard from the platform above. Then Seth heard footsteps walking down the stair to meet him. Sheila walked up to him and said “Congratulations. You manage to land a hit on Slipstream, therefore you pass the second test. Are you in need of medical assistance? I can lead you the medical bay if needed.”

Seth touched his face and wince. There would be a bit of bruising from all the hits he took from Slipstream, but it would heal after a couple of hours. His body would take a bit longer than that to heal completely. No part of his body was seriously hurting in the end. By the next day, he should be completely fine.

“Thank you, but I'm good,” Seth said. It was strange hearing congratulatory words. Probably too much influence from his Master, as he would have listed all the mistakes Seth made and expected him to finish the test faster.

“Then would you like to change to your original outfit? If you do, then I will wait for you here. If not, then I will lead you back to the main entrance.” Sheila asked.

Seth nodded his head in response and glanced in Slipstream’s direction who was still laying down on the floor groaning. A third of Seth’s wooden sword laid not far from Slipstream, while the other two parts were still in his hands. His heart ached just a bit when he looked at his broken training weapon. It had been with him for several years and now it was broken. However, the trade-off was quite worth it.

The whole battle had been a gamble. Seth knew that there was no way he could match Slipstream’s speed, so he had to be creative about it.

Revolving wheel was a chi technique that creates a circle around himself. Anything that goes within the circle's range would be cut. A great technique when surrounded by enemies.

It wasn’t a perfect technique though. If the enemy was above or below when Revolving Wheel is performed, then the technique would miss. It had a fix range, limited aby the amount of chi supplied by the user. For Seth, his range was the length of his sword.

Seth had to slowly adjust his eyes to Slipstream’s speed throughout the test. Then he had to predict and match the timing of Slipstream's punches which was one of the reasons he had been counting and acted like a punching bag. It was part of the process in figuring Slipstream style and timing of attacks. All the missed swings were part of the process in figuring how his tester would react.

The timing of his counterattack had to be perfect. If he performed it too early, Slipstream would be out of range of the technique. Too late, and Seth would be the one to be hit instead.

One of the smaller concerns was that Slipstream would hit above or below Revolving Wheel’s strike range. If Slipstream had ducked, there was a possibility of Seth hitting his head. That would have constituted as a pass which was good enough for Seth.

A full power strike would be bad for Slipstream since his visor was currently cracked and still lying on the floor. Seth’s last blow was empowered by chi, but was not consider a proper technique. It was only considered a stronger and faster blow. It would only be considered a complete technique and much more powerful if Seth had managed to complete the motion of his sword swing. He was only halfway through when he struck Slipstream.

If Slipstream did a flying kick instead, he could have jump above Revolving Wheel’s range. Most likely being a Awaken with enhanced speed, he favored using his hands in a fight. It offered more control and stability than jumping around or kicking. Kicking would leave Slipstream vulnerable as he would need one leg to kick, and you can’t exactly run on one leg. The same concept applied with jumping. Slipstream had nothing to run on except for air if he were to jump. Seth took full advantage of this to anticipate the movements of Slipstream.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

It seems the timer had finally reached five minutes, which Sheila quickly turned off. The timer also seems to wake Slipstream out of his torpor as he stopped groaning and got up. He said “Damn. I'm going to feel that in the morning. Looks like I'm going to need to get the helmet fixed.”

Seth could only apologize and hoped he didn’t have to pay for it. He was only a student, and he didn’t have much in the bank after he got another phone. He didn’t regret it though. He couldn’t afford to hold back against a top tier Awaken. Slipstream acted like he could take on everything that Seth could throw at him, so Seth slashed him with all his might.

“Nah its fine kid. Don’t worry about it. It’s about time I upgraded the helmet already. Got to give credit when credits due. I said land a hit and you did,” Slipstream said as he waved off Seth’s apology. Then he sheepishly asked “What was your name again? Going to need that for the report when I get this fixed.”

“His name is Seth Colls, and you would know this if you read the report that was given to you beforehand,” Sheila chime in.

“Hey! I did read the report. It was just so boring that I skipped a few details!” Slipstream said back.

“Details are crucial no matter what kind of report it is. No matter big or small. We have gone over this before.”

“Sure, but not all details are important. I mean do I really need to know a target’s birthday? Or what their favorite shirt is? Or what they had for lunch? Some information you can only get when you’re on the field and deep in the action. Besides today was only a test and look at Seth here. Nothing on his profile said he was a good enough Martial Artist to actually land a hit!”

“What you read on his profile is confidential and should not be said in front of said person until he is given permission! Anyone could land a hit of you if they had half a brain! Don’t go around spewing classified information!”

It was good to know that the Federation did not know the full extent of his skills. As entertaining as it was to hear the two people bickering, Seth decided to collect his things and change before he heard even more classified information.