Objectively, it was not too long ago that Olivia first left Correntry on what she now recognized as her first adventure, yet at the same time, it felt like years had passed, rather than mere months.

The last time she had walked through the broad gates of the trade city, she had still been clinging to a life and identity that had been forced on her, wearing the name and gender she had been assigned by her distant and uncaring parents. Her sword and cloak alike, the most telling markers of her role as a squire, were hidden away, and she rode in a wagon bathed in summer sunlight alongside two girls who, for all the burgeoning friendship being slowly fostered between them, were near strangers.

The second time she left Correntry, on the road to her next adventure, was different. Her hair was long, her face shaved bare. Her cloak was wrapped around her like a dress, warding off the chill of winter that had begun to pervade the air, and her sword and shield alike hung from her belt, proclaiming her talents to any who might look on her. She walked on her own two feet, and she was surrounded by close friends, all of four of whom had proven to be boon companions, closer to her heart than Beryl and Rose had been even after months together.

She wasn't walking with anyone in particular–Allana and Tenebres had hung back a bit, gossiping about the boy's dinner with Sir Kenton, while Caden had practically run to the front, the celestial in his lunar persona for the day and practically humming with obvious joy at being on the road. Adeline walked ahead of Olivia, silver eyes wary, dressed practically for the road in bright but simple grays, her fine sword at her side and her golden hair bound in a functional tail. But still, Olivia wasn't alone. She was surrounded by friends that, after mere months together, she knew she would die for–and more than that, that she knew she would live for.

Live as herself, as Olivia.

"It'll be a week or so to the edge of Valley Hearth," Adeline called back to the group, explaining as they walked. "Then a few more days from there to Keystone, in the middle of the valley."

"It's a market town similar to Jellis," Olivia explained when she noticed Allana's blank look. "Valley Hearth is studded with small farming communities, but many of them bring their goods to the markets in Keystone, and the largest trade companies go straight to the central town rather than circulating throughout the valley."

"Keystone is known for the ancient vitalwood tree that the town was built around," Adeline continued. "It's old enough that it shrouds the entire settlement in dense life magic. People heal more quickly in its vicinity, crops grow faster, livestock require less care. That's where much of the Apothic Order is likely to have set up–a safe place that will not only help those affected by the plague, but also shield the caretakers from infection."

"Then what?" Allana asked. "It's nice to know we'll have a safe place to rest, but if all of that is true, it doesn't sound like the hag is going to be anywhere near Keystone."

Adeline nodded her agreement. "We'll meet with the leader of the Apothic Order healers to get an idea of the situation, then we'll have to go from there," she told them. "I expect we'll need to do some wandering around, get a feeling for how things went in the other villages and see if we can start piecing things together."

"That's the way with hags, from what I read," Tenebres said. "Especially with weaker hexes, like rot hags. They have to be more subtle with their plans, so it'll be our first job to find some leads we can chase down. Even if we can't find the hag herself, just a proxy could get us on her trail." He gave Allana a meaningful look. "Just like hunting the necromancers in Emeston."

"It's not going to be that easy, either," Caden added, the exuberant celestial having to call back with how far ahead of the group he was. Olivia couldn't help but be impressed, once again, by how sharp the young adventurer's senses were. She could've sworn he wouldn't be able to hear them. "Winter means there's a lot more to deal with than just hag plots.

Adeline nodded her own agreement. "Both in Valley Hearth and on the way there, we'll be keeping an eye for any natural monster spawns. With everything going on right now, the wardens are spread thin, so we're going to do our part to help keep the monster numbers low."

Olivia found herself grinning despite the warning in Adeline's tone. Unbidden, her gifts and their experience floated into her vision.

[Gift of the Vanguard]

Level: Novice

Experience: 94%

[Gift of Wind]

Level: Novice

Experience: 88%

She was right on the edge of finally leveling up not just one, but both of her gifts. A good fight with some wind-aspected monsters should be more than enough to get her over the line to Apprentice and, as a chill wind scythed through her cloak, Olivia knew it wouldn't be long now that they were on the road.

#

One their fourth day out of Correntry, Olivia got her chance.

After months along the long and winding Flax Road, and weeks spent traveling through the little-used paths of the deadlands, the Hearth Road was refreshingly well-appointed. Each night so far, the party had found a place to rest–either a small village dedicated to providing for travelers moving between the trade city and the fertile valley, or at the very least a roadside inn catering to the same.

At each of these, Adeline took the time to press the locals for any reports of monstrous activities. While each of the villages had their own hunters, their numbers were small, just two or three at each, and the rest stops primarily relied on warden patrols for their safety–patrols that were, as Adeline had guessed, becoming more and more rare of late, with so many of Correntry's wardens busy to the south.

Speaking with a hunter at the rest village they stopped in on their third night, Adeline learned of the pack of wolves that had been caught up in the tumultuous magic of an early snow squall a couple weeks before. The pack, now possessed of both wind and ice monsters, had descended on the small herd of cows the village relied on and savaged no small number of them before the hunters had driven them off. Though the pair had slain a couple wolves in the process, they were rightfully reluctant to engage the half-dozen remaining members of the pack by themselves.

Adeline, however, thought that the pack would be a fitting challenge for the small party of adventurers, and when they left the next morning, they did so with a sack of still-bloody meat in hand.

"They're coming," Caden observed, his ears the first to catch the distant strains of the approaching pack's howling.

The party was arrayed in a small clearing, weapons ready, as the arcane predators approached, drawn to the mound of steaming viscera Adeline had deposited in the middle of the bare glade.

From the hunter's reports, the party had a fair idea of what they faced. Only a couple of the magical hounds were the large, ice-aspected monsters known as frostfangs, while the rest were the smaller, but far more difficult to manage, windwolves.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Caden," Olivia said, twirling her sword in one gloved hand absently, "cover me. I'll take the ones in the air. Allana, Tenebres, can you take the frostfangs?"

Their agreements came with small puffs of frosted air.

"I'll shield and heal," Adeline offered, "but otherwise I'm leaving this to you four."

The young adventurers all nodded. Half the point of a fight like this was to help get the Novice members of their cadre over the line to Apprentice.

The howls were louder now, obvious even to Oli's unimproved senses. She twirled her sword again, impatient for the fight to start. She was so focused on the treeline across the clearing from the pile of bait that the first wolves to arrive almost killed her before the fight even started.

Caden's sudden sharp breath was Olivia's only warning, but it was all she needed, as she threw a Gust Blast straight upwards at the two aerial wolves that had circled around from the rest of the pack.

[Gust Blast] - Active, Attack - Manifest a gust of wind straight in front of you. Inflicts little direct damage, but can disorient or physically move enemies. Moderate quintessence cost.

One was thrown aside, but the other was only clipped by the sudden burst of wind and continued forward, its paws finding purchase on the empty air as easily as if it was soft earth, propelling it downward in a gray blur of snarling fangs.

Adeline's golden shield sprang up around Olivia, blunting the worst of the impact before Olivia caught the wolf on her solid steel shield. Far cry from the simple, worn shield she had taken from Garret's corpse months before, Olivia's new shield had been smithed only weeks ago, on special order, and even if it lacked enchantments of any kind, the wolf's fangs and claws alike were unable to so much as scratch its surface.

[Reinforced Defense] - Triggered, Defense - When blocking an attack, your equipment is treated as one tier of potency higher. Each time this is triggered, there is a minor focus cost.

Oli surged forward, throwing the wolf back and away from her. The hound caught itself, once more treating the air like a solid surface, but Olivia followed through, and her runeblade cleanly spit through the hound's chest and emerged from between its hunched shoulders.

One.

By the time Olivia had pulled her sword free and turned back to the clearing, the rest of the pack had arrived. As expected, there were two frostfangs, massive white beasts, with stiff white fur standing on end and long fangs like solid icicles emerging from their mouths. One was snarling and twisting, trying to catch Allana's darting movements, while the other found itself surrounded, tangled in tentacles while two imps ganged up on it.

The twang of a bow turned Olivia's attention back to her own enemies. Despite Cadence's best efforts to slow them down, the four remaining windwolves had surrounded the two of them in a loose circle in midair, ten feet above the ground. There was one more than the hunters had reported, but that was to be expected. Olivia was still confident.

"Try to keep them off me," Olivia told Cadence, not turning away from the circling wolves.

"Easier said than done," the celestial muttered–but then his bow, another purchase made from the fine artisans of Correntry, sang again, and one wolf yipped in surprised pain.

Which served to provoke the other three into movement.

Oli whirled to her right, where two were charging at her, and released another gust blast–not at the wolves themselves, but at the empty air underneath them. Olivia grinned as her guess was proved correct–though the wolves treated the air like a sure surface they could run on easily, the turbulent winds of her Gust Blast were like a shuddering tremor running through the ground to the airborne wolves. They both lost their balance, one staggering and falling to one side while the other fell out of the air altogether.

Trusting Caden to keep the last of the four off of her, Olivia darted forward, sword raised over one shoulder, and even as the windwolf made it back to its feet, the blade descended at its neck with all the power Olivia could muster.

[Reckless Strike] - Active, Attack - Make a special attack with potency increased by two tiers. Major stamina cost.

If the lesser monster had any potency in its coat, it wasn't sufficient to stop Olivia's strengthened swing, and the wolf's head went flying. That's two.

Oli whirled on the one she had deflected to the side, but she was already too late, and she only barely managed to get her sword arm up before the wolf sank its teeth into her seemingly unprotected flesh–only to be caught by the sleeve of Oli's tunic. The cloth of steel, reinforced by her defense, kept the wolf's fangs from tearing her arm apart, but that didn't make the crushing jaws hurt any less, and Olivia cried out at the sudden pain.

Swearing, she bashed the hound's head with her shield once, then again, but still the monster held on tight–until an arrow slammed into the meaty muscle of its leg. That made the beast release Olivia with a yelp of pain, and the squire immediately whipped her sword back around. Three.

Unfortunately, that arrow had cost Caden precious time, and the remaining wolves had closed on the celestial, forcing him to drop his bow and pull out his hatchet. Oli knew she wouldn't get there in time to help her friend–so she borrowed a trick Allana had told her about, one Shawe had made frequent use of in their chases.

She released a Gust Blast straight down at her feet even as she lunged forward, throwing herself forward, sword out. It was far from a graceful dash, her coordination boon all that kept the motion from turning into a flailing tumble, but Olivia managed to keep her sword lined up properly as she slammed into one of the wolves, slamming the blade home into its side. Four.

While Caden lacked the arms and armor to keep up with the wolves in fair combat, he was far from unprepared for the one that closed with him. Even as the wolf lunged forward, Caden stumbled backwards–and then threw one of the bloody cuts of meat from the ground at the charging animal.

The surprised beast caught the cut in midair, taking a moment to shake it around and tear off a chunk to swallow–which was more than enough time for Caden to close the distance and slam his hatchet into the crown of the wolf's skull. Five.

By then, Allana had already killed one of the frostfangs, and even as the second fought its way free of Tenebres's fiends, it found the fire breath of the red imp waiting for it, its every attempt to jump free cut short by a near-invisible disc of force that sent it rebounding back into the scorching flames, a new spell Tenebres must've gained at Apprentice level. It didn't last much longer after that.

The fight ended–and with it came up the notifications Olivia had been hoping for.

[Gift of the Vanguard] experience gained

Level: Novice

Experience: 100%

[Gift of the Vanguard] has leveled up!

[Gift of Wind] experience gained

Level: Novice

Experience: 100%

[Gift of Wind] has leveled up!

"That wasn't half bad," Olivia distantly heard Adeline say.

Caden must've noticed the far-away look on Olivia's face, because he was the one who asked, "Oli? You okay?"

[Gift of the Vanguard]

Level: Apprentice

Experience: 0%

Ability Evolution: [Reckless Strike] > [Critical Strike] - Active, Attack, Luck - Make a special attack with potency increased by one tier. Potency has a small chance to instead increase by three tiers. Moderate stamina cost is decreased to lesser if the critical effect triggers.

Ability Progression: [Reinforced Defense] - Triggered, Defense - When blocking an attack, your equipment is treated as one tier of potency higher. Each time this is triggered, there is a minor focus cost, but the effect lingers for a minor duration.

[Gift of Wind]

Level: Apprentice

Experience: 0%

Ability Progression: [Gust Blast] - Active, Attack - Manifest a gust of wind in a variety of shapes. Inflicts little direct damage, but can disorient or physically move enemies. Lesser to major quintessence cost, depending on size of attack.

Ability Progression: [Mantle of Wind] - Active, Utility - Conjure a cloak of swirling wind around yourself. Reduces fall speed and provides limited defense against physical attacks. Moderate duration. Lesser quintessence cost.

The girl felt a wide grin on her face as she looked over her new abilities. "Better than okay. I'm doing amazing."

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