21. Basil - The Grind (Patreon)

Chapter 21

The Grind

The next few weeks of War Camp went by faster than should have been possible, the training with cards, source, and matters of tactics and history all rolled into a blur of long days, short nights, and grueling work. However, the time spent was also not without its successes. 

After how dangerous the trip to the Lows with Hull turned out to be, I redoubled my efforts in Life Source cultivation, dedicating every free moment I had to attracting the Source. This ranged from regular care of the small tree in my domicile, which was beginning to send out curious buds, to becoming more aware of the Life around me, whether it was a tiny, buzzing insect I would have normally shooed away, or the scents and sounds of the various staff and workers who populated the fortification. While I continued to abstain from being intimate with my Life instructor – a conversation that lit Esmi’s blouse only slightly afire when I first told her – I did keep meeting with A’cia for daily exercises.

Eventually my efforts bore fruit, and I was able to manifest not one, but two Life source. With that milestone achieved, I immediately began swapping cards for merits with E’lal, as well as looking over what Ky’reen and A’cia had for trade. Their dignified leader, Qi’shen, even promised to show me some cards once I reached three Life source.  

During this time our combat exercise against General Edaine’s seven Spirits of Korikana continued, and after a few more losses, I tried a hybrid approach, still using Equality to clear her troops but with some of my own at the ready: both Carrion Condors and a Master Shieldbearer.

Three Souls on my side meant I only destroyed four of her Spirits, but that still gave my Condors an additional 4 Attack each, their plumage puffing up and their beaks curving wickedly to better tear flesh from bone. 

The giant scales of Equality had only just dissipated, when I sent the large birds swooping after Edaine. She expertly blocked one with her Mythic Shield and took 4 damage past her Armor from the other – stopped, as usual, by sharp-eyed veterans wearing card revealing lenses who cast Protection on her. 

The three remaining Spirits came at me in a tight V with Edaine close behind, her sword flashing in the morning sun. In response, my Master Shieldbearer took up a defensive position directly in front of me, stance wide and shields raised. 

“They shall not touch you,” he intoned in a deep voice and then the attackers were upon him. He moved faster than his heavy armor would seem to allow, stepping one way, then the other, blocking each blade and sword stroke directed at me with his shields. After the third Spirit had struck, the Shieldmaster had taken more damage than he could sustain, but still he persisted, catching Edaine’s sword across his body, before breaking into motes of light. 

I knew he was only behaving as he was Fated to be, but still, after such a brave act, I vowed to thank him the next time he was summoned. Since none of my opponents had Overkill, it was as the Soul had promised: I took no damage in that particular exchange, my equipped Helm and Scalemail unnecessary for the moment. 

I had chosen to focus my sources when casting Equality, so they were already refreshed again, leaving me flush with possibilities. A snap of a Spell bent the back of the Spirit nearest to me, who was already focused, causing an act of devotion. I followed that up with one of my earliest combos, Execution: the dark rift that appeared hung in the air for a single heartbeat before slashing downward, shearing the Soul’s head off.

My Condors fell upon the corpse, gulping down the hollow armor as if it was the finest of meals, both of the birds growing a few more inches. When the felled Spirit finally turned to shards, the Condors half leapt, half flew at Edaine, batting at her with their wings and claws and snapping with their beaks. Like before, she shoved one aside with Korikana’s Shield, but the other had 7 Attack now so did another 5 damage to her.  

Before the General or her Spirits could mount a counterattack, I cast Microburst with the majority of my remaining source. My oversized Condors squawked with glee as a gust even I felt barrelled into them from behind, erasing their usual post combat fatigue and sending them straight back into Edaine, who couldn’t use her Shield again so soon. Without its protection, she took a combined 12 damage past her 2 Armor, which put me at a grand total of 21 damage.

The ‘kill’ had taken me two turns to achieve instead of the one that Esmi and Gerad had managed it in, but when the summoned shields of Protection cleared from around Edaine, she still congratulated me on the feat, in her words, “As efficiently as I had.” This confirmed a sneaking suspicion of mine, that the advisors reported to her the details of our decks. The truth was that I had considered multiple avenues to reach this point, involving no Master Shieldbearer to start and a Protection Spell to stop her counter attack, or sacrificing my Soulforged Helm to eliminate one of the strikes against me. However, the strategy I had settled on left me with more cards and source available to use, letting me stay more flexible, just as Griff had advised. 

It felt quite good to be commended for my calculations, doubly so when General Edaine gave the first five of us to defeat her in two turns or less an extra merit each; I knew exactly how I’d be spending it: three Feral Strengths from E’lal to start my Life collection. 

The other two who accomplished the deed were Afi and Wenden. Afi it turned out was using a combination of Water and Order, Water heavy. She entered the practice square with a pair of Souls summoned, both Epics, so either could have been the one she had been waiting for.  

The first was of a race that was rarely seen: a snake-like humanoid called a nüwani. Despite their secretive nature, their skills with bladed weapons was practically legendary, so much so in fact that, as a child, I remembered my brother Randel saying he would find a nüwani teacher whenever Gale bested him with sparring swords. The memory gave me pause and a twinge of longing. Randel was the only one in my immediate family who wasn’t actively working against me. What would he say if I told him that I had finally seen one of the serpent-peoples’ Souls?

  The card’s stat values and abilities were certainly impressive, and the power of the race was evidenced by the fact that a mere ‘warrior’ of theirs was considered Epic. 

The other Soul on display was just as strong as the first, if not moreso, due to its flexibility. It also represented a branch of Water that my mother’s cards hadn’t explored at all: mimicry. 

It was obvious Afi planned to have the Mirror Knight copy the Nüwani Warrior, but Flurry only allowed a second attack against the same target so was rather useless against the spread of Spirits. 

Afi, however, surprised me by casting a Water Spell on the Warrior that I was unfamiliar with: Submerge.  

On its heels, she Summoned another Spell from her hand, Mirror Cast, which let her copy Submerge onto the Mirror Knight. 

Both of the Souls sunk into the ground, as if the training space was made of a thick fluid instead of solid steel, the pair disappearing from sight. Afi then used the remainder of her Source to cast a Spell I hadn’t seen since I last looked in mother’s grimoire. 

A massive rush of water crashed into existence within the practice area, catching the seven Spirits up and whipping them around before sucking them downward into the giant, conjured whirlpool. When the water cleared, the only remains were a few glittering shards but those, too, quickly vanished from sight, twinkling in the sun and then fading away. 

With the wall of defenders gone, Afi gestured, and her two Souls rose up, untouched by the flash flood that had raged above them moments ago. At a second command from her, they charged forward, and I noticed that the Mirror Knight stuck close to the nüwani, its armor somehow pulling the reflection of the snake warrior over all of its surfaces. A glance at Afi showed me that the last of her Water Source had been used, undoubtedly to trigger the Mirror Knight’s two copy abilities.  

When the nüwani reached its target, it slowed, stalking around the general with measured, deliberate steps, before suddenly lashing out. Its scaled arm flowed so fluidly forward, back, and then forward again, it seemed as if the two sword strikes it had just made were part of a singular, lighting-quick movement. Like a silver shadow, the much bulkier Mirror Knight managed to perfectly recreate the attack, one stab of its sword followed impossibly fast by the next. 

Edaine’s Armor was useless against the Precision both Souls now possessed, their blades slipping through cracks and joints with perfectly executed strikes. With Flurry and each attack doing 6 damage, Edaine would have been finished if not for her Shield’s ability to stop one of the four strikes. Even so, two big Protections had to be cast on her to absorb the shocking 18 damage she sustained in a single round of combat. 

With the Spirits cleared, Edaine nearly ‘killed’, and Afi’s Epics able to attack again on the next turn, the general called it there. I had to admit to being impressed. Technically, if it had gone to completion, it would have taken Afi the same amount of time as it had me, two turns. Yet, she’d accomplished the feat with 5 cards, likely 6 if Edaine had attacked back, while I had required 7.   

After my recent win, being among the top three in Camp had seemed within reach, at least where the practical exercises were concerned. But now I knew better: Afi was someone I was going to need to keep my eye on, and not just because I wanted to memorize every fascinating card she possessed to add to my mental catalog. 

Wenden’s day of success came when he arrived with no less than a dozen Watchmen Souls in tow.

The only way he could have broken the 3 duplicate maximum set by the Twins was by having a token generator, namely the City Watch Precinct I had observed from his group previously. 

 Looking around, I didn’t spot one set up, but Wenden must have had it nearby and he must have been up early to get the tokens ready for this moment. The preparation turned out to be time well spent, because with a monstrous 12 Attack each, they easily overran the seven Spirits of Korikana they were up against, as well as Edaine’s defenses. Seeing mere Watchman so enhanced, a shimmer of whitish-yellow light rippling off of their bodies like a haze, was quite something, but I also discovered that there was a limit to how intimidating Souls with 2 health could be to me – for all their power, I kept imagining a single Rockslide sweeping them all away. 

Since the Paladin trainees used identical decks, the other two – Anya, and Patyr, a reserved boy who seemed to talk only to pray – were able to recreate the feat later that very afternoon. This helped me recognize a major strength of shared builds I hadn’t quite internalized before: effective tactics could quickly and seamlessly be adopted by others in the group. How much faster would I be able to streamline my own deck, for instance, if Esmi and Hull were using the same cards? I didn’t have enough copies to make something like that a reality, but still, it was an interesting thought experiment. 

When it was over, General Edaine congratulated all three trainees on their battle-preparedness, and it was the day after this that the elves finally began to make proper headway. 

The first to do so was Ky’reen, who entered the practice area in her werewolf state. However, she was no regular were today; she stood some ten feet tall with antlers sprouting out of her head, giving her an extra few feet of height, and green tattoos glowed from underneath her bone-colored fur, criss crossing her body in intricate patterns. Using my Soul ability, I could see that she was not only enhanced by triple Feral Strengths and a Sharp Eyes but also an Inevitable Evolution and Wild Ascension Spells. 

“E’lal must have cast them on her,” I whispered to Esmi. “In preparation.” 

Esmi was seeing the same thing I was through the eyewear Edaine had gifted us all. “You’re quite right,” she murmured at my side. “It looks like they’re starting to take the General’s teachings to heart.”

Ky’reen had not entered alone. Today, she was using a full complement of Wolf-Kin turned wolves, Bear-Kin turned bears, and Timber Wolves loping along with them.

When Ky’reen and her pack attacked, I thought the Spirits of Korikana would be swept away as easily as they had been by the Whirlpool, but then I remembered that Edaine could use the same tactic she had against an enhanced E’lal: simply block Ky’reen’s large attack with her Shield. The were-elf, however, must have realized the same because she used the Hunt her wolf form gave her to single out a Spirit instead. With flashing claws tinged in green tattoo work, she did an immense 15 damage to the summoned token she faced, sending it flying backward. The strike had Overkill and had ignored Armor due to Precision, so when the body slammed into Edaine, there was still 12 damage left to stop, which the general did, as I expected, using her shield. 

Against the Life Souls, Edaine tried to spread out her troops, but Ky’reen effectively stopped their use of Unit by Hunting three others with her Werewolves. This left just three more Spirits to block the three Werebears, each with a Timber Wolf sprinting at its side, but the Werebear’s Terror made it to where only one of them could be stopped. So, two bellowing Werebears and two fierce-eyed Timber Wolves made it to Edaine. Not only that, but when they struck, I discovered that the Werebears had Feral Strength cast on them, too! 

“Did you see that?” I said pointing at the exchange. “The maximum can be broken through supportive summoning!” That had to be the explanation: E’lal and Ky’reen had used their three copies of the Spell each, but all on Ky’reen’s forces. 

“Or she employed her Source Powered Healing to get the Spell back faster,” Esmi replied.

I gave my fiancee an impressed look. “Excellent point. I hadn’t even considered it.” Then I kissed her on the cheek for being amazing and making my life ever richer.

The added enhancement, however it had been achieved, meant that Edaine took 14 points worth of bear claw and wolf teeth related damage, minus 2 for her Armor – shields of Protection briefly mushrooming up around her. As for Souls, Edaine had lost three and so had the elf: a Werewolf who had fought two Spirits of Korikana, as well as a Werebear and Timber Wolf who had also faced two of the powerful tokens. Additionally, Ky’reen’s forces were all focused, the Souls dead-eyed for a moment as they recovered, but the General didn’t exploit the weakness by attacking. I had my guesses as to why: any Spirits would instantly be destroyed by the elf’s monstrous form, and if Edaine herself charged in, using her Shield for protection, she wouldn’t have the Relic’s effect available when Ky’reen next attacked. 

The General did, however, let that attack go through, I assumed to make sure the were-elf knew how to finish the job. Just as before, Ky’reen targeted three of the Spirits with Hunt from herself and two Werewolves, locking them down, so only one remained to block the two Werebears, which it couldn’t do because of their Terror. Ky’reen’s Overkill forced the use of the Shield again, and the enhanced Werebears plus Timber Wolves struck for 12 past Armor a second time, ending the exercise. 

Throughout the match, I noticed that Ky’reen didn’t seem able to use cards while transformed, but source had dimmed over her furry, antlered head at key moments, so pay abilities and such apparently weren’t off the table. Could such a thing be useful to me? I wondered. Surely it would require my personal Soul card to upgrade in the direction of Life, which wouldn’t be near as quick as gathering a new source. But if a defensive form existed, perhaps some sort of were-turtle, I would certainly consider it.

When Edaine removed the helmet from her head, there was a wide smile gracing her face, and she offered heartfelt praise to the elves for finding a way to make their interconnected decks work when only one of them was afield.

Like the paladin trainees, E’lal and A’cia were able to achieve similar results with Souls on loan from Ky’reen. They couldn’t shift into a werewolf with Hunt themselves like Ky’reen had, nor did they have quite as much personal attack power, but they could almost match those elements by casting Subtle Scenting on themselves.

Along with using Ambidextrous and E’lal’s swords. 

In one of our cultivation sessions, A’cia had told me that she had never struck anyone before, but enhanced by Spells and carrying Fated weapons, she felled Spirits just as effectively as anyone else before her, an apt example of precisely how transformative – and terrifying – the powers were that the Twins had decided to bless us with.   

In comparison, the Deepkin never made such sweeping changes to their plays. Despite coaching, urging, and eventual cajoling from Edaine, they merely altered the order in which they Summoned their Common Earth cards. Of course, such minimal alterations didn’t change their outcomes, but that seemed to bother them not at all, though I did start to see a tick in Edaine’s jaw that I was sure hadn’t been there previously. 

As for Hull, while he had performed marvelously in the heat of actual battle in the Lows – his use of Sucking Void on me had been inspired – without a large number of Souls, blanket removal Spells, or a way to bypass defenders, he struggled against General Edaine’s Armor and Resist heavy build. On an early go, he tried blasting her directly with two Unstable Rifts cast together, which did an impressive 8 damage past her Helm’s Resist.   

Then, with his pre-charged Talisman, he sent a second wave of equally potent energy at her, but this one she casually batted aside with her Shield, causing the bolt of red and purple power to ricochet into the ground, ripping a fist-sized hole in the metal floor. 

At that point, he had little hope of defeating her in a turn or two, but Hull went ahead and used the self-damage from the two Marauders he had held back, as well as his Iron Maiden Plate, funneled through his Talisman, to do a final 7 damage in the form of a burning ray that exploded from the Relic of Spite and shot straight at Ediane, fizzling down to 5 on contact due to her Helm again.

It was a respectable 13 damage in total, but with his Spells gone, her Mythic Shield able to stop any future Talisman blasts, and all the General’s Spirits forming a wall against his Souls, the match was called.  

On another try, Hull used the Unstable Rifts on the Spirits instead, destroying four of them with two Spells and the echoes of those casts created by the Talisman. He followed up by charging in, along with most of his Souls, and was able to get her down to low single digits after two turns of attacking. However, Edaine wasn’t willing to count a third turn kill because she said by then an opponent would have undoubtedly recovered enough from the initial exchanges to start replenishing their forces. 

Hull finally did manage to take her out along with her Spirits a time after that, but he had to put his Spell Drinker on the field to do it, which only left two cards in his Mind Home – the Runic Cloak I had given him and his Hammer – a number that Edaine was less than enthused about. 

I knew that Hull would be having a much easier go of it if he had his Epic Night Terror, but as far as I was aware, it was still out doing its gruesome work along with that brutish woman Hull had spared. 

That was an evening I would not soon forget, especially the young urchins who had come to our aid. I had always known the Lows was a lawless place, but seeing and experiencing it firsthand was another thing entirely. It had been beyond my worst imaginings, and the thought that some children were forced to grow up in such a dangerous, unclean, and foul place, just as Hull had, made me wish I was king already so I could change all their lives for the better.

I suspected that Hull had similar motivations driving him because even with his failures stacking up, he didn’t complain or lose his temper. Instead, his newly bronze-flecked eyes stayed determined, and when it looked like his frustration might boil over, he rubbed that smooth stone he had become fond until he regained his composure.  

When we weren’t having exercises with Edaine, we got to know our history professor, Castoba, a fellow with the oddest manner of speech I had ever encountered. who it turned out had been trapped in a transport box card for near 200 years. We had a myriad of questions for him once that intriguing detail was revealed, but the answer that gave us all the most pause was the revelation that the Sun King had been known even back then as one of the few living Mythic Humans. Apparently, his rarity had led to him gaining followers by the score, and he had turned that support into the foundation that had eventually become Treledyne. 

To hear how much the later stages of elevation extended ones’ lifespan was sobering, and made me realize that even if I hadn’t planned to advance myself for matters of leadership, with Esmi progressing as quickly as she was, it would be my husbandly duty to at least match her, just to be sure that she didn’t have to spend her winter years alone!

The next week, even though everyone had yet to complete the first exercise, Edaine deemed it time for us to all move onto the second she had planned. To my surprise, and delight, it turned out to be against Griff! He gave everyone a shock – including me to a degree – by actually having Chaos Source and cards. Edaine couched it in the “know thy enemy” part of our training, but many treated him like my brother Gale had, with indirect – if not outright – disdain. 

Their opinion of him didn’t improve any when, upon entering the practice square, he attacked right away, forcing even faster sources like Esmi’s onto the defensive. 

His Summons weren’t fancy, just six Souls and half a dozen source overhead. It was all eerily familiar to me, from the dripping, blood red balls of Chaos to the bulky and fearsome Orc Warrior and the towering Half Giant, standing even a few feet taller than when the elves had used Wild Ascension.  

Six Souls may not have been that threatening, even when attacking, but Griff also possessed a single Spell, Challenge – another Chaos card I recognized from my fight with Ticosi – which he used with surgical precision to remove key blockers. 

He also employed his Chaos Source Power to force us to discard, and having twisting red energies ripping cards out of our hands at random many found disconcerting, throwing off their plans and distracting them long enough that their defenses suffered. This inevitably led to them taking damage in one way or another, but there was no true danger because the bespectacled veterans had switched their casts of Protection from Edaine onto us. 

Fortunately for me, by the time we were facing Griff, I already had some Life Source and my defenses mostly set, what he and I liked to call my “wall.” The primary components of it were my Master Assassin with Flawless Footwork, giving him Wide, and a Master Shieldbearer with its own buffs.  

Since Stealth stopped Griff from targeting my Master Assassin with his Challenge Spell, he directed it at my Shieldmaster instead. I didn’t mind; with three Feral Strengths, the Soul had 8 health in addition to its regular Armor of 2. The Spell slammed a Half Giant into my bodyguard, the large creature striking the armored Soul with a meaty fist. The Master Shieldbearer used both shields to block, but such was the strength of the attack, his Armor was insufficient to stop it all, the gleaming bronze he wore crushing inward. He didn’t go down though; in fact, he struck back, shoving the fist from his chest with one shield and then leaping into the air to strike the Half Giant in the throat with the other. The edge of the shield wasn’t sharp, but empowered by those three Feral Strengths, the Shieldmaster managed to shove the metal into its neck, causing blood to flow and the Chaos Soul to nearly be destroyed. 

The other two Half Giants were charging my way, but my Master Assassin flitted side-to-side, nicking them in the ankles before they knew he was there. A few long steps later they had both collapsed, black foam frothing their mouths. Two Carrion Condors swooped down from on high, blocking and killing two of the Orc Warriors and then feasting on each other’s kill. My already injured bodyguard took on the wounded Half Giant and the remaining Orc Warrior. He still had 5 health remaining, so could have survived if struck again, but at my command, he Dodged the Half Giant’s second swing using the Fluid Grace I had cast on him earlier. 

The Orc Warrior’s spear glanced off of his Armor harmlessly, and then the Shieldmaster Spun like a top, crushing the warrior’s face in with one shield and then tripping the off balance Half Giant with his other. The massive Chaos Soul slammed into the ground with a crash, and the Master Shieldbearer brought the edges of both shields down on its already ragged neck, severing it completely this time, and giving my Carrion Condors yet another meal. 

In summation, I had destroyed every enemy Soul while losing none of my own, powering up my Condors by 5 each, and taking no damage personally. 

Edaine declared it an immediate victory and gave me five merits for being the first to clear the challenge. 

While I basked in the achievement, my Campmates scrambled to alter their decks, especially the ones that usually relied on offense. Esmi, for instance, switched to entering with seven kobolds. This way she could lose one to Challenge and still block all the attackers with the rest. Then, she resurrected her destroyed forces with From the Ashes, so she ended with the same number of kobolds as when she had started.

Hull, on the other hand, stepped into the practice area with Sucking Void on and tanked everything without batting an eye. Having been cocooned in the midnight skin myself, I was still impressed by his ability to look on so impassively as six fearsome Souls battered away at him. He even had the gall to yawn, which Griff hissed a laugh about. 

The necessary adjustments ended up being fairly fast for most, so after just a few days, Griff left us and we were on to the next layer of our training, which was a return to facing Edaine. This turned out to easily be the hardest of the exercises she had put us through because she combined the aggressive tactics that Griff had employed with hundreds of Spirits of Korikana at her back – the token summons crowding her half of the field and spilling well over. 

Worse, the moment anyone stepped up against her, she immediately cast a Legendary Tactic on them. 

Against most of us, the Spell instantly won her the match, because even if we pre-summoned every Soul we had, there was no way for us to get anywhere near to her numbers. The paladin trainees tried valiantly, but because the tokens they generated were only Common compared to Edaine’s Mythic, they stayed summoned for at most an hour, so they could never build up enough to match her.

I certainly failed to withstand her sea of Spirits, and to the surprise of many, Esmi lost just as thoroughly and as frequently as the rest of us. The only ones who showed a glimmer of hope were Hull with his Spell Drinker and Gerad with Kitsanya because both could stop the Legendary Spell. 

However, that did nothing to stop the half-brothers from getting overrun by the attacking Souls immediately after. Hull lasted the longest of course, due to his Sucking Void, but he barely put a dent in her forces even with three turns of invulnerability.

Esmi and I spent quite a few evenings brainstorming how to overcome the newest hurdle that had been presented to us but it wasn’t until I was up late one night, talking idly to our maple tree while E’lal slumbered nearby that inspiration struck; I had run out of new topics to discuss and so was recounting past lessons, namely things that Edaine had congratulated us on, such as battle preparedness.  

The next day I awoke before the sun had risen and went straight to the practice area. My only companion was the fading moon, but that was as I had hoped, and I began pulling and sorting my Source and Summons to create the ideal opening hand. 

By the time Edaine arrived with her army at her back, my stomach was rumbling, desperately wanting breakfast, but I didn’t budge. She stayed outside the practice box and gave me a nod I couldn’t discern the meaning of with her helmet obscuring her features. Then she tucked her gauntleted hands into her belt and waited. I stood there sweating, wondering if I had made the right call or not, until my Campmates finally filtered into the area from the Mess Hall or the free standing latrines. As the veterans and them took up positions beside the practice box, they gave us odd looks, me within the training area and Edaine outside of it. 

When the last had arrived, the general declared, “Fate guide and Fortune protect us so that we may end the day wiser, stronger, and closer to our true purpose than when it began,” as was her usual mantra.   

She then took a step, entering the training square, flanked by dozens of Spirits, and fast as I could, I cast Equality. I had never tried using the Spell in a non-defined space before, and I worried that the bulk of the Souls I faced would be excluded from its area of effect. However, I also didn’t dare wait, lest she have the chance to cast her own finisher Spell first. 

The scales that rose up were the biggest I had ever seen, the enormous metal pans passing harmlessly through the surrounding buildings, the watchers, me, and Ediane, but lifting every single Spirit up on one side, so many in total I thought they’d spill off the sides. They didn’t though, staying packed together, even when the pan that held them came crashing to the ground with a gong so loud I was sure it would wake everyone in the camp who hadn’t already risen. 

The collection of Spirits of Korikana broke apart in a cloud of motes so thick I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had risen up into the air and become a glittering stormcloud. The massive scales vanished too, as it always did, leaving Edaine and me facing off alone. I already had my own Helmet and Scalemail on, but I immediately summoned a Master Shieldbearer with my remaining Source in case she decided to charge me with her sword as she had in the past. To my shock, she started clapping, slow and rhythmic, crossing her way over to me. When she was a body length away she halted, arms moving to her armored hips. 

“Well done, Basil. It’s not just preparedness that can win the day but positioning. You take and hold the ground you wish to fight on. By choosing the battlefield, you set the conditions of the exchange.” She turned on her heels, facing the rest of the group. “In each exercise so far you have come to us, but going where the enemy wishes can often have deadly consequences. Whenever possible, make every effort to be the one who decides where the fight takes place and when. Not only will this let you strike first more often but the terrain you’ve chosen can have an effect on Summons.” A few students mumbled over this revelation, and I shared a knowing look with Esmi. We had spoken at great length about what had happened when I tried unsuccessfully to summon a Soul too large for a small room when fighting Ticosi, or how that same cramped space had given one of the slumlord’s cards Wide while removing Flying from my Condor! “We will explore such concepts more in the future,” Edaine assured the worried sounding among us, “but for now, suffice it to say, ‘Do not just strike first. Strike where you wish, on your terms, not your enemy’s.’ Rarely will they have your best interest at heart.” This got a light chuckle from the group, particularly the Deepkin, oddly enough. I just couldn’t put my finger on what to make of them. For all they shirked these exercises, they haggled with a fury at the trading booths I could respect, and were pleasant enough companions during meals. “As for you,” Ediane said, and I realized with belated embarrassment that she was speaking to me once more. “Congratulations on yet another first. This time you have earned a free card upgrade from our smiths that you may use on any Rare or lesser.” 

I was sure my eyes were bulging as the general yet again switched her focus back to the others. A free upgrade? Those were considerably more expensive than card purchases, which was one of the primary reasons why I had refrained from indulging in them so far, despite my ability. But if there was no charge… I could have a Condor that benefited from the destruction of any Soul, or an Equality that equalized Source or Decks, or a Master Shieldbearer with a cycling Dying Breath ability or one who could Summon after blocking from hand like Hilbrand, or –

“Congratulations are also in order for the rest of you. Barring a few exceptions,” – breaking away from my fantasizing, I thought Edaine might single out the dwarves but she pointedly did not – “you have completed the initial exercises I had planned for you and it is time for us to move onto something we have discussed previously: two on two, paired fights.”

“That’s it?” Gerad asked, his voice rather loud. Looking at him, I could tell he was wrestling to keep an even larger outburst in check. “We won’t get to face your army again? It’s just… over?” 

I noticed that Afi looked piqued as well. I had no doubts that she was thinking that she could have done the exact same thing I had but with her Whirlpool. 

Edaine considered the prince a moment before responding. “For the current exercise there would be little point in continuing it now that you know the lesson it is designed to teach. Take the energy your emotions are giving you and direct them toward your next challenge. The same goes to any who are experiencing a sense of troubling incompleteness because you are not standing where Basil is now,” she added, looking around. “And, Basil...”  

I stood up straighter; I hadn’t expected her to address me a third time. “Yes, General?”

“I would have preferred for you to have attacked me at a time of your own choosing.”

What? We were allowed to do that???

“However, you managed to nullify my forces in your own way, and this is the second exercise you have been the first to defeat. Because of that, I will grant you the opportunity to pick your partner for the paired duels.”

This was a different sort of prize entirely, but undoubtedly still quite useful. My eyes darted first to my fiancee and then slid over to Hull. He met my gaze uncomfortably, jerking his shoulders as if he didn’t care, but when I turned back to Esmi, I saw him slump just a touch. I was quite torn – not to mention irked that I hadn’t thought to simply attack Edaine one evening on the way to dinner – but my fiancee, wondrous woman that she was, gave me a smile and a knowing nod that I was supremely grateful for.

“I choose Hull,” I said, causing murmurs from those who were aware of my engagement to Esmi, but none looked more shocked than Hull did, his jaw slack and face etched with disbelief. Seeing him so off balance made the choice doubly worth it; what I would pay to have that expression trapped on a card. 

“Very well,” Edaine said. “I’ll post the rest of your pairings tonight at dinner. For now, you may have a brief rest as I gather your advisors for an earlier than planned session.”

She left, letting the rest of us mill in conversation of which there was plenty. 

Hull stomped up to me right away. “Why’d you do that?’ he asked, already on the defensive. 

“I wasn’t about to make the same mistake as we did with our rooms,” I joked. His expression didn’t ease, so I threw my arm over his shoulders companionably – a gesture I felt much more comfortable with after my Life training. “Why wouldn’t I? We lived through much worse together in the Lows and this next exercise will give us the opportunity to refine our teamwork. After all, if we’re going to reach the top, much easier to do so together. Don’t you agree?”

He hesitated as if he might argue and then I felt his muscles loosen, an honest grin beginning to take shape. “Fine with me, Hintal, but don’t bring trouble ‘round my way if this puts Esmi in a twist.”

“I think we have little to worry about on that count,” I half whispered. “She can probably rout the majority of us with no partner at all.”

“Probably,” Hull agreed with a snort. 

“As for the rest…”

Hull shifted his gaze to where Gerad stood off to the side; the prince had his nose wrinkled as he surveyed his potential partners with unveiled disgust. “We’re going to have some fun for a change.”

My smile grew to match my friend’s. “Count me in.”