It had been so long since Dallion had been hired to clear an item that it almost felt unnatural. Back then, Dallion had just become an Icepicker guild member, and it had been his job to clear sphere items as quickly as possible. Life had been nice, full of taunts, jokes, and lots of feasting. Sadly, the same period also marked the start of his involvement with the general.

“It’s an unusual item,” he said, looking at what he could only describe as a corkscrew dagger. “And you’re sure that clearing it would cover what I owe you.”

“Fulfill its destiny and your debt is gone.” The dwarf nodded. “I’ll also add a useful trinket to the mix.”

“My debt and an item?” Dallion did his best to appear astonished.

He was fully aware that he was getting less than he should have. Not that it was about the money. Being a novice was an outright weird experience: he was granted access to artifacts that cost small fortunes, and yet at the same time, there was no way for him to earn or spend money. It was all a sophisticated barter economy in which items, favors, and support were constantly traded.

“Of course. You’re a friend, after all, and a ‘unter.”

“Yeah, and a hunter.” Dallion smiled. “Well, no point in keeping you waiting.” Dallion grabbed hold of the dagger.

SPHERE ITEM AWAKENING

Dallion found himself in a small, dark, oval-shaped chamber.

The DAGGER is Level 0 of 7

You are at the START of the DAGGER’s first level.

Unseal all levels to fulfill the DAGGER’s destiny.

Memories flooded in as Dallion looked at the blue rectangles, taking him back to simpler times. The moment quickly vanished as he summoned his harpsisword.

“Lux,” he said calmly.

The firebird emerged, bringing light to the chamber. A single archway was visible, leading into a corridor. Dallion focused on using his magic layer vision. To his surprise, there was nothing remotely magical in the item. Furthermore, he wasn’t able to see any creature's emotions either.

That was a welcome change. In the past, blocker creatures usually filled the space areas between levels.

“Sense any crackling’s, Nox?”

No, the puma replied with a yawn. I’ll take a nap.

“Okay, I’ll wake you if I need you.”

The corridor was closer to a cave, if it weren’t for the fact that it was made entirely of iron. Anyone with high forging skills would be able to tell that the material was top quality. That inevitably posed the question, what would the other levels be? As easy as it was to assume that the entire realm would be nothing more than a winding corridor of metal, that would be naïve.

Seven levels. Dallion split into a dozen instances. Seven Moons?

As he had learned, with artifacts, everything was possible. Taking full advantage of his combat splitting, he had several instances charged forward at full speed. The first several hundred feet, nothing alarming happened. After that, the artifact bared its teeth.

SPHERE CREATURE

Species: AIRBUG

Health: 100%

Traits:

- BODY 30

- MIND 10

- REACTION 20

- PERCEPTION 20

Skills:

- ATTACK

- FLIGHT (Species Unique)

- AIR SHELL (Species Unique)

- AIR SLICE (Species Unique)

Hundreds of insects covered the walls, each the size of a pumpkin. It was quite sneaky of them to leave the first three hundred feet bare, luring awakened in a false sense of security. However, such tricks worked only on low double digit explorers.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Dallion thrust his sword forward, performing a point attack.

COMBAT INITIATED

A red rectangle emerged, along with the sound of crunching and screeching. This time it had been Dallion who had made the first blow and killed quite a number of insects in the process.

“You’ve seen my skills,” Dallion shouted, moving forward in ten instances. “Let me clear the dagger and I won’t have to fight you.”

I doubt that would work, dear boy. There isn’t any upside to them. If you clear the artifact, everything within it dies.

The sound of scurrying legs further down proved the echo’s point. It seemed that even a hint of music wasn’t enough to persuade the creatures.

A swarm of beetles rushed along the sides of the tunnel. Then, twenty feet from Dallion, they merged, forming one bulky specimen blocking the entire passage.

“I’d forgotten that trick,” Dallion said, doing another point attack.

The giant creature burst, like a balloon. Behind it, hundreds of other creatures suffered the same fate, allowing Dallion to keep walking forward without an issue. It was a lot easier freely using point attacks. According to everything he’d been taught, this was the wrong approach to clear an item. Explorers had to be cautious, keeping their strong skills secret, so as to provide as little information as possible to the item guardians. Right now, Dallion didn’t care, having shown both his powerful attacks and combat splitting. As far as he was concerned, he had to clear the item in one go and as quickly as possible.

By the time he reached the first guardian’s arena, three more waves of airbugs had attempted to take him on, with as little success as the first two. Dallion didn’t even feel tired, summoning his armadil shield for what could be the first series battle so far.

You’re aware that the guardian might be anything? Nil asked. From a feral beast to someone from an imprisoned race.

That would definitely be a change, although Dallion preferred if it were a beast. Facing a person wasn’t something he wanted right now. The universe must have read his thoughts, for the ceiling of the arena dripped down, creating none other than a copyette.

“Just great,” Dallion said beneath his breath. And just when he was hoping not to have to deal with anything magic related.

Threads of magic crisscrossed the slime as it changed form, first turning into a nymph warrior, then a copy of Dallion. The imitation was so perfect that anyone looking wouldn’t be able to tell the difference; anyone who wasn’t able to see magic, that is. The copyette’s magic tended to be a lot brighter than what Dallion currently had.

“Don’t you have a lot of skills?” the copyette asked, its voice slightly off.

“I’ve been practicing.” Dallion filled his words with fear and panic.

“Music, already?” The other countered the attack with a sound bouquet of his own. “I like your initiative.”

A second copy of Dallion emerged from the copyette, moving to the side. Two more followed, moving to the side of the chamber in an attempt to flank Dallion.

COMBAT INITIATED

A flying knife split the air, aimed at Dallion’s head.

Quickly choosing another of his instances to become reality, Dallion then spun around, performing a three-sixty line attack.

MINOR STRIKE

Dealt damage is increased by 10%

Red messages stacked up in the air, but nothing to mark the end of the fight. All four enemy Dallion’s liquified, pouring onto the ground. Within moments, they were replaced by half a dozen more, two of which charged at him with a combination of slashes and piercing strikes.

They can’t perform line attacks? Dallion wondered.

Up till now, copyettes had always been extremely difficult opponents he could barely take on in an unrestricted one-to-one fight. Of course, that was over fifty levels ago. Dallion wasn’t the naïve rookie he had been at the time, not to mention his traits had increased considerably.

The elements of fear within him melted away, allowing him to go on the offensive, combining multiple skills. Instances systematically attacked the copyette’s creations one after the other, while at the same time using the shield to protect himself.

MINOR WOUND

Your health has been decreased by 5%

Hundreds of needles flew out of an enemy Dallion. A few buried themselves within Dallion’s right leg. The pain was sharp, though momentary. Lux’s flames quickly melted the spike away, then proceeded to heal Dallion back to full health.

“Magic?” the copyette asked, retreating away. “Nice familiar you have there.”

“I know. I won’t lend him to you, if that’s what you’re asking.”

In response, the copyette performed its first spell since the start of the fight. Dallion could see the magic threads move, creating symbols. However, instead of drawing them in the air, as most would, the guardian was using his slime to draw them within him. The purple outlines were too bright, even an opaque body, to hide what was going on. Unfortunately, that also meant there was no way to disrupt the spell.

Dallion quickly infused his sword with spark, but it was already too late. The spell was complete, ripping through the Dallion it had been created in, bursting like a supernova.

“Shield!” Dallion shouted.

The armadil shield was already ahead of him, expanding to form a metal sphere around his owner. The sturdy cocoon weathered the blast, being thrust into the wall in the process. If it wasn’t for Lux who prevented Dallion from slapping into the inside of the sphere, he’d be in a lot worse condition, not to mention with possibly one dislocated shoulder.

“Nil, what the heck am I fighting?” Dallion shouted as he split into fifty instances. Forty of those instances ordered the armadil shield to contract to its normal size, then charged at the nearest of his copies.

A large number of copyettes can cast spells, Nil said, as if it were normal. You’re doing quite well, though. Keeping him at a disadvantage and all that.

That wasn’t remotely adequate. While the damage received was minimal, Dallion still had to pace himself to a certain degree. This was just the first guardian, after all. There would be six more before the item was fully cleared.

Dozens of thoughts went through Dallion’s head as he switched between instances, slashing copies of himself as he did.

“Nox, some help here!” he shouted, as another spell formed in one of the copyette fragments.

This time Dallion tried to avoid it by having Lux fly him as far away from the source of the spell as possible. That turned out pointless. The new spell was a flash, temporarily blinding all of his instances. Thanks to the level of his perception trait, Dallion still could easily move about and defend himself, though he could no longer see his opponent casting spells, and that was a problem. As a result, he did the only thing he could considering the circumstances: enter in a frenzy, doing dozens of line attacks in all directions.

Seconds past. The sound of destruction was everywhere. Large chunks of the ceiling fell to the ground, hitting some of Dallion’s instances. That didn’t stop him. He kept on attacking left and right until his vision slowly started to return.

“Damn it!” he hissed, trying to find the copyette among the blurred image of his surroundings.

One could call this an amateur move. All the instances and not once had Dallion made sure to look in a different direction. In a way, this might have turned out to be a blessing in disguise. There was no way he’d forget such a strategy now. In the future, he’d treat every fight, every splitting even, as if the enemy had the ability to cast mass spells.

“Nox, where are you?” he asked.

From what he could see, there were three fragments of the copyette remaining. Not willing to let them cast another spell, Dallion did another line attack. A whole section of the wall was torn off, along with the copyettes in question. Red rectangles emerged, confirming that he’d hit his target, and yet the guardian was far from defeated. Somehow, the annoying creature was keeping part of itself hidden, fighting only with its expendable.

Illusions, Dallion thought. If Gleam were here, she’d have seen through it immediately. It was quite possible that she could have brought him victory single-handedly. Instead, he was having trouble at the very first stage of the sphere item, having to resort to extreme lengths to obtain victory. If the fight continued the way it did, he’d definitely be too exhausted to reach the end.

If that were to happen, he’d have to enter the realm of the dagger at a later point. Yet should that happen, the guardians would be that much stronger.