MAJOR HEAL

Your health has been increased by 50%

Dallion thought he saw a red rectangle hover before his eyes. After he blinked, it was gone. Still, he was starting to feel a lot better. The dartblade was on his chest, surrounded by a layer of blue flames.

Are you okay, boss? Lux asked from within his realm.

This wasn’t a question that could be answered right away. For several seconds he lay there, trying to figure out if all the pain had left his body. Then and only then he stood up. The door remained open a few steps away. It was pointless closing it at this point, so Dallion didn’t. Rather, he proceeded to collect all his gear and belongings.

Back into the fray? The armadil shield asked. I have to hand it to you. You manage to make even school life dangerous and exciting.

“Go me,” Dallion replied. He would have very much liked to say it had been fun. Sadly, he’d be half lying. “Is Ruby okay?”

Dallion looked at his shoulder. The shardfly was there, as usual, only now the chips on its wings were gone. On the surface, all the damage seemed to have been healed, and yet there was an unmistakable feeling of bitterness emanating from him.

“Nil, where’s the nearest exit?” Dallion asked.

Nearby, the echo replied.

“Is there one close to the novice administration building?”

Yes, I supposed there is.

“Good.”

Running the corridor, along with a bit of combat splitting, Dallion made his way to the administration building. On two occasions he was briefly stopped by an apprentice, determined to send him back to the “safety” of his room. A bit of music skills, and the situation was quickly resolved in Dallion’s favor.

“Lock,” Dallion whispered at the building’s door. “Is anyone inside?”

Naa, the lock guardian replied. Everyone rushed out somewhere. No one’s here now. Want inside?

“Sure.”

Yaa. A faint click followed.

Making sure no one was looking his way, Dallion entered.

Creature cages are near the entrance, Nil said as Dallion went up the wooden staircase. Riddles are further away.

Good advice. Dallion intended to deal with creatures—they were quick to deal with, especially now that he’d obtained some practical spellcrafting experience.

The warehouse room was just as packed as before. One had to admire the amount of vortex cages the Academy had. The question where they were getting them remained, but for another time.

“I can only boost up to level twenty?” Dallion asked as he picked up a purple cube.

That is the general idea. From twenty onwards, you’ll need the real thing.

Dallion moved a cube to an empty area of the room and put it on the floor. Done, he placed his hand on top and extended his magic.

VORTEX CAGE – LEVEL 1

The cube extended, surrounding him with glowing purple.

You are in a VORTEX CAGE.

Defeat the guardian to ABSORB the vortex.

You have 20 minutes before the VORTEX becomes too weak to absorb.

A smaller version of the aether lion emerged a short distance away. Last when Dallion had faced such a creature, it had taken the combined effort of four people to defeat the monster. Of course, that guardian was linked to the realm of a Moon.

The harpsisword appeared in Dallion’s right hand. Without hesitation, he slashed the air, letting out a series of spark infused line attacks. The fingers of his left hand blurred as he cast the Iksa’s aether projectile spell.

COMBAT INITIATED

The vortex guardian barely had time to react. Its fur glowed with symbols, casting a series of aether shields in an attempt to save it from the savage attacks.

The first two line attacks sliced through the protective barriers as fast as they appeared. The third one passed through, striking the creature.

FATAL STRIKE

Dealt damage is increased by 500%

A red rectangle emerged. It was shortly followed by half a dozen more as projectiles bombarded the unfortunate lion. By rough calculations, the damage was supposed to be sufficient to earn Dallion the win. However, he didn’t take the chance, dashing forward and engaging in a multi-attack. Dozens of strikes pierced through the lion’s fir.

AGGRAVATED STRIKE

Dealt damage is increased by 100%

More rectangles stacked up, joined shortly by a purple one.

AETHER LION has been defeated.

For half a second, Dallion continued attacking until his conscious self told him it was time to stop. The guardian had been defeated. The only reason it hadn’t vanished was because of the exception magic granted.

“Nothing personal.” Dallion took a step back.

The lion growled before unraveling into a cluster of magic threads. The rest of the vortex cage followed, streaming towards Dallion. All that was left not was for him to consume them.

MAGIC ABSORBED

Your magic trait is now 19

A wave of warmth and strength filled Dallion, as the new magic merged with his. There was no amount of energy drinks back on Earth that could come anywhere close to what he was experiencing now. In the back of his mind, there remained a voice warning him not to get used to the high. It was quickly ignored, as Dallion rushed to grab the next vortex cage by the door.

Suddenly, the room shook violently. More than a rumble, it felt as if an outside force was trying to tear the Learning hall apart. Dallion’s first thought was that he might have caused this. Logic and rationality quickly expunged the thought. More likely than not, the shardflies in the area had started attacking everything in sight. The learning hall, despite its magic defenses, remained a building, and as such was a prime target.

You better hurry up, Nil stated the obvious.

“How long does the building have?” Dallion leapt to the empty spot.

The Hall is fine, but if things get any worse outside, you won’t be able to escape even if you leave the building.

Dallion activated the second artifact.

VORTEX CAGE – LEVEL 1

You are in a VORTEX CAGE.

Defeat the guardian to ABSORB the vortex.

You have 20 minutes before the VORTEX becomes too weak to absorb.

Initially, when the vortex formed, there was nothing inside. A sense of dread swept through Dallion. He had no time for riddle challenges, and waiting twenty minutes for the trial to be over was out of the question. Thankfully, a guardian soon appeared in the form of an aether shardfly.

“Gleam?” Dallion asked, unable to proceed with the attack.

The creature was hiding its info box, adding just enough doubt that it could be a version of Dallion’s former familiar. The seed of doubt kept Dallion from attacking. Splitting, he approached it with one instance. The shardfly didn’t react, flapping its wings gently in the air, waiting. Its appearance was a lot more delicate than the standard shardfly, as if it were created from fine layers of purple light. Eight wings slapped in a complicated sequence, just enough to keep it in the air.

It’s not her, Ruby said from Dallion’s shoulder.

“I know.” Dallion reached for the creature. But I need to be certain.

Just before his finger came into contact with the being, the aether shadfly sprung into action. One of its wings grew ten times its usual size, then slashed through an instance of Dallion, cleanly severing his fingers, arm, and head as if it were a laser beam.

COMBAT INITIATED

The pain only lasted for a moment, but it made it perfectly clear that this wasn’t the creature he hoped it would be.

Splitting again, Dallion charged forward. Using the approach of his previous fight, he cast a projectile spell, while slashing through the creature with a spark attack.

To his astonishment, the attack succeeded, slicing the shardfly in two. However, no red rectangle emerged.

Illusion, Ruby said, darting off Dallion’s shoulder.

Another two instances of Dallion were shredded to pieces before Ruby engaged in the invisible enemy. Red and purple sparks filled the air.

One moment Ruby was fighting nothing, the next, a second shardfly with amethyst wings appeared. No longer the aethereal Dallion had initially seen, the creature resembled Ruby, though with slightly prolonged wings. Looking closely, Dallion could see hundreds of minuscule mana threads all over its wings. While engaged in a wing fight with Ruby, the guardian constantly attempted to create a spell, only to have the symbols systematically slashed midair.

Holy crap! Dallion thought.

Despite all his skills, spells, and experience, he remained hopeless against creatures capable of creating high-level illusions. If it weren’t for Ruby, there was a very real possibility that he would have lost the fight. That wasn’t the case, but now Dallion was presented with a new problem. During the fight, the guardian had changed appearance, becoming a copy of Ruby.

“Just great,” Dallion hissed.

He didn’t think he’d have an issue killing any one of the shardflies, or even both of them. However, there was no way of telling which was Ruby and which not. If he were able to maintain combat splitting for more than a few seconds, maybe he could try killing either and then waiting to see which was which. In theory, it was possible he found out before that, but Dallion had no intention of taking the risk.

It was an interesting stalemate. Neither Ruby nor the guardian had any advantage. Meanwhile, Dallion was free to perform any attack he wished, but could do so; to top it all, if he were to order Ruby to disengage, that would give the aether shardfly the chance to cast spells again.

Of all the creatures, why did it have to be this one, Dallion clenched his fist.

In his mind, he went through dozens of options. Filling the vortex cage with water was risky, since it could affect Ruby as well. In equal fashion, using Raven’s magic draining spell was also dangerous. Using Cheska’s chain magic sounded like a passable option, but shardflies were the last creatures that would capture.

That remains one of your great weaknesses, Nil said. You have no way of fighting illusions on your own. It was fine while Gleam was with you. Without her, though…

“What about the spell you taught me?”

Try it f you like. It won’t work. The creature’s spell is too intricate. If your magic trait was a dozen levels more, I could teach you a spell that would help you out, but not at your current level.

“Harp?” Dallion asked, only to get no answer. He didn’t feel her being mad or even upset at him. Her silence, rather, suggested that she agreed with Nil on this point: Dallion had to figure out a way to shield his vulnerability and do so on his own.

The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became he’d never be able to distinguish between the creatures. Illusions at this level changed reality itself. Although, there was one thing that the vortex guardian was unable to change.

Nox, I’ll need your help, buddy, Dallion thought. I won’t lie to you. It’s going to hurt a lot. Will you help me out?

Okay, the crackling replied. There was no trace of annoyance or rebellion in his voice. When it came down to important things, Nox remained unwavering, just as he was back when Dallion had first obtained him.

“Thanks.” Dallion pulled out the Nox dagger and struck the floor.

The entire vortex cage trembled as black cracks formed around the point of impact. Simultaneously, flickers ran up the dagger, inflicting an equal amount of pain and damage to the crackling as well. Dallion felt the pain pulse within his realm, and yet Nox didn’t make a sound.

Gritting his teeth, Dallion struck the floor again. The cracks spread until an entire quarter of the floor was affected.

“Can you handle one more?” Dallion asked. “It’ll be the last.”

Hey, it’s me, the crackling said with his typical confidence.

“That’s what I thought. Thanks, Nox.” Dallion struck the floor.

Beneath the cracks, several strands of magic snapped.