“And then?” the Sylrithar asked.

  “Then we assume our turtle formation and back away, realizing we’re deep in hot water. You’ll pepper us with your archers as we retreat, but it’ll be to no avail. Our troops move back to the wagons and hightail it out of there.”

  “And we return to the forest, having successfully repelled the invaders,” the Sylrithar said with a nod. “A simple plan. Less chance for anything to go wrong.”

  “Exactly,” I said, feeling like a great weight had just been lifted off my chest. “Gotta say, I appreciate you coming out here. Back when we’d discussed the plan I’d pitch to the Basecresters, I wasn’t sure at all we’d end up with anything even remotely similar. With delicate dances like this, it’s best to have all the kinks ironed out well in advance.”

  The Sylrithar gave me an amused look. “You have the strangest manner of speaking. Where did you say you were from?”

  “Far from here,” I said dismissively. “Anyway, with you coordinating your troops and our guys under my lead, we should have a reasonable shot at staging a battle good enough to convince all the interested parties.”

  The Sylrithar nodded. “Thank you, Greg,” he said after a pause. “For your cooperation in all of this. I assure you, we intend to honor our promise. We rarely ever invite outsiders into our sacred forest, and even then, there are several aspects of our culture we do not see fit to show them. Your time with us will be well spent.”

  “I sure hope so,” I said. “I don’t enjoy putting the lives of good people in danger. Least of all for politics. If I had more clout, I’d have gone to Dominium and stopped this whole farce, but seeing how I don’t, I suppose this is the next best thing. Please do your best to ensure no one gets killed. On either side. I’ll have a hard time sleeping knowing I have blood on my hands.”

  “I will do everything in my power,” the Sylrithar said, before adding, “though you should prepare yourself regardless. War is a chaotic thing. I’m afraid I cannot guarantee anyone’s safety.”

  I nodded, and we proceeded to talk through a few more logistics as well as the expected time and day of the battle.

  Not willing to risk being out any longer, the Sylrithar retreated with his forces, and Aerion and I snuck back into camp, once again going prone. While a midnight excursion could easily be explained thanks to our relationship, I’d rather not have to lie if I could help it.

  “You’ve been awfully silent,” I muttered once we were back under our blanket.

  “Just thinking, is all,” Aerion said. “The Sylvanglade lies on the border of Wisdom and Dominion’s territory. I cannot help but wonder if Dominium is acting on his behalf, to win some ground from Wisdom.”

  “Win some ground?” I asked, frowning. “I didn’t realize the gods were at war.”

  “They are not,” Aerion said. “The gods are united in the destruction of the Cataclysm. That said, the periods between Cataclysms are long, and territories have been known to change hands.”

  “Right, Richard mentioned that,” I said, recalling our earlier conversation. “Something about concessions or bets between the gods?”

  Aerion shook her head, which, being right up against my chest, tickled a bit. I’d been removing my suit to sleep these days, despite the stat loss I incurred. Mostly because my jewelry was starting to offset that. With a few more rings, I’d no longer be defenseless even without my armor. Besides, it wasn’t like I was totally exposed. I had a berserking elf to protect me until I could get into my suit. A process that only took a handful of seconds thanks to how it rippled closed around me.

  “No one knows for sure,” Aerion said. “Though it is for certain the borders shift. Knowledge of the new orders reaches the public through the High Priests of the related gods.”

  “What a fun way of communicating information,” I remarked. “So I take it Dominion doesn’t mind encroaching on Wisdom’s territory?”

  “Dominion doesn’t mind encroaching on anyone’s territory,” Aerion said. “If his territory bordered more lands, I’ve no doubt he’d try for those as well.”

  “I see,” I muttered. “Well, if you’re right, then everything we’re doing here might amount to nothing. I suppose we can only hope you’re wrong. What’s Wisdom like, by the way?”

  “Aloof and mysterious,” Aerion replied. “At least, from what I’ve heard of her. Wisdom’s territory is far from Order’s, so I’ve not had cause to interact with her followers much.”

  “Aloof, mysterious, and presumably wise,” I said. “Seems like all the gods embody their traits to some degree. Well, other than Cosmo. I genuinely have no idea how that guy ended up with his job.”

  Aerion smirked, which made me smile. It wasn’t long ago that any talk of Order made her clam up and go on the defensive. Was that progress? I couldn’t say, but I was still holding out hope that Aerion’s beef with him was all on account of some terrible misunderstanding. Knowing that guy, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.

  Even if it was, though, did that absolve Cosmo of what had happened to Aerion’s family?

  Or, for that matter, could the gods even be held responsible for the tragedies that occurred within their territory? Should they? It wasn’t like kings and presidents were blamed for crimes committed by their countries. Not unless it was some systemic issue or something brought about as a direct consequence of their policies.

  That was a complex topic that I didn’t have nearly enough energy to tackle, and so I let my eyes droop shut. Sleep, it seemed, never came as easily as when your arms were wrapped around a lover’s warm, beautiful body.

  The next several days passed in a blur. Between drilling with the troops, confirming logistics with Grug and Alistair, and travel, I didn’t have much time or energy left at the end of each day. Rather than move for the whole day like we’d been doing before, we trained in the morning when minds were fresh, and traveled in the evenings, edging us closer to the forest.

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  I figured this was better than arriving there after a whole day’s travel. Even with wagons to ease the hassle of the journey, nobody liked fighting at the end of a long day.

  We stopped when we were about a half day from the forest. No need to panic the elves and confuse the Sylrithar by getting any closer than needed.

  The troops’ progress was slow but steady. Once we’d assigned specific positions and had the men drill their roles a few hundred times, the company of 60 managed retreats just fine, and no longer tripped over one another when moving sideways.

  By the end of the third day, sideways actions were fluid, so long as they had a few seconds to process the order. They still struggled when being told to march in different directions in quick succession, and turns were still a mess.

  By the fifth day and after enormous effort, they were starting to look like battlefield-capable, at least to my eyes. Turns were iffy, but the rest was solid. Or at least, as solid as they were going to get. Alistair warned me that mastering drills in a low-stakes training environment was incomparable to doing something in the heat of battle, and I had to agree.

  I, myself, had clammed up so many times when I first entered Axius. This, despite having been familiar with most of the enemies I fought in Dominion’s Trial thanks to my gaming experience.

  Once again, reality proved just how much more nuanced and complex it was. In games where you commanded troops, they never disobeyed. They never messed up their moves or were sluggish to respond. Even the lowliest conscript acted with the discipline of a Navy SEAL and would happily throw themselves to their death if ordered.

  Somehow, I doubted the gaming experience would be all that fun if they incorporated those features. That was the crux of the problem—games were designed, above all else, to be fun. Sadly, reality tended not to heed such considerations very much.

  I split my remaining time between sparring and training under Aerion in horse riding. I had to admit, it was a skill in which I had almost no interest, but considering how useful they were on Axius, it was probably a bad idea not to. Especially when we had the money to buy and keep them.

  The activity proved both harder and more fun than I’d imagined. Fun because it meant I got to spend quality time alone with Aerion, and in those moments, I felt more relaxed than I’d been in ages.

  Even the sparring sessions were enjoyable. And while grinding stats in a training setting had never been conducive to rapid growth, anything was better than nothing, and Aerion’s Vigor and Dominion had both seen gains, with her Vigor having improved by 2 points to 56 and her Dominion by 1 to 65. Dominion was harder for her to train, seeing how I couldn’t exactly allow her to wail on my armor without Rogar around to do repairs.

  As for my own stats, they’d seen some gains as well. For one, my Passion had increased by 1, hitting its current maximum of 24. That would be from all the leadership stuff I was doing with the troops. Passion was pretty useless for me right now, but who knew? Maybe one day I’d put together a smooth-talker build. Until then, it couldn’t hurt to have some in my back pocket.

  As for the other stats, well, I’d initially planned to maintain a healthy buffer anticipating my upcoming half-rank ascension, but with only spars to gain experience, it wasn’t looking likely before our battle.

  The next best thing was to be as thoroughly prepared as I could be. This might be a staged fight, but I knew well just how quickly things could turn south. If they did, we’d be 60 troops against an army many times that number, fighting on their home turf. I’d need every advantage I could get.

  The thing was, so did Aerion, and I was now at a point where I could reasonably enchant some of her armor. Problem was, her armor was kinda terrible. She’d eschewed the full plate suit I wore since it would’ve impeded her fighting arts, but even after she’d bought the best fabric armor available in Basecrest, it was still fabric. Nor was it thick, heavy gambeson that covered her whole body. It offered decent protection against slashes, but against blunt trauma or piercing attacks, she was very vulnerable. Sure, [Reave] offered her protection in the form of an offensive defense, but if she did ever get hit, it’d be bad news.

  Blessing that [Uncommon] armor would unfortunately not help terribly much. Chances were good it’d yield a bunch of stats—stats she couldn’t use—and possibly some low-level abilities. Abilities that would start at F - 0 and take time to become useful. Nor could she enhance them by combining them into a set.

  And so, after much discussion, we’d decided to hold off on Initializing her stuff until she got better, higher rarity gear. Instead, I’d Initialized the [Rare] silk undershirt I’d bought at Basecrest.

  The results had actually exceeded my expectations by a fair bit.

  Silken Undershirt [Rare]

  So soft. So smoooth. So sexy!

  Essence Cost: 45

  Condition: 500/500

  Stats:

  — Vigor: 44

  — Order: 24

  — Wisdom: 22

  — Grace: 26

  — Cunning: 37

  — Dominion: 29

  Abilities: None

  I’d actually gawked when I first Initialized it. It was actually the first bit of [Rare] clothing I’d ever Initialized, with Light of the Fearless and Aurora being the only other gear of that quality. The only reason Light of the Fearless even gave me any stats was thanks to the soul crystal I’d merged into it.

  Armor and clothing, however, were in a whole other league altogether. In just one Initialization, I’d taken my overall stat ceiling from 283 to 465—an almost 200 point gain. Yes, I’d have to earn those, but still! Heck, my max Dominion was now higher than Aerion’s when she wasn’t in [Reave].

  If this was what a freaking undershirt did, what would Rare armor do? What would the other undergarments do?

  I honestly couldn’t wait. Sadly, I was at 460/530. The extra headroom was thanks to Rocky’s cost dropping over the past days, and was now down to just 62.

  While I might be able to Initialize armor with the remainder of my points, I wanted a healthy buffer to Initialize the Siege Bolt Cores, so I stopped there for now.

  Grace saw only a modest boost so it didn’t synergize great with my suit, but that was fine. Once I had access to more Essence and more pieces, I could optimize my non-suit clothing, Uninitializing the ones that didn’t fit my needs until I had a curated set to match with each suit, thus synergizing with whatever stat I was trying to max out.

  With my expanded ceilings and the sparring and horse riding lessons I’d done all week with Aerion, my Grace had gone up by 3 points to 77, and my Vigor 2 to 51.

  As things stood, I felt pretty good about our chances on the morning of the battle as we dismounted our horses and hoofed it the rest of the way.

  Which was why my blood ran cold when, nowhere even close to the agreed-upon site of the battle, we found an army of two thousand elves marching toward us in two columns on either side.

  The place was wrong. The formation was wrong, and this was far more elves than what the Sylrithar and I had agreed upon.