Oliver’s sword flashed up and smoothly parried a clumsy stroke from one of his opponents’ crude clubs. Even as he did, he neatly stepped to the side, years of training carrying his body a few inches away, so that the second enemy’s spear stabbed into open air rather than through his ribs.

Unwilling to lose the opportunity, the boy’s free hand grabbed the spear. Even with his strength boost, he wouldn’t be able to fight his opponent’s sheer physical power for long, but he only needed to hold the wooden haft in place for an instant so that his sword could whip in a short, brutal chop that cleanly snapped off the top half of the monster’s spear.

The kobold hissed at him and took a pair of clumsy steps back, throwing the useless haft of the spear aside. Of course, destroying the reptilian monster’s weapon didn’t really disarm it, considering the wicked talons at the end of each of its thick, stubby fingers.

Thick and stubby were accurate descriptors for nearly everything about the three monsters encircling Oliver. Kobolds were the weakest and most common outsiders to enter the Realm from the Feral World, but the many tribes of the lizard-like beasts were diverse, boasting a wide array of physical characteristics. The swamp kobolds Oliver had seen before were more slender, with slick, slimy skin. His teachers had compared them to salamanders, small swamp lizards that shared the kobolds’ potent regenerative abilities.

These kobolds however, according to Adeline, were members of the desert tribe. They were heavier and more stout than their swamp-dwelling cousins, covered in a layer of thick brown scales. This made them slower than the kobolds he had learned about when he was studying in the hope of becoming a sentinel, but they more than compensated for their lack with physical strength and sturdiness. So far, he had yet to succeed in landing a decisive blow on any of the trio.

Oliver kept himself carefully balanced on the balls of his feet, waiting for his opponents to make their next move. He didn’t want to get too aggressive out of respect to their numbers. If he committed to trying to cut one down, the other two might have an opening to attack him. So he waited, until the short-tempered monsters hissed and, almost in unison, lunged forward. Two swung their clubs, crude woodens weapons with stone tied to the end, while the former spear wielder lashed out with his claws.

Oliver tried to hop to one side, the speed and coordination of his gift of wind helping him keep his balance despite the clumsy movement, before lashing out with the most basic power of that same gift.

Gust Blast - Active, Attack - Manifest a gust of wind straight in front of you. Inflicts little direct damage, but can disorient or physically move some enemies. Moderate quintessence cost.

A burst of pressurized air blasted out in a circle around his body even as he was moving. The sudden gust wasn’t intense enough to throw back the heavy kobolds the way it would lighter opponents, but it still buffeted them enough to create a moment of hesitation, two lifting clawed hands to cover their eyes as the blast of wind also kicked up a significant amount of the dirt and dust that coated every surface of the old, ruined building they were fighting in.

That was the moment Oliver had been waiting for. His improved coordination was just enough to keep his improvised hop from sending him to the ground, and he immediately pivoted, springing forward towards the one kobold who hadn’t been blinded by the burst of wind. The kobold hissed and swung its own club to meet Oliver’s sword, but even as the weapons met, Oliver activated one of the abilities his gift of the vanguard had given him.

Reckless Strike - Active, Attack - Make a single attack with potency increased by two stages. Major stamina cost.

Like many of his vanguard abilities, reckless strike was a simple attack, but it was all Oliver needed to take down his first enemy. His sword, the same runeblade Adeline had given him nearly two months before, was enhanced enough by the special attack that it cut straight through the kobold’s primitive weapon, continuing forward to slice through the thick scales on the monster’s chest as smoothly as if it had cut through cloth.

The kobold fell in a gout of bright emerald blood, hissing in agony, and then a club struck Oliver from behind and threw him to the ground. He still wasn’t used to how draining Reckless Strike was, and he was too exhausted from the cost of the special attack to catch himself. Instead he went tumbling along the rough rock floor of the ruined building. Acting on pure instinct, he released another blast of wind, hearing the impact as it forced the kobolds rushing at him back a step.

Desperate to buy enough time to get his feet under him, Oliver pointed his rune blade at the closer of the two lizard monsters, and released the force stored within. Just as it had done in the fight with Allid months before, it threw the wild monster back half a dozen feet, sending it into its own sprawling tumble. But that only bought Oliver a second to stand up before the club-wielding kobold was upon him.

Oliver barely managed to parry the fierce impacts of the monster’s club, every swing forcing him back a step. His arms felt heavy after the stamina cost of his reckless strike, which was proving itself to be aptly named as he was too tired now to keep up against the monster’s assault. Using it so early had been a massive risk, and even boosted by the gift of the vanguard, his stamina pool wasn’t enough to safely use the attack a second time.

Oliver gritted his teeth. He had made another mistake, using the force blast from his runeblade. Wind Slash would have served just as well to keep the monsters back. He should’ve saved the one time release of kinetic energy for making an opening when he was getting forced back like this. Already, he could see the unarmed kobold stagger to its feet behind his current opponent. Once it rejoined its ally, they’d be able to pile on him.

Then, with a sudden and starling crash that shook the ground underneath him, the wall of the building they were fighting in abruptly collapsed inward in a cloud of stone and dust. The shock of it earned Oliver a reprieve, his opponents just as surprised as him. Adeline came dancing through the hole with an almost imperious laugh, a shining longsword clutched in each hand. Even surrounded by a cloud of grime, the beautiful knight was like a beacon of light to Oliver’s eyes.

Chasing after her was the monster that must’ve destroyed the wall, another desert tribe kobold. It was built along the same lines as Oliver’s enemies, with broad shoulders, strong arms, thick scales, and a stubby tail, but it was at least three times their size. He had read that the lizard-like outsiders never stopped growing, shedding their skin and becoming slightly larger with each passing year, but that meant that the monster Adeline was fighting must’ve been upwards of thirty or forty years old - ancient, by kobold standards.

The giant gave a bellow and swung a club that probably weighed more than Oliver at Adeline, but the knight-gallant was never in any danger. She twirled her golden sword in one hand, so that its blade was pointed straight down at the ground, and a golden quarter-dome of energy sprang up between her and the descending club. There was a brilliant flash, and the club rebounded. The sheer weight of the ricocheting club was enough to pull even the massive monster off-balance, sending it staggering backwards.

Rather than take advantage of the monster’s instability to strike, Adeline turned to look at Oliver, a fierce fighting grin stretched across her face. “Oli! Are you really still fighting those three? Come on, get it together!” Still smiling brightly, the knight struck a statuesque pose with one leg lifted, her twin blades held parallel across her body.

Instantly, Oliver felt like a fire had been lit within him. It wasn’t a reaction to his mentor’s beauty and attitude - or at least, not solely that - but a product of her own gift of passion. The gifts of the Artist archetype were rare among the high court, who saw them as frivolous, but Oliver knew from his sister that the buffs they could provide were valued heavily by the career sentinels actually risking their lives in the Wastes.

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Adeline’s gift of passion, for example, couldn’t truly heal him. But it shared some of the radiance of Adeline’s soul to rally his own exhausted heart, and Oliver’s stamina instantly rebounded. He felt his lips stretch into a mirror of his mentor’s grin, and he lunged forward at his still-reeling foe.

You’ve been affected by Passionate Inspiration

You’ve recovered a moderate amount of stamina and focus

The kobold hurriedly tried to interpose its own weapon, but the stamina restoration Adeline had provided allowed him to use reckless strike again. While the giant brute Adeline was fighting had likely absorbed enough magic in its lifetime to have some innate potency in the natural armor of its scale, the smaller kobold Oliver was fighting had no such benefits. It had no way of resisting the raw magic enhancing Oliver’s attack, and just as it had with the first enemy he downed, his sword cut cleanly through the kobold’s crude club and stabbed deeply into its chest.

Even after using the draining special attack, Oliver felt bursting at the seams with energy, and he was forced to admit that it was likely as much from Adeline’s presence as the actual power of her gift as butterflies rushed to his stomach. He seized the advantage, and before the remaining kobold could rush at him, he swung his sword through the open air in the direction of the monster.

Wind Slash - Vanguard - Active, Attack - Use a bladed weapon to make a ranged attack delivered through hardened air. Damage and quintessence cost depend on the weapon used to make the attack.

A ripple seemed to move through the air, a barely visible projection of the augment he had gained from the combination of his vanguard and wind gifts. It sliced across the unarmed kobold’s chest as if Oliver had it directly with his sword, despite the dozen feet between them. Of course, since it lacked any innate potency, the blade of wind was unable to do much more than scuff the lizard’s solid scales.

Which was why, even as the monster barreled toward him, Oliver made a similar motion and sent another blade flying at the kobold. Then another, and another. With every step it took, the kobold endured another wind blade across its chest, its face, its limbs. Scales began to chip and wear as the stinging force of the continued wind slashes started to force more hisses of pain from the monster.

While Oliver’s vanguard attack used his stamina as its cost, the elemental powers of his gift of wind drew from his quintessence pool, a vague source of power granted by the Primal that Oliver had yet to fully understand. Nevertheless, it meant he could use the abilities repeatedly without repercussions, not exhausting himself the way his stamina abilities would - and the wind blade created by his longsword was a relatively weak, low-cost attack. Even after using the more expensive Wind Blast twice earlier in the fight, he had enough quintessence left to send nearly a dozen more slashes of razor-sharp air at the kobold before he ran dry.

After that assault, the kobold was in little shape to defend itself when Oliver finally closed the gap between them.

#

“That was terrible,” Adeline said bluntly after the fight was over. While Oliver had been engaged in a fight he barely won, the blonde knight had never even seemed in danger against her massive enemy. Once she saw Oliver had finished off his own foes, she simply stopped playing with the brutish kobold. Within less than a minute, it was little more than a pile of bleeding meat.

She flicked off one of her longswords as if it weighed no more than a twig, the monster’s green blood flying off the blade as if unable to adhere to the metal, then flicked it in the opposite direction. The sword simply vanished, returning to wherever she conjured her weapons from.

Oliver was sitting on the ground, his legs spread in a wide V, reclining with his arms behind him while he caught his breath. Tired as he was, he still spared the more experienced knight a feeble attempt at a glare. “It was three on one!” he protested. “I don’t know what you expected.”

Adeline shook her head. “I expect you to fight like the neophyte knight I know you are, not like a frightened boy trying to not to commit in case he gets hit.”

Oliver’s lips gathered together in a petulant expression. “Oh, I’m sorry, I thought that was the whole point of fighting, to hurt the enemy more than they hurt you.”

Adeline’s bright silver eyes flashed with intensity, and she reached down to grab the boy by the collar of his shirt. Without any noticeable effort, she forced him to his feet, then off the ground, his toes dangling an inch above the dirt. “You’re not a noble anymore, Oliver. You made the choice to walk away from that life, remember?” Adeline met his eyes when she spoke, her voice as intense as her gaze. “You’re not fighting in show duels. You’re fighting for your life. You're outnumbered? Too bad. Maybe you need to take a couple hits to even the odds. The gift of the vanguard gives a defensive ability for a reason.”

Oliver set his chin defiantly and started to shoot back a reply - but before he could, Adeline’s hand flashed up in front of his face, thumb and middle finger poised for a quick snap. . With the knight-gallant’s Adept level speed and precision, the noise was as clear and sharp as an icicle cracking, more than enough to make Oliver flinch and cut off his sour retort.

“No. I don’t care what you have to say right now, Oliver,” she told him firmly. “You’re as good as any Novice I’ve ever worked with, and better than most - when you’re not getting in your own way. You insist on fighting carefully, conservatively. But guess what? If you wanted to fight like that, you should’ve gone for that gift of the fencer your father wanted for you, or the gift of the guardian. But you didn’t. You earned the gift of the vanguard. And you know why?”

Oliver frowned, but it was more thoughtful than petulant now. “Because of how I fought with Allid,” he answered, his voice pensive.

Adeline blew out a breath, and let go of his shirt, letting him drop to the ground. “Exactly. In your duel, you were bold and aggressive. You were willing to do what you had to to win. That is how a vanguard fights. It’s a gift designed for fighting on the frontlines, leading the way for your team or working completely on your own. I watched you, Oliver. You didn’t even use your defensive ability, did you?”

Oliver frowned, but didn’t contest it. “It’s hard to leave myself exposed like that. I’m used to doing everything I can to avoid being hit in the first place.”

Reinforced Defense - Triggered, Defense - When blocking an attack, your equipment is treated as one tier of potency higher. Each time this is triggered, there is a minor focus cost.

“Too bad. You need to adapt to your gift, otherwise you’re just wasting your abilities. If you had trusted your defenses to handle an attack from weapons as pathetic as those,” she emphasized the point with a sharp motion to the crude wooden weapons the kobolds had preferred, ”you could’ve accepted a minor hit to get in a lethal attack.”

Oliver swallowed, but nodded reluctantly, admitting his mistake.

“You’re wasting your other gift too,” Adeline paused and took a breath, shaking her head and reaching out to place a comforting hand on his shoulder “Think about it, okay? I’m not always going to be there to help you.”

Oliver’s head shot up at the seemingly off-hand remark. He knew that Adeline was an important person within the Argent Order, with her own responsibilities, but it still made him feel stung, and even a little sick, to consider her leaving him behind.

“Going somewhere?” he asked suspiciously, wondering if she could hear his voice tremble from exhaustion and newfound anxiety at the prospect of ending up alone.

Adeline rolled her eyes, a shadow of her customary smile returning. The slender hand lifted from his shoulder, smoothing down his battle-tangled hair. “One day, Oli. I can’t just play teacher for you forever. But that’s not going to happen any time soon.” She paused, as if a thought occurred to her, and added, “Well, unless you die. But I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.” The words could’ve been cruel, but Adeline delivered them with a playful look that made the joke clear.

Oliver rolled his eyes, but smiled shyly back at the woman, the joke releasing some of the tension that had built up in his chest as she tucked an errant lock behind his ear.

“You’re better than you think you are, Oli. You’re still letting that asshole who raised you convince you otherwise. You need to stop it - or you’re never going to get any better.”