Chapter 41: The Better Swordsman

TRISTAN

The “new challenger,” as Jamal had labeled him, didn’t look nearly as intimidating as Tristan’s last opponent. He wasn’t enormous, for one thing, though Tristan quickly realized that the black scales running up and down his arms and legs went under the man’s padded shirt and armor instead of extending it. That meant they weren’t part of the armor at all but were the man’s natural defenses. An observation that was further confirmed when Tristan used [Identify] on him.

[Xanax, Scaleborn, level 17]

{{Spider’s Bane}}

Tristan regarded the man carefully. “Cool title. How’d you come by it?”

The scaleborn’s eyes narrowed momentarily, almost as if flinching at the memory. But all he said was, “I am here to duel, not make friends.”

Despite the rudeness, Tristan couldn’t help but be intrigued by the man. It wasn’t just the title either. The sword he held looked to be about the same caliber as [Hope’s Aspiration], but Tristan didn’t need to guess, as a quick [Identify] did all the work for him.

[Blood-bearer’s Blade (rare)]: [Bloodied Strength]

A blacksteel greatsword that feasts on the pain of its wielder. It’s capable of granting immense strength, but at what cost?

The description was intriguing, and Tristan expanded the [Bloodied Strength] property to try and understand what made this sword so different.

[Bloodied Strength] While wielding this sword, your HP maximum is increased by 75%, and every time you take damage, increase the damage done by this sword by 10% against the attacker, stacking up to 40 times. Blocking, parrying, or using active defensive skills removes all stacks.

Tristan was intrigued by the tradeoff the sword seemed to push toward. He wasn’t sure he’d ever want to abandon all his defensive ability, even if it did result in a lot more offensive power and a health boost. What’s the point of being a swordsman if you can’t embrace all the strengths of using a blade?

Looking up, Tristan could see that his opponent had the same sort of distracted look about him, meaning he was no doubt examining Tristan and his gear too.

Jamal stepped between them, deliberately blocking their views of each other.

“Right, so now that all the scouting nonsense is done, let’s get to the real fun. I know you were both doing it, but c’mon, mates, a duel is much more fun if you loosen up and feel it out during the fight.”

Tristan narrowed his eyes. “At least this time you’re not trying to hide that it is a duel.”

The swordmaster shrugged. “What can I say? We all improve with time and experience. Yeah, that even goes for me,” he said with a wink. “I know it’s hard to believe, but even I’m not perfect.”

“I thought the next time you said I’d fight a girl,” Tristan shot back.

“Right, well, she wouldn’t have been a challenge for ya. Not with your skills and training, man. Yeah, you’ll just have to trust me. Unless you’re finally interested in a girl for other reasons?”

Tristan sighed, shaking his head. “No, let’s just get on with it.”

“That’s my guy!” Jamal motioned for Tristan to take up his traditional spot as the newcomer cleared his throat.

“Am I to believe this level 13 will be a challenge for me?” the scaleborn asked.

“More than you’d believe,” Jamal said nearly beneath his breath. “But that’s for you two to figure out, isn’t it? Speaking of!” He stepped back and indicated first one swordsman, then the other. “Allow me to introduce you two! Tristan, my student, this is Xanax, who has agreed to this bout for a hefty sum of gold--on two conditions. First, that no one will be harmed in any permanent or Path-limiting way. And second, that he doesn’t hold anything back.” He glanced back at Tristan again. “So you shouldn’t either. You’ve got to learn, and while I totally get why you were frustrated by the last bout, I still hold it was a better training method than just more time between us in this arena. So yeah, are we all ready?”

“I am,” Xanax said.

Tristan nodded. “As am I.”

“Cleo?” Jamal asked with a hint of something that felt to Tristan like nervousness.

As if on cue, the air behind Jamal shimmered and a luxurious leather chair suddenly appeared in the space, with Cleo seated in it. Tristan was certainly surprised that Cleo was going to be directly present for this fight. Often she’d be elsewhere, doing gods only knew what, until some dire injury that only she could handle rushed her to the arena.

At least I’ll know where to find her after the duel, Tristan thought. Then I can ask her about [Identify].

Cleo spoke with a voice almost untouched by emotion. “I will personally guarantee the safety of both combatants.”

“Thanks, Cleo,” Jamal said with a forced wink. “You’re the best.”

Cleo merely pursed her lips slightly.

Across the circle, the other swordsman was still standing at ease, though most of his focus seemed to stay on Tristan.

Jamal reclaimed everyone’s attention. “Well, since we’re all here for the duel, let’s get to it, yeah?”

The scaleborn across the way shifted into a stance Tristan didn’t quite recognize. It looked a bit like a stance he’d seen Jamal use a few times, but there were differences that Tristan couldn’t quite explain. Why his feet were parallel, for example, or his blade was so much higher.

Uncertainty aside, Tristan did feel a little spike of excitement as he raised his blade and took a defensive stance. This would only be his third opponent since picking up swordsman, and since he’d definitely learned from both Jamal and Bernhardt, he wondered what he’d learn from Xanax.

Jamal moved mostly out of the way while still holding one hand between them. He took time enough to look both combatants in the eyes. “Right then. Begin!” Jamal pulled his hand back, and immediately the scaleborn charged.

Admittedly, Tristan had begun planning the moment he’d read the property on Xanax’s sword. He’d noticed that it was a potentially potent offensive boost, but it also came with a hefty defensive drawback. One that Tristan hoped to take advantage of and why he went immediately on the defensive. He knew that the more damage he dished out, the stronger Xanax would become. But until he did damage, he would get a strong baseline reading for what this scaleborn could do.

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What was surprising was how easily Tristan was able to block every single attack Xanax made, even without using the Roving Blade. His opponent had a four-level advantage, but unlike with Bernhardt, who had applied constant pressure from two (slightly) smaller swords, Xanax used only a single greatsword, and his attacks were far slower and more predictable. Clearly he didn’t have Jamal teaching him, or he’d know better, Tristan thought.

Guarding was actually so easy that Tristan went back through his notifications to make sure he’d read the [Identify] output correctly. But he definitely had, and Xanax was absolutely a level 17... even if he currently didn’t feel like it.

The problem was quickly apparent: Tristan had spent too long training with Jamal, and that was never going to be fair to his opponent. Compared to Jamal, the scaleborn was slow, as his blade never whipped through the air at a speed Tristan couldn’t follow. Compared to Jamal, Xanax made big, telegraphed strikes, and Tristan blocked every one. So Tristan actually chose to let one attack through, just to test a theory.

He intentionally sat back and left his blade out for half a moment too long after parrying one attack, leaving his side open to a quick slash... and the attack that landed was painful, but it lacked that familiar one-hit-could-sever-an-arm kind of pain.

Compared to Jamal, the scaleborn was hardly threatening at all.

He was, however, persistent. Xanax made strike after strike, but Tristan blocked and parried them all. The very things Xanax’s sword discouraged him from doing, Tristan decided to turn against him. With the benefit of each parry triggering [Riposte], Tristan was able to return blow after blow that forced Xanax to choose between either his health or his attack buffs.

Slowly but surely, and quite methodically, Tristan whittled down his opponent. He never over-extended, in part because he never attacked outright. He merely sat back in defensive stance, blocked, parried, and countered when the opportunities arose.

It was clearly very frustrating for the scaleborn, who never exactly got vocal about things, but the grunts and yells he made with every strike definitely increased in both pitch and volume, almost in sync with the energy that seemed to radiate more and more from him. Unlike Bernhardt, though, there was no banter. There was no back and forth. Oddly, Tristan found that he missed it some.

Is there more to this fight than I’m seeing, Tristan wondered? He knew that the scaleborn had strong innate defenses, and extra HP from his sword, but what else was he hiding?

As it turned out, nothing.

And after a long, drawn out, and incredibly one-sided fight, the scaleborn fell to a knee and lowered his head. “I yield to the better swordsman.”

Tristan was shocked and didn’t let down his guard until Xanax literally released his sword, which fell to the dirt beside him.

“That was... Thank you for the duel,” Tristan managed to say despite his disbelief that it was already over. He leaned his sword back against his shoulder and checked around, but Cleo had already stepped forward and placed a hand on the scaleborn’s bowed head.

Jamal walked silently up right beside Tristan. His voice was as quiet as a rasp on soft wood. “Not what you were expecting?”

Tristan looked down at his sword. “No. I thought, with him having those extra levels, it would be harder.”

“So,” Jamal began, leading Tristan slightly away from his defeated opponent, “why wasn’t it?”

Tristan chewed on his answer before he gave it, not wanting to seem too eager or certain. “I have better technique, I suppose.”

“And?”

“And a better sword,” Tristan added.

“Only for this situation,” Jamal countered. “In a dungeon or a raid, his sword offers a benefit that yours can’t begin to touch. Side by side with him in that kind of setting, where he wasn’t expecting to take regular damage or where he’d have a healer to support him, his damage output would fly far above yours. No sane party would ever take you before him, no matter who would win the duel.”

Tristan nodded. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Of course not, mate. That’s why I’m the teacher here. You’ve still got lots to learn, even if you do have tons of potential. I like how quickly you figured out his weakness. That was brilliant, man! And the choice to allow him one hit at the beginning to assess what he could do. That was smart, too.”

Tristan tensed. “Was it so obvious?”

“I don’t think he picked up on it, as it was pretty early on, but yeah, man. You’d never leave a block hanging that long if you weren’t testing his damage output. It was also smart that you did it before he got buffed by taking damage. Had you tried that stunt near the end of the fight, it very well could have taken your head off. He had something like thirty stacks of his damage buff by the end. He might have legitimately one-shotted you. Hence why Cleo was here.”

Tristan swallowed. He actually hadn’t considered that part of his opponent’s build either. How buffed had his opponent been by the end? Was Jamal exaggerating, or had Tristan truly been that close to obliteration? He tried to stop the spiraling of his mind and focus on the right lesson. “There was always a chance I could actually lose then, if I lost control of the situation.”

“Of course, man. You think I’d spend all this valuable time on something less? Especially Cleo’s? Not a chance!”

Remembering he had questions for her, his eyes floated back toward where she was healing the scaleborn. He hoped to catch her before she left.

Jamal followed his gaze, then it bounced back and forth a few times before he spoke a little louder, clearly coming to his own conclusions. “Hey hey hey, man, wait a second. Have you finally decided to ‘master your sword’ at long last? Is Cleo the one to awaken that manly instinct in you? The release would do you both a world of good. Honestly I was afraid I’d have to hire a really good, Classed escort before I could let you go, but--”

Tristan, for all his time spent around Jamal, still sputtered as he caught his teacher’s meaning. “What? No! I--I just need to talk with Cleo. She’d never, I mean, it’s not about that! And you were going to hire a WHAT?!”

Jamal gave a hearty belly laugh. “You heard me, cause I know I didn’t stutter. C’mon, mate, you can’t mean to tell me you’re surprised. Though maybe you’re surprised I’d hire outside help, and you might have a fair complaint there. What with all the women here on staff, and all so thoroughly vetted by none other than myself, well, I can guarantee--"

“And look at that, Cleo’s done with Xanax. Guess I’ll just be going over there to talk with her now.”

Jamal laughed even harder as Tristan walked away.

“CLEO!” Tristan called, trying to block out the misplaced well-wishes of the master swordsman. “Cleo, I’d like to just talk with you if you’ve got a moment to spare.”

The scarred healer looked up, no doubt saw the color in his cheeks, connected it to the hearty laughter of Jamal, and burst into light laughter herself.

“Sure, I can just talk,” she teased, walking over and flicking a wrist toward Jamal in clear dismissal. “But what exactly are we talking about? It didn't look like you were actually hurt much during that duel.”

Tristan smiled. “Yeah, I only took a single hit this time. But I wanted to ask about how skill upgrades work. Specifically [Identity]. I want to be able to see Classes. Do you have that ability?”

Cleo sighed. “Yes, of course. I got that back in tier 2, as do all healers. And I've upgraded a few more since then, too.”

Tristan beamed. “I was hoping that’d be the case! I'm trying to find a way to upgrade my own ability.”

Cleo spoke back to him softly as doubt moved across her face. “It usually takes more control than a tier 2 swordsman would have.”

“But I'm a swordsmith,” Tristan fired back. “What if I crafted it somehow? Do you think I could approach it like that?”

She tapped her lips. “Possibly. Actually, that's likely your best bet. If you can envision the skill as something you're making, then you could theoretically also shape it, mold it, and direct it. You'd have to see yourself enhancing it like you would a, I don't know--”

“Like a talisman on a sword?” he offered, showing her the crossguard of [Hope's Aspiration].

Cleo looked from the sword to his hopeful face. “Maybe, but I worry you'd have to find something connected to the ability in the first place to augment.”

“But it can be done,” Tristan said, eyes looking out at nothing in particular. “Even as a crafter, I can do it... if I spend enough time.”

“Oh no,” Jamal said, walking up behind the pair. “Cleo, what did you just say to him? I've seen that look before. He's about to find himself deep in a hole, and not the fun kind.”

But whether Cleo answered him or not, Tristan couldn't be sure. His feet were already taking him back to his room, to his workspace, to his forge, to where he could potentially create the things his mind was pondering.

I can do it, kept repeating in his head as he took up his hammer once again. I will. It’s currently just unforged.