"Wow, you're really impressive!"
Calix grunted in response to the compliment as his wooden sword locked with his opponent's.
"Is this really your first time?" his carefree spar partner continued jabbering, pulling his sword back and quickly dodging to the side.
"Ha.. n-not exactly," Calix managed to respond, breathing heavily as he tried to keep up with the boy's movements.
He'd learned a little swordsmanship while living underground, but fighting an actual person was proving to be very different from his training drills with Itzae.
Calix was smart, exceptionally so for his age, but his mind wasn't accustomed to calculating as fast as the other children who'd already been training for years. If only they didn't move quite so speedily, he would have had no trouble beating all the other kids in his group.
"I have to get faster," Calix mumbled to himself as he sat watching the other children, his own spar ended in shameful defeat.
