Skysworn (Cradle, #4)

by Will Wight

your enemy, drive him before you, hear the lamentations of his⁠—”

I thought this was a firefly reference, but I was corrected in that it is Conan. I also missed the Indiana Jones references immediately prior, womp womp.

A clear-cut list of tasks and rewards sounded perfect.

makes me think of litRPG

“What did she do for the family?” Yerin gave an impatient sigh. “Killed a Remnant, killed another Remnant, pushed away some guy who was needling the cleaning crews a little, stopped a big lizard from running through the sewers...Probably more, I don’t know, it slips through my mind.”

A "what was Yerin up to while Lindon was training" would be interesting, but as a friend pointed out it'd just be her stabbing various things.

given everything to move forward. He didn’t regret it—if anything, his only regret was that he’d advanced too slowly.

LINDON YOU'RE GOING VERY FAST PLAYING CATCHUP

“The way I’ve heard it,” Gwei said, “Eithan allowed the duel. Even proposed it.” “His favorite training method is…I guess I would call it extreme duress.”

facts

The speech actually encouraged Lindon. Going from fight to fight, with nothing but a stop to train in between, was essentially what Eithan had for him every day. If the Skysworn would be pushing him to advance faster, that was all he could wish for.

But there was a small part of him that was focused and excited. They hadn’t killed him from behind, so this was a puzzle with a solution.

She cut off, her head whirling to one side. “Oh no...” Lindon didn’t need another “oh no” in his life.

“An apocalyptic battle is no excuse not to bathe,” he said.

“You’d be surprised how often people listen to me when they’re left with no choice. I’ll have to fulfill one of those many rewards I’ve promised you.”