After writing our letters, and having a simple breakfast of stale bread, bland cheese, and water we were taken out into the training yard. I was feeling surprisingly good, and Tiberius didn’t look nearly so rough as he had the last time we’d both gone to the Lament. Either our stat boosts were taking off some of the edge, or we were serious alcoholics that had simply gotten used to it.

The training yard was a simple affair laid out between the jail we’d exited and an exterior wall. There was a section with targets for archery, one with simply dummies in the shapes of men, a few beasts, and some kind of octopus-like creature I hadn’t yet seen myself. There were also a number of metal targets with simple runes on them, one of which I recognized as ‘fire’, I guessed they were for any guards with magical ability to practice on.

Based on the description Sulla had given of his guards, I was expecting a motley crew of roustabouts and bums, but instead I saw two lines of well kept, physically fit men and women.

Tiberius was shaking his head. “Standards have definitely slipped a bit.”

I frowned, but stayed quiet. Sulla's impact on Tib was becoming clearer by the moment.

We were led to stand in front of them, and Sulla himself approached us after doing a brief inspection of the men that were lined up, making a number of nitpicking comments about the state of their uniforms or posture.

“Tib, I’ll have them bring you a training shield and sword. I assume that’s still your preference.”

He nodded.

“What about you?”

I shrugged. “Anything will do.”

“Anything? Spears, axes, swords, barehanded, you have no preference?”

“Nah.”

He frowned. I was pushing his buttons a little, and I knew that wasn’t the best idea, but I felt compelled to do so… at least a little.

“Alright men, line up in front of the one you wish to test yourself against.”

Very quickly, all but a few guards lined up directly in front of me. It made sense. I was taller than Tiberius, but not as broad, nor did I have the clear look of a warrior like he did. That being said, I decided very quickly to hold back a little less than I’d initially been planning to.

Tiberius surprised me by chuckling lightly and glancing at me. “Not the wisest group.”

“Nope.”

“Even if I look more intimidating, they know my training, I’m a much safer bet. You, on the other hand, could be a lunatic for all they know.”

“Well, they’ll know soon enough.”

Sulla gathered his men, forcing a couple to change to Tib’s line, and led us to two separate fenced off mud covered arenas. He gave Tib a blunt wooden sword and buckler, and for me he arrayed a staff, wooden sword, and buckler. I went to stand in the middle of the pit, placing my hands behind my back and wearing an easygoing smile.

The first of the line entered, wielding a shield and sword just like Tib. He approached cautiously at first, circling around me in a defensive stance. Once he was behind me, he lunged, and then simply fell into the mud as his head struck an invisible step I placed directly in front of his head. Everyone looked confused, and I went to help the dazed guard back to his feet.

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“Guess he tripped,” I walked him back to the exit and helped him out as he regained his senses, a welt forming on his forehead. After that I grabbed the long staff and gave it a twirl, before jabbing it three times in quick succession as if it was tipped with a spear, then held out a hand, and gestured for the next one to approach.

This one attacked directly, not hesitating or testing like the first had.

I dipped the tip of the staff into the mud, and flung some directly at the man's face.

It struck true, and when he went to involuntarily wipe his eyes, I jammed the butt of the staff into his gut, winding him.

“Keep your damned guard up. That’s the first thing I teach you,” yelled Sulla from the sideline. He was walking between us, shifting his attention between each pit as we sparred.

I helped that man out of the pit as well, finding him much easier to lift than I expected, despite him being nearly Tib sized. After I deposited him, I moved back to the weapons and grabbed the sword and shield.

This time, the guard stayed at a distance and circled around. He raised his sword at me, and suddenly several icicles appeared in front of him and launched at me. I activated Focus, and used my enhanced perception to make micro adjustments to my stance using flash step, dodging all of the projectiles by less than an inch. To everyone else, I must’ve appeared to have not even really moved, the icicles simply passing through me. I threw my shield at him like a discus. He blocked it, which was impressive, but he didn’t see me coming right behind it with a kick to his helmet, ringing his head like a bell, and knocking him down to the ground.

“Magic user. Wasn’t expecting that,” I said as I picked yet another of the guards up and dropped him onto a growing pile of them just outside the exit. Before returning to the center of the arena. I stifled a yawn, doing my best not to be rude, but I just wasn’t getting quite the exercise I was expecting which meant I wasn’t able to observe more than my stat increases in these fights. They were beneficial. I noticed the improvements from my CON score in particular, and every one of the guards had seemed much slower than they should’ve been, allowing me to plan and react very quickly.

“Boys, you’re forgetting something. What’s the one thing I’ve taught all of you about how to handle threats?” asked Sulla, yelling at the remaining three lined up in the queue.

They all looked at each other, and nodded, before entering the arena all at once. Shields and swords at the ready.

I threw down the sword, leaving it stuck in the mud, and freeing up both my hands. I took the initiative this time, casting a stone toss at the nearest of them, before rushing the one in the middle. I grabbed his shield and yanked, throwing him off balance and causing him to slip and fall in the mud. The other two charged me, shields in front of themselves in an attempt to shield bash me between them. I activated focus, and cast one invisible step at their shields and one at my back. With the two slowing them down, and the one bracing me, I was able to make it appear as if I had stopped their shields cold with just my arms raised.

“Didn’t expect that, huh?” I asked.

They backed away a half step, and I flash-stepped behind one of them, throwing him into the other, where they fell into a mess of mud. They tried to stand, but I quickly greased one of them and they just began a comical series of attempts to stand up, before falling back down. The one I’d first thrown down had stood up, but seeing what was happening with his companions he just sighed, and climbed over the fence to join the group of defeated. Eventually, I helped the last two up and out and looked over to Sulla.

“Any more?” I asked.

He frowned, then looked to the men lined up on the side. “This is what we’re dealing with. Rowdy adventurers, criminals, soldiers on leave. That’s who we tend to see the most in our jails and you need to be able to deal with them. Attacking at once is good, but you need to understand that they aren’t playing with the same rules as you are.”

One of them shook his head. “That’s not fair. You’re the one who trained us. Any gaps in our training are your fault, aren’t they?”

Sulla turned red, and opened his mouth to yell, then stopped as he caught something in his gaze. “My training can absolutely deal with this, and it looks like we have a volunteer to prove it.”

I followed his gaze and saw Tiberius waiting patiently at the gate. It seemed I’d get to really test my new class after all. I cracked my knuckles and grabbed my sword, taking a stance and waiting for him to come in. “Don’t think I’ll let you win just to protect your old boss’ pride.”

He smiled. “Don’t think that just because you can beat some mirror copy of me that I’ll be so easy.”

I raised my eyebrows, I hadn’t seen this side of Tib before, but I liked it.