"So what you really want to do is make sure you work on your footwork here, and make sure that you're gripping the shaft correctly and not like Gia showed you. If you do all this correctly, then the Legion will spend the money, giving you a skill gem for it."

  Theo was nothing if not thorough. He had corrected no less than thirty items in Ludere's stance within three minutes. It was so much that Ludere could feel his Athletics working overtime. If there was a Stretching skill, he would have readily swapped for it.

  "You did good taking the Athletics skill," Jett grunted. "It shows that you're able to do this. We get so many young applicants who don't get the right combination of skills or just show up unprepared. With this level, you could just apply and become a house guard."

  "That's good to know, but I was wondering if you could help me with something," Ludere said. "I have a skill that, for lack of a better term, lets me swap skills with others for a day. If you advance the skill, you get to keep it."

  For the first time since Ludere had arrived, Theo cracked a smile. "That's ridiculous if true. There's no way... Oh, you are serious."

  Ludere had never been so serious in his life. "Look, I'll do whatever you want but please. I know you have the skill. I can't explain what's going on, but I need it. Can you help me? I have Scan, if you don't have it."

  Ludere waited for a very long moment.

  Theo shook his head. "Alright, you've got a deal. If this even is a skill how do you do it?"

  "If you're letting me..." He touched the other man's arm with his own. The skill was hungry. He found himself looking at the other man's skills with awe.

  He had no idea what the skill Discernment was, but it sounded good, and he didn't even understand how someone advanced their skill so high. It had to have taken… Nearly forever.

  He swapped Spear Proficiency for Scan, then returned to reality.

  Theo looked taken aback. "I have Scan now? Interesting. And I'll get my skill back, the same time tomorrow?"

  Ludere gulped. Chances were that the man would die in the vision, but he couldn't say that to him. He nodded. "You just need to use Scan a lot to develop it the first few times—should get you a level within an hour."

  "Excellent. Well, back to the drill I showed you, then."

  Wait, a minute ago the spear felt like something foreign and alien to him, and now it felt like an extension of his body. To be fair, that extension was almost certainly a dead arm or leg that he lost the use of, but there were still nerves or something out there that let him feel it. It wasn't intuitive at all, but if he followed the first form that Theo had shown him, he might be able to level it in a short time.

  "Theo, how did you level your Spear skill so high? I don't think I've seen a lot of people with skills that high."

  Theo shrugged. "Battle skills advance faster when you're in actual fights. I've been in a lot of fights."

  Ludere thrust one more time. They didn't have a practice dummy, and this little talk had cost him ten minutes. If his vision was correct, he didn't have that long until the demons began their invasion. This vision... He was going to have to keep time if this kept up.

  "Pity that we don't have any straw dummies here. Those would be good practice."

  "They've got the dummies in the training grounds, but you're taking your break now, aren't you, Ludo?" Gia said.

  The reality of actually having to keep up the facade of working in the shop slapped Ludere in the face. He was going to have to devote some time during these visions to keeping up appearances, wasn't he?

  He looked over. Gia was still standing there, though her eyes were more on Theo than anything else. It was like she was trying to absorb the same information that he was. He cracked a smile.

  "Yeah, I think... This has been amazing. Thank you both for this."

  He held out his right fist, enveloping it with his left, giving the sign of the empire to both men. Theo nodded, his companions only grunting.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Gia had decided to follow him up to the box, the short walk that it was.

  "This is already the most interesting part of my day. What brought this on, really?"

  They paused midway up one of the stone stairwells. His voice caught in his throat.

  "I had a vision, twice now... Of demons invading the arena. It was so real that... Well, I know what your skills are because I borrowed your Unarmed Combat skill."

  "In the vision?"

  Ludere nodded.

  Her face suddenly grew dark. "Oh."

  Ludere told her the broad strokes of it. They had been on the stairs long enough that it had become a little awkward by the end.

  He should have sat down.

  Gia blinked several times. "You died protecting me?"

  "It was a vision, but… If the demons appear shortly, this will be the third time I relive it. I… Dying just put me back here. Is this Hel?"

  She shook her head. "Does it matter? You have a chance to potentially relive this and do something with it. If there's a way to save us… All of us, we need to take it."

  Ludere nodded. The arena was by no means full, but so many seats were taken that he was glad he didn't walk around selling things like she did.

  "You think this is a curse? Or some kind of blessing?"

  "Whatever it is, treat it like the real thing. You need to fix it."

  Now that he had the superior skill, he just had to level it and see if he could do something with it. His next goal had to be what? Getting a magic skill from somebody else. For those are rare and usually reserved for people that needed them.

  The Prefereti could determine which way skill gems went, and they would scoop up any of those that they got. It would be up to them to give their prize collection to the poor. They would do everything and anything possible to not. Therefore. He had to find someone sympathetic. If he kept having these visions… If this kept happening, then eventually he could become strong.

  He just needed the time to keep up with the demons. He had killed three last time before becoming overrun, and that was without the skill.

  "There's something you can do to help me. I hate to ask this, but can you fight alongside me? I know you have Unarmed Combat. I know you have reservations—"

  "Let's do it. There's no better way to live than to fight alongside your countrymen and women. Get me a spear."

  One of the things that he hadn't really thought about was passing out Spears earlier. It makes sense for him to dig into those spears that were only there for emergency purposes before the actual event happened. If you could get them and had them placed out so that they were easy to grab then that would save them some time. Then they could save more people. That is, if he could even save himself.

  "And you want us to fight these demons? Because if we don't, we're going to die? Why can't we run away?" Erebus said.

  "I… hadn't thought about that."

  They had rows upon rows out for the good of the cause, and would be handing them out as soon as the demons arrived. Based on the pair that were getting ready to fight, it would have happened any moment now. It would have been wonderful if a giant purple portal didn't open too.

  It would have been great if the demons didn't fan out intelligently, looking for targets and choosing to crush the humans in front of them. It would have been great if he didn't have to watch people panic, even as he handed out spears to everyone, save for the ones that were running away.

  It wasn't a surprise this time when the portal opened.

  He'd expected it. Each time it had happened, it was the same two fighters, both with short swords waiting for the announcer.

  They were the first to die, cut down by some of the first human-sized demons. The hulking demons at the vanguard didn't even consider them as they stepped out either side.

  The file of demons cleared a path against the token resistance. Even if a few fell, everything behind came up looking for a fight. They just flowed out of the portal, unending.

  If they killed the whole demonic invading force where they stood, then what?

  There had to be better skills he could get. Ludere had heard many times of incredible abilities. People who could summon flames and ice, or even elementals. That would just devastate the demons. Unfortunately for him, all those people were not there.

  Ludere adjusted his grip back up. He needed skills, for this battle would take all of his strength, and then some. He needed time to develop what he had. And if he was stuck inside of a vision developing skills, he could think of worse ways to to do it. He just wished that he didn't need to die each time.

  The gods were precarious. But if there was a god shining upon him that day, then he was going to welcome it.

  This time, he took up arms next to both Erebus and Gia. She understood the importance of the motion, swiftly stepping in with the exact same spear stance.

  "To save time, if this is a vision, you ought to tell us both at the same time," Erebus said.

  That made way too much sense to Ludere. He hoped that he could remember it the next time.

  ---

  They stood on the tenth row from the bottom. It was a common place where you could walk the entire way around the arena without being inside of it. It was the smallest of all of the circular pathways that allowed someone to move around. To their left and right, men formed a line as the demons clambered over the sides of the walls.

  And then they were upon them. Ludere pushed himself to his absolute maximum, each thrust of the spear a measured utilization of the skill that he'd never had before. For the first time it felt like his Skill Swap was teaching him what to do. In the same way that Unarmed Combat wanted him to bring a fight to a close as fast as possible, Spear Proficiency wanted him to aim for the heads and chests of enemies. There was something difficult about getting an enemy in the neck.

  Demons invariably had weird necks that were shorter than a human's, or if they had longer necks, he wasn't sure if piercing it with his spear would do anything. And yes, it was that in the space of five heartbeats, he was able to kill two demons.

  Gia stepped forward, using her momentum to kick a second demon into the oncoming mass. This left a hole in their assault.

  Ludere felt the ping of a skill-up notification, but brushed it to the side.

  The third demon made its way around trying to get past Erebus. Erebus's spear-tip kissed its hard carapace. It wasn't enough to kill the demon, but it pushed him off-balance, and in doing so the red demon stumbled into Ludere's way.

  His spear went through the demon's head, and he reset himself. Gia kicked that one down, as demons below them, trying to climb up, toppled over one another to make their way up. One after another, they attempted to claw past him. After the fifth, he felt another ping and he itched to check.

  The demons were there and in his face. Ludere gave it his all, but he didn't see the hulking demon coming.