Astra's Sabre Mastery
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 47438
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"Well," Astra responded, "you start out as a Novice. Then you become a
Cadet, beyond that is Guard, the next rank is Warrior, and finally Master.
To advance to the next stage, you have to do well enough in competition
with your peers and with those in the rank that you are seeking to attain.
To be promoted from Warrior to Master, over the course of a year I had to
win at least four-fifths of my bouts against other Warriors and one-third
of those against Masters. There was also a minimum number of bouts that
had to be fought against each category of opponent. I will never forget
the statistics for the year that I made Master: 158 wins in 182 official
contests against Warriors and 16 wins in 37 against Masters. It was
difficult to arrange enough official bouts against Masters, since that
year there were only seventeen in the whole of Aqualaria. I became the
eighteenth. The significance of the word 'official' is that a bout can
only be counted if you have a qualified referee to score it and see that
the rules are followed."
"Isn't it very dangerous, having all those sword f-fights?" "Not really. We use blunt-edged sabres rather than the real thing, and wear chain mail just in case. We also wear visors made of a fine wire mesh. They don't appreciably obstruct your vision, but they protect the eyes, for losing an eye would otherwise be the biggest hazard." "So have you never used a 'real' sabre, then?" "No, since I've never been in a real battle. But I think I've done more than enough talking. It's your turn now."
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JH
12/6/2004 10:25:44 AM
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