“You couldn’t make it?” The dwarf arched his brows.

It was a difficult decision to make, but Dallion decided he couldn’t risk putting something of the sort in the hands of others. There was no definite proof that the weapon was meant for Aspan, which was why Dallion placed an echo within the item. Up to now, he had avoided the practice, but unusual times required unusual solutions.

“Couldn’t defeat the last guardian,” Dallion said. “I’ve still a thing or two to learn about magic.”

That wasn’t exactly a lie. Dallion had gone to the final segment of the artifact and used Nox to summon the guardian. The creature had turned out to be a five-headed hydra. Dallion had never faced one in person, but knew enough about it from the bestiary tome Eleria had given him. It was a tough creature to defeat, though not impossible for someone like him. Instead of doing so, he had waited for the creature to attack, after which he had used combat splitting to complete five guard sequences in a row and escaped the realm.

“I can finish it some other time.” It was a risk to use his music skills so openly, but Dallion had no choice. Concentrating, he added a subtle note of reluctance in his word, causing the dwarf to have second thoughts.

“I guess it’s okay, six levels is better than none.”

“You’re taking it well enough.”

The dwarf’s fingers danced over the item. Magic symbols appeared, quickly forming a pattern. A triple circle took shape, then quickly shrank to the size of a coin and burned into the hilt of the dagger. All but the tip of the blade lit up, straightening into a rather long stiletto.

“Six levels is fine.” The dwarf smiled. “Your debt is settled.”

“Good to know.” Dallion turned around.

“Wait! Don’t you want your gift?”

Normally, Dallion would be all about taking rewards. Knowing that he was the one who had deliberately botched the job, though, made him a bit more humble than usual.

“I thought that was only if I got the job done?”

“’eh, you ‘urt me! Would I be so unfair? ‘ere, this is for you.” He handed Dallion a single die of purple crystal. “It’s a catcher crystal. Since you’re a ‘unter I thought it could be useful.”

Catcher crystal… The general had given Dallion something similar a while ago in order to capture a cloud creature. By the looks of it, he had gotten it from here in one way or another. The thought sent chills down Dallion’s spine. He was well aware that the general’s network spread throughout Wetie province and a bit beyond, but he never imagined it would reach all the way here. He could see it happen, though. There were many things that mages weren’t good at, including item exploration and improvement. All it took was for the general to offer such a service, and mages would be more than willing to make a deal. They didn’t care how or where the job got done, just that it did.

“Where did you get this?” Dallion asked.

“Made it myself.” The dwarf said proudly. “All it took is a bit of—”

The ground trembled violently, causing several shelves to crash onto the floor. The dwarf and his daughter followed. The only reason that Dallion kept his balance was because his reaction trait was above fifty.

From what he had seen so far, this world was lacking any seismic activity. For that reason, if there was a tremor, there had to be a much more immediate and nearby reason, and it never was good. Using his athletic skills, Dallion grabbed each of the dwarves, then rushed out of the shop. Barely had he done so when the whole structure collapsed into the ground behind him.

What the heck? Dallion split into instances. Several of them kept on running forward as fast as he could manage. One, though, turned around to see what had happened.

A swarm of shardflies had risen into the air like a cone, coming from the very hole that had swallowed the dwarf’s shop. That was not all. Dallion was able to see several more swarms of insects. Thankfully, they were in areas between building clusters.

Shardfly nests? He wondered. Why were there more than one?

Mages were everywhere. The apprentices were running for safety, while the more seasoned mages were in the sky casting multi-spells to contain the situation. Against so many insects, they’d need every bit of help they could get. One in a gray robe with the insignia of a white eye swooped down towards Dallion. Casting a series of spells, he lifted Dallion and the dwarves into the air, then snatched them as he flew by.

“Don’t struggle,” a male voice said.

White Eye, Dallion thought. For once, he was glad that they had kept an eye on him. This was the time for the faction to prove its worth.

“Was there anyone else inside?” the mage asked.

“No,” Dallion replied. “Not that I know of.”

“Let’s hope so.” The mage’s hood fell back, revealing a gorgon’s head. Snakes moved around, forming magic symbols. Within moments, a series of aether spheres formed around the group, protecting them from external influences.

“You’re a gorgon?”

“Did you think your faction was the only one? You’ve got a lot to learn.”

In retrospect, it was quite obvious. The White Moon Emion, was the patron of gorgons. Only a faction of gorgon mages would call themselves that.

“What happened when you were in there?” the gorgon asked.

“Nothing much. We were discussing a deal when the ground shook.”

“Don’t lie to me, novice.”

“That’s what happened! I thought it was an explosion, so I grabbed them and went out as quickly as I could.”

“And you did nothing to trigger it?”

“If I did, I don’t know what.”

The snakes on the gorgon’s head moved about. Dallion had lived long enough with a gorgon to know that was an expression of annoyance.

“Your pass has been revoked,” the gorgon stated. “Remain in the Learning Hall.”

Dallion was then briskly dropped off at the entrance, after which the mage flew off, taking the levitating dwarves with him.

Nil, what’s going on? Dallion asked, looking at the chaos that had befallen this area of the Academy.

Best go inside, dear boy, the old echo said. I haven’t seen this much commotion in a long time.

But what happened?

Some experiment or research project mustn’t have gone as planned. It happens on occasion, unfortunately. The Academy will get to the bottom of this, after which there will be a massive reshuffle.

That sounded oddly bureaucratic in a terrifying sort of way.

“Dal?” a familiar voice asked. His black-haired classmate approached, also making his way from the outside. “I see I’m not the only one going for a stroll. You look different.”

“This is how I normally look.” With Dallion being in his current form, his classmate was half his height. That didn’t prevent him from having higher magic. From what one could estimate, he had to be a level twelve, at least. “You okay?”

“Just a few scratches. You have a…” he pointed at Dallion’s shoulder.

“Oh, that’s just Ruby. He closes his wings when on me. Safer that way.”

“Right. So, shall we go inside?”

“In a bit. I want to see what’s going on.”

“I don’t think that's a good idea.” The black-haired frowned. He still remained there, looking at the mage’s efforts to deal with the situation.

For nearly all-powerful beings, they managed to simultaneously be highly efficient and absolutely disorganized. There didn’t seem to be any cooperation between any two mages, and yet they seemed to be at all the right place at the right time. Some weird swarm level communication was going on. The issue was that Dallion couldn’t see combat splitting being used, and there didn’t seem to be any magic threads linking the mages, either.

The situation on the ground had been contained, and not only the shardflies were an issue. The insects had scattered, filling the entire sky above the Academy like leaves in a torrent. At first Dallion was concerned that all of them might be killed off, but by the looks of it, the mages were more interested in dazing and capturing the creatures than doing any harm.

“This is getting boring.” The black-haired turned around after a few minutes. “I’m going inside.”

“I’ll join you.” Dallion said. There was little more to see anyway, so he followed the noble inside. The moment he stepped through the threshold, he shrank back to his child form. The experience still felt uncomfortable, even after so many times.

The corridors were full of panicking apprentices running about. People were shouting that the underground had to be checked and reinforced in case of issues.

“Dining room,” the black-haired said.

Dallion nodded.

Walking against the wall, the two made their way to the novices’ dining room. The place was all but deserted, and a welcome change from the noise and panic abundant in the rest of the Learning Hall. To make things even better, there was food there as well.

“Why were you out there?” the black-haired asked, fetching a jug of lemonade and two glasses.

“I was improving my magic,” Dallion said. “I thought I’d visit a shop or two to check things out. Way too expensive for me to afford anything.”

“You should have told me.” The noble poured two glasses and gave one of them to Dallion. “I’d have bought whatever you wanted. I don’t think there was anything good, though. Weapons and medallions are useful in the wilderness, not so much in realms or vortexes.”

“You know about vortexes.” Dallion took a sip. The drink tasted pleasantly bitter sweet.

“Of course I know. My echoes wouldn’t be doing their job if they didn’t tell me about them. Is that how you boosted your magic trait?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool, cool. What are you at?”

“Nine.”

“Could be better. One more level and you’re ready to go.”

“I’ll get it in the experience trial next week.”

“Don’t take too long. If you don’t get it next week, Cheska and I will be moving to rank three without you.”

The noble was being quite serious. In the event of failure, Dallion would be left behind. Hopefully, it wasn’t going to come to that. After learning over a hundred symbols, it came time for the first experience trials.

Dallion spent weeks preparing in his realm, and not only in drawing symbols but also developing his combat techniques. Nil was absolutely delighted, as was Harp to a certain extent. Yet Dallion himself still felt he was lacking in many areas. At one point, he even attempted another of his awakening trials, just to see how much he’d improved. Once the battle was over, he saw that it wasn’t nearly as much as he would have liked.

Relax, dear boy, it’ll be an easy trial, Nil said. The Academy wants you to progress, despite what they claim in class. They wouldn’t come up with something that difficult, so you can’t succeed. At most, it’ll be a vortex guardian that’s less tough than anything you’ve faced so far.

In part, that was precisely what Dallion feared. With the other two class champions automatically getting promoted to rank three, he’d be the first to take part in a trial. And from what the fury instructor had said, it was anyone’s guess what that trial might be. Dallion could face a creature just as he could be forced to solve some ridiculous puzzle. In theory, he had the skills and experience to master everything they threw at him, and yet there was the constant grain of doubt at the back of his mind.

“You’ll be joining me in this one, Ruby,” Dallion said as he was about to leave for class. “It might be tough, though.”

Cool, the shardfly replied, laconic as usual, and fluttered onto Dallion’s shoulder.

“Okay, then. Let’s get through this.”