MEDIUM WOUND

Your health has been decreased by 10%

“Always cover your back,” Spike shouted, amused.

Unlike the rest of the group, he found it funny watching Dallion get punctured by swamp mosquitos. The rest of the party was hesitating between pity and despair. Everyone knew that Dallion didn’t have the skills to match them, and still they hoped he would do a lot better.

As it turned out, the lieutenant was the best judge of abilities, which was why he had forbidden Dallion from joining in until most of the threat was dealt with. When it came time to kill off the last part of the final swamp—a mere puddle compared to all the ones before—he had allowed Dallion to join in. The result was horrifying.

Five minutes in and Dallion’s health couldn’t rise over fifty percent, and that was with Lux constantly helping out. In normal circumstances Dallion would have been defeated ages ago, which only made him even more frustrated.

I feel you, Gen said. Losing to insects is never fun. Only thing worse is losing to moss.

Shut up! Dallion shouted in his mind as he slashed another insect out of existence.

The zig-zag attack that was so efficient in sphere item explorations was completely inadequate for the current swarm. Or rather, it wasn’t fast enough to keep up with the mosquito’s movements. Watching the elites deal with them made the action perceptively easy. When Dallion tried to do it on his own, though, it proved way more challenging. Constant splitting was necessary for him only to survive.

It was in moments like these that Dallion saw how right Vend was to focus on training his splitting endurance. Even after the relatively small number of sessions, Dallion was able to handle it much better, and for one thing, the headaches weren’t as strong as before. Unfortunately, they still persisted.

“Less splitting, more hacking,” Spike shouted.

“Give it a rest,” White said. “He’s at his limit.”

“Well, that’s pathetic,” Spike shrugged, although Dallion was able to glimpse that he didn’t mean it, at least not fully. Part of him was still confident that improvement was possible.

“All he needs to do is survive this round,” the lieutenant said. “If he manages that without help, he’ll do.”

“Always the optimist.”

“No. I’m just better at judging people…”

MEDIUM WOUND

Your health has been decreased by 10%

Damn it! Dallion cursed.

He still wasn’t able to get the hang of it. His front and peripheral vision were perfect, letting him evade most threats, but there was a spot just behind the back of his head that he could do nothing about. The single solution he had found to work was splitting, but that was becoming more and more exhausting, and on occasion he’d forget about it altogether.

MINOR HEAL

Your health has been increased by 5%

Good thing you’re here, Lux.

Dallion slashed through another insect with his Nox dagger.

You too, Nox.

The crackling let out a semi mew in response. It didn’t enjoy having to fight dirt. After having to face a lot of interesting guardians, Dallion couldn’t blame him. Hopefully, after this mission was over, there would be more interesting opponents.

“Shield, can you become a helmet?” Dallion asked, twisting around in an attempt to utilize his guard skills.

The Shield’s lack of response suggested that the answer was no. It would have been too good if it were otherwise.

“Keep it up,” Spike shouted. “You’ve got less than a dozen left.”

Less than a dozen?

Dallion slashed a few more mosquitoes and looked around. Even a non-awakened could easily see that there were more than a dozen… it seemed more like there were a hundred. Confused, Dallion gave Spike a quick glance.

“Okay, so I miscounted?” Spike shrugged.

That’s so typical of him, Nil sighed. That’s one of the reasons he always gets in trouble. As they say, the Moons have a nasty sense of humor when they assign skills. Sometimes people with the worst character get the best skills.

I thought you said that leveling up deals with a person’s shortcomings. Dallion slashed another wave, then leaped back, starting a guard sequence. Three quarters in one of his instances was interrupted. The other one, though, managed to pull through.

Time slowed down; not by much given the speed of the creatures, but enough to give Dallion a slight advantage.

Back to the basics, but with a new twist, he thought. For once, there was no excuse for Nil to complain.

Several more insects were poofed out of existence.

Guard and attack, Dallion said to himself. No markers appeared, but they didn’t have to—the patterns were in his mind, allowing him to follow them flawlessly without issue.

MINOR HEAL

Your health has been increased by 5%

Mosquitos died, one after the other. For a moment, it seemed that Dallion had gotten the rhythm and would manage to kill them off in one go… until another one caught him by surprise, dealing another minor wound. Time returned to normal, ending all his work.

“He choked again, “Alera sighed. “Seriously, can’t we just kill the pests? It’ll be faster and it’s not like he’s learning anything much.”

“No,” the lieutenant said firmly. “He keeps on going till the end.”

The encouragement gave Dallion his second wind. Gritting his teeth, he slashed on. His actions weren’t graceful or particularly fast, but he tried to be as efficient as possible. After a while, the more creatures he killed, the more hesitant they became. Their attacks took longer, the coordination was less, giving him the advantage he so desperately needed.

Five minutes later, the battle was over. And not only that.

Tough as Nails

(Body +2)

It takes endurance and determination to see something through, even when you know you’re not capable of it. Just be sure not to break in the process.

“An achievement?” Spike arched a brow. “For that?”

“It’s not always the action,” the lieutenant said. “Sometimes it’s the state of mind.”

That sounded deep in a sort of cringy way. Back on Earth, Dallion had found similar pieces of wisdom in fortune cookies. As a child, he used to find them amusing. That was before he had grown up to be a cynical college boy who knew all the answers in the world. However, that was only his past on Earth. On this planet Dallion had treasured everything that remotely sounded like a saying, especially if it came from a monk of the Order. Come to think of it, the few months that had passed through Dherma had said little else… or maybe they had, but Aspion’s limiting echo had made all their words sound like gibberish.

“You should have used your music,” the lieutenant told Dal. “Getting them dizzy helps a lot.”

“I know, but I’m not that good at wielding a harpsisword at such speed,” Dallion replied.

“You could still sing, can’t you? Next time do it.”

He got you there, Gen admitted.

After a few more tips, the group went on to get rid of the last shoal of cracks, leaving Dallion behind. If in the past he would have taken the time to watch what they were doing, now he took full advantage of the calm to get some rest.

Giving his all was draining. No wonder large explorations took weeks or even months to complete. How long would a world item take, though? From what Dallion had managed to find out, the guild had been exploring it for years and still had barely managed to get one third of the way there. Of course, there was no guarantee that they only did that, but Dallion’s gut told him that the exploration must have continued decades in true time.

In some aspects it sounded like an expedition—a group of travellers charting an unfamiliar land in the hopes of finding knowledge, and potential riches. At least Dallion wouldn’t mind getting something good out of it.

The party managed to finish off the last remaining cracklings in the area five faster than Dallion had killed the mosquitos. Barely had he managed to lie down and catch his breath when he was back up again and walking towards the single enormous mountain in the realm.

According to Nil, when it came to the look of an area, there never was a firm rule. Some houses were insides of mountains, others were endless plains with multi-leveled mountains that represented the higher floors, in other cases still—the real had the form of a multilayered cake in which each layer was different from the next. Here, the real was considered “classic.” However, that also meant that in order to complete the job, they would have to reach the peach of the mountain.

“Seventeen percent left seems a bit fishy,” Skiv said. “It can’t be that easy, can it?”

“In some of these old houses, most of the mess is in the basement,” White replied. “After that, it’s just going through the motions. Of course, there could be surprises.”

“What sort?” Dallion eagerly asked.

“Traps, protective echoes, or something left behind by the Star.”

The name made Dallion feel chills. “The Star has been here?”

“It doesn’t have to be the Star,” the old man replied. “We have cultists to thank for that.”

“White,” the lieutenant said in warning fashion.

“If he’s becoming an elite, he should—”

“That’s enough.” The tone was unmistakable. A few quick glances were exchanged between the two men, after which White capitulated.

“Pay no notice,” he replied.

“Surprises are rare,” June said. “Though not too rare. The key is not to approach anything that doesn’t look like it belongs here. Especially treasures. If you see a treasure in a realm, nine out of ten times it’s a trap.”

“What about the tenth time?” Dallion pressed on.

“The tenth time it’s usually crap. No one has gained anything from treasures in a realm. It’s not how things work. You’re lucky to get an achievement. That’s the greatest reward you can hope for.”

“That and a healthy bonus,” Spike added.

By the time they reached the foot of the mountain, nighttime had already started. Dallion proposed that they leave the realm and simply go to the second floor to make things faster, but the rest of the party refused. The time it would take getting from one floor of the building to the next in the real world was going to have a much greater effect in the area realm, causing part of the muck they’d killed to reappear. The better solution was to take longer to climb up, but remain inside. Only after everything was done were they to return.

Going up a mountain, though, proved easier said than done. In this case Dallion wasn’t just slow, he slowed the entire party down. The delay could easily have been avoided if someone just picked up and carried him uphill, but this was another thing on which the lieutenant was adamant about: Dallion had to manage on his own.

He knows that I won’t remember any of this after we’re done, right? Dallion thought, as he sweated his way up the cliffs.

That’s something you’ll have to ask him, dear boy. Nil replied. We all have our method of training.

Well, his is torture. He could at last have let someone throw me a rope. What’s the good in trying to climb, when everyone knows I don’t have the skills?

So, you think it’s a waste of time?

No, Dallion lied. I’m just not sure what the end goal is.

The goal, dear boy, is to have you face adversity. You don’t only have to be prepared to face new enemies. Sometimes you need to know how to cope when you’re in a situation that requires a group of skills that you don’t have.

In that case I’ll just have to learn all the skills, Dallion said out of spite.

Of course, you will. Until then, though, you have to settle for a few lesser victories… such as climbing to the next mountain level.