A whole world of stone pillars. There was something alluring in the simplicity of it all, possibly because it was so different from the city of Nerosal. In a way, it provided the freedom of the wilderness with the inherent dangers. Then again, the place came with its own very specific set of dangers—cracks. Unlike sphere items or minor areas, though, here they were considerably more advanced and better organized. Unlike Dallion’s previous experiences, they were in plain view, gathered in small clusters that could pass for villages.

“This place hasn’t seen mending in ages,” Veil whispered.

There was no arguing about that. According to the rectangles, the area was at seventy-four percent. Given the scale of things, though, that didn’t mean as much.

“Ranged weapons,” Dallion noted.

The garden cracks had the appearance of gremlins that had used the local materials to create themselves weapons, armor, even structures. The fascinating part was that they had done so in a way that boggled the imagination. Initially, Dallion had thought of them as cracks in human form—which, in appearance, they were—so he expected them to behave like people. Not only didn’t they, but they also changed the local laws of physics.

The fires that the gremlin-cracks had made were black as much as they were and had the ability to melt stone into malleable materials from which they had made anything from cloth to shields. Dallion couldn’t help but be impressed by their progress. Given enough time, there was no telling how much they would advance. In centuries it was possible they made their own industrial revolution, although by doing so they would also ruin the realm and the real-world garden as well.

“I count over a hundred.” All of them were the same age and lacked any sexual characteristics.

“I’ve dealt with more,” Veil said.

“Liar,” Gloria whispered.

A tribe of a hundred armed cracklins… and judging by the plumes of smoke in the distance, there were at least half a dozen other settlements such as this one. Defeating them wasn’t going to be a simple matter of rushing in.

“I’ll go and lure them out,” Dallion said. “When they start charging Gloria will start taking them out from a distance, while Veil keeps them from reaching me. When all of them have gathered, I’ll change my tune to give us an advantage.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Depending on how it goes with this settlement we’ll see if our plan needs changing for the rest.”

“That’s actually quite a good plan,” Gloria said after a while. “You haven’t lost your touch.” She smiled, gently patting his shoulder.

“Yeah, you always were a big brain guy, but I’ll catch up to you.” Veil said. “Let’s do this.”

Casually, Dallion started his way towards the gremlin settlement, leaving the protection of the nearest stone spire. If the gremlins took notice of him, they didn’t show it in their behavior, continuing with running their settlement as usual—putting more rocks to the fire as it were.

Dallion reached out and summoned his harpsisword. The weapon emerged in his hands, ready for battle.

“Not yet, Harp,” Dallion whispered, and started playing.

The melody could be described as the chorus of an epic ballad full of fire and bloodlust. Matching the rhythm to that of the gremlins, Dallion increased their aggression more and more, adding a pinch of annoyance. Initially there seemed to be no effect, and then the floodgates broke. In an instant the settlement went from calm to a cauldron of uncontrollable rage. With roars and snarls, the cracklings rushed out, some not even bothering to put on armor. Seeing that, Dallion intensified his playing.

Within seconds, the first of the pack had halved the distance. At that moment, Gloria stepped in. Bolts flew through the air, taking out two cracklings at a time. The creatures popped like balloons, leaving puffs of black smoke behind. One would think that seeing their fellow gremlins killed would cause the others to falter, but it had the opposite effect. Seeing space open up in front of them, the ones behind rushed to fill it up.

By the time the first gremlins got remotely close to Dallion, over a dozen had been eliminated. Waiting no longer, Veil rushed in, a sword in each hand. This was his moment to shine. Like a hurricane he made his way to the mass of gremlins and did a triple circular slash.

You’ve improved a lot, Dallion thought. Even so, in a one-to-one fight, Dallion was more likely going to win. Combat splitting aside, guard skills provided too much of an advantage to be ignored.

The tune suddenly changed. The notes of aggression were replaced by sudden fear, causing the cracks to freeze for a second. In the past, Dallion would have relied on this trick to grant his team a free opening. However, that was a very slow method. Instead, he increased the intensity of fear and hopelessness, crippling their will to fight.

The process was gradual. The first few seconds the gremlins continued as before. Then their attacks became slower, then weaker, then for some stopped altogether as they fell to their knees. It was just like some of the animated war dramas Dallion had watched back on Earth. To see it in person, or better yet to be the one responsible for it, filled him with mixed feelings.

That is why music warriors were a force to be reckoned with, Nil said. There have been wars in which news of a sound general appearing was enough to make towns surrender.

I could become capable of that? Dallion wondered in awe.

Not a chance! The echo quickly grounded him back to reality. It takes a different personality, not to mention you’re nowhere close level wise. Semi-intelligent cracks are not well-trained awakened soldiers. You might be able to gain the upper hand against a double digit in a one-to-one fight, but you won’t make them drip their sword in horror.

I guess not, Dallion agreed. Maybe it was better that way. There was something scary about having this much power.

The fight continued for another minute. By the end there were only three people left on the battlefield, if it could even be called a battlefield.

“I have to hand it to you, you know your stuff,” Veil said. Dallion could see envy and admiration echoing within him. “This was a lot easier than the way we did things back home.”

“What he’s trying to say is that he’s impressed that it took us minutes to do something that took us about a day,” Gloria added as she emerged from her sniping position.

“It never was a full day!” Veil countered.

“It was if you include the resting afterwards.”

“Okay, maybe a day. When we get back, I’m definitely talking to your mother.” Veil looked at Dal. “To think she could do this. Heck, we can get Dherma to a level four in no time! We could even—”

“That’s not a good idea,” Gloria cut him short. A moment later, Dallion got an understanding nod.

His mother had been through a lot, all because of the former village chief. Having Luors ask her to do things for the good of the village wasn’t the best approach, especially since it concerned fighting. Once the festival was over, maybe it was a good idea for Dallion to go back for a few weeks to see how she was doing… to see how all of his family were doing. Being from Earth, he only half considered them as family, that is to say he had the memories and experiences he’d had with them since this version of him was born, but even so he couldn’t fully accept them as real. Even now they were a few steps away from being really well-written characters in an MMO he had joined.

“Anyway, let’s move on.” Dallion changed the topic. “We have a few more to get clear before the realm is mended.”

Veil and Gloria gave him a weird glance.

“You haven’t been doing any area cleaning, have you?” Gloria asked. “To mend something, we need to destroy their settlement. Killing off the cracklings is not enough. If we just go, they’ll be back in a few days.”

This was slightly embarrassing. “Got you,” Dallion smiled.

Destroying the gremlin settlement proved to be easier than it sounded, and also very different. The siblings didn’t bother harming any of the structures. Instead, they went to the central campfire and slashed the black flame out of existence.

Realm section mended!

Overall completion 78%

The same was done to all the smaller cooking fires that were within some of the buildings. Once all of them were taken care of, transformation took place. The dirt and soot that covered the area disappeared, leaving only perfect grayness behind. What was more, the smoke that had been continuously trickling up towards the sky had vanished for good.

Realm section mended!

Overall completion 81%

“It’s not a lot of percent,” Dallion noted.

“Look on the bright side.” Veil gave him a pat on the back. “This means we have all the more to kill.”

“That’s not a good thing,” Dallion grumbled.

Actually, it is, Nil corrected. Apart from getting some hands-on experience, you are also certain to get an achievement for fully mending your first major realm. Not only that, but the local guardians will treat you more favorably from now on.

And what exactly does that mean? Dallion asked. Do I get to heal my wounds while I’m here?

Honestly, sometimes I think you don’t take anything seriously. The echo sighed. Just as neglected item guardians could let you down the moment you need them the most, so could area guardians. Why do you think there are houses in which people constantly trip or have accidents in? All that is guardians lashing out. Haven’t you wondered why so many criminals trip when chased?

To be honest, that wasn’t Dallion even considered thinking about until now. He had to admit it gave a whole new meaning to the term “old abandoned house”. Come to think of it, could the same be true back on Earth? Maybe item and area guardians existed there as well, but it was the people who weren’t awakened.

While area guardians can’t help you directly, they could always make things more difficult for people that wish you harm. At least while you’re in that area.

Point taken, my good sir. Dallion smiled mentally.

The battle at the second gremlin settlement was no different from the first. The gremlins were half in number and far worse equipped, making for a quick and decisive victory. Getting rid of the flames, though, only increased the realm’s complete state by three percent, suggesting that this task could well be more complicated than Dallion initially thought.

“Do you think we can manage to get it done in a day?” he asked, as they made their way to the next plume of smoke.

“Sure.” Veil replied with complete confidence.

“No,” Gloria said sharply. “Rushing things is pointless. The garden won’t go anywhere. After two more settlements, we’re going to take a break and explore more of the city. Maybe we can do five more in the afternoon.”

“Fighting them is not that difficult.” As he said it, Dallion felt the first signs of hunger tickling his stomach. “We haven’t gotten any damage so far.”

“It’s not about the fighting. It’s about the walking,” Gloria said. “Look around. We can see five plumes of smoke, which is about the same number as when we started. These are only the big ones. There’s no telling how many small fires with a few cracklings there are. And even if we assume these are all, how long do you think it will take us to reach them all? I’m not wasting my time walking for days and nights just so you can say you have cleared this area in a day!”

She had definitely got Dallion there—that was exactly what he was hoping to do. Not only would that leave him a lot of free time to take on other guild jobs, it was going to be extremely satisfactory to see Vend’s expression when Dallion told him he was already done.

“So, you’re alright for another two fights?” Dallion asked.

“At most,” the girl stressed.

“What if I know of a way to get all of them to attack us at the same time?”