The way back to Nerosal seemed much slower. Possibly because he was eager to tell Eury the news, Dallion felt like it took him three times as long. Skipping the mage’s village, he left the forest, only briefly stopping at Vadle to tell the people there he had dealt with the crackling problem. There was much gratitude and disappointment, and quite a few attempts to get him to spend even a single night there. Alas for the villagers, Dallion declined and moved on. There was nothing for him in this part of the world.

The closer he got to Nerosal, the more energetic he felt. Even so, Nil was there to serve as a constant reminder for Dallion not to become careless. The victory against a dragon shade, as impressive as it was, didn’t mean he could bring his guard down while in the wilderness. On several occasions, Dallion felt the presence of wilderness beasts, though none of them dared attack him.

Twice Dallion considered leveling up, and twice he decided not to, since he didn’t wish to delay his arrival to Nerosal. Given the difficulty of the last trial, there was little doubt that the next ones would leave him exhausted and starving. Instead, he used his combat splitting to read through the bestiary while walking.

As it turned out, every magical creature had the potential to release a skill gem; or more precisely, the magic energy that created the being had no choice but to crystalize during the implosion of the creature’s death and create one. The nature of the skill itself was always linked to the trait it was linked to. Since the dragon shadow had an extremely potent perception trait, the skill gem happened to grant writing. The trick was that there wasn’t certainty what the skill would end up being. Some traits had a higher chance than others. The Mind trait, for example, predominantly favored writing skills, while Perception—art skills. Empathy and Magic were notably absent. According to the armadil shield, that had been due to overhunting even back in the days of dryad world dominance. The scarcity had led to the “artificial” creation of skills gems to be used on the twi-crowns.

Another interesting thing that Dallion discovered while reading the pages of the bestiary was the way his writing skills functioned. To be more precise, he noticed that the QR-codes that he believed to be decorations were, in fact, the local equivalent of QR-codes. The element represented a cube of text written at extreme density via magic. Deciphering it was well beyond his ability, even if the combination of writing skills and layer focus perception allowed him to see everything that was written.

At one point, Dallion attempted to tackle the issue in his realm, though to little success. He quickly then moved to try reading the dryad scrolls in his realm, but found the same difficulties. What the writing skill did was present an unfamiliar language as something like a cross between a graphics puzzle and a math equation, all displayed in copper markers. Dallion could easily see elements that repeated, and even the logic of in a few cases, yet he still had no idea what that meant. Nil had explained that the markers represented the link between the visual representation of a concept and the concept inside a person’s mind. That was the reason why learning a different language was so difficult: it wasn’t merely a case of remembering a new set of words, but also the “formulas” behind them that allowed the language to function. In short, Dallion was still going to need a teacher.

An interesting point was that markers were also displayed when a foreign language was spoken. Vihrogon was more than happy to illustrate the process by speaking in dryad. He even offered to teach Dallion the language, which was readily accepted.

Even more interestingly, Dallion found that the writing skill gave him one more major—even if not immediate—advantage: thanks to his zoology skills, markers also seemed to appear when Lux was chirping around. And that was not all. With the firebird being his familiar, Dallion managed to achieve in a matter of true hours what others had attempted for centuries without success: the ability to talk to cracklings.

CRACKLING TALKER

(+5 Empathy, +5 Mind)

You are one of a hundred ever able to learn the crackling language. Just be careful that this knowledge doesn’t lead you astray.

The achievement had been very welcome, just as was the slight increase in Dallion’s zoology skills. The realization that thanks to the combination of his current skills he could learn to understand and speak to any creature and animal in the world, though, was mind-boggling. There was no question, in the world of awakened there were no poor skills, it was all about how one used them, and more importantly, how they combined with one another.

Are we there? Are we there? Are we there? Lux kept on asking.

Learning that his owner understood everything he said verbatim, had made the otherwise energetic creature even more hyperactive. Everyone in Dallion’s realm had noticed that, but chose not to make a fuss about it due to Lux’s lovable character.

You’ll know when we get there, Dallion replied. He also was eager to get back to the city, but he could only walk so fast. Sprinting or even running was out of the question; if nothing else, Dallion didn’t want to make a fool of himself. Just be patient, okay?

The firebird chirped sadly, then returned to its domain within the awakened realm.

Kids, Gleam sighed. She was taking on the role of big sister rather well. In this case, she wasn’t wrong. Dallion was thankful that Nox had grown out of his ever-eager phase, preferring to snooze more than anything else. It seemed that leveling up tended to do that to a familiar. With luck, the firebird would calm down in a few levels as well.

Dallion took the bestiary from his backpack, then split into two instances. He still lacked the endurance to maintain combat splitting more than a few seconds, but that was enough to read a sentence or two while still walking.

After doing a general skim of the entire tome, the thing he was most interested in were the dragons; more specifically, the dragonlet he was supposed to save. Given the way that the Academy—or certain mages within it—had just killed a dragon for no clear reason, it was understandable that the Green Moon wanted one protected. How would Dallion go about finding one, though? Precious little was mentioned about dragons’ mating habits. Neither Harp, not any of the dryad guardians in Dallion’s domain knew anything either. There was a chance that Aspan could shed some light on the topic, though Dallion doubted it. The more Dallion thought about it, the more it was looking as if he’d have to get it from the dragon’s mouth. Now, after the death of Armalion, there was only one remaining, believed to be on the northeast coast of the empire. From what was written, the creature was referred to as Cradar and was a sea dragon.

Going after it would be highly unreasonable, dear boy, Nil said. Even against a shadow, you only won because it let you. The real deal will snuff you out like a candle before you even get to talk to it.

I know, Dallion replied, rereading what was written in the hopes of uncovering some hidden secret. At some point I’ll have to.

A debt to a Moon is not an easy thing to pay off. It’s good that you’re eager to settle it, but it’s not the time.

Ending his combat splitting, Dallion returned the tome to his backpack. The echo was right. This wasn’t the time, but soon it would have to be.

Several hours later, the city of Nerosal became visible in the distance. As if to remind him, Dallion felt his traveling emblem grow slightly cold. A few steps later, Dallion felt the influence of the domain.

It was incredible how much the area had grown due to a simple level up. Of course, level ups of a city were in a league of their own. Dallion didn’t know all the details about area improvement, but he did know that each time a settlement increased in level, the radius of its domain increased in size. That was also the reason cities and capitals were as big as they were, while being nowhere as densely populated as the cities on Earth. In time, though, all the newly acquired space would be filled up and a new wall erected close to the border. Builders were erecting watch towers a fair distance away even now—the first structures that would eventually become part of the new wall.

From everything Dallion had seen, change in this world was slow to start, but once it did, it moved at a lightning pace.

The gate Dallion went to was open at that time of the day. To his surprise, the guards positioned there weren’t the ones Dallion expected, but the countess’ troops.

“Reason for entry?” a large man, twice Dallion’s age asked.

“I live here,” Dallion explained. He could feel that there was no malice in the guard. This never happened in the past, though. Even before Dallion had gained his fame, the city guards had barely made a fuss, relying on the overseer to intervene if anything went wrong. “I’m awakened.”

The guard looked at him closely, as if trying to determine whether he was some local noble or not. Given that Dallion’s awakened level was in the forties, that put him at the same level as nobles’ relations.

“I’m back from doing a job for the overseer,” he added, seeing that the guard was having a hard time. “Dallion Darude.”

“Darude?” The guard blinked. “The tournament champion?”

Here we go again… “I didn’t officially win,” Dallion replied with a smile.

He’s talking with echoes, Lux said. Thanks to the kaleidervisto, the familiar was able to peek at people and objects. Now that he could also talk, he was doing everything possible to show how helpful he was.

I know, Lux. Thanks.

The conversation must have gone well, for in a few seconds the guard gestured for Dallion to enter.

These weren’t guards, Nil said as Dallion walked through the city gate. They’re army soldiers.

Isn’t that normal with the countess moving here and such?

The last time there were soldiers at the gates was during the wars of succession…

The statement had a chilling effect. Apparently, things were moving faster than expected. The tragic death of the imperial guest during the festival had not been forgotten, it seemed.

The streets were busy, as always, filled with people doing their daily business. Unsurprisingly, Dallion was greeted by a wave of guardians as he passed by. All of them were glad to see him and exchange a few words. Quite a number of items attempted as well.

Hey, everyone, Dallion did his best to sound polite. This was one thing about the city that he didn’t miss. Now, thanks to his unexpected empathy boost due to the latest achievement, he could hear items and buildings from an even greater distance.

Are you going to the forge? Onda asked.

Not immediately, Dallion replied.

After you see your girl, I meant.

Don’t worry, I’ll get to it. There are a few things I’d like to have you make.

Sweet! Something out of sky silver? Not that I can’t do other metals, but they’re really boring.

We don’t always get what we want. Dallion also wanted to have enough sky silver to make a few things he had in mind. The prospect of him getting any of the precious metal was close to zero.

It was no surprise that Eury wasn’t in her workshop when Dallion got there. None of the guardians had any idea where she had gone, likely because she kept her blocking ring on. A few city guards, on the other hand, were able to assist. What was more, they not only told him exactly where the gorgon was, but escorted him there. After all, the overseer was also eager to hear his report.