It was astonishing to find that there was something Nil didn’t know about. Dallion never thought he would see the day, but here he was—despite all of the echo’s knowledge and the thousands upon thousands of scrolls and tomes in the ring library, there was nothing that identified the rock plant that had been found at the market.

Initially, Nil thought Dallion to be mistaken or goofing around, but after a few demonstrations—thanks to Dallion’s music skills—he couldn’t deny it any longer. The rock, for lack of a better word, had roots of emotion that went into the soil of the flowerpot, and not only any emotion; if there was a constant vibration of helplessness, making people want to guard and protect it. That was why the stall owner had set such a high price—she didn’t want to sell it, though not to the extent of outright saying so. The high price was an internal compromise meant to discourage Dallion. When it hadn’t worked, the woman had snapped out of it, seeing how unreasonable it was.

I hate to say this, but I’m completely stumped, Nil said with disdain. I checked a few sources, but there is no reference of anything of the sort. There are a lot of stone creatures, as well as creatures that petrify, but no stone flora… other than the petrified forests. Are you sure it isn’t an animal or insect of some sort?

“If it were, can you identify it?” Dallion whispered through gritted teeth.

When you put it that way, no. The echo conceded. What will you tell Hannah?

“What should I tell her?”

Bringing a rock in a flowerpot is certain to raise questions.

“You think she’ll kick me out?”

No… the echo sighed. Never mind.

Nothing in particular happened when Dallion got back to the inn. Hannah half involved in a shouting match about the evening’s menu to pay attention to him. It was always impressive when someone was able to stand up to the innkeeper, dishing out insults like a fisherman. The argument appeared to be the usual quality versus price. Aspan, as always, that he could not work in such conditions and would rather serve nothing at all than something subpar. He would likely lose, of course. Dallion had witnessed a few arguments between the cook and Hannah, and each time Hannah would have the last word, although after a considerable compromise.

Rushing to his room, Dallion barred the door and put the rock plant on the ground.

Nice to have you back, the dryad shield greeted. Word is that you were quite lucky last night. Congrats are in order. Told you, you could do it. All you needed was a gentle shove at the right time and the right place. Smooth as marble, am I right?

Dallion opened his mouth to counter what had been said, but soon enough closed it without saying a word. There was no comeback after such a greeting. At this point, whatever he said would be bad. Still, he was going to investigate who had spread the “word” about last night’s events.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, to prevent further awkwardness.

No problem, the shield replied. I’d have liked to be of further help, but… Is that a stone orchid, by the way? Eury sure moves fast. Haven’t seen one of those in centuries. One of my exes gave me one to remember her by before the war. Lovely things, though very fragile.

“You know what this is?” Dallion asked.

It’s no mystery, the shield laughed. Although I doubt it’s popular in a village such as Nerosal.

“Actually, people were clueless about it,” Dallion said, stressing on the clueless part. “Some thought it was a decoration. If it wasn’t for my music skills, I would have missed it completely.”

Come to think of it, he had passed by the stall every day and not noticed it even once. Was it by chance that he hadn’t noticed before, or was it passing the second trial that had allowed him to spot it? More than likely it had to do with the trial, or at the very least the level cap.

You really are a lucky kid. First a gorgon, now this. Not that this could compare to her. Back in the day, it used to be a gorgon import. I think it still is. I’ve only seen it grow in the wild once. Everywhere else, it’s like you have it here. It’s said that it withers to dust when its owner dies. I have my doubts. The one I was given cracked to bits pretty fast and as you can see, I’m alive and well.

“You’re a companion shield…” Dallion noted. In his mind, that didn’t count entirely as alive. The more interesting part was that some of the shield’s previous owners had given him gifts. Technically, there was nothing to be surprised at. Dallion had friends back at high school, who bought gifts to their action figures, and those weren’t even able to talk back. “What does it do?”

It grows, the shield said in such a way that Dallion could picture him shrugging. It’s just a plant. That’s what plants do. It’s only unusual because it’s rare. In the gorgon realms, it’s probably as common as a daisy. I can’t believe that no one was able to tell you what it is.

“Yeah.” Dallion crossed his arms. “I can’t believe it either.”

I can’t know absolutely everything, Nil grumbled.

“How do I take care of it?”

Who knows? The shield said. If I were taking care of it, I’d use my native magic, but that’s out of the question for you. Maybe if you sing to it it’ll grow? Never was one for houseplants myself.

You’re a dryad shield! Dallion thought. On the other hand, it wasn’t like Dallion knew much about them, either. Maybe singing wasn’t such a bad idea. The orchid clearly thrived on emotions, maybe they could nourish it like water nourished normal plants? At worst, Dallion could do nothing and rest assured that the rock wasn’t going to die.

Seven hours remained until the evening’s celebration. Even lunchtime wasn’t close. Unless he was going to spend the time staring at a rock, there were a few other things Dallion wanted to do, and the thing he wanted to try out the most wasn’t going to take him more than a second even if it would likely leave him exhausted. Lying on the floor, Dallion closed his eyes.

Personal Awakening

The room appeared around him. While still of stone, it was definitely much more refined than before. The stones on the floor had changed into a mosaic, and the walls had the appearance of smooth concrete. Taking a few seconds to admire the improvements, Dallion then went to the new wall that had appeared.

All his forging skills were here, illustrated by a metal anvil placed in a small alcove in the center. Unlike all his other skills, forging didn’t automatically grant the first tool, but required a two-stage learning process. Each separate forging skill Dallion mastered would form a separate hammer to be put on the wall, along with other instruments linked to some specialized activities. All the crafting skills were the same.

“Meow?” Nox rushed at Dallion.

“Hey, Nox,” Dallion petted the cackling on the head. “You’re feeling eager today?”

“He’s always feeling eager.” Nil entered the room as well. “Like every familiar he needs exercises which you aren’t providing. There’s only so much he could do in here.”

“You aren’t getting much hunting, are you, Nox?” Dallion asked, scratching the crackling behind the ear. “Don’t worry, I’ll change that soon.” There already was something in the works. Once that happened, Nox would have all the freedom he could wish. “Just have a little more patience, okay?”

For the slightest of moments, Dallion thought he saw the crackling squint at him.

“Meanwhile, you can play with Nil.”

The last had some effect. The crackling purred, then rushed next to the echo. Dallion noticed that it didn’t try to climb upon him. Nox was smart enough to know that doing so risked destroying Nil. It seemed that he, too, had become far smarter than he had been before.

Being granted enough space, Dallion took hold of the anvil and moved it to a free spot in the room.

FORGING skills activation.

Choose the focus of the skill.

That was the first step. Now all that Dallion had to do was choose a material so that the hammer would gain form. From what he had read, tin and iron were the usual choices. They were abundant in the real world, allowing him to start working right away. It was no wonder why most awakened chose them as a first pick, allowing them to earn additional money while getting the hand of the skill. It was only after that they would pick one of the awakened metals to start improving their gear. In general, it was a good plan, but as a gamer, Dallion saw what others couldn’t—the possible exploit.

Sky silver, he thought.

A block of glistening silver appeared on the anvil. In the real world, the material was next to impossible to mold. Dallion’s strength had to be in the twenties, not to mention the forging skill required was thirty or above, according to the skill scrolls. However, in the awakened realms, all materials were much more malleable, and the first one selected came for completely free.

“Interesting choice.” The echo mused.

Instead of an answer, Dallion grabbed hold of the cube. Silver markers appeared on areas of its surface, marking areas to press. Using his hands, Dallion followed the instructions. The moment he exerted a bit of pressure, the metal bent as if it were made of plasticine. That was metal shaping—the innate skill of the dwarves to form metal using hands alone. The tomes described it as one of the most valuable military skills, responsible for huge advancements in weapons and ingenuity. Unfortunately, the dwarves squandered that gift—if the historical records in the library were to be believed—on wars between each other and thus were quickly replaced by humans who became the dominant race of the world. At present, the dwarves only existed in small scattered dukedoms beyond the borders of the empire.

And you claimed I didn’t read a thing. Dallion gave Nil a smug glance, as he went on to shape his first hammer.

Silver markers appeared and disappeared, guiding Dallion along the way. In a way it felt like folding an origami made of metal. Shapes formed and changed on and on until finally a hammer was born.

FORGING skills activated.

Follow the suggested markers for best efficiency.

The weight of the tool was measured perfectly. The final shape was very different from any hammer he had seen. The only way he could describe it was: a pyramid on a stick. The face was large and completely flat, narrowing to a perfectly sharp point on the other end. Even after reading some scrolls on the subject, Dallion remained quite confused. No doubt there had to be some handling skill involved. There was no way he could adequately form anything using this. Then again, that’s what markers were for.

I want to forge a short sword, Dallion thought.

An ingot of sky silver appeared on the anvil. Moments later a vast number of markers appeared, surrounding it like the instructions on an IKEA manual. Dallion blinked. Did all this go into the forging of a single simple item? As far as he could determine there were over a hundred markers, indicating hammer position, strike strength—at least he hoped the arrows were an indicator for strength—and impact zone. On numerous occasions Dallion could tell that the markers were stacked one over another, though his current perception stat prevented him from seeing all the layers.

For several seconds Dallion kept staring at the ingot, trying to find a point for him to start from, even if it was a few strikes. In the end, he lowered the hammer. As he did, the ingot disappeared as well.

“Not as easy as one might assume, is it?” Nil asked.

“Nope, it isn’t.” Dallion let go of the hammer. Instantly the tool appeared on the Forging wall within its own frame.

“That’s why people usually start with iron.”

“I guess, I just must get stronger a lot faster.” Dallion smiled.