I regained consciousness in a fit of coughs and wheezes.

“The hell happened?”

One moment I’d been fighting Philip, the next… I remember something smashing me really hard on something. Had the guy clubbed me with his sword? Despite lacking Boons or Blessings?

I sat up to find Philip scratching his head, talking to Aerion, who was giggling with her hands on her mouth. She glanced at me and pointed, and they both came over.

“Okay, I think I deserve an explanation,” I said, gingerly getting to my feet. “What sorta move did you pull on me?”

“He tripped you,” Aerion said, barely holding back her laughter.

“Makes sense,” I said. “Then what? You pull some crazy jujitsu on me or something?”

“Come again? I’ve not heard of this Joojeetzoo,” Philip asked, looking to Aerion for answers.

She shrugged. “He does that sometimes.”

“Could be from his fall. Though, I must admit, I’m surprised our Boonworthy’s healing didn’t fix any concussions he might’ve sustained.”

“Oh, it’s not from the fall,” Aerion said. “He’s just like that. Best to ignore his antics. It only encourages him.”

“You do know I can hear everything you’re saying, don’t you?” I asked, giving Aerion a deadpan stare.

“Oh? Is that so? My apologies,” Aerion replied, feigning shock.

I rolled my eyes. “Somebody mind telling me what actually happened?”

“As the miss said, I tripped you,” Philip answered.

“Yeah, I got that. And?”

“And nothing. You fell hard and hit your head. Imagine my surprise upon learning you don’t even know the basics of falling.”

Seriously? I’d blacked out from a fall? That was… kinda lame. He hadn’t even been using a real sword. Just a wooden one meant for training.

I instinctively massaged the back of my head. “I hadn’t realized falling was a skill.”

“It is. As is standing and moving in combat. It’s the very foundation of combat, and so that’s where we’ll start.”

“I like this idea a lot better than a fight.”

“Oh, we’ll get to that soon enough.”

“Joy.”

----------------------------------------

As it turned out, there was quite a lot to learn about movement in combat. I’d always thought fighting with swords was about swordplay, and while weapons-handling skills were critical, Philip was right. It all relied on your ability to move. To dodge, take half steps back and forward, or pivot off to the side to avoid an incoming blow.

And that meant stances and footwork.

“More weight on your back leg,” Philip corrected, tapping my thigh with his wooden sword. “There, and there.”

I adjusted, and we repeated the exercise. Hops forward, lunges at all angles—even somersaults, but those were harder with armor.

One thing was for sure—my ability to perform these feats, even with my piss-poor technique, was incomparable to what it’d have been without my Grace and Vigor stats. I could move better, put more power into my muscles, and lasted longer than my unarmored self.

“You won’t generally be doing acrobatics while armored up,” Philip explained. “The weight of the armor alone impedes you, though good plate allows for a surprising range of motion. Still, you seem surprisingly agile moving in your cuirass. And resilient. I’d have expected bruises all over your body by now, but from the way you move, it’s as if you’re uninjured.”

“Mom always said I had strong bones,” I lied, smiling.

“Is that so?” Philip replied with a smile of his own. “Well then, try rolling with a full set of armor, then. You’ll find they were simply not designed for it. Your best bet would be to dodge what you can and allow your armor to do the rest. Ah, speak of the devil.”

A troop of workers dressed in gray tunics marched onto our field, saluting with a fist across the chest to Philip, who returned the gesture. Each carried bits of what I assumed was the armor Baron Sinclair had promised. Once again, I had to appreciate just how fast the man worked. I hadn’t expected this for days.

“These are for Greg, I take it?” Philip asked.

“Yes, sir. One standard issue full plate, yet to be fitted,” one of them said, before turning to me. “Will you require assistance donning your armor?”

“He will,” Philip answered for me, though I probably would’ve answered the same. The complex straps and adjustments that adorned each piece gave me anxiety.

“Will I always need someone to help put this stuff on?” I asked.

“Boots, gauntlets and helmets can be done on your own. Pauldrons and the cuirass? Nigh impossible without a helper.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“I see,” I said, looking at Aerion, who smirked.

“Yes, Greg?” she asked sweetly.

I walked over, rested a hand on her shoulder, and gave her the most sincere look I could. “I’ll be relying on you, Aerion. Thank you.”

Her smirk faltered. “O-oh. Of course,” she replied in a stiffer, more formal tone than normal.

It was my turn to smirk. “You’re too serious for your own good, you know that? That was too easy.”

Aerion’s expression darkened. “Very funny. I’ll keep that in mind from now on.”

Philip cleared his throat, and we both turned.

“I’d recommend the miss watch the process closely, but I’d also suggest letting these fine gentlemen equip you this time around.”

“Fine by me,” I said. “Actually, hold up. I’d like you to take a look at the cuirass I’m currently wearing. It’s made of stainless steel, so I feel like it’s pretty high quality. How do you think they compare?”

Granted, my current cuirass granted me two points of Vigor, one point of Order, and two to Grace, so no matter how good the City Guard armor was, it wasn’t even comparable in its current state.

But that was, of course, only in its current state. Once Initialized, they’d be about par.

Or so I thought.

“Mind removing it for me?” Philip asked, and I obliged, allowing the helpers to untie the straps and remove the armor.

I lost a couple of points to those stats when they did, but it was a small enough difference that I didn’t really feel it.

“Hmm,” Philip said, inspecting the armor. He gave it a few knocks, and looked at it from every angle. “Want my honest opinion?”

“Of course.”

“It’s tragic.”

“Uh, sorry? Tragic?” Not the word I was expecting to hear.

“Yes, because while the metal itself appears to be of high quality, its construction leaves a lot to be desired. The rivets are shoddy, the clasps are subpar, and more importantly of all… See this gap here?” he said, pointing to the rounded cuirass.

“Yeah?”

“This leaves a cavity between your chest and the actual armor. Makes it weak. Very weak, in fact. Armor’s only good when it sits up tight against your body. Whoever this was made for had a very different body type than you.”

“That’s for sure,” I muttered, thinking back to the corpse I’d looted it from. “So, not as good, then?”

“Indeed. While our steel may not be as… shiny, I assure you, it is far more effective. The steel is top quality, and the angled breastplate deflects attacks better than yours.”

It was true—the City Guard armor was highly angular. I could see a sword striking and slipping right off.

Philip’s next words sealed the deal.

“Besides, our workmanship is incomparable to this armor,” he said. Which gave me an idea.

I put my hand on the cuirass and activated my ability.

Initialize [Basecrest City Guard Armor]? 99% chance to successfully Initialize [Uncommon] armor. Essence Cost: 18. Current Utilization: 176/210

Oh. Oh no. This was bad. Very very bad.

I mean, how was I supposed to contain my glee? How was I supposed to act like a properly functioning adult when I had a goldmine of gear just sitting in front of me?

Then again, I didn’t have nearly enough Essence to Initialize all of this. The City Guard armor consisted of a full metal helm, a cuirass, gauntlets, pauldrons, and boots. Five pieces whose Essence Cost would all be in the same ballpark as the Cuirass. Assuming I was willing to eat up all of my buffer—which I wasn’t—I’d only get to Initialize one more piece of gear at best.

I’d just have to contain my excitement until then. Or at least until we were in private. Maybe I’d just Initialize the cuirass when no one was looking.

“This is incredible,” I said, eyeing all the pieces of gear the attendants had laid out and were currently preparing. “But shouldn’t I learn without armor first?”

“Different stroke,” Philip said with a shrug. “You’ll be fighting in armor most times, yes?”

“That’s right,” I said. Most warriors would be stupid to leave their armor behind, but that went double for me.

“Right. Then train as you fight. If you fight in armor, train in it. Makes no sense to me to train without it and then put it on later.”

“Fair enough,” I replied, extending my arms to allow the swarm of attendants equip my armor.

Aerion watched with great interest. Not just because she’d help put it on in the future.

“Want a set?” I asked. “Pretty sure we can get Sinclair to customize one for you.”

“No thanks,” she replied immediately. “The only armor I’d ever wear is Order Elven armor. Far more elegant. I can’t deal with the weight. Just feels wrong.”

“Maybe so, but it keeps you alive, miss,” Philip said. “I’d recommend you wear a set if you’re planning on delving a Cataclysm dungeon.”

“I’ll be fine,” Aerion said curtly. The truth was, she probably would be. [Reave] made for some pretty effective deterrence, after all. If the Emergence Rank dungeon had the same strength monsters as the Trial we’d delved, she’d be just fine. It was me I was more worried about.

A minute later, and my armor was on. I played with the helm, which was pretty cool. It had an adjustable piece that retracted below my chin. When extended, it hid the bottom half of my face up to my nose, and the visor, when deployed, covered my eyes.

The attendants had considerately brought out a full-length mirror, allowing me to admire myself. Or to check that everything was mounted correctly, which I imagined was the real purpose. Didn’t mean I couldn’t indulge in a little self-admiration though, right?

Because with everything extended, I looked like a metal man. Pretty fucking badass, if I was honest.

“Can you imagine how awesome it’ll be walking around town in this?”

Aerion stared with her arms crossed, scowling at me.

“What did I do now?”

“Oh, nothing,” she said. Her scowl disappeared. “Was just thinking, is all. At how different you look. You look… Well, like a warrior.”

“And now, we’ll make him one,” Philip said, smacking my pauldron—that was the piece that went over my shoulder. “Let’s get started.”

We fell into more movement drills before finally graduating to basic sword, spear, and poleax strikes, except this time, I had a full suit of armor on me. That was in addition to all the layers I wore underneath. Under the hot sun and combined with the muggy weather? I was sweating bullets. Unfortunately, my Vigor was maxed out, so that didn’t improve, but my Dominion stat did.

Congratulations! Dominion has increased to 28.

That brought that stat to its current limit. For the first time since my shopping spree, I was outgrowing my current gear.

Good thing I had a full suit of armor to enchant. Good thing I had Rogar’s smithing lessons to look forward to after this. Good thing Philip happened to turn away just long enough for me to Initialize my brand-new cuirass.