The first Art is pretty easy, just like Niki said it’d be. Steel Soul is basically like a magic protective shell for my body. Kinda exactly what it says on the tin. By picturing myself covered in impenetrable energy, I mentally cast the Art and become a lot more resistant to damage. Doesn’t matter if it’s poking, cutting, or shooting. Pretty much everything physical is covered by this.

Course there’s a problem... mainly that I’m not fuckin’ good at it.

I can use Steel Soul, sure, but not very well. Like Niki told me, it’s ‘instant’, but I still have to stand there and think about activating it. This is hard to do since it takes a lot of mental processing power. Picturing my energy all over my body at once like that almost gives me a headache.

Right now, I can’t even thoroughly coat my body in it, and I can only really hold it in one place for a little while without it going away.

Niki explains that when I’m more practiced with it, I can create Steel Soul instantly and maintain it around my entire body. Still, right now, it’s more of an ‘OH, SHIT!’ emergency move to whip out right when I’m about to get hit by an attack.

Can’t wait till I don’t have to think about it, though. Niki says it’s not an Art with an upper limit and that the stronger you get with it, the more it scales. Kinda funny, but she also said at higher levels it makes bikini armor viable... at least when you’re out on low-rank quests. 

Calling it a lifesaving Art is a fuckin’ exaggeration. This shit should be like... taught in schools or something!

We train my ability at Steel Soul for about an hour. She has me turn it off and on again all over my body. I had to get out of my armor for most of this training to actually feel the difference.

Coulda done without the demonstration, honestly.

I’m pretty brave, sure, but I was... uh... a little nervous when Niki pulled out a bow and arrow and had me lift up my tank top. Thank the gods when she shot the weapon, the arrowhead exploded right when it hit my belly button.

Apparently, Steel Soul helps physical attacks like punches and kicks from hurting the user, too. So now I could totally punch one of those stupid Roggerolls in their dumb, ugly mugs if I had to! Not super relevant to me since I’m not a martial artist or anything like that, but an excellent little note to have.

Moving on to the next art I get to learn, we got Blunt Edge.

“You’re an adventurer, not a mercenary like I was. There’s a difference. Unlike me, there’s gonna be times where you’re not gonna want to kill your opponent, and there’s thankfully a straightforward way not to.” Niki explained while taking her great blade and commanding me to stay put.

The Grekkan warrior raises her sword, and before I can get any say in the matter, she strikes me in the side- lightly but firm. The attack doesn’t cut through me despite her strength, and it felt more like getting hit with a club or something.

“Any questions?” Niki asks.

“Nope!” I reply with ecstatic glee.

I get the gist of it from that demonstration alone. Basically, I’m just gonna be coating my sword in my energy instead of my body, yeah? It can’t be too hard.

Only it turns out that it’s kinda tricky...

Niki gives me all kinds of advice on using Blunt Edge to try and make it easier. It doesn’t help much. Bringing my energy out of my body and putting it on top of something else is a weird feeling. Apparently, it’s essential that I start with an art like this, though. My kick-ass teacher tells me that emitting energy outwards is critical in a lot of Arts.

“If you can get this right, Sam, you’ll be able to do all kinds of crazy shit. You ever wondered how warriors can shoot beams out of their swords? Boom. You’re looking at the answer.”

“Aw hell yeah, I want a fuckin’ sword beam!” My motivation swells up at the thought of being able to shoot energy beams from my weapon. That would be super badass, so I got to try even harder!

Eventually, I'm able to push my aura out past the hilt and into my blade. It’s far from precise, and it’s just kinda swimming around the center of my sword instead of actually coating, y’know, the parts that need to be made blunt.

“That’s good. You’re doing good, kid.” Niki grins, but it’s not enough for me.

“This really gonna be useful?” I ask while tightening the grip on my hilt, sweat running off my face. “It’s taking so much stamina just to keep it inside my sword...”

“Don’t stop! It’s just like Steel Soul. The more you do it, the less stamina it’ll take till you can do it without thinking about it.” Niki does her best to pump me up, and it results in me briefly managing to coat the edges of my sword with Blunt Edge.

It feels great to make some progress, but it only lasts one slash before I gotta recoat it. “Fuck...” I groan and drop the sword down into the earth again. “Did you bring any stamina potions?”

Niki walks up to me and uses her Auto Loader to bring out a glass bottle of green liquid, thank the Gods. “Just one for today, even if you CAN chug potions endlessly and train non-stop, doesn’t mean you should. It’s not addictive, but it ain’t a good mindset to have. ‘Specially for someone like you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask after wiping the drink from my lips and letting out a small burp. Shit goes down weird, but it works fast.

“You’re in a rush to prove yourself and get stronger. You’re always rushing.”

“Can’t deny that...” Her words make me sigh, and I cross my arms.

“I’ve seen a lot of promising warriors cut down by their own impatience, kid. I’d like it if you don’t join their ranks.” Niki frowns, and I feel a bit embarrassed now. Her words sting, even though she means well.

My badass coach lets me rest for a few minutes for the stamina potion to fully work its way through my body, and I end up asking her about how she’s been doing. “So what the fuck’s been going on with you this week? Feels like you’ve been avoiding the Guild.”

Niki looks straight at me. For a second, I feel like Niki’s gonna burst into one of her infamous laugh fests until her expression sours instead. “I caught myself caring again, that’s all.” She sighs.

“The fuck’s that supposed to mean?”

“Opal asked me to help you guys out. I’m a friendly person, so we all bonded pretty quickly... and when Chief said he was in danger, I made it clear I’d protect him and help train you all harder.”

“Yeah, I know. But that doesn’t explain-”

“That was before he went on about his plans to take down the Demon Lord.” Niki’s brow furrows into a strange expression, like she’s holding back something and trying to remain sober.

“Fuck, Niki. Do you wanna talk about it or something?” I’m not the best at reassuring and being the kind of mature person my friends can rely on, but I want to get better at it, and if nothing else, I’ll be there when they need me. Of fuckin’ course, that means Niki, too.

The Grekkan groans deeply and cradles her head against her fist. “You two are so pushy, I swear.” She lets out a tiny laugh before I could start to worry if I pissed her off.

“Stop worrying about me, and pick up your sword, Sam. We got one last Art to go over, and It’ll probably be the hardest of the three.”

Niki’s not gonna budge even if I keep trying to poke it out of her...

This sucks. I just wanna help my friend, but she’s making it impossible. Not much I can do about it, so I grumble and pick up my sword.

“Biding Blade is one of the main reasons you need to be defensive as a Great Blader. This Art is gonna be one of your main sources of damage, and it requires patience. Unlike other weapons, great blades are perfect for storing tons of energy inside them because of how damn huge the fucking things are. The way this Art works is you picture your energy pumping into your sword moment by moment, and when you swing, it all comes out in one go.”

The demonstration Niki gives me is the coolest fuckin’ thing I’ve ever seen. I watch as she pumps her stamina inside her great blade, and over about ten seconds, it keeps growing in intensity. Satisfied with the amount, Niki raises her sword and strikes the earth so hard that I fall to the ground.

Debris falls from the sky like hail, and dust explodes across the ground like a fierce wind storm. After it settles, I can see the impact crater for what it really fucking is- HUGE.

My jaw drops. It has to be like twenty feet deep and just as wide. “That... wasn’t even your full power, was it?”

“Nope.”

Every time I feel like I make progress, Niki reminds me how fucking far apart our levels really are... it’s maddening, and it makes me angry as fuck, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a tremendous fuckin’ motivator.

“It might be hard, but it’s basically just Blunt Edge without you having to move around the energy to another point of the sword. The main thing about Biding Blade is if you swing a single time, then all the energy disperses. Meaning you gotta dodge, block, and wait for the time your attack’ll do the most damage. Oh! Obviously, you’ll have to combine it with Blunt Edge when you use it on humans.”

“...That’s-”

Niki looks off into the distance. “It’s like popping a meat balloon.”

...Okay then, I coulda gone without that mental image.

“Let’s get back to it, Sam. I’ll spend the day with you so let’s go for another three or four hours. Think you can handle it?”

“Long as I don’t need to pop any meat balloons!”

“Heh, we’ll see.” Niki smirks, and I spend the next couple of hours working on these arts as hard as I fuckin’ can... I want to get stronger... I don’t wanna be useless. I got all this power, and I need to learn how to use it, dammit!