Bab 12: Struggle.

The technological class had never thought of facing a decorated military officer. The difference between them and the person in front of them was not only the title but also how Rackham had been to the forefront of the conquest and he has seen a lot of blood and gore.

The moment the man said, "Defeat me, and you pass." his eyes had transformed into that of a beast. That gaze was enough to make them all wary.

However, if the door was closed, you can look out through the windows. Shi Lang was a cultivator and the number of battles he had seen was not less either. He said in a low voice, "We outnumber him."

His simple phrase made the people wake up from the dreadful illusion. Rosa Blues did not hear the words from his mouth and asked, "Sir, how to proceed."

Rackham said, "Divide them into teams of five, then we can begin. They have to defeat me in twenty minutes. This time limit is only for the technological branch. The battle class was given five minutes only."

Rosa sighed and nodded. In reality, the test was supposed to record the growth of the students by putting them on a few tests but not a duel. However, the other party was known to be reckless even in the ranks. She could only bring this up with the school administration. Otherwise, her class would fail.

She turned to face her students with a bitter expression on her face and said, "You heard the Major. Form teams. You have five minutes."

The students replied, "Yes, Head Teacher."

They were confused about how the team should be made when Shi Lang said, "We have twenty girls, thirty boys. To balance the teams, we need two girls and three boys in each team. Girls, your task is to analyze the opponent. We are the nerds as these normies call us. Let them see what a powerful brain can do when compared with an able body.

Given our stamina, the three boys can only hold up for seven minutes. We need to work together to get through this guy in seven minutes."

Tim said, "Shi Lang is right, we can do this. The difference between him and us is that he is a battle-hardened person and we are rookies. However, he will be underestimating how calculative we teenagers can be."

The morale of the class was raised and teams were formed. Shi Lang had asked everyone to pay attention to the moves and also to their classmates. This way they can come up with a better plan. The key was decisiveness. However, some things were left unsaid, after all, the class needed to learn some things on their own.

Rosa Blues nodded watching them prepare and soon the time limit expired. Rackham moved to the center of the gym. The center of the floor was a twenty feet wide empty square. The floor was marked with red paint. The four corners had pillars but no visible boundaries were present. The four pillars could be used from the outside and a strong magnetic field would form around the ring acting as the bounds.

...

Rackham stood in the center of the ring with five students around him. He saw that the three boys were in the front and they had formed a circle around him. He said, "The time starts now."

The students were aware that they will not get anywhere if they did not take the initiative. Thus the one lanky boy in the lead took action. He charged at the opponent while holding his stance. The attack was not reckless and neither was it too conservative, a standard boxing stance followed by a jab at the forehead.

Rackham could see all this and dodge but he did not see any other student acting against him. He was a reckless character but not an idiot. He sensed something fishy. However, the student in front of him gained enough confidence to keep attacking him.

His fists were falling all over Rackham's vital spots. This was all learned in the one week when they were building the mech. Thanks to their brain being better than those muscle mongers of the battle class that they could learn all these physical skills. Rackham thought this student was the best in the class. He was honestly surprised by this attack being performed against him.

However, that was it. Rackham suddenly jumped in the air and tried to roundhouse the student. At the moment he took a step back, the other students on the standby charged forward. Major Rackham had an ability, that was called double impact. His blows carried double the impact, this was a public secret.

The match continued and after six minutes, the students completed landing an attack on Rackham. That moment, Rackham stopped the duel and said, "You pass. Next batch."

His stamina was too high. The attack was not landed by the guys but the girl at the back, and she had struck him at a place where he would undoubtedly die if this was a real battle. He did not care where the students were strong or not. He was well aware that smartness can make the tallest titans fall.

The batches kept changing and the results kept improving. Rosa Blues and the few other faculty on the sides were surprised by the pace. As the results kept on improving the surprise became confusion and finally shock. They did not expect the Technology branch to come out so ferocious. Some of the upper echelons have left eyeliners in the faculty. These eyeliners were reporting the events to the upper board in real-time.

The people above did not believe them until they watched the live footage. After a couple of hours, only one team was left. This team was led by Shi Lang. In the ring, the boy said, "Sir, I wish to ask you a question."

Rackham raised his eyebrow and asked, "What is it?"

Shi Lang said, "Can you allow me to take the test alone?"

His words did not surprise anyone except the faculty and the invigilator. He could not believe why this guy was so confident n facing him openly. However, looking at the calm deep eyes, Rackham nodded.

Shi Lang took a step outside the ring and said to his classmates, "Do your best."

This time a change occurred, Jane stood at the forefront and the two boys were beside her, another girl was going to analyze. Rackham suddenly asked, "You are the best batch of the class?"

The people in this batch were all calm and focused. Unlike the rest, he had dealt with. The students shrugged. They were the reckless ones as well. This batch had the best of the class, Lucas, Tim, Jane, and Erica.

Erica was super-smart and could calculate everything down to the level of a basic computer. Jane was strong. She did not have much martial prowess, but brute strength and high brainpower. Lucas was reliable and efficient in getting inside the head of the opponent, while Tim, despite his looks and aura was a cunning one. He could create opportunities and exploit them as well.

Rosa sighed, "Turns out it was the invigilator Rackham who will struggle against them."