"After that defeat, it's clear that even if he suggests sparring, the other party will definitely refuse!"
Rein glanced around at the young servants, the only one with strength close to his was Thick Eyebrows, so...choose Freckles?
As Rein was pondering, Swordsmanship Instructor Humbert shouted loudly:
"Pair up yourselves and practice!"
Thick Eyebrows directly chose Freckles for the practice.
This meant Rein could only practice with George.
But basically, with one exertion of force, Rein could defeat George, which greatly reduced the effectiveness of Rein's practice!
This scene was clearly seen by Humbert, who had always been paying attention to Rein.
After thinking for a moment, the opportunity-seeking Humbert stepped forward and said:
"Rein, come here, let's spar a bit."
The words of Swordsmanship Instructor Humbert took all the young servants by surprise.
And the gaze with which Thick Eyebrows and the group of pretenders looked at Rein was filled with even more jealousy!
Clearly, this also startled Rein. Although he had improved the basic swordsmanship to lv3, in terms of strength, he was definitely no match for Humbert.
But upon further thought, Rein was overjoyed!
Instructor Humbert was planning to feed him moves!
Rein checked the Militiaman's profession panel again, basic swordsmanship Lv3 (20/500) was still far from levelling up, but his current Militiaman level was already Militiaman Lv1 (69/100).
If he could practice with an expert, Rein was sure that he could soon raise his Militiaman Profession Level to Lv2.
"Yes, Instructor Humbert!"
"Rein, don't be nervous, attack me," Humbert said, smiling encouragingly.
Rein nodded, bowed slightly to Instructor Humbert, and then assumed the basic swordsmanship starting stance.
The next second, Rein's right hand held the ironwood shortsword level with his chest, the tip pointing outward, his right foot took a step, he pushed off with the tip of his foot, propelling his whole body forward like an arrow shot from a bow toward Humbert.
It was a standard striding thrust!
Facing Swordsmanship Instructor Humbert, Rein's strike was not held back but was made with full force.
The dull sound of ironwood meeting echoed.
Humbert parried Rein's thrust with a swing of his sword and quickly delivered a chopping blow, forcing Rein to retreat and block immediately.
Upon clashing, Rein detected that Instructor Humbert controlled his strength to a very subtle degree.
Almost every swing of the sword was nearly the same as Rein's limit in strength.
Their exchange was extremely fast, and in just over ten seconds, they had exchanged more than a dozen moves back and forth.
After another clash, they quickly separated.
"Very good! Rein, take a rest," Humbert was very satisfied with Rein's performance just now.
It was clear to all the young servants below that Instructor Humbert was feeding moves to Rein.
This was akin to the special coaching given in the past.
Only top students got this kind of treatment!
Now, all the young servants looked at Rein with jealousy—this kid had talent not only in blacksmithing but now in swordsmanship as well, which was really....
Among them, Thick Eyebrows was burning with the most jealousy, his eyes turning red with anger!
"Damn it, Rein! If it weren't for this brat, now Instructor Humbert's focus would definitely be on me!"
"The practice partner, too, would definitely be me!"
Meanwhile, Rein was catching his breath deeply, his forehead covered in fine beads of sweat.
The short battle with Swordsmanship Instructor Humbert had drained Rein of a lot of physical strength and spirit.
Because the pressure Humbert gave him was far greater than Thick Eyebrows.
Having regained his breath, he once again checked the system notifications:
[Your skill "Basic Swordsmanship" has gained improvement, Experience +21]
[You have experienced a battle, Militia Profession Experience Points +12]
"Hiss! That's a lot of experience!"
"That brief sparring session of less than half a minute was equivalent to nearly three days of hard training on my own! Of course, this was the result of Humbert deliberately suppressing his own strength and feeding the moves to me."
Seeing that Rein seemed to have recovered, Humbert, with a smile on his face, leisurely walked up to him and said,
"Rein, your basic swordsmanship is now on par with a regular militiaman, but don't be complacent. Continue to train hard!"
"Thank you for the compliment, instructor! I will keep working hard," Rein promptly replied respectfully.
Humbert smiled and nodded. He glanced at the sunset about to dip below the horizon—it was Saturday, and the servant boys could go home.
So, he turned to the servant boys and announced, "Today's swordsmanship practice is over! You are dismissed!"
At once, the already exhausted servant boys couldn't help but cheer, many of them flopped down on the ground to rest.
Humbert then leisurely prepared to leave the outer castle courtyard.
At that moment, he casually noticed Rein by his side staring intently at him, which made him curiously ask,
"Rein, what is it? Is there something you need?"
Humbert was quite fond of this young man with a natural talent for swordsmanship.
His steadfast character displayed during intense training deeply reminded him of his own younger days!
"This... Humbert, may I have another bout with you?" Rein asked with a hopeful expression.
Such a great opportunity to earn experience points was not to be missed, after all.
Humbert, unaware of Rein's inner thoughts at that moment, thought Rein's youthful spirit of not wanting to lose was coming through.
He smiled and looked Rein up and down before saying, "Sure! But... Rein, are you sure you don't need to rest a bit first?"
"As long as you want, I can keep practicing with you."
"Really, Instructor?" The joy on Rein's face was evident.
At this point, Rein was nearly at his physical limit, but the chance to have personal training with Humbert was too good to pass up, especially since dog trainer training was starting next week.
Therefore, Rein hesitated no more and allocated the few attribute points he had reserved during his blacksmith apprenticeship upgrade directly to his Strength.
Suddenly, a warm flow surged from his heart and spread throughout his body!
In an instant, all of Rein's fatigue vanished!
Boosting points for recovery, powerful!
After this increase, Rein's Strength reached 6 points, roughly on par with the average adult male in this world!
Profession: Blacksmith Apprentice lv3 (0/500) / Militia lv1 (81/100)
The sparring resumed!
After three rounds of sparring, Humbert was sweating profusely, while Rein still had a hungry look in his eyes, gazing eagerly at him, which made Humbert's scalp tingle a bit.
"You know... Rein, sometimes overtraining isn't necessarily good. It's important to balance work and rest," Humbert gently cautioned.
"Instructor, I'm not tired!" Rein firmly responded.
Looking at his panel showing Militia lv1 (99/100), Rein clearly didn't want to remain just one point short of leveling up.
"Just one point away from upgrading my Militia Profession Level!"
"Instructor, push it a bit!" Rein shouted inwardly!
After a moment of silence, Humbert softly said, "Ahem... Rein, it's getting dark, and well... I have some things to take care of at home."
Faced with Humbert's subtle refusal, Rein felt helpless!
He could only reluctantly watch as the back of his swordsmanship instructor, Humbert, quickly receded.