Chapter 347.: Two Kinds of Forging
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Wow, the workbench said. You’re really, really bad at this.
Don’t worry, the armadil shield added. Things can only get better for him from here.
It had taken Dallion two hours to flatten a metal ingot to the point he could form the rough shape of a breastplate. Even with Dallion’s improved body and forging skills, however, the result was highly questionable at best. Thanks to what Eury had taught him, the material was pretty much flawless. Getting the shape, though… that was a different matter altogether.
Initially, the flattening had started well. When it came to stretching and curving, things went downhill. Mistakes were made forcing Dallion to try and compensate, which lead to further mistakes, and ultimately to him thinning it way more than he should have. In the end, the plate ended up being only slightly thicker than a sheet of paper.
There’s still hope, the workbench said. If you make a few more layers, this could still work. Of course, it’ll take more than a day. Maybe by the end of the week you’ll have something usable.
There was nothing Dallion could say. For several minutes, he stared at the disaster that was supposed to be his first piece of armor, after which he calmly returned the hammer to its place and let out a deep sigh. One thing had become clear from all of this—being an awakened from another world didn’t make him a forging prodigy. Dallion suspected that, but had decided to give it a go to see where he stood. The good thing was that knowing his real level didn’t make him disappointed. On the contrary, it gave him an adequate estimate of his skills. Also, a bit of physical labor was what he needed to clear his mind for a few hours.
Maybe you can start with something simpler? The workshop suggested. A shin or shoulder protector?
Or a thimble, the armadil shield added.
The companion armor seemed far too amused by the situation. It was bad enough that, as it turned out, the two were chatting buddies. Apparently, guardians were far chattier than one would imagine. All the times Dallion had been to the workshop with the armadil shield, it and the workbench had chatted quite a bit.
Instead of an answer, Dallion went on to do what he should have done in the first place.
PERSONAL AWAKENING
The awakening room appeared. For once, no one was there to welcome him. With the addition of Vermillion everyone preferred to spend most of their time at Harp’s tower. Even the armadil shield had moved his domain to be nearby, with Dallion’s permission, of course.
Slackers, Dallion thought. Leave it to them to spend all their time on the beach. In all honesty, he would have liked to have joined them. During the early days of his domain, Dallion had admired every new room and corridor, but now found it rather dark and claustrophobic. From what Nil had said, the starting room was the only thing that was unchangeable. It would add walls and skills, but it would always be an inside room with no windows. Everything else was subject to transformation… once Dallion reached a certain level, of course.
“Meow.” A somewhat larger Nox entered the room, walking confidently to Dallion. Gone were the days when the cub would eagerly rush towards him like a bundle of fluff. Now the crackling was somewhere between a cub and a grown puma. The spark of adventure, though, was still visible in his eye.
“Hey, Nox.” Dallion petted the crackling. “You’ve grown a lot, haven’t you?”
The creature purred.
“I guess it’s safe to say I won’t be carrying you on my head anymore. Why are you the only one here?”
Because he continues to dislike water, dear boy. Furthermore, we thought you might need some personal time after this morning’s attempts at making armor.
“Wow. Thanks a lot for the vote of confidence.”
Oh, and just in case. I’d highly recommend you make a few pieces of awakened armor before proceeding to level up? There’s no telling what your trial be, but usually, it’s always better to have good protection.
“How about it, Nox, want to help me make something cool?”
The crackling flicked its left ear. Taking that as a yes, Dallion proceeded to forging. There, summoning a large iron ingot, he got to work.
There was no question that forging in the awakened realm was far easier than anything in the real world. Even with his limited level of iron forging, Dallion was able to see enough markers to achieve in minutes what it had taken him hours in the real world. And the best part was that thanks to Nox, he was able to cut out the shape quickly and without any fuss.
The crackling didn’t seem particularly interested in the whole process, but as usual was happy to assist its owner.
Soon enough, the final result was visible.
BREASTPLATE CREATED
You’ve successfully constructed your first breastplate—simple but solid.
Your forging skills have increased to 3
“Finally!” Dallion held his creation with both hands. Having successfully constructed it, meant that he would be able to summon it at will. More importantly, he had finally improved his forging skills. There was a deep sense of joy and achievement that Dallion hadn’t felt since had successfully played his first chord, back when he was learning his music skill.
Inspired by his success, Dallion went on to create an array of armor. Grabbing a few scrolls from the ring library, he managed—after a few attempts—to create shin guards, shoulder guards, several helmets, gauntlets, and a few knee protectors, inspired by Dallion’s blading gear back on Earth.
As each new blue rectangle appeared, informing Dallion of his success, his forging skills increased until they reached thirteen. A pity they couldn’t transfer to the real world.
“Well done.” Nil entered the room. “The way things are going, you’ll need an armory. Which might be a good thing with all the empty rooms you still have. Honestly, dear boy, you tend to be wasteful with space.”
“And you keep reminding me.” Dallion looked at the half gauntlet he’d made. It was by far the most complicated item he had constructed, with as much effort going into forging the parts as assembling them.
“Not a bad start.” The echo stood next to Dallion.
Dallion would agree, however, he also knew that it wasn’t enough. If he was to get stronger, he’d need to learn how to use each of those components in combat rather than just carry them. A while back, Eury had told him that armor could be used as part of his guard skills. At the time, Dallion didn’t have the stats to do so. He did now. Before that, though, he needed to level up.
“Can you clean up for me, Nil?” Dallion asked. “I need to do something.”
“Of course. Just one piece of advice, if I may. Don’t allow your plans to rule you. Being prepared is commendable, being inflexible isn’t.”
“Thanks, Nil. I’ll keep it in mind.” Dallion went into the corridor. There, he went to the first new door and stepped inside.
The leveling trial started as expected with a rectangle and a walk along a long corridor. At this point, combat splitting had become second nature for Dallion. Since there was no telling what he might face, every step could end up being a trap, potentially a fatal one. After all, there was no guarantee that the trial didn’t focus on caution.
After a while, the tunnel split into three. That was sneaky. Dallion’s combat splitting didn’t allow him to choose the correct one. Relying on his music skill and perception, he carefully examined all three possible options.
All of the tunnels seemed identical. The smell of the air, the drafts, even the pattern of the stone tiles were an exact match. Everything suggested that there was no difference in what choice Dallion made, which was precisely why he didn’t take any just yet.
Gleam, Lux, he summoned his familiars.
Both emerged above him.
“Guess you’ll need me after all,” the shardfly said. “What’s the matter this time?”
“Are all passages real?” Dallion asked.
“This is your realm, of course they aren’t real. None of them are illusions, though.” Gleam fluttered to the left passage. “I can go down this one and tell you what’s at the end.”
That was a good idea… unless that was the trial. Three options, three familiars. Almost on cue, Nox also appeared.
“Will you be able to handle it?”
“Just because I’ve reverted to level one doesn’t make me defenseless.” The shardfly didn’t sound particularly pleased. “I’ll be fine. Rather worry about your part.”
“Lux, Nox, how about you?”
The firebird chirped eagerly, while Nox calmly continued straight ahead, taking the middle path. Clearly, they were confident in their abilities as well.
“Okay, go ahead.”
All three familiars went down their respective passages. Dallion watched as the firebird’s light disappeared in the distance, then waited. It was pretty obvious that this couldn’t be the means to solve the trial. At the same time, it was likely to be the trigger that started it.
Minutes passed. No noise came from any of the tunnels.
Gleam, anything interesting? Dallion asked.
Instead of an answer, all three passages sealed up in front of Dallion’s eyes. Clearly, he wasn’t going to get any help from them. A short while later, a new passageway emerged, continuing forward.
Drawing his hapsisword, Dallion continued forward. Soon enough, the tunnel became pitch black. Without Lux’s help it was impossible to see where Dallion was going. Surprisingly there didn’t seem to be any traps or holes along the way, just a very long stretch of darkness ending in an… arena field.
Strangely specific, Dallion thought as he emerged beneath the cheers of the crowd. Around him the stands were packed with people, each yelling his name. As he walked further, however, he realized that it wasn’t him that the crowd was cheering, but rather his opponent.
“Long time no see, Dal,” an echo of Dallion said. “Very impressed you made it this far.”
The echo shared Dallion’s appearance, but the similarities pretty much ended there. The clothes and gear were completely different. Instead of a harpsisword, the echo was equipped with a whip blade; also, his armor was the real thing—full plate armor, covering him from top to bottom.
“March’s armor?” Dallion asked.
“I found it suitable. It’s supposed to be the most impressive set of armor you’ve seen. Personally, I have my doubts, but there’s no accounting for taste.”
Gleam. Dallion thought. Lux, Nox.
“Your familiars aren’t here,” the echo-Dallion said. “It would be too easy if you used them to win. We can’t have them play the challenge for you.”
“As if that’s ever happened.”
“Oh, it has quite often. For this trial, though, you and only you must make the difficult choices.”
“I’m starting to see the pattern.” Each time Dallion had to face an echo of himself, there was a choice to be made. Furthermore, based on past experience, such trials involved coping with a new ability. Given that the only new ability came from his empathy stat, it wasn’t difficult to see where this was going. “What’s the test this time?”
“It’s rather simple, actually. All you have to do is defeat me. No fuss whatsoever, right?”
“But?” Dallion crossed his arms. “There’s always a catch.”
“Never a catch. Always a choice.”
You’re a cool person, right? a voice asked. Concentrating, Dallion saw that the source of the voice was the echo’s breastplate.
He’s probably bloodthirsty like the lot of them. A gauntlet added. He just pretends to care, but when it comes down to it will gladly kill us to get ahead.
Maybe you’re wrong, a boot said. He was favored by the Green Moon.
That doesn’t mean a thing, the gauntlet grumbled.
More voices added to the mix. Every piece of armor the echo-Dallion was wearing was a different entity with a mind and voice of its own.
“Naturally, that’s the choice: how many items are you willing to kill to defeat me. And yes, I do mean kill, since that’s the only way to deal me damage.”
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
Wow, the workbench said. You’re really, really bad at this.
Don’t worry, the armadil shield added. Things can only get better for him from here.
It had taken Dallion two hours to flatten a metal ingot to the point he could form the rough shape of a breastplate. Even with Dallion’s improved body and forging skills, however, the result was highly questionable at best. Thanks to what Eury had taught him, the material was pretty much flawless. Getting the shape, though… that was a different matter altogether.
Initially, the flattening had started well. When it came to stretching and curving, things went downhill. Mistakes were made forcing Dallion to try and compensate, which lead to further mistakes, and ultimately to him thinning it way more than he should have. In the end, the plate ended up being only slightly thicker than a sheet of paper.
There’s still hope, the workbench said. If you make a few more layers, this could still work. Of course, it’ll take more than a day. Maybe by the end of the week you’ll have something usable.
There was nothing Dallion could say. For several minutes, he stared at the disaster that was supposed to be his first piece of armor, after which he calmly returned the hammer to its place and let out a deep sigh. One thing had become clear from all of this—being an awakened from another world didn’t make him a forging prodigy. Dallion suspected that, but had decided to give it a go to see where he stood. The good thing was that knowing his real level didn’t make him disappointed. On the contrary, it gave him an adequate estimate of his skills. Also, a bit of physical labor was what he needed to clear his mind for a few hours.
Maybe you can start with something simpler? The workshop suggested. A shin or shoulder protector?
Or a thimble, the armadil shield added.
The companion armor seemed far too amused by the situation. It was bad enough that, as it turned out, the two were chatting buddies. Apparently, guardians were far chattier than one would imagine. All the times Dallion had been to the workshop with the armadil shield, it and the workbench had chatted quite a bit.
Instead of an answer, Dallion went on to do what he should have done in the first place.
PERSONAL AWAKENING
The awakening room appeared. For once, no one was there to welcome him. With the addition of Vermillion everyone preferred to spend most of their time at Harp’s tower. Even the armadil shield had moved his domain to be nearby, with Dallion’s permission, of course.
Slackers, Dallion thought. Leave it to them to spend all their time on the beach. In all honesty, he would have liked to have joined them. During the early days of his domain, Dallion had admired every new room and corridor, but now found it rather dark and claustrophobic. From what Nil had said, the starting room was the only thing that was unchangeable. It would add walls and skills, but it would always be an inside room with no windows. Everything else was subject to transformation… once Dallion reached a certain level, of course.
“Meow.” A somewhat larger Nox entered the room, walking confidently to Dallion. Gone were the days when the cub would eagerly rush towards him like a bundle of fluff. Now the crackling was somewhere between a cub and a grown puma. The spark of adventure, though, was still visible in his eye.
“Hey, Nox.” Dallion petted the crackling. “You’ve grown a lot, haven’t you?”
The creature purred.
“I guess it’s safe to say I won’t be carrying you on my head anymore. Why are you the only one here?”
Because he continues to dislike water, dear boy. Furthermore, we thought you might need some personal time after this morning’s attempts at making armor.
“Wow. Thanks a lot for the vote of confidence.”
Oh, and just in case. I’d highly recommend you make a few pieces of awakened armor before proceeding to level up? There’s no telling what your trial be, but usually, it’s always better to have good protection.
“How about it, Nox, want to help me make something cool?”
The crackling flicked its left ear. Taking that as a yes, Dallion proceeded to forging. There, summoning a large iron ingot, he got to work.
There was no question that forging in the awakened realm was far easier than anything in the real world. Even with his limited level of iron forging, Dallion was able to see enough markers to achieve in minutes what it had taken him hours in the real world. And the best part was that thanks to Nox, he was able to cut out the shape quickly and without any fuss.
The crackling didn’t seem particularly interested in the whole process, but as usual was happy to assist its owner.
Soon enough, the final result was visible.
BREASTPLATE CREATED
You’ve successfully constructed your first breastplate—simple but solid.
Your forging skills have increased to 3
“Finally!” Dallion held his creation with both hands. Having successfully constructed it, meant that he would be able to summon it at will. More importantly, he had finally improved his forging skills. There was a deep sense of joy and achievement that Dallion hadn’t felt since had successfully played his first chord, back when he was learning his music skill.
Inspired by his success, Dallion went on to create an array of armor. Grabbing a few scrolls from the ring library, he managed—after a few attempts—to create shin guards, shoulder guards, several helmets, gauntlets, and a few knee protectors, inspired by Dallion’s blading gear back on Earth.
As each new blue rectangle appeared, informing Dallion of his success, his forging skills increased until they reached thirteen. A pity they couldn’t transfer to the real world.
“Well done.” Nil entered the room. “The way things are going, you’ll need an armory. Which might be a good thing with all the empty rooms you still have. Honestly, dear boy, you tend to be wasteful with space.”
“And you keep reminding me.” Dallion looked at the half gauntlet he’d made. It was by far the most complicated item he had constructed, with as much effort going into forging the parts as assembling them.
“Not a bad start.” The echo stood next to Dallion.
Dallion would agree, however, he also knew that it wasn’t enough. If he was to get stronger, he’d need to learn how to use each of those components in combat rather than just carry them. A while back, Eury had told him that armor could be used as part of his guard skills. At the time, Dallion didn’t have the stats to do so. He did now. Before that, though, he needed to level up.
“Can you clean up for me, Nil?” Dallion asked. “I need to do something.”
“Of course. Just one piece of advice, if I may. Don’t allow your plans to rule you. Being prepared is commendable, being inflexible isn’t.”
“Thanks, Nil. I’ll keep it in mind.” Dallion went into the corridor. There, he went to the first new door and stepped inside.
The leveling trial started as expected with a rectangle and a walk along a long corridor. At this point, combat splitting had become second nature for Dallion. Since there was no telling what he might face, every step could end up being a trap, potentially a fatal one. After all, there was no guarantee that the trial didn’t focus on caution.
After a while, the tunnel split into three. That was sneaky. Dallion’s combat splitting didn’t allow him to choose the correct one. Relying on his music skill and perception, he carefully examined all three possible options.
All of the tunnels seemed identical. The smell of the air, the drafts, even the pattern of the stone tiles were an exact match. Everything suggested that there was no difference in what choice Dallion made, which was precisely why he didn’t take any just yet.
Gleam, Lux, he summoned his familiars.
Both emerged above him.
“Guess you’ll need me after all,” the shardfly said. “What’s the matter this time?”
“Are all passages real?” Dallion asked.
“This is your realm, of course they aren’t real. None of them are illusions, though.” Gleam fluttered to the left passage. “I can go down this one and tell you what’s at the end.”
That was a good idea… unless that was the trial. Three options, three familiars. Almost on cue, Nox also appeared.
“Will you be able to handle it?”
“Just because I’ve reverted to level one doesn’t make me defenseless.” The shardfly didn’t sound particularly pleased. “I’ll be fine. Rather worry about your part.”
“Lux, Nox, how about you?”
The firebird chirped eagerly, while Nox calmly continued straight ahead, taking the middle path. Clearly, they were confident in their abilities as well.
“Okay, go ahead.”
All three familiars went down their respective passages. Dallion watched as the firebird’s light disappeared in the distance, then waited. It was pretty obvious that this couldn’t be the means to solve the trial. At the same time, it was likely to be the trigger that started it.
Minutes passed. No noise came from any of the tunnels.
Gleam, anything interesting? Dallion asked.
Instead of an answer, all three passages sealed up in front of Dallion’s eyes. Clearly, he wasn’t going to get any help from them. A short while later, a new passageway emerged, continuing forward.
Drawing his hapsisword, Dallion continued forward. Soon enough, the tunnel became pitch black. Without Lux’s help it was impossible to see where Dallion was going. Surprisingly there didn’t seem to be any traps or holes along the way, just a very long stretch of darkness ending in an… arena field.
Strangely specific, Dallion thought as he emerged beneath the cheers of the crowd. Around him the stands were packed with people, each yelling his name. As he walked further, however, he realized that it wasn’t him that the crowd was cheering, but rather his opponent.
“Long time no see, Dal,” an echo of Dallion said. “Very impressed you made it this far.”
The echo shared Dallion’s appearance, but the similarities pretty much ended there. The clothes and gear were completely different. Instead of a harpsisword, the echo was equipped with a whip blade; also, his armor was the real thing—full plate armor, covering him from top to bottom.
“March’s armor?” Dallion asked.
“I found it suitable. It’s supposed to be the most impressive set of armor you’ve seen. Personally, I have my doubts, but there’s no accounting for taste.”
Gleam. Dallion thought. Lux, Nox.
“Your familiars aren’t here,” the echo-Dallion said. “It would be too easy if you used them to win. We can’t have them play the challenge for you.”
“As if that’s ever happened.”
“Oh, it has quite often. For this trial, though, you and only you must make the difficult choices.”
“I’m starting to see the pattern.” Each time Dallion had to face an echo of himself, there was a choice to be made. Furthermore, based on past experience, such trials involved coping with a new ability. Given that the only new ability came from his empathy stat, it wasn’t difficult to see where this was going. “What’s the test this time?”
“It’s rather simple, actually. All you have to do is defeat me. No fuss whatsoever, right?”
“But?” Dallion crossed his arms. “There’s always a catch.”
“Never a catch. Always a choice.”
You’re a cool person, right? a voice asked. Concentrating, Dallion saw that the source of the voice was the echo’s breastplate.
He’s probably bloodthirsty like the lot of them. A gauntlet added. He just pretends to care, but when it comes down to it will gladly kill us to get ahead.
Maybe you’re wrong, a boot said. He was favored by the Green Moon.
That doesn’t mean a thing, the gauntlet grumbled.
More voices added to the mix. Every piece of armor the echo-Dallion was wearing was a different entity with a mind and voice of its own.
“Naturally, that’s the choice: how many items are you willing to kill to defeat me. And yes, I do mean kill, since that’s the only way to deal me damage.”
Wow, the workbench said. You're really, really bad at this.Don't worry, the armadil shield added. Things can only get better for him from here.It had taken Dallion two hours to flatten a metal ingot to the point he could form the rough shape of a breastplate. Even with Dallion's improved body and forging skills, however, the result was highly questionable at best. Thanks to what Eury had taught him, the material was pretty much flawless. Getting the shape, though that was a different matter altogether.Initially, the flattening had started well. When it came to stretching and curving, things went downhill. Mistakes were made forcing Dallion to try and compensate, which lead to further mistakes, and ultimately to him thinning it way more than he should have. In the end, the plate ended up being only slightly thicker than a sheet of paper.There's still hope, the workbench said. If you make a few more layers, this could still work. Of course, it'll take more than a day. Maybe by the end of the week you'll have something usable.There was nothing Dallion could say. For several minutes, he stared at the disaster that was supposed to be his first piece of armor, after which he calmly returned the hammer to its place and let out a deep sigh. One thing had become clear from all of thisbeing an awakened from another world didn't make him a forging prodigy. Dallion suspected that, but had decided to give it a go to see where he stood. The good thing was that knowing his real level didn't make him disappointed. On the contrary, it gave him an adequate estimate of his skills. Also, a bit of physical labor was what he needed to clear his mind for a few hours.Maybe you can start with something simpler? The workshop suggested. A shin or shoulder protector?Or a thimble, the armadil shield added.The companion armor seemed far too amused by the situation. It was bad enough that, as it turned out, the two were chatting buddies. Apparently, guardians were far chattier than one would imagine. All the times Dallion had been to the workshop with the armadil shield, it and the workbench had chatted quite a bit.Instead of an answer, Dallion went on to do what he should have done in the first place.PERSONAL AWAKENINGThe awakening room appeared. For once, no one was there to welcome him. With the addition of Vermillion everyone preferred to spend most of their time at Harp's tower. Even the armadil shield had moved his domain to be nearby, with Dallion's permission, of course.Slackers, Dallion thought. Leave it to them to spend all their time on the beach. In all honesty, he would have liked to have joined them. During the early days of his domain, Dallion had admired every new room and corridor, but now found it rather dark and claustrophobic. From what Nil had said, the starting room was the only thing that was unchangeable. It would add walls and skills, but it would always be an inside room with no windows. Everything else was subject to transformation once Dallion reached a certain level, of course.Meow. A somewhat larger Nox entered the room, walking confidently to Dallion. Gone were the days when the cub would eagerly rush towards him like a bundle of fluff. Now the crackling was somewhere between a cub and a grown puma. The spark of adventure, though, was still visible in his eye.Hey, Nox. Dallion petted the crackling. You've grown a lot, haven't you?The creature purred.I guess it's safe to say I won't be carrying you on my head anymore. Why are you the only one here?Because he continues to dislike water, dear boy. Furthermore, we thought you might need some personal time after this morning's attempts at making armor.Wow. Thanks a lot for the vote of confidence.Oh, and just in case. I'd highly recommend you make a few pieces of awakened armor before proceeding to level up? There's no telling what your trial be, but usually, it's always better to have good protection.How about it, Nox, want to help me make something cool?The crackling flicked its left ear. Taking that as a yes, Dallion proceeded to forging. There, summoning a large iron ingot, he got to work.There was no question that forging in the awakened realm was far easier than anything in the real world. Even with his limited level of iron forging, Dallion was able to see enough markers to achieve in minutes what it had taken him hours in the real world. And the best part was that thanks to Nox, he was able to cut out the shape quickly and without any fuss.The crackling didn't seem particularly interested in the whole process, but as usual was happy to assist its owner.Soon enough, the final result was visible.BREASTPLATE CREATEDYou've successfully constructed your first breastplatesimple but solid.Your forging skills have increased to 3Finally! Dallion held his creation with both hands. Having successfully constructed it, meant that he would be able to summon it at will. More importantly, he had finally improved his forging skills. There was a deep sense of joy and achievement that Dallion hadn't felt since had successfully played his first chord, back when he was learning his music skill.Inspired by his success, Dallion went on to create an array of armor. Grabbing a few scrolls from the ring library, he managedafter a few attemptsto create shin guards, shoulder guards, several helmets, gauntlets, and a few knee protectors, inspired by Dallion's blading gear back on Earth.As each new blue rectangle appeared, informing Dallion of his success, his forging skills increased until they reached thirteen. A pity they couldn't transfer to the real world.Well done. Nil entered the room. The way things are going, you'll need an armory. Which might be a good thing with all the empty rooms you still have. Honestly, dear boy, you tend to be wasteful with space.And you keep reminding me. Dallion looked at the half gauntlet he'd made. It was by far the most complicated item he had constructed, with as much effort going into forging the parts as assembling them.Not a bad start. The echo stood next to Dallion.Dallion would agree, however, he also knew that it wasn't enough. If he was to get stronger, he'd need to learn how to use each of those components in combat rather than just carry them. A while back, Eury had told him that armor could be used as part of his guard skills. At the time, Dallion didn't have the stats to do so. He did now. Before that, though, he needed to level up.Can you clean up for me, Nil? Dallion asked. I need to do something.Of course. Just one piece of advice, if I may. Don't allow your plans to rule you. Being prepared is commendable, being inflexible isn't.Thanks, Nil. I'll keep it in mind. Dallion went into the corridor. There, he went to the first new door and stepped inside.The leveling trial started as expected with a rectangle and a walk along a long corridor. At this point, combat splitting had become second nature for Dallion. Since there was no telling what he might face, every step could end up being a trap, potentially a fatal one. After all, there was no guarantee that the trial didn't focus on caution.After a while, the tunnel split into three. That was sneaky. Dallion's combat splitting didn't allow him to choose the correct one. Relying on his music skill and perception, he carefully examined all three possible options.All of the tunnels seemed identical. The smell of the air, the drafts, even the pattern of the stone tiles were an exact match. Everything suggested that there was no difference in what choice Dallion made, which was precisely why he didn't take any just yet.Gleam, Lux, he summoned his familiars.Both emerged above him.Guess you'll need me after all, the shardfly said. What's the matter this time?Are all passages real? Dallion asked.This is your realm, of course they aren't real. None of them are illusions, though. Gleam fluttered to the left passage. I can go down this one and tell you what's at the end.That was a good idea unless that was the trial. Three options, three familiars. Almost on cue, Nox also appeared.Will you be able to handle it?Just because I've reverted to level one doesn't make me defenseless. The shardfly didn't sound particularly pleased. I'll be fine. Rather worry about your part.Lux, Nox, how about you?The firebird chirped eagerly, while Nox calmly continued straight ahead, taking the middle path. Clearly, they were confident in their abilities as well.Okay, go ahead.All three familiars went down their respective passages. Dallion watched as the firebird's light disappeared in the distance, then waited. It was pretty obvious that this couldn't be the means to solve the trial. At the same time, it was likely to be the trigger that started it.Minutes passed. No noise came from any of the tunnels.Gleam, anything interesting? Dallion asked.Instead of an answer, all three passages sealed up in front of Dallion's eyes. Clearly, he wasn't going to get any help from them. A short while later, a new passageway emerged, continuing forward.Drawing his hapsisword, Dallion continued forward. Soon enough, the tunnel became pitch black. Without Lux's help it was impossible to see where Dallion was going. Surprisingly there didn't seem to be any traps or holes along the way, just a very long stretch of darkness ending in an arena field.Strangely specific, Dallion thought as he emerged beneath the cheers of the crowd. Around him the stands were packed with people, each yelling his name. As he walked further, however, he realized that it wasn't him that the crowd was cheering, but rather his opponent.Long time no see, Dal, an echo of Dallion said. Very impressed you made it this far.The echo shared Dallion's appearance, but the similarities pretty much ended there. The clothes and gear were completely different. Instead of a harpsisword, the echo was equipped with a whip blade; also, his armor was the real thingfull plate armor, covering him from top to bottom.March's armor? Dallion asked.I found it suitable. It's supposed to be the most impressive set of armor you've seen. Personally, I have my doubts, but there's no accounting for taste.Gleam. Dallion thought. Lux, Nox.Your familiars aren't here, the echo-Dallion said. It would be too easy if you used them to win. We can't have them play the challenge for you.As if that's ever happened.Oh, it has quite often. For this trial, though, you and only you must make the difficult choices.I'm starting to see the pattern. Each time Dallion had to face an echo of himself, there was a choice to be made. Furthermore, based on past experience, such trials involved coping with a new ability. Given that the only new ability came from his empathy stat, it wasn't difficult to see where this was going. What's the test this time?It's rather simple, actually. All you have to do is defeat me. No fuss whatsoever, right?But? Dallion crossed his arms. There's always a catch.Never a catch. Always a choice.You're a cool person, right? a voice asked. Concentrating, Dallion saw that the source of the voice was the echo's breastplate.He's probably bloodthirsty like the lot of them. A gauntlet added. He just pretends to care, but when it comes down to it will gladly kill us to get ahead.Maybe you're wrong, a boot said. He was favored by the Green Moon.That doesn't mean a thing, the gauntlet grumbled.More voices added to the mix. Every piece of armor the echo-Dallion was wearing was a different entity with a mind and voice of its own.Naturally, that's the choice: how many items are you willing to kill to defeat me. And yes, I do mean kill, since that's the only way to deal me damage.
