Music skills versus music skills… Knowing what the skills could do, Dallion’s immediate reaction was to calm his thoughts. Moments later, he saw how pointless the attempt was. Music skills didn’t grant telepathy, they merely allowed a person to see the emotions of others and manipulate them. Yet in that case, what was the way of countering them? Guard skills protected against attack skills, so if the copyette decided to attack there was nothing he could do. However, that also meant that if Dallion was first to act, then his enemy would be helpless as well.

I just need to focus, Dallion thought, and pulled the strings. All the blue blobs throughout the chamber resonated with the strings. Blue markers appeared. Just as Dallion was about to play them again, the other him played a tune as well. All vibrations suddenly stopped.

“Not great.” The copyette shrugged. “Not terrible. The weapon’s too good for you, but maybe you’ll get the hang of it in a few decades.”

Gritting his teeth, Dallion tried again. The result was identical—moments after he played the strings, so did the guardian, stopping everything once more.

“More?” the guardian asked.

Apparently, there was a way to counter music, and it was remarkably simple, just like they said in physics class: every frequency had a counter-frequency that negated it. Since sound was the driving element here, negating the sound stopped the spell. Dallion was glad that finally something from school had real life practical applications. A pity he hadn’t used more of his Earth knowledge up to now.

“Level five?” the copyette asked.

“Eight,” Dallion corrected.

“Not bad. Single digit, though. Things really change further on.”

The guardian pulled three strings of his own. Dallion felt goosebumps. A little longer and the copyette would have full control. Almost on instinct Dallion played a chord as well. He had no idea what it was, but after doing so the tingling sensation all over his skin disappeared.

The other him arched a brow. Not even Dallion expected he’d pull this off. Back on Earth he had a terrible music sense. Could it be that his perception and music skills had given him abilities he didn’t know he had? More likely, he was just lucky.

The rest of the party seemed to be doing quite well, too. Falkner had already defeated three statues and had moved onto the next on his way towards the throne in the center of the chamber. Bel and Cellano had combined forces, crushing their opponents with combo-attacks, and Arthurows… Arthurows was doing a splendid job protecting Vend in the tunnel, a considerable distance from all the fighting.

It seemed that despite Dallion’s theory of the level’s focus, this all ended up being a battle of attrition. The side that managed to withstand the attacks longer was going to win. The way things were going there was little doubt that Dallion’s party would end up being victorious, the only question was would all of them survive until the end of the trial.

“It’s been ages since I had a battle like this,” the copyette laughed, playing another chord. “I’ve missed it.”

Dallion countered with his own chord, they playing a string combination of his own.

“I’ve also missed having an actual conversation,” the guardian continued. “Being a guardian has its upsides, but the thing I still can’t get used to is the silence. I even made a copy of people I used to know to have a chat, but that quickly gets bored. You can only surprise yourself that many times.”

“Glad to oblige,” Dallion grunted. The pain in his temples had started to rear its ugly head again.

“Don’t talk on my behalf.” The copyette paused for a few seconds. “You still have to try and defeat me. I’m rooting for you, you know. If I had the option, I’d even let all of you pass. However, rules are rules.” He jumped to the side, just in time to avoid two knives that Bel had thrown his way. “Given your skills, I’ve no doubt I’ll see you all again. Well, I hope it’s you and not another bunch. Although who knows? Maybe they’ll be fun as well.”

A dozen steps away, Falkner sliced one of the surrounding quartz statues in two and rushed towards the copyette. There was no one blocking him. All the boy needed to do was land one good hit, and Dallion could take over. Unfortunately for both, the guardian had a counter for that as well. As Falkner thrust his weapon forward, planning to pierce the guardian through the back, the throne came to life.

With lightning reflexes, it transformed into a crude quartz golem, then grabbed the blade of the boy with its hand.

Falkner didn’t falter. Releasing the sword, he twisted his body, then reached into the air. The sword that the quartz creature’s hand disappeared, only to reappear in Falkner’s hand. Red markers covered the creature’s head. This was the point that a multi attack was supposed to follow… but Dallion didn’t even see it. In a blink of the eye, the quartz entity just crumbled to dust, disappearing altogether.

“That’s definitely unexpected,” the copyette said without even turning around. “Must be a family technique. You have some interesting friends, Dal.”

“I just met him a few hours ago!” Dallion snapped. However, even he had to admit that he was curious about the technique. As far as he knew, Falkner’s attack skills were at level ten, which meant he was no better than Dallion.

I have so much more to learn, Dallion sighed mentally. Thankfully, he had been given a library with a grumpy echo guide that could help with that.

“Falkner!” Dallion played another chord. “Let’s go at him together!”

The boy needed no telling twice. Dallion had hardly finished his sentence when Falkner swung his sword at the copyette.

This is it! Dallion felt triumphant. The fight was practically over—there was no way that the guardian could defend against him and Falkner simultaneously. One of the two would hit him, which would leave the other to join in. To everyone’s surprise, that turned out not to be the case. With a twist of his own, the copyette swung his harpsisword to parry Falkner’s attack. However, that wasn’t the only thing he did—his left hand slid along the strings as the action parry was taking place, playing the counter chord with such ease that one might think the weapon had remained motionless.

You can do that? Dallion swallowed. He knew that the harpsisword was part harp, part sword, but he didn’t actually expect for it to be used in such a way. Even the tome that the Nil had given him only mentioned doing one or the other in quick succession. Seeing this, there had to be a volume two.

“Everyone, finish the statues and join in!” Dallion shouted, playing another chord. His head was pulsing with pain, but he gritted his teeth. No matter what, he had to keep himself from fainting until the guardian was defeated. Glancing around, Dallion could see it wasn’t that big of a deal—less than a dozen statues remained, all focused on Bel and Cellano.

Of all the guardians Dallion had faced, this was without a doubt the most difficult by far. Possibly because it was more than a guardian. At one point the copyette had roamed the real world, gaining decades of experience. Fighting it was like fighting a real person. If only Arthurows had joined in, or Dallion could use the harpsisword to attack and play, then the guardian would be at a disadvantage.

Wait! Dallion thought. There was something he could do!

“Falkner, keep on attacking from close range!” Dallion shouted and plunged forward, gripping the harpsisword. In his present state, playing while fighting was out of the question, but he didn’t need to let go of the weapon in order to play and defend. After all, he had both a buckler and a set of thread armor to use in that.

Green markers appeared. Dallion could see how to protect Falkner, just as he could see how to evade the enemy’s attacks. Dallion chose the latter.

“Nice trick.” The copyette smiled. For some reason, he seemed to be having a much better time than was expected. Thinking about it, all the guardians in the dagger had. “Since you know how to use two skills at once, maybe I should up my game?” The guardian parried one of Falkner’s attacks, then immediately counterattacked all the time, still negating Dallion’s chords.

Three skills? Dallion would blink if he didn’t need to keep his eyes open to keep up with the action.

Meanwhile, two more statues had been destroyed. Bel and Cellano were almost at number parity, and things were getting easier for them.

I must stop playing, Dallion thought. His head was hurting almost as much as it was back on the first level.

“Guys, hurry up!” Dallion shouted.

“What’s the rush?” the guardian asked. “Think of this as a training exercise. You need all the training you could get. Back at the time a single person could awaken such a dagger on their own.”

That was undoubtedly true, but things were about to change. As painful as the headaches were, Dallion had another reason to yell out.

The copyette’s attacks intensified, but so did Falkners. This was precisely what Dallion was hoping for. Taking advantage, he proceeded to complete a full defense sequence, then a second, and a third. Time slowed. In the past Dallion would use this chance to attack, but now he could do something better—perform a music attack. With speeds like that, even an experienced guardian wouldn’t be able to counter. All he had to do was not mess up.

Nice and easy, Dallion exhaled and played the first cord. Markers appeared on the harpsisword’s strings. This time, nothing interrupted them before they reached the end. Nailing the moment, Dallion pulled the strings again. The copyette froze completely. Now was the moment for him to—

FATAL STRIKE

Damage dealt increased by 500%

What the heck?! Dallion froze.

Falkner had been faster, striking the guardian the moment he the music bonus had taken effect. That, in itself, wasn’t the main cause for alarm. While disappointing, Dallion was no stranger to kill steals in all the online games he’d been playing. However, seeing a strike capable of dealing five times the normal damage was more than impressive. That was quite a skill, though why hadn’t the boy used it earlier, in that case?

DAGGER Level 3 has been cleared!

Claim your focus that suits you best and continue to fulfil the DAGGER’s destiny!

The familiar blue rectangle emerged near the chamber gate, indicating the end of the level. It was sudden, it was unexpected, and it was a relief. With this, the trial might as well end. The party had completed what they had set out to do and now it was a matter of their guild seniors to decide which of them to take as trainees of sorts. However, no joy was visible on anyone’s face. Instead, there was anticipation and uncertainty.

I think I’m going to throw up, Dallion thought, slowly putting his harpsisword away.

Around him, the entire chamber had been rendered bare. The statues had disappeared, along with the throne and the guardian.

“Congratulations.” Vend walked in from the tunnel, followed by Arthurows. “You’re the first group to pass the trial. That increases your odds in the selection process. If things hold up, you might even have people fight to get you on their teams.”

There were a few murmurs as everyone, one by one, went to increase their stats. Dallion picked the mystery attribute again. Once everyone was done, the rectangle disappeared, along with the gate to the next level.

“I want to leave,” Cellano said. “You said we can quit once we complete this level.”

“Yes.” Vend nodded. Seconds later, the large party member disappeared. “You’re free to go. Anyone else want to stop here?” Vend looked at the rest.

No one said a word. Despite his headache, Dallion still wanted to clear all the levels, if nothing else, just to see what would happen. Everyone else seemed to be following what he was doing.

“A word of warning. From here on you’ll be entering unfamiliar territory. No one knows what creatures you’ll face or what the guardians will be. Also, you can say goodbye to the magic lighting. Until a level is cleared, it remains pitch black. You’ll get one lantern if you want to continue and you’ll have to keep it whole. Breaking it, almost guarantees failure.”

“Failure?” Bel crossed her arms. “Didn’t you just say we completed the trial?”

“You have, as long as you don’t continue to the next level. Once you set foot there, you’ll need to clear it in order to complete the trial again.” Vend smiled. “Think of it as a way to test your faith in your abilities. At the end of the day, every decision comes with its own risks and rewards. All you can do is make the choice.”