Fighting a creature with no weaknesses turned out less difficult than Dallion expected. Having to deal with a slime that shot “bullets” of water, though, was extremely annoying. The projectiles themselves weren’t nearly destructive as the boy imagined. They didn’t cut through objects, nor did they explode. What they did was smart like a baseball hitting the thigh.

One would have thought that a shield would be enough protection. While that was true at first, with each minute the impact pressure grew to the point that Dallion now felt pain in his arm each time something splashed on the shield. His physical weakness was starting to show. After defeating this guardian, he was definitely going to improve his body.

Red and green markers appeared and shifted constantly, like a Dance Dance Revolution on difficult mode. Following them for the most part wasn’t an issue, but doing so on water often does. Logically there was no reason the boy shouldn’t but his aversion to water made him stop each time breaking the sequence.

Several times he tried to bait the guardian further in the island, only to get bombarded by a volley of water projectiles as a result.

“You really are annoying, you know that?” Dallion grumbled under his breath.

Simple tricks weren’t going to help him win this encounter… so he resorted to the next best thing—brute force combinatorics. If there was one thing the arcane point-and-click adventure games had taught him, was that every puzzle could be solved by combining every item with every other. The trick was not to get hit too many times as he did it.

Forcing himself to walk into the water, Dallion completed a full guard sequence. When time slowed to a crawl, he didn’t attack as he usually did, but waited for it to return to normal, then continued with a second sequence, and a third. Only when that bonus effect triggered did he go on the offensive.

Jumping to a perfect counterattack spot, a few series of markers appeared. Unlike the ones before they were half green half red. Both shield and sword markers were visible in the air, allowing him to perform several strikes on the slime. This was precisely the boost he needed.

“How about this?” Dallion attacked, slamming the guardian simultaneously with his buckler and the flat side of his sword.

COMBINATION ATTACK

Dealt damage increased by 200%

Metal splashed against water—which unfortunately had the consistency of wet concrete—causing the entire slime to jiggle.

The temptation to do another “squish” attack was enormous, but Dallion chose to continue as the markers suggested, twisting around the guardian and doing another slice attack. It was a good thing that he did. The attack didn’t end, instead creating a new set of green-red markers, more elaborate than the last. When Dallion completed it—with quite a bit of difficulty—the same happened again.

Endless combo, the boy thought.

The third sequence proved too much, causing him to fumble half-way through. Not wanting to waste any of the time freeze, Dallion performed another dual attack. To his relief, it proved enough. The slime lost form pouring back into the endless sea. Moments later, a rectangle appeared.

You have broken through your third barrier.

No skill options?

Regret twisted his stomach like a football during practice. It was too much to expect he’d be offered forging skills a second time, but he had hoped to receive something new.

You are Level 3

Choose the focus you value the most so you can leave the Awakening shrine.

The choices were all too familiar. Maybe for that reason Dallion found himself unable to make one. It was tempting to increase his Perception, especially now that he knew how it helped him in real life. Mind was something he didn’t think about—if there were any apparent benefits, he didn’t feel them. Reaction, on the other hand, was something that would give him a definite edge. If anything, with a value of six was seen as impressive, having a stat on seven would be phenomenal. And then there was Body…

Strictly speaking, it was the last thing Dallion wanted to improve. Being strong and muscular, while tempting, was something he thought he could achieve on his own. After all, he had managed to melt quite a lot of fat through item mending alone, not to mention that had also added a bit of muscle mass in a few areas. Was there really a need to invest in Body?

What is the proper choice?

Dallion’s father used to say that proper choice is the educated comparison of known results. The boy knew what all other statistics provided him, he only assumed that body would grant him more stamina.

“Here goes.” Dallion tapped the Body rectangle with his finger. Some things required decisiveness.

Awakening increased

Your ATTACK skills have increased to 5

The tropical island had vanished, replaced by the dark surroundings of the cave. Dallion remained there for a few minutes, thinking. Had he made the right choice? As far as he could tell, nothing had changed. He didn’t feel stronger, nor—if his clothes were any indication—had he become particularly more muscular. He could hope that the effects of the new increase would become apparent when facing a guardian. Or maybe there was another way. For that, though, he had to get back home.

The way back went unnoticeably fast. The only thing Dallion had to be careful of was not to be seen by anyone—a surprisingly difficult task once he entered the village proper. While most of the people remained in their homes after dark, an alarming number would peek out of their windows at the least of noises. Lacking internet, television, or even books, there was little else to do to fight boredom. No doubt Dallion’s previous “sneak outs” had been seen and discussed already. Since everyone was secretly backing him against the village chief, they had probably kept the secret.

Dallion looked at the sky. As far as he could tell, about an hour remained till midnight—perfect for his small test. Bending down, the boy took a chipped stone from the ground and used his awakening powers on it. A split second later—or half an hour in the awakened state—the stone had turned into flawlessly polished granite.

“Cool.” Dallion looked at the stone, then put it gently on the ground. The improvement hadn’t been a mistake after all.