People could be deceptively stupid when they were hiding behind their societal masks, but it didn’t take much scrutiny to find the idiot underneath.

  Not a fair sentiment, intelligence wasn’t singular after all. There were different flavours to match different circumstances, and everyone was an idiot in something. Some more than others. I…didn’t have a reference point for where I should’ve been in mystical smarts. My mother could read people like an open book with her connection to the World, and all the examples I had for magic were years ahead of where I stood.

  So I don’t know if my progress was acceptable, but it certainly went through a bit of a boom after my spar with Xae.

  It was interesting, my connection with the world had deepened specifically for combat. I wasn’t able to match Xae like I did in the delirium, but I had noticeably improved. My capacity to listen in moments of chaotic action saw a major increase, the whispers being easier to parse, easier to find.

  Skill and reflex lagged behind, but they would match my elven instincts so long as I kept training.

  All of that was to say that I got a lot stronger over the course of just a few days because of my recklessness. Enough so that I considered going through it again, if only for the progress. Not a chance Aira would’ve allowed that though, and honestly? I wasn’t at a point where I was willing to push myself that far with motivation alone. My vigil for Rudy fixed something broken, but it was also a thing that made me willing to suffer.

  But I was stronger, and it was good.

  Strong enough where despite their progress, I could still take on Riri and Gar at once. They were truly hopeless when I started teaching them, but given a few months and they almost managed to push me into sparring them one at a time. They started winning, teamwork and skill improving to the point where it was a more a challenge for me then it was for them.

  Then I had my week of insanity, and the matter returned to the one sided beatdown we had started with.

  Gar groaned on the floor after a rather…excessive beating while Riri rubbed at her arm where a large welt was beginning to form. “What is this?” He said as his eyes tracked the sky. “We were doing so well! Was it all just a joke? Were you pretending this whole time?”

  I shouldered my wooden sword and shrugged. “I had a bit of an experience recently. Made me a lot stronger and a lot quicker.”

  “I’m no blademaster, but I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works,” Gar grumbled.

  “It’s how it works for elves, we’re just cool like that.”

  “That’s unfair!” Riri whined. “We were working so hard and making progress. Now it’s all the way back to getting our butts beat.”

  “Hey now, you two should be rejoicing. A greater challenge means more growth,” I said.

  “Not all of us are training maniacs,” Gar drolled.

  “That sounds like a you problem,” I said. “Getting strong should always be a priority!”

  “Why?” Riri whined.

  I pursed my lips…should I have told them? Nah. “Secret.”

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  They both groaned, but ended up on their feet and ready to spar again in only a few minutes, much to the entertainment of the watching slum rats. I’d started a kind of movement for violence amongst the downtrodden of Anik. They may not have had practice swords, but they had fists, and so long as they didn’t break their knuckles over each other's skulls then they had plenty of violence to give.

  Plenty of strength to gain.

  Ain’t no way anyone could face the End with bare-knuckle brawling, but it was soothing. Felt like I was making something of a difference. Maybe I could’ve started something of a recruitment program for the hunters guild given enough time. There were plenty of bodies in the slums willing to fight for a better life after all.

  As a bonus, more people would’ve been ready for what was to come.

  It was…good.

  For a given value of good, it was a bunch of children beating each other into the ground after all. Following my wonderful example. Yeah, my two intrepid friends didn’t last long in the next round, or the round after that, but they kept trying. Perhaps the heat from motion was ample motivation amidst the coming cold? Whatever, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that they were trying.

  If I would’ve taken a moment to honestly evaluate, I might’ve acknowledged that when combined, they were a greater danger than when I killed my first Muri-Ursi. While that didn’t mean I would’ve trusted them to match one of the fuck-off rats…the plan was never to have them fight alone.

  So we were ready, and I wasn’t willing to take the next step, not yet.

  We had time, and I wasn’t willing to put them in danger until I was sure they’d survive.

  “Alright, I think that’s enough,” I said after another few rounds of kicking their asses.

  Gar let out a frustrated huff but didn’t comment, and Riri seemed almost relieved. Funny how their enthusiasm switched over the course of time. It didn’t really matter so long as they were willing to train, just an entertaining observation.

  Gar turned out to be more competitive than I gave him credit for, and Riri had some genuine sense hiding somewhere in that skull of hers.

  I treated them to some food and we played a few rounds of prism before the sky started to turn orange and I had to give my goodbyes. I was going to have to start leaving earlier than that though. Walking through the slums was starting to resemble my village in that people were comfortable enough to start small talk and spread gossip with me.

  I could’ve shut it down, I probably should’ve, it was a waste of time after all.

  A comfortable waste of time.

  Though their nonchalance around the rumors of me killing a child was certainly depressing. Life truly meant little, and in their eyes the boy was at my mercy as soon as his dagger pierced my back.

  There wasn’t much of note, the first truly large caravan train stopped by the city since the horde, but none there really cared for the news. It’s not like they could’ve afforded any of the wonders sold by the myriad of merchants coming to visit. Still, it made for conversation. As well as the news the caravans had brought along with them.

  Turns out northern Taiman wasn’t the only one to suffer through a goblin horde.

  Not long after Arr’koro really started rampaging through the countryside, a pair of orcs known as the Dread Twins led a veritable wave of green-skins over the western coast. Meant the empire was busy with damage control now, and it gave me…a bit of hope. If the army had to deal with two hordes so recently, then surely Auriel Caesar wouldn’t be so stupid as to start a war?

  It wasn’t a hope based on any real fact, people are very much capable of stupidity, and the leader of an empire wasn’t exempt from that.

  But it was a sign that maybe I had more time, at least a few more years before everything would start. It soothed the ever present dread somewhat, which was nice. On my way back to the inn a fool might’ve mistaken me for being chipper.

  Pretty fucked up on the face of it to be happy for a disaster, but if said disaster indicated that a much worse future was that much more distant? I gave myself a pass to be a bit happy at least.

  I went to sleep a little easier than was my normal, though the nightmares were still an ever present torture. I got used to them, so it was fine.

  I woke up the next morning with a nice stretch, preparing for my day and heading out to the guild with a light step to my stride.

  Little did I know that winter's first snow would start that day to thoroughly ruin my mood.