Music acting as a means to freeze people and objects… that was one option Dallion had never considered. He’d always assumed that it might allow him to manipulate people, similar to echoes, though not in such fashion, and he didn’t dream it might affect objects as well. Back when Dallion was learning the basics of awakening, his mother had told him that different people had different connections to objects. At the time, he thought of it as a metaphor. Now, he understood what she really meant: for an awakened every object was a living entity. The more one mistreated an object, the more resentful and rebellious its guardian became. It was no longer enough to be mindful of people, Dallion had to keep in mind how he treated objects as well.

“Dal, you’ve got an improvement request here,” Hannah shouted.

The yell caught the attention of the entire room.

“There in a moment.” Dallion placed five mugs of beer at a table, then rushed to where the innkeeper was at. The last time he had worked this much was as a fast-food temp years ago. Thankfully, the pay was much better here, and also there were tips. “What’s the item?”

“Another glass,” the innkeeper replied.

That was a relief. Glasses were easy. Of course, it would have been better if he had his haprsisword with him. Instead, he now had to use the lyre instead.

“Let’s take a look at the patient.” Dallion took hold of the item. The glass wasn’t of the common inn variety. The patrons had brought it themselves with the express purpose of getting it improved. Judging by its condition, this was no longer a mere test of his skills. “Here we go,” Dallion said and awakened the item.

The realm was close to what he expected—a small glass room, leading to a round maze around it.

The condition of the glass was almost perfect, requiring only a few touches in the labyrinth to get it fully restored. Dallion finished that quickly, then went straight to the guardian—a level one glass condor. While similar to all other glass guardians Dallion had encountered, it had its own unique personality: the beak was a bit longer, the shards that composed the feathers—a bit thinner, and its overall frame was shorter and more rounded.

Normally, it would take Dallion a single shot with the dartbow to defeat the guardian. However, he decided to spend the time getting a better grasp of his music skills. Now that he knew what to look for, it was easy determining the guardian’s emotions—a combination of joy, calm and excitement. The moment he played the combination, blue lines appeared, growing along the vibrating strings at different speeds.

The library echo had been right, this was more complicated than the book, though not unsurmountable. It took Dallion a few dozen attempts to play all three at the right time, but when he did, the guardian froze mid-air. That was precisely what he was aiming for. Brushing off the sweat from his forehead, Dallion drew his dartbow and finished the guardian with a single shot.

GLASS Level increased

The GLASS has been improved to BLUE QUARTZ

Your MUSIC skills have increased to 2

Blue quarts? That was new. The important thing was that Dallion had leveled up his music skills. A few more times and he might get some new powers.

“Oh, would you look at that?” Dallion asked upon returning to the real world. The glass he was holding had acquired a fine cyan tint. “Here you go.”

“I told you,” the patron who had ordered the item improvement said to his wife. “Worth every silver!”

Judging by the woman’s expression she was of a similar opinion, as was the whole crowd clustered to get a better view of what Dallion had managed to achieve.

“Calm done, everyone!” Hannah shouted. “This marks the last improvement of the day. If you want more, talk to me and I’ll see when Dal will have the time for it.”

I can do more, Dallion thought. He also knew that it would be poor form to say this out loud. If the innkeeper wanted him to stop, he’d stop. Apparently, the patrons also knew her well enough, for they returned to their seats, focusing back on their food.

“Dal, get some rest,” Hannah whispered. “Take your food and go for a walk. I’ll take care of things until evening.”

“Huh?” Dallion looked at her. “Why?”

“Your fingers are bleeding,” the innkeeper added in a whisper.

Dallion looked down. His right hand seemed perfectly fine. The left, though… drops of blood were dripping from three of his fingers. A painful sensation appeared, as if Dallion’s fingertips were burning. Thinking back, Dallion couldn’t remember the guardian even getting close to wound him in any way. He also hadn’t done it to himself…

Probably the lyre, he thought. It had been a while since he had played guitar. He’d figure that later. For the moment he needed food, and some rest.

Grabbing a large dish of food from the kitchen, Dallion went up to his room. He wasn’t able to finish a quarter of it when exhaustion kicked in. The next thing he knew it was evening, and his face was half covered in food.

Crap! Dallion jumped to his feet. He had completely forgotten about the no food in the room rule. Looking at the mess, Hannah had a very good reason for it. It didn’t help that he had bled over the bedsheets.

Dallion quickly washed off as much of the food from his face, then cleaned his fingers from the blood. The next thing was to clean up the room as much as possible before Hannah came in. Unfortunately for him, it turned out he didn’t have to. Just as he began, the door swung open, and Hannah came in, carrying a fresh set of sheets and covers.

“Err, Hannah, I…”

“Anywhere other than the bed?” she asked with icy determination.

“No?” Dallion managed to say.

“Good. Wrap it up and don’t get anything on the floor.”

“Sure.”

The two cleaned in silence for several minutes. Once the mess was contained and the sheets were changed with a fresh set, Dallion dared say the obvious.

“Sorry for the mess. Won’t happen again.” He paused for a few seconds more. “I’ll pay for the cleaning.”

“No, you won’t. If you pay me, you’ll get the idea that it’s my job to fix things for you. Everyone messes up at the start. Don’t make it a habit. Understood?”

“Understood.” He looked at his hand again. Faints scars were visible, like red lines of dark blood on the tip of his fingers.

“And don’t overdo it. I’m sure you think you’ve been through a lot and have a good grasp of things. You don’t. You’ve just cracked the door open to a world you know nothing about. Judging by what Captain Adzorg told me, you’re completely self-taught, so you don’t know any constraint. That makes this a very dangerous time for you. When you’re a semi, the level limit keeps your from hurting yourself. After the five…” she shook her head.

That was actually correct. When Dallion had started, he’d exhaust himself training, but he’d quickly recover. There was only so much mending that he could do. The improving, though, had its toll. Even when fighting level one guardians he had felt dizzy after facing two in a row. Doing six per day, at his current awakening level, had left him running on fumes. He’d already exhausted his limit last night, in addition to fighting one just now, not to mention all the time spent training his new skill in the library.

“Were you awakened?” Dallion asked, handing Hannah the old sheets wrapped in a bundle.

“I don’t have to be an awakened to see the obvious!” The woman snapped. “The whole city is filled with your kind. You think you’re the first idiot who fainted trying to rush it to the double digits? What do you think the registrations are? That way at least we don’t have awakened dying from exhaustion all over the place.”

“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense.” The boy smiled.

“You’ve got two hours till the dinner crowd.” Hannah took a coin pouch from her belt and tossed it to Dallion. “The tips from lunch. Go out, get some air, buy some proper clothes this time. I don’t need you scruffy or exhausted.”

“I will,” Dallion said, although even now he knew he was lying. “And I won’t overdo it. Promise.”

Hannah snorted and left the room. Clearly she had seen enough reckless hotheads to know that her advice would be ignored. Still, Dallion felt bad about it. Not so much for himself—he was at the age he considered himself indestructible. Rather, he felt bad, disappointing one of the three people that had helped him out in the city.

On the other hand, no pain, no gain. Dallion tied the pouch to his belt and left the room.

Evening in Nerosal came with its own unique blend of special. Three of the seven moons were glowing in the sky, their light mixing with that of the torches filling the city. The bustle and beauty of it all made it appear like any major city on Earth, combined with elegant medieval architecture.

This time, Dallion held tight to his pouch as he walked. No longer relying on a single sense alone, he’d look around searching for any tell-tell signs of pickpockets. All in all, he didn’t spot any, but he managed to notice something else—other awakened. Despite knowing that there would be others like him, he had never actually spotted any outside of the guild building. Even stumbling into Taen had been more an accident than anything else. Now that he looked, that he really looked, he saw they were everywhere. Dozens of awakened walked about, like ordinary people: haggling for prices at shops and street stalls, eating, laughing, arguing… Couples, singles, whole groups, there were all sorts of them and no one seemed in the least bit bothered.

“You’ll see most of them out in the evenings,” Jiroh said, appearing as if from nowhere. “That or early mornings.”

Dallion kept his cool, although he didn’t appreciate being startled. Having people sneak up on him with such ease wasn’t normal.

“Are they allergic to light or something?” he asked the first thing that came to mind.

“They work during the day.” The fury said, then laughed. “You really have a lot to get used to.”

“I suppose. Why are you here, though? Hannah said you were out somewhere.”

“I am. I’m leaving in a few hours. Had to get some things ready before that.”

Looking at her clothes, she was dressed for the wilderness. Her cloak was thick, and Dallion could notice outlines of studded leather armor beneath her shirt. Interestingly enough, she wasn’t carrying any weapons.

“I’ll be back in a few days,” Jiroh said, sensing Dallion’s concern. “Nothing to worry about.”

“A whole week? There’s plenty to worry about. I’m really bad at carrying food. Absolutely terrible.”

“Good. You’ll learn a new skill by the time I’m back.”

So much for Dallion being the only one with snarky humor. Jiroh seemed to be a very go by the flow person. For the two days Dallion had known her, he had never seen her worried or rushing, despite being the fastest waiter he’d ever known.

“So where are you off to?” she asked.

“I have no idea. I’m supposed to get some clothes.”

“I thought you did that this morning.”

“Nah, I got a sword.”

“Sword?” Jiroh narrowed her eyes. She looked at Dallion, then at the pouch he was holding. “How much have you got?”

“Not sure. Fifty silvers? Maybe more?”

A week ago, the amount would have seemed massive. After his experience with city prices, Dallion wasn’t so sure.

“Well, it’s enough for clothes, but if you ask me, you should get some armor. And I’m not talking about your standard type. Once you start going on quests, you’ll need all the help you can get. It won’t be cheap, but trust me, you’ll thank me later.”

“I told you I only have this. Maybe I’ll get as much from the dinner crowd, but that’s it.”

“Don’t worry about that for now.” Jiroh grabbed him by the hand, and pulled him through the crowded street. “I know someone who’ll be of help. She’s a bit peculiar, so don’t freak out.”

“Okay?” Dallion didn’t exactly like the sound of that.

“Most important of all, no comments about her eyes. If the topic comes up, just ignore it. And never stare. Avoid all that and you’ll be fine.”