Second Life as a Soldier

I stood inside the sparring circle, carrying a regular spear and shield, facing Varric while using [Operational Cognition (A)] and [Triage Ward (UC)] to check Daren’s condition. He had just sparred with Varric, and I wanted to make sure he had not taken any serious injuries. I had been distracted while talking with Peter, so I had not paid close attention to their match.

Daren was conscious, and my skill confirmed he was fine, with only a few bruises on his legs and chest. Considering he had just fought Varric, that was a good sign.

“If you are done checking on him, I would suggest concentrating on me. I will not go easy on you. I have been anticipating this match for a long time,” Varric said, giving me a grin.

“So have I,” I said, and that was not a lie. On the first day I met him, I had promised myself I would wipe the grin from Varric’s face like the one he was giving me right now.

Finally, I was strong enough to give him a fight.

My heart rate rose in anticipation as we both readied ourselves. I activated my skills, and so did Varric. I could already sense some mana moving through his arm as he tightened his grip on his spear, but neither of us moved. Even the others surrounding the pit had gone quiet as we both focused on each other, waiting for an opening or for our opponent to break focus.

We started to circle around each other.

Then suddenly Varric moved a few steps forward, almost using his spear like a hammer. He brought it down with tremendous force. Instead of blocking the strike with my shield, I shifted my body sideways, avoiding it. His spear struck the ground and sent a huge amount of dust flying.

But Varric did not stop there. He stepped forward and slammed his shield into me. I blocked the blow with my shield, activating [Mana Reinforcement (UC)]. Even then, I felt a sharp force transfer into my arm, bruising my elbow, and I was pushed back several steps. It was a stark reminder of how strong he was, and that his raw strength was nearly double mine.

Without giving me time, he pulled back his spear and brought it down again in nearly the same arc, aiming for my head. I jumped to the right and rolled, avoiding Varric’s spear as it struck where I had stood.

Varric pressed forward relentlessly, keeping the pressure on me. Before I realized it, I was circling the pit while he maintained his charge, constantly attacking. I was surprised his hands were not hurting from maintaining such a constant barrage of strikes, because the muscles in my legs had already begun to ache.

Fuck, if he keeps doing this, the match will be over in a minute I thought.

“Come on! Sergeant, stop running!” Varric mocked.

But I did not say anything, mostly because I was focused on avoiding another one of Varric’s attacks.

Then I saw the opportunity.

Whenever his spear stuck in the ground, there was a brief delay before he pulled it back.

So when his next attack came, I dodged again and then, using my spear, blocked his weapon before delivering a reinforced kick. He blocked it with his shield, but my kick still made full contact, pushing Varric back a few steps as splinters flew from his shield.

“Oooh,” came the sound from the circle.

We both took a few seconds, staring at each other.

I adjusted my footing, digging into the dust with my foot.

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Then we smirked at each other. But this time, I did not give Varric a chance to attack. I moved first, thrusting my spear straight at him. He parried the strike with his spear. I attacked again, and this time he deflected my blow with his shield.

Then he countered with his spear, only for me to deflect it with my shield. For the next few minutes, we kept trading blows, attacking and parrying in quick succession, filling the clearing with the sharp clash of wood and metal.

Then finally Varric made the move I had been waiting for.

He stopped my spear with his shield in a frontal collision instead of deflecting it.

Then I used the trick Walter had taught me, or more precisely, the one he used to use to pound me into the ground.

I used consecutive thrusts, striking my spear multiple times on the lower part of his shield, throwing his shield and left side out of balance.

Using that opportunity, I moved closer and kicked Varric in the chest, this time definitely hurting him.

He almost lost his balance and was able to stop himself from falling only because he went down on one knee while using his spear as support.

Just as I took advantage of the opening, I sensed a huge surge of mana moving inside Varric.

He let out an “Ahhhh!” and threw away his shield, charging at me with full force, his spear swinging in wild arcs.

When I tried to parry one of his swings, even with all my skills, my spear was easily deflected, sending a jolt through my hand.

When I blocked with my shield, the impact still hurt my arm and pushed me back.

I knew what this was: his advanced skill, [Relentless Advance (A)], as he continued pressing forward relentlessly. From my peripheral vision, I could see everyone tensing at the flurry of attacks.

I had only one choice, to move back. But even that did not work soon enough.

I was in the corner.

With his shield gone, he was faster, so jumping out was not an option. After taking a few more attacks on my shield, my left hand had gone numb from the constant blows of Varric’s spear. I sighed and knew what I had to do.

“I give up!” I said.

Still, I did not drop my guard. I was ready to block Varric’s incoming attack, and if he did not stop, I would have to either wait for the Mana Oath to activate, or forcibly use it to stop him.

But I required none of that.

Varric stopped when I gave up, looking at me in surprise. But he was not the only one. Everyone around us wore the same expression. No one made a sound. No one shouted Varric’s name. They just stood there, staring at us.

“Great,” I said with a smile, ignoring their looks. Then I stepped forward and extended my hand to clasp his in the formal greeting shared among soldiers.

Varric stared at my hand for a few seconds in confusion. Then, as if suddenly remembering that this was just a normal sparring match, a smile appeared on his face and he took my hand.

“Today’s winner is Varric. He gets off night duty today,” I announced.

“But before we leave this place, I plan on defeating you,” I said, shifting my focus to Varric in a challenging tone.

“I would like to see you try,” Varric replied, smiling.

I made my way out of the fighting circle, dropping my shield as I activated [Vital Restoration (UC)] to heal the bruises on my hand. I kept receiving curious glances as the newer members checked to see whether I was angry, while the Tier-2s seemed to be watching to see if my ego had been bruised along with my hands.

I did not care about any of it. Internally, I was incredibly happy.

This sparring match had proven that I could provide Varric and his team with new weapons. That was what I had wanted to test before giving him one. I needed to know whether he could control his bloodlust, whether he could restrain his anger and stop himself when he found someone he disliked in a vulnerable position.

I did not need to know whether I could trust him not to attack me. I had been fighting with him for almost a year now, and he had gained that much trust. The only thing I needed to test was his control over his anger, which he had passed.

Losing to Varric was not a surprise, and it should not have been one for anyone in this squad. There is no denying that losing hurts, but to me, it felt like progress.

I knew Varric was stronger than me. In fact, I think almost all the Tier-2s in my squad were stronger than me. If it came to a life-and-death fight, I had little confidence in winning, at least not yet. But this fight proved that I had come a long way from where I started. I was a scrawny kid who fainted after running for forty-five minutes. Now, in just two years, I could go toe-to-toe with someone who had trained his entire life for combat.

There was also uncertainty about how my loss would affect the squad. It was no secret that I was currently on the weaker side among them, but seeing me lose could erode some of their confidence in me. Still, I wanted to show them that my role was not to be the strongest in the squad, but to make the squad as strong as possible.

I hoped they had noticed it by now. If they had not, assigning new weapons to Varric’s group would make it clear.