Chapter 333: 333. Day of the Festival

The day of the Nerosal Festival came with thunder and bright lights. The first salvo of fireworks filled the sky at the crack of dawn, filling the still dark sky with light of all colors. These were not the fireworks that Dallion had occasionally seen be released during the week leading up to this day, they were on a whole new level. Back on Earth, even the best firework displays created a little more than pattern combinations in the sky. Here, it was like watching someone paint pictures in the sky with light and glitter. It started with small symbols—crowns, swords, chalices—then quickly moved to horses, dragons, griffons, finally culminating in a crudely animated scene. Had Dallion seen this on a PC screen, he would have laughed. Seeing it stretch across the entire sky, however, filled him with awe.

Few things could compare the first time you see it, Nil said, amused by the fact that Dallion had spent a quarter hour staring at the sky from the window of his room. Originally, it started as a quick glance out of curiosity; as a result, Dallion wasn’t able to look away ever since. The money spent on this is enough to upgrade a neighborhood two times over. And yet, looking at it seems like a small price to pay.

Finally, after half an hour, Dallion managed to pull away from the sight and start getting dressed. This was an important day for him—the day he’d see the countess for the very first time and, more importantly, the day that she would see him. While it was unrealistic to have any expectations, there was a chance that someone would whisper a word or two about him in the countess’ ear. After all, Dallion was a first-time wildcard, and if nothing else, that would be an amusing topic of conversation for a minute or two during the tournament.

Remember to put on your best clothes, the armadil shield reminded. Nobles love to watch tidy performances. Just avoid anything fancy.

“Thanks, Shield,” Dallion muttered. For the first time in quite a while, he spent dressing himself in front of the mirror. It was as if he were preparing for a very important interview. As his father back on Earth used to say, “good appearance doesn’t seal a deal, but it certainly ruins it.”

In this case, the clothes were not alone. There was one more thing that Dallion needed to do before heading for the streets to witness the countess’ arrival—level up. Before that, though, Dallion grabbed his gear and sneaked into the kitchen.

“Morning, Dal,” Aspan greeted him. Several copies of him were already busy cooking the morning’s meals. “Food’s almost ready.”

“Thanks.” Dallion took his usual seat at the table.

“First time seeing the festival, right?” A new copy of the copyette emerged sitting across Dallion. “A sight to remember, I’ve been told.”

Dallion could feel a slight note of envy. Come to think of it, all the time Aspan had been in the city, not once had he seen the actual festival. This was one of the most dangerous times of the year for him, and going outside was out of the question, unless he wanted to be hunted down and killed, or banished into an awakened realm once more.

“I’ll try to describe it to you,” Dallion said.

“Don’t bother. At this point, that’ll only ruin the experience. I’ve been imagining what it could be like for so long that seeing the real thing will be a let-down.”

“Right.” Dallion smiled.

A large plate filled with fried vegetables was placed in front of Dallion. Shortly after, a mug of lemonade and a freshly baked loaf were added.

“Tell me if you want anything else,” the cook said.

“Thanks.” Dallion nodded, then entered his awakened realm.

PERSONAL AWAKENING

The usual room appeared in front of him. This time, it was completely empty. That was somewhat unusual. Dallion looked around.

We’re all at Harp’s place, Gen said in Dallion’s mind. After what you saw, Gleam decided to have a fireworks display of our own.

She’s really competitive, isn’t she?

Hers is better, July said in protective fashion. Will you join us? You’ll like it.

Maybe after I level up.

Dallion made his way into the corridor. Since this was his domain, he had a choice where to place the entrance to the next awakening trial. As always, Dallion chose it to be nearby. The moment he thought about it, the new door was there. On the outside, it looked identical to every door in existence. However, Dallion could feel it wasn’t. Taking a deep breath, he opened it and stepped inside.

“Greetings, dear boy,” Nil greeted him. Or rather, this wasn’t Nil, but an identical echo of him. The old guild captain was sitting at a small table in the middle of a smaller, though very impressive, library. Shelves of thick tomes covered the walls and a fireplace was burning brightly not too far away.

“A new addition to the library?” Dallion asked.

“You seem to think so. And I must say it’s better stocked than the one you already have. Well, at least it has the appearance to be.”

Looking at the book titles, it contained every topic for which Nil didn’t have an answer. When Dallion took a tome and opened it, however, the pages were blank.

“One day, I’m sure you’ll fill this room with tomes of knowledge of your own. For the moment, though, there’s the small matter of your leveling up trial.”

“So, what will it be?” Dallion returned the book and went to the table. “You’re not going to have me take a written test, right?”

“Would you prefer that we fought?” the echo grumbled. “You’ve never seen Adzorg’s skills, so there’s no telling what I might be capable of.”

Images of room transformation filled Dallion’s mind. The only thing he knew about the Adzorg was that he had created all the training artefacts at the guild. That and that Hannah seemed to consider him extremely important. Originally, it was the old man who was supposed to perform Dallion’s initial guild test, but March had stepped in and deprived him of that possibility.

“It’s a test, though not a written one,” the trial echo said. “All you have to do is one simple thing—redistribute your stat points.”

Hardly could anything be said to cause such confusion. Redistribute his points? Dallion had asked on several occasions whether that was possible, and each time he was told a resounding no. Now, suddenly, he learned that wasn’t exactly the case.

“Permanently or just for the test?” Dallion asked.

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“It’ll hardly be a trial if I gave you the answer.” The echo smiled. “Let’s say it’s permanent. That way even if I’m lying, you won’t lose a thing.”

The logic was flawless, and that’s what put Dallion on guard even more.

“So, all I have to do is redistribute my points? Can I keep them as they are?”

“Of course. Just confirm that’s the case and leave the room. Of course, once you confirm there’s no turning back.”

“What do you mean?”

“This is a once in a life-time opportunity to resolve past regrets and create new ones. If you have any goals in mind, now is the time to change things so as to achieve them.”

There was still a lot of doubt in Dallion’s mind. Just as he was about to ask a further question, five towers of chip tokens appeared on the table in front of him, each with its own color.

“These are all the levels you currently have,” the echo explained. “You can move as many as you want. The moment you stand up from the table, though, the changes are final.”

In a way, it reminded Dallion of the trial he’d had with the general’s echo. Back then, he used skills and stats as gambling tokens. Here, things were seemingly simpler, but also far more difficult.

“Any limitations I should know about?”

“Only one, dear boy.” The echo tapped on the stack of grey chips. “When it comes to your mystery stat, twenty chips equal one.”

“So, if I place forty chips there, I’ll only get one?”

“You get the idea. Of course, you can remove all the chips and sack them elsewhere up to your level cap, of course. Right now, that would be forty.”

That was something worth considering. The unknown stat had increased solely through achievements and “boons” received from guardians. What was the stat, though? By definition, it had to be something rare on par with magic, but simply having it didn’t obligatorily mean that Dallion would be able to use it. The cleric he’d met during his first chainling hunt had a magic stat but lacked the knowledge to perform complex spells. There was no guarantee that the mystery stat would be immediately usable. Then again, there was no guarantee it wouldn’t be.

“What’s the mystery stat?” Dallion asked.

“You’ll find out once you’re done.”

“Don’t I get a hint or something?”

The echo shook his head. Whatever decision Dallion had to make, he wasn’t getting any help.

“All I can do is discuss the advantages of specific builds based on your skills and immediate needs, of course. For one thing, you’re already pretty evenly split. Chasing after achievements, even if I think they’ll bite you in the ass later on, got you to a point at which you’re almost at twenty overall. A lot of people would be envious of this. You can easily just accept things as are and end the trial.”

“Can I end the trial without a decision?” Dallion asked.

The question made the echo raise both eyebrows in surprise.

“I suppose you could. Why would you, though? You can’t increase any stat without leveling up, so even if you postpone your decision sooner or later, you’ll be back here again.”

“It’ll give me time to think.”

“You think that’s the issue here? Not having time to “think?” Dear boy, you’re an awakened. You have nothing but time. If you wanted, you could spend an eternity here and time in the real world still wouldn’t have passed. Your issue is not time, it’s fear.”

“Fear of what? It’s not like I have to fight anything. I don’t even lose anything.”

The words were hollow. Despite what he was saying, Dallion was aware of the issue—the very reason he had to go through this trial was his reluctance to choose. Without a doubt he had to deal with a lot of issues, some he believed to have been crippling, but so far, he had only been dealing with the obvious. All the issues he had had stemmed from past experiences, and while he didn’t rationalize them, the effects were obvious. Now that they had been dealt with, other, more subtle flaws remained. Never before did Dallion suspect that he feared change… until now.

“If you don’t fear the trial, why not just stand up and leave? You’ll get one point to assign to increase any stat you like. That’s one short of revealing the mysterious stat, but other than that, you’ll be fine.”

Dallion didn’t move.

“Or you can redistribute everything for the arena tournament,” the echo suggested.

“Remove everything from the mystery stat and put the chips on body and reaction. Your perception is already good, and combat splitting isn’t as efficient in real life as in the realms. Of course, if you do that’ll make future leveling ups a bit more challenging, but at least you’ll have a new weapon to rely on.”

The whip blade, Dallion thought. Doing well in the arena guaranteed him the weapon. Maybe it wasn’t a bad idea to focus on the tournament until he got the weapon and then fill in the gaps.

“Or you can go the opposite way and put everything on mind. You already have enough points to hit the level cap. Forty points on mind would be ideal for the next time you enter the aura sword realm. You’ll be able to create twenty instances, possibly become as good as Vend, maybe even better? You’ll lose the whip blade, but you’ll have a chance to clear the aura sword, and who knows, maybe it’ll choose you as its next owner?”

Dallion looked at the chips on the table, then at the echo. This trial was going to be more difficult than he thought.

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