There were a lot of ways to define the word adventure. Back on Earth, going to a store in an unfamiliar neighborhood could be described as an adventure, or trying out an exotic dish of food for the first time. In Dallion’s world of gaming, an adventure usually meant a specific game mode, or going on an activity involving exploration—in a way similar to what movies, books, and graphic novels illustrated. In this realm, cleaning up a house was an adventure, as was getting rid of some plants.

The patch of trees that Dallion had been tasked to cut up looked like a mix of giant algae and a willow tree. The only problem was that like any other living metaphor, the plants tended to fight back.

Given that initially they only swung their branches about, Dallion was left with the impression that the moldlings were stationary creatures. After a few hits, he was quickly proved wrong, as the tree burst into a series of snakes heading for him. It was only thanks to the reaction of the armadil shield that he managed to get some protection. Even that wasn’t a huge advantage, though, since all it did was ensure that it wasn’t Dallion who was wrapped in snakes, but the sphere that the shield had turned into.

After twenty seconds cocooned in his gear, the inevitable knock on the shield’s surface came to be. Dallion contracted his shield to see the somewhat disappointed expression of the lieutenant. The man didn’t say a word, but then again, he didn’t have to. Dallion’s failure was obvious to everyone. Still, that was no reason to give up. Gritting his teeth, Dallion went to proceed with the next tree.

The fight there was much better planned. This time, Dallion used splitting to avoid falling into the same trap. It was a good approach, although it took a bit of getting used to. Every attack Dallion did was instanced with a retreat alternative. In most cases Dallion never had to rely on it, but there were a few in which he was glad he had this backup. From the vibrations of emotions coming from within the lieutenant, it was clear that Dallion was on the right track.

Subtle splitting—to coin a phrase used by Nil—was undoubtedly a tremendous advantage. The problem was that it required a lot of concentration. With Dallion’s current mind level, he could barely last a minute before needing rest. Apparently the same held true for other awakened as well. That was why people didn’t rely on it non-stop in a fight. Even Vend, who was one of the few gifted exceptions, didn’t go full out. For that matter, neither had the Star. Although in that particular case, maybe it had more to do with the properties of the dagger itself.

The thought sent chills down Dallion’s spine. If the Star had the ability to be in a non-stop split state, there was no way Dallion could win another encounter. His only hope was that the Moons would prevent the Star from doing that.

It took nearly five minutes for Dallion to deal with the second and third trees. By that time, other members of the party had finished with their respective tasks and were on their way to the lieutenant to watch the show.

As the people near Dallion grew, so did the amount of advice. Suggestions ranged from footwork to what weapons to use. Initially, Dallion tried to follow them to the letter. Then he tried to phase it out as useless noise. Then, after killing another two moldling trees, he finally understood what the goal was. Granted, it was his music skills that helped him, but he saw that all of this was a sort of crash training.

The biggest clue, in hindsight, was the unusual silence of the lieutenant. During the fight a while back, he was the only one shouting out orders, while everyone else was remaining silent. Now it was the opposite.

What’s the point of the lesson? Dallion asked Nil. To keep my cool under pressure?

Rather, it is what advice to follow and what to ignore, the echo replied. There will be instances when dealing with groups that many would offer you advice. Inevitably, some of that advice will be poor. Of course, just because something doesn’t make sense to you doesn’t mean that it’s not the best for the group. There is information you don’t know, so you must find a balance between trusting your instincts and those of your teammates and whatever the party leader says.

Good to know.

Dallion didn’t have the heart to tell Nil, or anyone for the matter, that he had pretty much been dealing with such situations since he was eight. In the world of MMOs and voice chat, it wasn’t rare for everyone to shout stupid advice and get the entire party wiped during a boss battle. Item and area exploration were pretty much the same with the sole difference that the people were a lot less, and for the most part much better organized. That explained why being offered to join an exploration team was such a big deal. As Nil had explained once, roughly a third of the guild members were only involved in improving single items, or acting as packrats during sphere item exploration; and that was only for the Icepickers—in other guilds, the number of solo awakened were much more.

In total, it took Dallion fifteen minutes to finish off the small patch he was given. In the process, he had lost about seventy percent life, although thanks to Lux, he had always restored it to full after every combat. It was obvious that the rest of the group weren’t too impressed with his performance, although Dallion could also tell that they weren’t disappointed either. That pretty much put him in the spot he was expected to be—“not dead weight,” although it would be a while before they’d let him join in fights.

“So, how do you feel?” the lieutenant asked. “Still think you can see it through.”

“I might need a bit more practice,” Dallion replied, massaging the temples of his head. The splitting had taken a lot out of him.

The man nodded in reply.

“You’re not ready, and you won’t be after the job is done. Still, at least you’ll know how to keep yourself safe. After that, it’s all up to March.”

Not the best encouragement Dallion expected. After this, he was going to have to step up his game and gain another level, not to mention max out his current skills… including forging. That, though, was likely to take a while.

“Now that you’re done, how about you see what it was all about.” The lieutenant pointed at the horizon.

One look was enough to make Dallion gasp. The invisible veil had been lifted, revealing one giant mountain in the middle. It was so large that it pierced the clouds above it, continuing to infinity.

“That’s the path to the upper floors. Once we’re done here, we’ll set on up to fix whatever problems there might be there.”

“It’ll be child’s play compared to what we’re doing here,” Alera said. “Climbing will be rough, though. Especially for someone who doesn’t know how. You sure you don’t have any athletics?”

“Sure.” Dallion shook his head.

“That’s bad. We’ll have to carry you.”

That definitely wasn’t going to be dignified. The thought of trying to somehow acquire that skill passed through his mind, but was quickly abandoned considering how many other goals Dallion had set for himself.

“We get rid of the burrowers,” the lieutenant said. “Then move on to the next swamp. Same plan as just now. Alera goes ahead to scout and Dal is support. The rest, on the ready.”

“Will there be any more ticks?” Dallion asked.

“Don’t worry, you’ll have lots of chances to get up close and personal with them,” Spike laughed. “A place in this state is filled with creepy crawlies.”

The party moved on towards the black clod in the distance. Without the swamp, it looked like a large black boulder half buried in the ground. When they reached a hundred feet, the surface began to move. Soon after giant tentacle eel heads shot up into the sky, as they had done before. Without the swamp, the creature didn’t seem remotely as threatening. That didn’t change the fact that it was much larger than the one June had faced, and also had several heads, very much like a hydra.

“Go,” the lieutenant ordered.

The entire group dashed forward, weapons at the ready. Dallion was the only person who stayed behind. Knowing his skills and limitations, he summoned his harpsisword and started to play the obligatory dizzy melody. Once he got the sync right, he also began to sing.

The group’s attack pattern was close to perfection. Never had Dallion seen such perfect coordination. On several instances, it seemed like one of the group had got into trouble by creating a blind spot, but that turned out to be a ruse. When the crackling pack reacted to take advantage, another person of the party would swoop in and slice the tendrils off.

It was also worth noting that the elites attacks were far more refined than what Dallion had seen so far. Even experienced awakened tended to target the weak spots with the goal of grinding the enemy down to a normal size. This group didn’t leave that to chance, forcefully slicing out individual cracklings that formed the pack. In less than a minute, the five headed monster was down to two heads, and each of those in turn was sliced into three parts. Some directly burst into individual cracklings as they tried to escape, while others tried to fight on in their present size. Either way, they were quickly caught and slain.

A bit sloppy, Nil commented. They are letting too many of them escape. You’ll have to make a second pass, maybe even a third.

Is that a bad thing? Dallion thought.

It’s an approach I’m not fond of. The result is the same when it comes to real time, but there’s a lot of true time wasted. Some would argue that there’s no difference, but I would say if you have time to waste, you are not living up to your full potential.

Was he one of your trainees?

Dear boy, a lot of the elites have had a lecture or two from me. That doesn’t make them my apprentices or trainees. In general, I try to stay away from that sort of thing. It shows preferential treatment, and that’s something to be avoided.

That was slightly confusing, especially given the preferential treatment Dallion had received so far. It wasn’t even a secret that Adzorg was still at odds with March about her “getting her clutches” into Dallion. There was no need to point that out, though. At the end of the day, even captains were humans with their own flaws.

The fight continued longer than everyone expected. Just when it seemed like the crackling pack was close to being defeated, more of it would emerge from the hole in the ground. When it was over, the “burrow” it left behind in the ground was the size of a rather large cave with branching tunnels. No wonder a whole bog had formed on top. The Scary part was that after all that effort, the realm had only been mended to twenty-three percent. By Dallion’s calculations, that suggested that there had to be at least five other swamps—with the appropriate number of cracklings—left. No wonder people weren’t thrilled with sanitation jobs. It was a living, no doubt, but it was long, laborious, and unrewarding.

Allowing a building to get in such a state should be a crime, Dallion thought.

Ah! You’re sounding like a proper sanitation expert, dear boy, Nil laughed.

There are places in which it is. Nerosal, though, allows a bit more freedoms to its citizens, as do all backwater cities.

This is hardly a backwater city.

In fact, it very much is, dear boy. It has its charm, the exotic feeling of the frontier, but as far as cities go, there’s no comparing it to a provincial capital.