After we brought Farvad, the old gnome alchemist we'd met in the mining town of Galden, to Light's Hope Temple, we finally had time to enjoy some well-earned rest. And by rest, I meant three straight months of training under the brutal weapons master of the temple, Renard.

  "Go!" The old dwarf's voice somehow echoed around the wide courtyard.

  Lifting my wooden training sword high above my head, I swung it with all my might at Vral's head. The goblin darted around the attack and thrust her wooden short sword at my throat, but I twisted to the side, avoiding it. I pivoted and brought my sword down across her back, hitting her so hard she lost her balance. As she fell forward, she slashed my ankles in a sweep kick maneuver, sending me sprawling.

  Pain exploded in my back, and I fought to keep myself from gasping for air. Vral jumped on my chest, raising her wooden blade above her head, but before she could bring it down, I punched her right in the chest.

  "Ow!" She yelped and brought the practice sword down on my collarbone, but before it hit, I used my new skill.

  [Iron Skin]

  I felt my skin stiffen just as the wooden blade struck me. The wooden blade glanced off my hardened skin and dug into the dirt. Wrapping my arm around hers, I threw my hip up and rolled on top of her. I placed the tip of my sword on her chest, careful to keep the pressure light enough that it didn't hurt her but firm enough that she knew I'd won. Panting, I looked down at her. She looked up at me with her big red eyes, her chest rising and falling rapidly beneath me.

  I offered her a grin. "Looks like I finally beat you." I removed my sword and climbed off her. Once I was back on my feet, I reached down to offer her a hand, but before I could react, she swept her legs at mine, knocking me down onto my back. She flipped onto my waist and pressed the tip of her practice dagger to my chin.

  "I win!" She smirked down at me.

  "Nice one, Vral." I laughed and put my hand to her dagger. "Do it."

  Pulling the dagger back, she stabbed the blade forward, straight into my throat.

  [Iron Skin]

  The wooden dagger broke in half against my throat. Laughing, I raised my practice sword and swung it lazily at Vral's neck. She ducked out of the way. The broken end of the practice dagger flew at my face and struck me right between the eyes just as my skill wore off.

  "Sonofa—" I groaned and grabbed my forehead.

  "I win again!" Vral laughed and jumped away as I kicked at her. She retrieved both of her swords from the dirt and readied herself.

  "Not bad, boy. Not bad at all." Renard's voice boomed across the yard. "But the goblin's right. You're too soft. Don't lose the advantage, and don't underestimate a threat. You had that one. Be better."

  I got to my feet as Vral danced around, pointing playfully at me. "Yes, sir."

  Since we'd gotten back to the temple and finished our first quest, every day was the same. Breakfast, then a few hours of physical conditioning and forms. After that, we did stretches to make sure we stayed loose, followed by lunch. The afternoon usually consisted of another round of conditioning, then hours and hours of sparring and practical combat training, followed by dinner and meditation.

  I wouldn't trade it for anything.

  Back when I'd first come to the Reial and trained at the temple, I could barely push myself for a few hours at a time, and even that had been torture. However, after gaining a class and leveling some, I was able to handle far more punishment. And, through my hard work, I was able to gain a few levels and learned the skill [Iron Skin]. With it, for a few seconds, my skin became as hard as steel. That was fun.

  Vral trained with me every day, but Tristan switched between training and her duties in the temple. Some nearby villages had been burned to the ground, and many of the villagers had found their way to the temple over the past few weeks. Because of this, Tristan's presence was greatly appreciated by Lady Varga and the other priests. Importantly for our little team, she'd also gained several levels performing her duties, so it was win-win.

  In the meantime, Renard had also given me plenty of tips on how to fight and use my skills better. Under his instruction, I managed to improve several of my skills. It was great knowing I was getting stronger, and it definitely made sparring against Vral more fun. The entire first week had consisted of her kicking the shit out of me, but by this point, I'd been catching up to the little devil. Still, I hadn't won a single round yet.

  "You two," Renard said. "Reset!"

  Grabbing our wooden weapons, Vral and I rushed back to opposite sides of the ring, ready to start again.

  "On my mark!" He shouted, drawing out his words dramatically.

  Vral and I eyed one another. She had her characteristic smirk painted on her face. We both knew she was better than me, but that didn't mean I was going to make it easy. One day, I'd wipe that smirk off her face. With that thought in mind, I grinned at her and gave her a wink. Her face flushed, and she bared her little fangs.

  "Go!" Renard screamed as soon as his hand dropped.

  Instantly, I launched a flurry of slahes at the green devil in front of me, which she easily deflected. A low sweep of her blades nearly caught my leg, but I lowered my shield in time. Her blows sent vibrations up my arms and nearly threw my shield from my arm. Instead of pushing forward, I went with the force and rolled backward. Coming up from a crouched position, she was already on me. I swung my sword at her head, forcing her to duck, and slammed my shield into her.

  "Oof!" She grunted. "Not bad!"

  She spun under my attack. While she twirled around, she flicked her short swords in a whirlwind motion, slashing at me from every angle. The blades were too fast to stop.

  [Iron Skin]

  One of the blades caught my arm just before it would have been a point.

  "Coward!" She hissed at me while stabbing the second sword into my shin. Luckily, the skill held long enough to deflect it, too.

  Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

  "Using abilities ain't cowardly!" I said as I stood and threw my foot forward, trying to bait a retaliation. She hesitated, and I lunged, but she danced away just out of reach before I could hit her.

  "They're cheap! You should fight with your own skills, not those lame powers." She twirled both swords. "Real fighters rely on themselves."

  "I thought you said you should use everything to your advantage in a fight?"

  "Everything but those stupid skills!"

  "Just because you don't have any..."

  She snarled and leapt into the air, spinning and striking me across the shield. Before I could move, she fell to the ground and struck under my shield, stabbing both wooden swords into my stomach. I felt the air rush out of my lungs under the force of her strikes and doubled over. With a flourish, she pretended to disembowel me, spun on her heels, and dropped to one knee.

  "See? Cheap tricks." She stood and bowed to the other students, most of whom weren't paying much attention to us.

  Once I caught my breath, I laughed and walked up to her. Patting her shoulder, I said, "good job, Vral. You win again."

  'You're damn right I did." She smirked up at me, but it faded a little as she spoke. "You did well that time. You're getting better."

  "He is. And you're getting too cocky, Slasher. You ought to train more seriously, or you'll fall behind."

  "I let him think he was gonna win. He's still got a long way to go before he'll catch up to me."

  Renard shook his head.

  Once we'd begun training with one another, I'd been shocked to learn that Vral didn't have any class skills. Apparently, they were rather rare among the goblins. They'd been footsoldiers of some being called the Dark One in the past and had only recently been accepted as civilized people. For that reason, the Goddess's system seemed to be reluctant to grant them heroic classes, and there were only a few such goblins in history who had them. Instead, like everyone else, she only had a racial class, which she'd pushed to its limit. However, there were diminishing returns without access to heroic class or professions, and she'd reached that point. So Tristan and I decided we'd help her try to obtain a heroic class, no matter what it took.

  Looking down at my little friend, I smiled. "Another round?"

  "Only if you're ready to lose again."

  "I beg to differ," I countered, readying my stance.

  "Then beg," she spat back and charged.

  She jumped into the air and drove both feet into my chest, catching me by surprise. However, my greater size allowed me to remain standing, and I caught her by her green foot while she was airborne.

  Using her momentum, I spun her around and flung her through the air. She flipped head over heels three times before crashing to the ground on her stomach. In a flash, she somersaulted back to her feet and leaped over my sword. I heard her land behind me, so I blindly kicked backward. Luckily, I caught her in the back. Spinning around before she could recover, I saw her stumbling forward.

  [Provoke]

  Her head whipped around to face me, throwing her further off balance. Rushing forward, I slammed my shield into her chest, throwing her to her back. Before she could scramble up, I dropped down onto her chest and slid my practice sword under her neck. This time, I added pressure until she cried out and raised her hands in surrender.

  "Okay, okay, you got me!" She shouted. "Knock it off, you damn brute."

  This time, I didn't move. Instead, I kept the pressure on her neck. She hadn't dropped her swords. "Drop them."

  "I'm not gonna do anythi—"

  Her words cut off as I pressed my practice sword into her neck. Only then did she let go of her swords.

  As soon as her weapons fell, I rolled off of her. With a shout, I raised my sword into the air. "I won!"

  A few stray claps greeted me from the other recruits scattered throughout the field, but they felt better than a colosseum worth of applause. Soaking it in, I looked up at Renard, who nodded to acknowledge the victory, though his dark eyes were glued to the goblin. Vral sat up and rubbed her neck where my blade had left bruises.

  Looking down at Vral, I noticed she was staring at me. With a smile, I held my hand out to her. A flash of our first fight entered my mind. How far we'd come since that night in the tunnels. It really drove home that my life was changing.

  "Take my hand."

  "I..." Her eyes were transfixed on it.

  I watched her closely. Her brow was furrowed, and her red eyes uncharacteristically unsure. Why? The green skin of her face was flushed as well. For a long moment, she merely gazed at my outstretched hand. She seemed to be working through something in her head. I expected she'd swat it away like the first time I'd beaten her, or maybe she was thinking of a way to beat me, but this time, after several moments, she spoke.

  "Are you sure?" Her voice was soft.

  "Of course! Take my hand, you silly woman."

  Her eyes widened. "What about Tristan? What would she think?"

  "Tristan would offer her hand too."

  "Really?" Her lip quivered.

  What was happening?

  "I can't possibly..."

  "Of course you can. You're with us now." Was her life so barren of friendship that no one had ever helped her up before?

  Reaching out with her small hand, Vral gingerly wrapped her fingers around mine. Carefully, I helped her stand. Though she didn't smile at first, she stepped to me and wrapped her arms around my waist once she was on her feet. It only took a second for me to reciprocate her embrace. "Thanks," she mumbled in my stomach.

  "For?"

  "Everything." She hugged me tighter.

  "That's what friends do."

  A quiet sob escaped her lips, and she trembled in my arms.

  It seemed she had more emotional demons buried within than I'd expected. I wanted to ask her what was going through her head, but as much as I wanted to pry, this wasn't the place for such things. Instead, I squeezed her harder.

  The crunch of a boot told me someone had come close. Renard's gruff voice sounded behind me. "You're going to have your hands full, boy." I could hear the wry smile in his tone. He didn't usually sound so sincere.

  "What do you mean?"

  Renard chuckled, then broke out laughing. I'd never heard the old man laugh so hard. Stepping around me, he wiped away a tear and patted my cheek. He was being weird. "Do you know what you just did?"

  "Helped Vral up?"

  "You may want to meet with Arden tonight." His eyes were twinkling. They never twinkled. Why was he twinkling?

  I looked down at Vral, but her face was still buried in my stomach. She must be embarrassed. That made sense. She'd never lost a fight against me before... at least without me being juiced up on one of Farvad's dubious concoctions.

  "Okay, sounds good. Will do."

  "Alex! Vral!" A lovely voice behind me told me my favorite person was finally let off work. I turned to see the beautiful Tristan jogging to us. A moment later, her lips were pressed to mine.

  "You finally made it." I nipped her ear and pulled her close.

  "I wouldn't miss it for anything." Her sapphire eyes were filled with nothing but love. Turning downward, she smiled at our little friend. "Vral? Are you alright?"

  "She's just upset I won today. Not used to losing yet." I kissed Tristan's nose.

  "You won?" Her face split into a giant smile. She planted kisses all over my face before turning back to Vral. "About time!"

  Vral's head shot upward. "I let him win!"

  Tristan knelt down and cupped Vral's cheeks and kissed her forehead. "I'm sure he just got lucky is all. You're the mightiest little murder machine this side of the Saern."

  That seemed to perk the little goblin up. Her head nearly doubled in size. "Go on."

  "Saint Vral, great protector of the guardian Alex. Saint Vral, loyal friend of the priestess Tristan," the quarter-elf girl cooed.

  The goblin jumped out from my arms and took a fighting stance. Holding her swords up high, she posed triumphantly. "All kneel before the mighty Saint Vral! Tamer of beasts. Vanquisher of warriors! Receiver of light! Taker of hands!"

  I laughed as Tristan continued calling Vral increasingly silly names and titles. I loved seeing these girls happy. It warmed my heart to see how close they'd gotten.

  "Why aren't you two training?" Renard stomped up to us. "Tristan, you're getting flabby. It's time to train."

  "Flabby?!" Tristan's cheeks puffed up, and her eyes were fire.

  "You're perfect." I kissed her cheek, but that hardly quelled the fire inside her. I meant it, though. Since we'd returned to the temple, she'd refused to don her old brown robes again. Instead, she wore comfortable tunics and form-fitting pants and often left her hair braided, which exposed her long, slender neck. Something I'd taken a particular liking to. Definitely didn't know I was a neck guy. And, despite the relaxed training regimen and cushier lifestyle, she was looking more fit and gorgeous than she ever had.

  She swatted me away. "I'll show you flabby. Vral, grab your swords. If Alex can beat you, so can I."

  Vral giggled wickedly. "In your dreams, Tris. If Alex barely could get one win when I was going easy on him, you've got no chance."

  Tristan stomped towards the rack of practice weapons and selected a mace. When she returned, her eyes were blazing. I almost pitied Vral.

  Almost.