Three circles of symbols merged together within another fragment of the copyette, this time causing a grid of spikes to shoot up from the floor all the way up to the ceiling. In a fraction of a second, everything in the chamber, debris included, was pinned to the top. Thankfully, there was one exception; using combat splitting, Dallion had managed to shift to the instance that was closest to the chamber entrance and leap out before being caught in the guardian’s trap.

The copyette’s tactic was obvious: take advantage of its fluid nature and use piercing attacks and bars to hurt and hinder its opponent. The way to counter it was by shattering the stone spears to open up enough space, then find and finish off the remnants of the guardian. So far, Dallion had done well over fifty percent damage, possibly ninety. The issue was that the copyette was hiding its info rectangle somehow. That, combined with the fact that it could do magic, always raised the question whether it was healing itself or not.

MINOR STRIKE

Dealt damage is increased by 10%

MINOR STRIKE

Dealt damage is increased by 10%

Red rectangles suddenly appeared.

Nox, Dallion thought. Good work, buddy.

Tapping the blade of his harpsisword in his leg, he made a series of slash attacks, slicing through the thicket of stone spears as if they were twigs. Chunks of stone fell to the floor. Moving back into the arena, Dallion used his magic layer vision to find his enemy. Before he could, two more red rectangles popped up, followed by a blue one.

DAGGER Level 1 has been cleared!

Continue on to fulfill the DAGGER’s destiny!

The arena and all level one sections of the realm lit up. A large metal gate formed on the side of the arena, then opened, revealing the path further into the item’s realm.

If you had more rust, you’d leave a trail while you walk, the armadil shield commented. What’s up with that? In the past, you’d dance your way through a level one guardian.

“I wasn’t expecting him to use magic,” Dallion replied, even if he knew that the dryad was right. The copyette shouldn’t have been such a big problem. He’d faced such creatures several times before when he was way less experienced than now.

Closing his eyes, Dallion mentally went back through the battle. There were several stupid mistakes he’d made, though none of them major in the overall scheme of things. His use of skills wasn’t rusty—he had combined more of them than he’d in the past. The execution was mostly spot on. The issue was one and one alone: the use of magic. In the past, Dallion didn’t have to deal with that; not remotely to the extent he was now. Even when facing Aspan—an otherworlder prodigy who almost took over the world—he hadn’t experienced even a fraction of what he had right now.

“Now that I have the trait, I’m no longer protected,” Dallion said to himself.

I’m glad you’ve come to the realization on your own, dear boy. Nil sounded remarkably happy. Not that it was difficult.

“The way he cast spells was different.”

All races have different ways of casting spells. They do what’s most suitable for their race. There’s no right or wrong about it. Some races have certain advantages, though at a certain point it all boils down to strategy and planning.

From Dallion’s experience, whenever someone said that, it meant that they were the ones at a disadvantage. He’d just seen how efficient copyettes were at casting spells. To top it all, they didn’t have to worry about getting hurt in the process. They could use themselves to create as many puppets as they wished, each of them a self-contained single use spell. Nymphs and furies were also much better, possibly because they were naturally born creatures.

“Vihrogon, how do dryads cast spells?” Dallion asked.

That’s quite a direct question, the guardian replied.

“Is it sensitive?”

No, I’m just toying with you, the armadil shield laughed. Vines. We use vines. The magic spreads through them, so all we have to do is let it blossom into symbols. It’s similar to the copyettes, just on the outside.

That was interesting to know. It also suggested that they’d be a lot more difficult to face.

“How come there weren’t any mages in the sword worlds?”

Oh, there were initially, just not many. The Star convinced our emperor that they were needed on the battlefield. They were supposed to be the tip of the spear, crushing everything in their way.

The tone suggested that it wasn’t what had happened.

“What went wrong?”

Many, many things. The mages were the first thing we lost. We were all so pumped up that we didn’t think much of it. Just the inevitable casualties accompanying a world invasion. The Star said that while we lost our mages, so did the rest. It seemed like a good exchange at the time, so we pushed on.

Quite the nice trick. Mages were the greatest threat the Star had, so aliminating them on all sides was to his benefit… or her benefit, depending on who the Star was at the time.

That led Dallion to the realization that so far he hadn’t faced any actual mages intending to kill him. Gassil was an exception, but even he was limited, not to mention that Dallion wasn’t alone at the time. Apparently, mages avoided conflicts with non-mages unless provoked. Dallion had no idea whether there was some Moon law he wasn’t aware of, or the mages had come to some unorthodox understanding, but what he did know was that he’d need to up his game.

“Nil, what are the chances that I come across more mage guardians?”

Same as before, the old echo replied. It all depends on the item. It’s a lot more common to find them in magic items, although I use the word common broadly. That said, guardians are certain to cast spells when fighting you.

“Why didn’t they before?”

Even banished as an item, it’s not a good idea to annoy the Moons. In theory the only thing stopping awakened using their powers on non-awakened is the fear of consequences. It does happen, though everyone proceeds at their own risk. It’s the same as magic. Many from the banished races can use it, and now that you have magic, they will if only for the reason that they can get away with it.

“Charming.” Dallion grumbled.

Why do you think my original didn’t participate in item exploration back in Nerosal?

“So, you’re telling me that being a mage isn’t what it was hyped up to be?”

Nonsense! Mages have the potential to shape multiple realities! Not being able to improve items is just a minor inconvenience. We can pay others to do it for us.

Dallion didn’t feel like responding. Having magic meant he’d face a difficulty bump, but that wasn’t all bad—it provided experience and an option to learn just when he had become complacent with his skills. Putting in the effort was going to boost his growth, making him exponentially stronger; strong enough to eventually complete his awakening trials, and maybe even face Harp.

Not pausing to rest, Dallion continued along the next tunnel. As before, this one was completely dark, although significantly wider. A few bubbles of emotions were visible here and there, moving about in the darkness. All of them were quick to run away before Dallion got to see the creatures they belonged to.

A few hundred steps later, the corridor split in two.

“Fun,” Dallion whispered, looking at both branches. Two corridors on level two of the artifact meant that it followed the inverse pyramid structure—each next level was going to be larger than the previous one.

Bursting into instances, Dallion rushed down both of the corridors. Both of them seemed similar. There were no obvious traps, nor large numbers of creatures. After three seconds, it was time for Dallion to make a choice and he did, switching to the instance in the right runnel. Barely half a minute later, the corridor split into two again.

“Nox,” Dallion said. “What do you think?”

Nothing interesting, the crackling responded. Just insects.

“Want to take the right one? I’ll go left this time.”

The puma emerged, leaping out of Dallion onto the floor. Nox had grown a lot since Dallion had first found him. A bit more and the familiar would reach his chest.

After a stretch and a dramatic yawn, the crackling slowly made its way to its section of the tunnel. If there was any enthusiasm, it was well hidden. There was a time when he’d climb all over Dallion in an effort to play. Now he was acting all grown up to the point that he refused being petted.

“Let me know what you find, okay?”

Nox waved his tail, annoyed.

“Good hunting, buddy.”

Do well, big bro! Lux chirped. You can do it!

The overwhelmingly cheerful encouragement from the firebird caused Nox to quickly rush into the tunnel, probably still embarrassed by the whole thing. A few moments later, Dallion rushed into the left tunnel as well.

It was alarming that there still weren’t any creatures. Likely, they had seen what he was capable of and were avoiding direct confrontation. That meant that they’d rely on ambushes and other forms of trickery.

“Harp, can you tell illusions and reality apart?” Dallion asked. The harpsisword didn’t answer.

Tapping the weapon in his foot, Dallion slid it along the side of the wall. The blade went through the stone, as if it were wax. If the illusion was strong enough, that wouldn’t be enough to shatter it, but rather what Dallion was aiming to do was to cause the creatures nearby, if there were any, to react. Within moments, he got his wish.

COMBAT INITIATED

Hundreds of blobs of eagerness came approaching from the end of the corridor. Whatever was approaching it was intent on fighting him. Dallion could hear the sound of wings, although they weren’t flapping, not in the normal sense of the word.

“Oh, crap.” Dallion instantly did a point attack. He’d recognized what was approaching and a single point attack wasn’t enough to stop the avalanche that was to follow.

SPHERE CREATURE

Species: SOUL SUCKER

Class: CRIPPLED STAR

Health: 100% HP

Traits:

- BODY 10

- MIND 10

- REACTION 40

- PERCEPTION 20

Skills:

- ATTACK

- FLIGHT (Species Unique)

- PIERCING STRIKE (Species Unique)

- HEALTH DRAIN (Species Unique)

Weak spot: NECK

It had been centuries since Dallion had fought one of those creatures and it was still not long enough. While weak in isolation, the soul suckers were terrifying in large groups. Unlike most creatures, they rarely merged together to gain size, preferring to weapon and kill their enemies through a thousand cuts—or in this case through a thousand stabs.

The Star that had created them knew exactly what he was doing. They weren’t meant to defeat people outright, but rather to set them up to be defeated by something stronger.

I’ll cocoon you, the armadil shield said, expanding on Dallion’s arm.

“No!” Dallion pulled back. “I’ll deal with this on my own.”

You sure?

Soul suckers kept on flying towards him, trickling along the sides of the walls so they couldn’t be affected by point attacks.

“It’s all about the strategy,” Dallion replied. Nox, how are things on your end?

Boring, the crackling replied. Crushing insects is no fun.

Well, look on the bright side. Maybe you’ll gain another level from this.

If there was anything that would cheer the familiar up, this was it. Meanwhile, Dallion focused on his own fight. The mosquito-like insects were going to be upon him in a matter of seconds. Their approach seemed outright slow thanks to his high reaction trait. Dallion could easily dash from side to side, effectively killing them off. However, observing them through his layer vision gave him another idea.