Shen stood in the main Arena with the fourteen other gold medal winners from Novice level. He knew several of them had won a couple of gold medals. This would make it harder for him to lose. Maybe for other people the stronger competition might work against them, but Shen had never found that. The better the fighter he was pitted against, the harder he fought.
He stood with his feet planted firmly apart, his sword clenched in both hands. His gaze stopping on each of the other weapons as he tried to decide which one would be the easiest to lose to. One Novice held a spear and Shen thought it might be possible to let them knock his sword from his hands. The official calling for the start of the event interrupted his thoughts and Shen automatically blocked the sword that swung at him.
One p
