Chapter 22: Final Preparations

Verity stood at the Singing Bard statue in Phase 6, waiting for Crimson like his oddly secretive message had requested. She didn’t know why he didn’t just ask her normally, like a sane person, but he must have a reason.

She let out a long sigh and glanced at her [Blessing], wincing once she saw her [Fatigue] was at 45. She hadn’t slept well in a long time, and it was having a harsh impact on her ability to function. She couldn’t let Crimson find out.

With the rhythmic tap of footsteps ringing out, she turned around to see him jogging up to her. He was a bit sweaty, but looked invigorated and cheerful. He stopped nearby and used a spell to create water and wash himself off, only approaching when he was clean.

“Good morning Verity.”

“Morning.”

She didn’t have time to say anything beyond that before he grinned at her mischievously then, without saying anything else, turned to face the statue, pressed three of the strings on the statue’s lute with one hand, stepped one one of the toes, and jabbed both the eyes in one swift motion using the other hand. There was a loud clunk and the statue slid off to the side, revealing a glowing blue circle on the ground Crimson stepped onto it, turned around, and maintained the grin as the circle started to sink into the ground with him on it.

Verity’s jaw dropped, then she quickly rushed forward to drop onto the platform next to him before it could go deeper than his waist. Together, they were lowered into a dim passage, the walls were curved and made of a dark brick - like the rest of Falst, and there were torches placed infrequently on the walls, making the space mostly dim instead of completely dark.

While she was still stunned and processing, Crimson made a couple of [Magic Lights] appear and told her to follow him.

He led her along the passage for a time, then abruptly stopped and faced the wall that curved away from them, stuck his smallest finger into a hole she hadn’t noticed, and rotated his hand to the right a quarter turn. There was a loud clunk and Crimson swiftly removed his finger from the hole as the wall started to lower into the ground.

Verity finally finished processing what she was seeing and hearing. It…was…so ‘cool!’ It was amazing enough for her to use the nonsensical word that Crimson said a lot! That was how awesome it was!

“I can’t believe Falst has secret passages!” She shouted gleefully.

Crimson looked at her in amusement and didn’t respond as he led her through the the doorway he’d opened into another passage, these ones were made of stone instead of brick, they were smooth enough not to pose an issue, but since it lacked brick it felt like…they weren’t supposed to be there.

They passed through passage after passage, taking turns, following curves, and just making Verity as lost as could be, if Crimson abandoned her she’d be doomed to die, without question. It almost reminded her of a dungeon she’d been to before, the [Viper’s Den], it was quite the nasty one, Nayre had been force to buy a smaller shield and use a short sword instead of his usual kit.

Verity continued her reminiscence before being broken out of it when they reached a spiral staircase and it finally occurred to her to ask where they were going, but when she asked all she got back was ‘you’ll see.’

She forced herself to ignore the irritation she was feeling from the response and they started ascending the stairs. After five minutes her calves were burning, by fifteen her thighs were and she was completely out of breath.

“Crimson, *pant* how high are we going?! It’s not like we’re going all the way up to the castle…” she stopped dead in place, “Oh Gods, that’s exactly what we’re doing, aren’t we?!”

He grinned at her again, “Good job, you got it on your first guess.”

She gaped at him like an idiot as he started climbing again.

“Why would we do that? Are you trying to get us thrown into prison? Are you trying to get us killed?” She demanded rapidly.

“I have an appointment with someone who lives here.” He said.

“That’s it? I need more details than that!” She shouted at him, but he ignored her and just kept climbing the stairs - he wasn’t even breathing that hard! This God’s Cursed Golem!

She was able to ignore her pain as she bothered him for twenty more minutes, it took a total of forty-five minutes to climb the stairs, and no matter how much she bothered him as they climbed he refused to stop or tell her anything! They were so dead! They were going to be caught and killed!

They took a break at the top of the stairs, she got the chance to take a deep breath, and Verity was able to calm her mind enough to realize something: Crimson knew where he was going, he’d done this before and was fine. He’d also claimed that he had an appointment, so hopefully they’d be fine and she wouldn’t have to worry about a thing, but that didn’t change the fact that what they were doing was extremely daring!

Crimson started to lead her down another hallway, this one lit by slats in the ground on each side of the path - when she glanced down one she saw the ground far below them.

Verity didn’t have vertigo, she didn’t fear heights, but looking at the ground far below them through that slat was making her reconsider her opinion on it.

They finished crossing and came across a solid-looking wood door, there was another hole in it and Crimson stuck his finger in it without hesitation, after a twist the door opened easily to reveal a wood door.

It was quite anticlimactic, but there was probably something else to it, or Crimson wouldn’t have brought her here, and he certainly didn’t disappoint because he hit a button that made the giant wall split, then each half slide to the side granting them admittance to…a library?

Well, that wasn’t good, Verity had been planning to do something interesting today.

As she followed Crimson she took note of the grand painting of the night sky on the ceiling and of the cylindrical shape of the library, lastly, she notice the fact that there were people on the ground floor of the library. Her jaw dropped as she recognized one of the two women waiting for them - First Princess Rhinese al voth Alda!

The last time Verity had seen her had been when she received the reward for clearing [Nature’s Retaliation], not a pleasant memory, but she was certainly a pleasant woman.

She sunk deep in her memory to try and remember everything she could about the Princesses Aura, before she’d reset her [Blessing] she’d been able to see more about people from their Auras and the Princesses’ was…pure, similar to Crimson in that sense, she was genuine as a person and her aura had been full of pure gratitude and compassion, she was also the only one among the Royal Family to genuinely console Verity after she’d lost her party, taking the time to speak with her after the official rewarding ceremony. Because of that, she honestly thought very highly of her.

So, how did she know Crimson???

———

To put it mildly, Rhinese was very confused. Who was the lovely elf following Crimson? A girlfriend? No, they didn’t act like it, there was no attitude of intimacy in their behavior, and she didn’t perceive any form of affection in his eyes.

Probably…a fellow student? Elves were hard to pin down in age, but since she lacked a strong air of maturity she was probably only a few years older than Rhinese herself. That assumedly being the case, it would make sense if they were both learning from Crimson.

She stood and greeted him, “Hello Crimson, how are you doing?”

“I’m doing well Rhinese, how are you doing?” It had taken her a while, but she’d finally broken him of his forced formality, which was a welcome relief to her, and a shock to the elf who seemed like she’d keel over in shock.

With a blink, Rhinese realized that she recognized the elf. What was her name…Veil? No, Verity! It was her party that cleared [Nature’s Retaliation], the highest leveled Natural Dungeon to appear in years. It had been months since she’d seen her, so it wasn’t surprising that she hadn’t recognized her, but she did feel guilty to not immediately identify her - especially considering the sacrifices she’d made for Falst.

Knowing that, she was pretty confident that she wouldn’t be one of Crimson’s students, even for as impressive as he was, there wasn’t much he could teach to someone of her Level - even less considering the fact that she wasn’t a magic user, but a master of physical combat, taking away pretty much everything Crimson might be able to teach her from the equation.

To make up for her mistake, she used an especially kind tone in her greeting, “I’m doing well. How are you [Windfist] Verity?”

Verity visibly winced and Rhinese was immediately concerned that she’d done something to offend her.

Verity bowed to her and said, “My apologies Your Highness, but I no longer qualify for the title [Windfist], I reset my [Blessing], you see. So I can’t lay claim to the title anymore.”

To say that Rhinese was shocked would be an understatement…to be frank, if bordering on offensive, she’d been under the impression that many people would rather kill themselves than reset their [Blessing] - especially if they’d been as high a Level as Verity had been.

Feeling extremely awkward, her apology was loaded with as much sincerity as she could manage as she bowed to Verity - ignoring Sariya as she protested the bow.

“My deepest apologies…I am so very, very sorry, but I am glad to see you in good heath before me.”

Part of what had made Verity hard to recognize…was that the first and, formerly, only time she had seen her, she’d looked like an Uluu without the markings, which only heightened Rhinese’s joy at seeing her alive. Her party had been Falst’s heroes, and they’d paid a high price for it, because of that, Rhinese thought that it was her place as the First Princess to treat her with all the graciousness she deserved, even if it wasn’t enough to express all her gratitude.

Rhinese inspected Verity closely as she straightened up, and noted with mild amusement the discomfort in her body language. It said a lot to her character that she behaved that way, it spoke of humility, a very desirable trait.

Verity slowly responded to her, speaking in a measured voice that was clearly uncomfortable with formality, “I don’t need such an outpouring of gratitude, I know my party and I wouldn’t have changed our mind on what we needed to do, given the chance to change out minds.” She gave Rhinese a weak smile, “I just need to be the one, the only one, to carry on their memory.”

“That is a wonderful attitude to take, you do the memory of your comrades an honor, may you meet them again in another life!” Rhinese said.

She noticed Crimson inspecting her closely, he seemed to approve quite strongly of their conversation, and he also seemed happy that they were on good terms. From the subtle shift in his shoulders to his expression, the placement of his arms, and even how he pointed his toes she’d been able to tell what he was thinking. Even with pointers from her he was still very easy to read! That was even discounting how is eyes pretty much told her what he was thinking at all times!

Verity expressed her gratitude for Rhinese’s well wishes, then an uncomfortable silence fell on the group, prompting all three women to turn to Crimson as he seemed least bothered by the quiet.

He quickly introduced Sariya to Verity, then sat them all down at the usual table, the table Rhinese had found him sitting at all those months ago.

He then steepled his fingers and stared firmly at Rhinese, then at Verity in turn for a moment before speaking, “Rhinese, I need a favor. Could you teach Verity what you know about the [Pure-Hearted] [Class]? She’s looking at getting a healer [Class] and I figured you’d be my best primary source since…well, your circumstances. I thought about asking Emma, but I believe that you’d be more helpful to Verity, she and Emma don’t get along very well.”

Her circumstances? Ahh…that. She smiled bitterly, then responded, “Yes, I can see why you’d think that, but bear in mind that I’m not exactly a primary source, I don’t have my [Blessing] either, my birthday is in two months.”

Crimson nodded, “Yeah, you’re a little older than me, but that’s not important, the point is that you’re as qualified to talk about the [Class] as I am about the [Swordsman Class], and your circumstances will be beneficial to Verity. So, will you do it?”

Rhinese spoke, “Yes, I’d be happy to help, would you mind joining us for the interview?”

Crimson stood, “No, sorry. I have training I need to do, and a certain fox-kin to beat up, I’ll leave you two to it.”

He strode off, and Sariya spoke in an angry voice, “How dare he ignore your request like that Princess, the nerve!”

Verity flashed a bitter smile and Rhinese chuckled before speaking, “Rather than ignoring me, he was thinking of her. It was his awkward way of giving us privacy, and…” she eyed Sariya, “him threatening to beat you up was him saying that you should allow us a private discussion.”

Sariya looked very uncomfortable for a long second, then swished her tail in annoyance before charging off between the shelves after him, leaving parting words in the air, “We’ll see who beats who up!”

Verity and Rhinese both laughed at that before a long moment of silence fell. She could see that the elf was thinking long and hard about how to broach the topic, while she just chose to be patient and give her as much time as she needed.

A few minutes later, Verity asked, “What can you tell me about the [Pure-Hearted Class]? I don’t really know much about it, Ruth, the healer for my party, was a [Priest], and I never really cared to learn much more about them.”

Rhinese neatly folded her hands in her lap and thought about her answer, she couldn’t let her old instincts guide her to share too much information too fast, it would overwhelm Verity.

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“Well then, let’s start with the basics. You might know this, but each of the three healer [Classes] draw power not just from an affinity, but from a feeling or emotion as well. For [Priests] it is faith, [Pure-Hearted] rely on determination, and finally [Druids] use love. I learned about it from Crimson - for some reason these emotions stimulate your ability to connect with the respective affinity for each of the [Classes].

“Because of that, you need to understand how ‘[Pure-Hearted]’ isn’t just a [Class], but a goal. You seek to become pure in heart yourself, you use determination to refuse [Corruption] and seek [Purity], and because of that you recognize injuries as ‘impure,’ the desire to harm others is similarly so.

“If you seek to take up the [Pure-Hearted Class] you need to ask yourself where your desires originate from, are they a pure desire to help? Are they motivated by the commandments of the Gods? Do they come purely because you love all living things? Certainly, these desires intertwine and interweave, but which do you want to draw your strength from?

“That is the first, and most basic essence of the [Pure-Hearted Class], other things are recognizing that it is the [Class] that works the hardest to protect through it’s barriers, it holds no wish to harm, unlike a [Priest] that holds scorn for the Gods enemies. Neither does it wish to bog down others with strength that doesn’t belong to them, it merely keeps everything as [Pure] as possible.”

Rhinese felt quite apologetic as she added, “Sorry if this doesn’t seem like a real answer, it’s mostly a philosophical one, but I’m not Crimson and I can’t tell you with absolute precision which is the best of the three, I can’t pull out any numbers, I can’t give any definitive answers, and I’m quite biased, but please, if there is any questions you have that I can answer more fully than the one I’ve just given, please inform me.”

Verity sat in silence for a long moment, then said, “I learned many important things this week, but ones of those is that I learned that the reasons why we choose our paths is extremely important. Why did you decide to take a [Pure-Hearted Class]? I heard the women of the Royal Family have an extremely high affinity for [Holy], so why choose this?”

Rhinese’s smile was quite a sad one, and she spoke with sorrow, “I don’t think my answer will help, but I can tell you how it started. It’s not even a real story, it all just started from a feeling.”

“A feeling?”

“Yes, a feeling. I felt trapped. I’m the First Princess of Alda, and I love this country with all my heart, I love the people, I love the land, I love everything about it, and I love my father, the king, but sometimes it’s hard, I don’t feel like I get to choose what I want to be. My meals, my clothes, where I slept, how I spent my time, and who I associated with were all decided for me. I was quite young when it really hit home, I don’t think anyone around me noticed, not even my brother, Kaine, but I wanted to run away.

“I wanted to start making decisions for myself, and be who I wanted to be, but that desire clashed with another desire; I wanted to do everything I could for my country. These two desires didn’t clash at first, but I got to go on a tour of the kingdom not long after I’d realized how trapped I was.

“My father taught me many lessons on that trip, and above all, I learned how much I love Alda. It was made clear to me how unique my position was, I’m the First Princess! I’m in a position to help and encourage! I wanted to with all my might, but the feeling of incarceration refused to go away, so I turned to books, and found my freedom there.

“I devoured book after book, and among the many stories I came across, the one of Naylee the [Sweet] touched me. She was easily the most acclaimed [Pure-Hearted] to ever live, the only one holding this [Class] to reach Lv.100, and her philosophies touched me. She was determined to never let anyone she met walk away injured, she pushed herself, at the cost of her own heath, to help others.

“It was written that her barriers would never be breached, that her healing was so powerful it even convinced the God of Death to wait a little longer before separating people. She was truly an icon!

“For the first time, I found something I’d truly wanted, something that would allow me to make a choice for myself and still fulfill the desire I had to help my country, but it won’t be easy. Everyone around me wants me to take up the [Priest Class], they want to push me along path they have planned out for me that includes everything but what I want.”

Rhinese stared at Verity, dead in the eye, and though she didn’t have the same power Crimson did, she tried to show her with the strength of her will how serious she was as she said one final thing, “I will decide my own path, and I will show everyone around me that this is the right path.”

They fell silent once more, but instead of breaking it or allowing it to be broken, Rhinese stood and walked towards Crimson and Sariya, leaving Verity with her thoughts for a moment.

Once she reached them, she found Crimson staring down Sariya with a wooden knife in his hand and she stared right back at him holding her own knife. Rhinese noted with some amusement that her tail hair was standing on end, but both were uninjured, so she had no idea what kind of training they were doing.

Crimson noticed her, and called a halt to their training, and all three together returned to where Verity was sitting.

He spoke to her, “Did you get the answer you needed?”

Verity shrugged back at him, and Rhinese felt guilty at her response, “Not really, just more to think about.”

Crimson grinned, “Good, thinking is important, if you rush this then you’ll regret it. For now, I’m going to give you one last thing, then I’m going to leave you on your own. There’s no one but you who can make the final decision on which [Class] to take.”

He pulled a folded piece of paper from a pocket and handed it to Verity, who unfolded it and started to read over what was on it. Rhinese couldn’t help her curiosity, so she read a couple words, then immediately recognized the contents.

They were [Ritual] ingredients for increasing [Affinities]!

Specifically, she could recognize the ones for increasing [Purity] since she’d gone to a lot of trouble to gather those ones herself, but there were three sets of ingredients on the list, [Holy] and [Life] as well?

“Here,” Crimson said, “these are [Rituals] to increase your affinities to 7, pick one and bring it up to that point, it’ll help you qualify for a higher grade [Class] when you decide which one you want. Besides,” Rhinese watched his mouth quirk into a smile, “if you raise an an affinity and do some heavy training you might find a rare [Class], or something even better. Good luck.”

Rhinese could see how stunned Verity was, but she seemed to be taking it better than Rhinese herself had when Crimson had first showed her it was possible to raise her affinity for [Purity]; rather, Verity was probably more used to how impossible the things Crimson did were.

Rhinese smiled, even if she wasn’t able to help Verity like she deserved, it was good that there was someone looking out for her.

———

As the days passed, Crimson was caught between his unending annoyance at his own ability to truly become stronger, and his joy that he schedule was opening up more and more. Lena was taking over teaching duty for the Brass Class more and more, which left him more as a class advisor than the actual teacher and gave him a lot more free time. Since he no longer had to plan lessons and his attendance was more to lend moral support to her he was free to work on other things with only a token effort toward the class.

The only thing that kept him from quitting outright was the pressure from Lars to end at the time he’d already appointed in his previous resignation letter. He felt a little guilty about taking paycheck for doing nothing, so he set aside time to work on something that had bothered him from the moment he’d started learning to fight: ‘The Basic Adventurer’s Style.’ Calling it a style was a disgusting overstatement.

To describe it as: ‘how to not hit yourself with your weapon’ was more accurate, and it didn’t even do a complete job teaching that! Crimson had viewed it with derision from the moment he’d started learning [Dancing Autumn Leaf] - it wasn’t even that good of a fighting style to begin with, yet it made the ‘Basic Adventurer’s Style’ look like a child swinging a stick!

A child might actually be able to fight better without the style…

Well, regardless of Crimson’s opinion, he set about improving it. Even if he wasn’t skilled with all the weapons used, he knew enough about fighting with and against them to make a marked improvement when he set about fixing the ‘Basic Adventurer’s Style.’

It was a simple philosophy that he stuck to: three forms for each weapon, one for speed, one for defense, and one to hit hard. It was inspired by a game he’d liked back on earth, so he couldn’t claim true originality, but by arranging it like that it allowed him to create a clear focus to work with, and, while basic, it could actually be considered a true fighting style.

By and far, the style was most refined for swords which was obvious considering who was making the improvements, but by involving people who actually used the other weapons he’d been able to slowly refine and improve bit by bit until it was satisfactory.

Lena had helped out quite a bit - her weapon was a hammer - so it was also being taught in the Brass Class with her help, leading to an increase in the quality of guild members’ fighting ability.

Because the ‘True Adventurer’s Style’ - as it was now being called - was designed to be effective, foundational, and accessible it gave even the most experienced Adventurer’s something to learn, making them better fighters, and over the course of the two months Crimson worked on the project raised the average level in the Guild by 6, there were now a record amount of Silver Ranked Adventurer’s and Falst now had three parties of Black Gold Rank - a massive qualitative change.

Crimson couldn’t take the whole credit for it, he worked with a lot of people to see it through, and it was they - not he - who helped disseminate the ‘True Adventurer’s Style.’ He had been so focused on refining and working on the actual style that he hadn’t been able to personally teach it to a lot of people - the most he’d done was create a Style Book with basic sketches which had been copied and shared around a bit.

That had been enough for him to content himself with the pay he’d received for the Brass Class.

In the Class, Mortimer had finished having his mana awoken just a week before Crimson resigned, so he’d left him with a long list of things to read and a small book full of notes he’d taken to help him learn and use magic effectively. Since he’d taken a step back from his teaching role, he wanted more time to work on his final preparations to receive his [Blessing], so that was all the help he was selfishly willing to offer Mortimer.

He did feel bad about not doing more for him.

He also felt bad about not being able to help Rhinese more as well, she’d hit a roadblock similar to Crimson’s and, unlike him, it had come quite early. She had been unable to learn any spells beyond [Magic Light], but unlike Crimson she couldn’t even push herself hard enough to get a fever, just a headache from concentrating too hard.

Because of that, he didn’t really have much else about practical magic he could teach her, so they spent a long time discussing theoretical magic. She had a wonderful perspective and a sharp understanding, so the discussions were mutually beneficial, not just a one-sided lecture.

Verity did her best to listen, but a lot of what they talked about went over her head, and she ended up playing with Sariya who didn’t even attempt to follow their conversations - despite the fact that she had a magic [Class] and would greatly benefit from it.

It was annoying to Crimson, but since it wasn’t his place to say anything to Sariya he’d squelched his annoyance and kept his mouth shut.

Verity was a different story, he was in a position to say something to her, but he chose not to. He wasn’t her mother, it wasn’t his job to babysit her, and forcing her to do something wouldn’t achieve anything. He’d given her a lot of advice and he was willing to give her more, but she needed to make decisions for herself, she needed to make efforts on her own, and she needed to be self motivated.

By those three metrics, he’d give her a two out of three. She was extremely motivated and worked hard despite her limitations, pushing past them to achieve more and more things. With a recommendation from Crimson, she’d been able to borrow copies of all three versions of [Treatment] and had mastered them all quickly before moving on to [Lesser Healing] where she was making great progress, nearing the point where she could be considered to have mastered them.

There was just one problem: she hadn’t made a decision, she was putting her efforts in them all equally. If he didn’t know better, he’d assume she was trying to overspecialize and take all three of the [Classes], but by her own admission she was just indecisive.

He decided to view it positively, she wasn’t just sitting around with a wishy-washy lack of commitment, she was working hard with a wishy-washy sense of commitment. The only hope he had left was that she’d get a rare [Class] for all the effort she put in.

She had also been working hard to secure the [Ritual] ingredients, but he wasn’t sure how it was going, he knew that they were mostly easy to gather, but there was about one ingredient per usage that was hard to get, and because of supply and demand it was also expensive, so he could understand her having a hard time finding it.

He could only wish her the best.

For as much as he wanted to help and support, it wasn’t like he had a huge capital either. He was currently working with 9,000 Royals, a massive sum, yes, but no where near enough for what he needed. The most basic sword of the quality he found acceptable was at least 10,000, though he had to admit that his standards had been raised over the past few months due to his training.

He was quite irritated, but he had no one to blame but himself. Because of his priorities, he cared more about his future growth than earning money, so he’d spent a lot of time on apprenticing requests, and he’d even become trusted enough to do more than the most basic of tasks like moving ingots or sorting ingredients. That aspect made him jump for joy.

Well, regardless he wasn’t able to help Verity with her problem and though she assured him that she wasn’t endangered by her purchases, it was still tough for him to sit back and do nothing, even if part of that ‘nothing’ was self imposed by his desire to give her back a sense of independence - something he could tell she appreciated.

As far as his other goal: becoming a monster with the sword…he honestly couldn’t measure that. He had gotten a lot better, training with pretty much every sword type he could get his hands on to a basic level. Just like his goal with the ‘True Adventurer’s Style’ he’d broken each sword type down into three parts: basic, advanced, and support. He learned a very basic style to begin with - about the level of [Dancing Autumn Leaf] if not a little better - then a more advanced style - like [Cruel Tempest] - and then finding a style to support the fighting style he chose - similar to [Twin Steps].

Did he know how to use every sword ever? No, definitely not, there were so many types and variations that he’d be dead before he became competent with them all, but he got a strong feel for the major types and some unique variations.

Going by his favorites - which was also an indication of his overall skill - he excelled the most with katanas which was a give, from there it would be swords similar to longswords, though he was a bit partial to hand-and-a-half type swords - more commonly known as a bastard sword. He had quite a bit of fun with two-handed great swords, they were quite satisfying to use and he was quite surprised to realize that he had enough strength to use one, but there was a bit of an issue with his weight, because while he was strong enough to lift, swing, and use a greatsword, that didn’t mean that he had enough mass to make full use of its capabilities.

If he had a [Blessing] and increased [Stats] he could make up for that deficiency, but not at the moment.

He had to admit something as well: he hated rapiers, they were far too delicate and their overt reliance on thrusting was far less effective than it should be. Back on earth where people would die if you stabbed them in the right place they could be really good, but in this world with people who can survive being stabbed in the throat it became far less effective. Still usable? Of course, but not as effective as it otherwise should be.

He found that he quite liked sabers though, something that surprised him. Saber on saber dueling was quite fun, elegant, and strategic. It held a certain satisfaction that was missing elsewhere. It would probably be a lot more fun if he had someone who was as good, if not better than him, at fighting.

That wasn’t to take away from the other kinds of swords he liked, he loved them just the same, but it didn’t change the fact that saber dueling felt different and fun.

He’d also finally started working on knife fighting, and for as much as he disliked rapiers, he found that they helped him get a good foundation in the philosophy of knife fighting, not to mention the host of his other skills coming into play. He ended up putting more effort into learning the knife than he had some of the sword types that he’d learned, and the styles he’d learned were called, as follows: [Thief’s Caution] a style about fast reactions and responses - specifically going from a non-combat to combat state, [Darkened Future] a style about ending the fight as fast as possible with feints leading to a single lethal blow, [Murderous Calm] was a style that traded blows and whittled down an opponent with heavy armor and few opening, [Rest] became a scary style very quickly when Crimson finally understood that it had some similarities to [Troubled Mind] - being a style all about controlling the battlefield until the end, specifically about controlling bloodlust and using it to misdirect the opponent.

Finally, there was [Cat’s Prowl], a style he honestly couldn’t believe he’d overlooked. It wasn’t exactly a knife style, but one about being stealthy, it was one among a bunch he’d glanced at, but the one he’d finally chosen to learn because it was shockingly amazing. Other styles focused more on concealing his presence, or hiding his bloodlust or ill intent - all good things yes, and he planned to learn them, but [Cat’s Prowl] was all about not standing out rather than blending in. It was about becoming so unimportant that he became not worth note or notice. It was becoming an ant on the ground or a single leaf on a tree, or a cat on the prowl.

Completely beneath notice.

He’d come far and trained a lot, he was quite proud of himself, and as he sat at the desk in his room, just three days from his birthday, doing a nightly review of his progress and goals, Crimson was quite satisfied with everything he’d gained, even if he fell short on money. He’d resigned from the Brass Class, Rhinese had ‘graduated,’ Verity was making progress on her own, he’d practiced and trained, his magic completely filled his body, he was in peak health, he had a party member, and he was ready.

He was quite shocked then, when his rumination was interrupted with an agonizing pain coursing throughout his body, it shut his mouth and left him unable to scream, it was the greatest agony he’d felt since being in his crippled body.

Up and down, through his body the pain coursed, like lightning bolts rushing up his limbs and across his chest, and a deep fear settled in his bones as he realized that his heart had stopped beating.

In terror, panic he flailed with arms he could barely control to smack himself in the chest a few times, trying to force his heart to beat but was unable to do anything. As darkness started to swallow his mind, he could feel it start pumping once more, and he passed out.

He opened his eyes just a few seconds later in a place he recognized: Trans’Du’Niir, and there was a person he recognized sitting in front of him as well.

“Yo!” Raften said, “Don’t worry, you’re not dead, but we need to talk.”