บท 7: Assessing Strength

As Brom woke up the next morning, he smiled. He'd get his chance at a real fight today; he couldn't wait to see how he matched up against some of the best fighters in Skyrim. Then, the smile left his face, as he realized something. He has changed a lot since his time in this world. He got here and was barely able to muster the confidence to confront those guards. Yet, now he was confident in his abilities and was ready to push himself to becoming stronger every day.

As Brom thought about these things he wondered who he was. He definitely wasn't the same man as his past life. And he wasn't sure if even his goals were the same, did he still want to be the hero? He also knew that he was not whoever had this body before him, and he still hadn't figured out the mystery of that memory. Brom shrugged these thoughts off, he would live this life becoming the best version of himself he could be. And to do that he needed to be stronger. Everything else was unimportant right now.

Brom got dressed and grabbed his sword, today was his assessment. Then, well he wasn't completely sure. They'd probably send him on some errands to try and put him in his place. That's what they did in the game at least.

Brom headed up to the mead hall and was about to sit down and eat when he heard Vilkas call him over.

"Brom! Get over here, you eat after your assessment." Vilkas shouted over the clamor of all the companions talking in the hall.

Brom got up and took a piece of bread and cheese and quickly ate them before he got outside. What Vilkas didn't know couldn't hurt him. He made his way to the same sparring area as yesterday and looked at Vilkas.

"So how does this assessment work?" Brom inquired.

"Simple, you will fight Farkas in a spar. And I will decide how much of your fighting was skill and how much was luck. Then you will be assigned a job based on that."

"Got it"

"Good, do any warmups or whatever as we wait for my brother," Vilkas said as he leaned against a nearby post.

After a couple of minutes where Brom had been sharpening his sword with his wet rock, he looked up and saw Farkas walking towards them in some extra bulky steel armor carrying a greatsword like his brother. Farkas was a master in heavy armor training thus why he was chosen as the sparring partner.

"Let's go, to the center here" Farkas barked his command at Brom

"Yeah I'm coming" Brom replied.

"Alright get ready, then attack when Vilkas gives the command"

"Yes sir," Brom said with some mockery.

Brom took his stance not bothering with trying to fake Farkas as he already used that trick once.

"Fight" Vilkas said with disinterest.

Brom knew that his arming sword would have little effect on such thick steel armor, definitely against someone who was a master in that armor. But he had no other weapon right now, so he engaged with the idea of wearing down the brute.

He twirled and struck Farkas then spun off to the side and slashed him again mid spin then leaped back when Farkas tried retaliating. Brom was relying on his speed and maneuverability, instead of trying to overpower like he did against Athis. He continued attacking in this manner, quick slashes and thrusts aimed at the joints in the armor while spinning or leaping away whenever Farkas would swing his greatsword.

This dance lasted over an hour before Brom looked at Farkas and saw the latter was smiling and not even tired yet. Whereas Brom was getting slower and breathing hard by now. He knew he had to try something different, as Farkas looked like he could do this all day and Brom did not possess such stamina. As Brom backed off to observe this he decided to do something no one would've guessed.

Brom rushed forward and in a berserker like frenzy attacked Farkas's wrists and hands only. Hit after hit and swing after swing until he managed to knock the sword from his grasp, then Brom kicked Farkas while using his sword to push Farkas's sword out of the way. Farks had landed a hit and two kicks before Brom was able to disengage, leaving Brom slightly bruised.

Brom now swooped up the greatsword while discarding his, now he had something that could do some damage against that armor. He then started attacking Farkas with renewed vigor, yet he fought like he was using an arming sword. He would perform fast slashes and quick thrusts at vulnerable spots then nimbly dodge. The sword slowed him down just enough that Farkas was able to land his own hit every now and again with his back-up arming sword.

But Brom had the clear advantage now, after a few minutes of this Farkas was getting bruised and his armor had several dents while Brom suffered a few bruised and scrapes. Farkas finally realizing his predicament, charged Brom to end this fight quickly. Brom smiled, as this is what he had been waiting on.

Using the great sword as a staff as Farkas closed its effective swinging distance Brom quickly hit Farkas with both the tip and the pommel in rapid succession in the head. Then while the latter was stunned, he leaped back a few feet and swung upwards with all his might hitting Farkas in the chin and he followed through the hit and used the momentum of the huge greatsword to spin into another attack from the side, and hit Farkas's cheek making his head snap to the side. His armor protecting his neck from being broken.

"Enough!" Vilkas shouted

Brom immediately dropped the sword and used his Healing Hands spell on Farkas to heal him and make sure there was no concussion. While he loved dominating and winning fights, he had no intention to permanently injure his new comrades. Even if none of them liked him.

"You showed both skill and ingenuity while fighting Farkas here, and you are one of the few who could best him in a spar. When he his holding back." Vilkas explained why Brom had been able to beat a master in heavy armor and expert in two-handed weapons.

"As your reward, you get to take on the more interesting jobs we receive. Like for instance, there is a giant that needs killing nearby. The Jarl has asked us to deal with it. Take Alea as your shield-sister and deal with it."

"Sure, seems fun" Brom replied with some excitement, he has yet to fight a giant.

Vilkas smiled, this whelp had no idea what a giant could do to a man.

-Jorrvaskr mead hall-

Alea was eating her lunch when Brom approached her.

"Hey, your supposed to be m ----" Brom got cut off by her

"Shield-sister, I know. We leave in an hour, eat and don't be late." Alea replied curtly and dismissively. She hated having to babysit new whelps on their first few missions. And against a giant she would have to really fight just to keep the new whelp from killing himself.

"Yeah, okay" Brom nodded and walked off grabbing a piece of horker meat and mead then headed to the Sky Forge nearby. (Horker are walrus-like animals).

As he got to the forge he saw Eorlund Gray-Mane, a Nord blacksmith and is widely considered to be the best blacksmith in Skyrim, forging weapons and armor for The Companions. He is not directly a member of the companions though. He is part of the Gray-Mane clan, one of the oldest and most influential clans in Whiterun. With the other being the Battle-Borns.

Brom approached the man and Eorlund told Brom over his shoulder that,

"I saw your fight, don't let them get you down with their harsh words. They treat all newcomers like that"

"Don't worry, I haven't"

"Good, now I'm guessing you are here for some of the famous Sky Forge steel eh?" Eorlund said with pride evident in his voice.

"Yeah, and I got a special challenge for you" Brom replied

"Oh? How so" Eorlund asked with some interest, it had been awhile since he last had a challenge.

"I want you to forge a custom weapon for me, I'll even pay you the difference from what it would cost to outfit me with a normal sword" Brom presented his offer.

"Hmmm, deal. Now explain what you are looking for, in detail"

"Okay, it needs to have a cruciform hilt with a grip for two-handed use (around 16 to 28 cm (6 to 11 in)), a straight double-edged blade of around 85 to 110 cm (33 to 43 in), and weighing approximately 1 to 1.5 kg (2.2 to 3.3 lb). Here, I wrote it down earlier so you could look at it." Brom handed him a folded parchment with a rough sketch of the blade he wanted.

"Ahh, I see. A balance between the heavy and powerful greatsword and the typical arming sword. Smart, I like it. Fine, give me a week and you will have you sword." Eorlund replied with a sparkle in his eyes.

"A week it is" Agreed Brom, then he headed back to the hall and met up Alea

"Ready?" She asked

"yes"

"Good, let's get moving"

With that, Brom and Alea headed to Blcakwind Basin.

-Blcakwind Basin-

Brom and Alea arrived at Blackwind Basin relatively fast because of the horse Brom had bought. As they got near, they both dismounted and walked the last 200 meters. There they saw the giant, these were different from the game as well. They stood 5 meters tall instead of the 3.4 in the game. And they were more muscular, and their skin was tougher. Grayish colored humanoid beasts, giants were famous in the Skyrim community for their part in the space program.

All of this went through Brom's head as he and Alea crouched and watch this particular giant as it seemed to be in a rage. Brom looked around and saw that there were dead mammoths pelted with arrows.

"There, that explains why it has been terrorizing anything in sight" Brom whispered as he pointed towards the corpse of the mammoth.

"Good eyes" Alea said as she nodded her understanding, she then continued "Giants are extremely hard to kill, so don't die." With this Alea went to move forward.

"I got a slightly better plan" Brom said as he grabbed her arm "I'll provide the heroic ditraction while you pelt it with arrows."

"are you sure? You will die."

"Yes, I've seen you shoot. You'll kill it before it can kill me" Brom replied with confidence.

Hearing this confidence in face of such a great danger, Alea nodded and a glimmer of respect shown in her eyes. "Fine, let's go"

Brom waited till Alea had gotten on a nearby rock and signaled she was ready. He then stood up and casually waked towards the giant. He pulled out his sword and in his other hand summoned the frost spell. As the giant noticed him it turned and yelled as it brandished its huge club.

"Alright, lets dance" Brom said as he started running toward the giant.

Before Brom even got there arrows started hitting the giant in the face. With it distracted Brom ran towards its legs and sliced at its tendons while continuously freezing it. This caused it to move slower and made it easier for both him and Alea to hit it.

After a minute of getting pelted in the face and eyes with arrows and all of it's magor tendons being sliced, the giant fell to its knees and hands. Using this opportunity Brom ran forwards and shot flames on his own sword heating it up, then slicing with all his might at the giants neck. The hot steel easily went through and killed the giant.

"That wasn't so bad," Brom said as he looked towards Alea.

"Yeah, we got lucky it was already injured." Saying that she pointed at all the fresh arrows and cuts on its back that neither her nor Brom inflicted.

"Well, either way. It's a win"

"Not as honorable, but yes. We did win" Alea agreed.

Brom then cut off the giants toe and put it in his saddle bags. Alea looked at him with disgust.

"What? It's for a potion!" Brom defended himself.

"Whatever, lets just get home."

Brom and alea headed back to Whiterun. With Alea surprised at this new whelps ingenuity and strength. And Brom happy to already have such a rare alchemical ingredient.