Chapter 325: 325. Achievement Hunting

“What’s up with you?” Hannah asked. “I haven’t seen so much gloom since you failed your trial.”

“Which one?” Dallion asked as he kept on staring at his food. After the dreams he had the previous night, even Aspan’s cooking wasn’t able to improve his mood.

“Does it matter?” The innkeeper shrugged. “Seriously, what happened this time? I warned you that hooking up with that gorgon was a bad idea.”

“What?” Shock made Dallion almost jump up from his seat.

For one thing, Hannah had never told him that, for another, it wasn’t any business of hers. Dallion had a mind to tell her just that, but the sneaky feeling of fear and curiosity had gotten the better of him. Did she know something that he didn’t?

“She’s just busy right now,” Dallion said, which sounded like the worst defense one could think of. “With the festival and all.”

“She’s always busy with something,” the woman said dismissively. “Easy to get infatuated, easy to get bored. That’s why she could never keep a boyfriend.”

“Err?” Dallion’s interest peaked. He took a bite of his food to try and pretend that he wasn’t overly concerned. Even he could tell that his attempt failed. “How many did she have?” Dallion used a bit of music skill to make his voice sound casual.

“Why do you think I made the no-sex rule?” the innkeeper grumbled. “Things were getting totally out of control.”

As bad as that was, Dallion could imagine it. After all, Eury had managed to have her fun even when she was virtually banned from the stepping foot in the inn.

“I had trouble sleeping.” Dallion chose to change the topic. “Bad dreams.” Also, a really weird conversation with a table, he thought.

“The way you’ve been stretching yourself thin, no wonder,” Hannah grumbled. “The expedition, the tournament, that whole business with the overseer. If you ask me, you’re not ready for either, but what do I know? I’m just an innkeeper who’s seen more things for longer than you’ve been born.”

She looks quite well for her age, the armadil shield said. Considering she’s human.

“In your place, I would have focused to choose a good profession I want to keep doing for the rest of my life and then focus on becoming the best there is,” Hannah continued.

“Didn’t you say that I must be as balanced as possible?” Dallion asked, somewhat confused.

“You never listen, do you?” The innkeeper sighed, rolling her eyes. “Balancing is not a goal, it’s a means. Look at Veil. He doesn’t bother leveling up half his stats or skills, but knows exactly what he wants to be. You seem to want to be everything. The truth is that you cannot be everything.”

There was a momentary sound of regret coming from the innkeeper. It wasn’t the first time that Dallion had felt regret when he hadn’t expected, but there was a sense that this one went deeper.

“Do you want to become a hunter?” the woman asked. “Or are you doing it just to impress the gorgon?”

Dallion said nothing.

“If you want to get ahead in the guild, focus on the guild. If you want to become a noble, start focusing on leveling up and socializing with people like them. You’re lucky to be able to become whatever you want to become, but you’ll never become anything until you make up your mind.”

“I want to learn the truth about the Moons,” Dallion let slip. It was a reaction out of anger, but it was too late to take it now. “I’m late.” Dallion stood up. “I have some things to do at the guild. I’ll try to be back for the performance tonight.”

“You do that.” Hannah crossed her arms. “As long as you don’t bring doom and gloom to my inn. The only people who like sad bards are other bards.”

The street was packed with people outside the inn. Thankfully, at this point, the crowds had organically organized into streams of people, making movement easier. Naturally, Nil’s cynical nature suggested that it was likely that the Lord Mayor had used his power to temporarily force echoes into the realms of the non-awakened in order to achieve the desired effect. Having gone through a similar experience in Dherma, Dallion didn’t dismiss the notion.

The Icepicker’s guildhall was emptier than ever. There were less than a handful of people left in the entire building. Even Estezol was absent, his tasks handled by one of the guild elites. To his surprise, Adzorg wasn’t present, as were none of the other captains. When Dallion asked Nil about that, the echo couldn’t provide a satisfactory answer, mumbling something about plans changing frequently during that time of year.

Thankfully, the substitute in the basement section of the guild proved to be knowledgeable enough to find a few of the materials that Dallion needed. The Basic List of Common Achievements was apparently quite popular in any guild. The copy that Dallion was given had seen quite a lot of use, to the point that some of the achievements had scribbled notes in the margins. A scroll explaining whip blade usage proved more difficult. The guild member didn’t know any dedicated such material, so he simply gave Dallion several scrolls, referencing exotic blades and combat practices. With those, Dallion went to one of the free basement rooms and started reading.

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Twenty minutes were enough for Dallion to feel despair. There was something about reading lists that made him experience boredom on a whole new level. At this point, he wholeheartedly regretted the scrolls weren’t made of sky silver so that Gen could go through the list and do a first pass. What made things worse was the lack of search function. All achievements were listed in order of rarity and alphabetical order, though not by stat relevance, making finding anything specific all the more difficult.

Nil had explained that for the most part the authors weren’t academic luminaries, but rather retired awakened who wanted to help others out. That was the reason for the chaotic arrangement, as well as the general affordability. The comprehensive tomes were difficult to find and more expensive than the sky silver they were written on.

Of the most vital achievements, Dallion had selected three: Double Dash, Redirection, and Quickstart. All of them increased his reaction stat by 2, and all of them were possible to achieve, if not obligatorily easy.

Redirection seemed to be the easiest of them all, requiring that Dallion do a ranged attack on a target, then change its direction by hitting the bolt or arrow with another one. A small scribbled note suggested that the same achievement could be earned by changing the direction of throwing knives, and that was precisely what Dallion went for. After an hour in his awakening realm, he finally managed to fulfill the prerequisites and was rewarded, increasing his reaction to thirteen.

Next was Double Dash—following two sets of defense or athletic markers simultaneously. Upon first reading it, Dallion thought it would be impossible, but it turned out quite easy to achieve. The trick was to make an effort to step on both markers fast enough before either of them disappeared. Doing so, as it turned out, didn’t break the sequence and granted Dallion the flexibility of choice. Being able to do that was useless for someone who knew combat splitting, but invaluable to someone who didn’t. Dallion earned it only for the increase, then moved on to Quickstart.

Of the suitable achievements, Quickstart was the most difficult to achieve. Unlike the rest, it required a hostile enemy. The method of achieving it was simple: defeat an opponent in less than a second after the COMBAT INITIATED rectangle emerges. The execution was considerably more difficult. It took Dallion over thirty attempts to even get close. It wasn’t so much a matter of reaction speed, but focus. The rectangle inadvertently distracted, delaying his action just enough so that he’d fail the achievement; almost as if a giant pause emerged, telling his brain to wait before proceeding with the following action. Only when Dallion stopped considering the rectangle as an external part of reality did he manage to achieve his goal.

I think it’s time to stop now, Nil said as Dallion returned to the real world. Three achievements is already stretching it.

I could go more, Dallion thought, even if he was starting to feel a dull pain in the back of his head. It’s not like leveling up.

True, and that’s precisely the point. Achievements bring flaws, and those flaws gather together. Doing them while leveling up is beneficial since you get rid of them. Stacking them as you do is risky.

Dallion hesitated. So far, his morning wasn’t half bad. It was much better than the night, that was for sure. Dallion had already increased his reaction thrice and could boost it a bit more the following day. At least, in theory he could.

Spending another few minutes through the achievements failed to provide anything useful. Either Dallion already had them or the requirements were too unclear for him to try. A surprisingly large number of them were marked as “unknown” indicating that even the person who achieved them wasn’t certain how that had happened.

Ultimately, Dallion found another achievement he found worthwhile—this one increasing his perception. However, after a few hours of trying without result, he decided to call it a day.

Close of a day after he started achievement hunting—or three quarters of an hour in real time—Dallion was already famished. Normally he’d have no issue finding something to eat at the guild, but with everyone preparing for the festival, he had to find something on the stalls outside. The issue was that on the streets, the prices had tripled and there always were large queues.

You can go to the Gremlin’s Timepiece, Nil suggested. It’ll be faster that way.

Maybe later, Dallion replied.

Finding an adequate place to eat turned out to be much more difficult than Dallion expected. The places he used to go were packed, and his perception didn’t allow him to eat common food without a strong reaction from his stomach. Ultimately, he had to risk trying out places that he hadn’t been to before. Taking note of the orange circles—a sign added to the stalls, indicating that they were suitable for awakened—Dallion managed to find a relatively quiet place close to the noble’s neighborhood. The prices were abysmally high, ensuring that even with all the people in Nerosal the tavern remained mostly empty.

Just like a high-end café, Dallion thought as he stepped inside.

A barmaid greeted him with a smile, letting him know that his order was already being prepared. Dallion wasn’t in the least surprised—he had seen her combat split the moment he had stepped inside. No doubt she’d already had a conversation with him regarding his order and ability to pay. Now all that Dallion had to do was wait.

Fancy place, he thought. From what it seemed all the staff here were seers, probably skilled enough to defeat Dallion in the real world, if not in the realms as well.

They have to be, considering who they’re serving, Nil replied. So, what now? Leveling up three times in a day? Learning to forge a whip blade while also forging it? Or will you attempt something a bit more difficult?

Very funny. Dallion Narrowed his eyes. Nothing has changed.

Hasn’t it? You haven’t been yourself since last night.

Just stress, Dallion lied.

As much as he had tried to avoid it, he was still thinking about the Aura Sword realm. If what Havoc had said in the dream was true, it would be possible to enter the other temples. Dallion was fully aware that with his present strength he had no chance of defeating any of the guardians, but even so, he felt a strong urge to check it out. And with most people being out of the guildhall, he had the means to try it.

I’ll be fine, Dallion thought. Some food at a fancy place will do me good. After that, we’ll return to the guild and continue with the training.

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