Chapter 355: 355. SIlver Bug

For every thousand of black bugs, there was one red. Unlike the black, the red bugs rarely attacked, but when they did, they inflicted a minor wound, decreasing Dallion’s health by five percent. Finding a red bug among the swarm was difficult, killing one—ten times so. The difference was that once killed, the red bugs didn’t seem to respawn. Instead, a red damage rectangle appeared, indicating the damage dealt to the entire swarm.

Don’t attack it, don’t attack it, Dallion said to himself as he was being stung by black bugs. In his mind, he knew that it was pointless to react to them, however the sting made it extremely difficult to ignore. It was the same as having an itch—scratching usually only made things worse, yet the most people were unable to resist doing it, anyway.

Not too bad, Gleam said. The rest of the swarm is almost here, so things are going to get a bit more difficult in a few seconds.

That wasn’t what Dallion wanted to hear. Already the number of black bugs blotted out most of the sun making him feel like trapped in a black cloud. That was another thing he had to focus on—killing enough black bugs so as to get a momentary crack of light.

That’s interesting, the shardfly noted. There’s a silver bug as well.

Silver bug? Dallion asked. The moment he did, the swarm around him seemed to double. That was another annoyance—each time he expressed curiosity towards something, the distraction bugs multiplied. It was bad enough that the initial buzzing of the insects had turned into whispers, each bug repeating past things Dallion had heard: results of his college application, questions about the Eighth Moon, speculation about the nobles, fears regarding his grandfather… Listening to one created a new bug, making the swarm go exponentially unless one learned how to ignore them completely.

Another series of stings made Dallion turn around and perform a series of slashes, temporarily thinning the swarm in the area. He had to focus on what was important, namely the red and silver bugs. From what he could gather the goal was to kill all red bugs in order to pass the trial. The silver bug—if the fake Nil was to be believed—was a bonus was a potential prize that Dallion would receive. Ideally, it could range from an achievement to an item blueprint. A while back, the echo had said that it was in theory possible for Dallion to learn a skill in such fashion, but he strongly doubted that.

Gleam, direct me to the silver bug, Dallion said.

The familiar flashed in a bright blue light and started making her way away from Dallion. Without any prodding, Lux moved to follow her. All in all, Dallion was pleased with  the degree to which the firebird had learned to anticipate his orders. The same couldn’t be said about the shardfly, who remained free-willed to the extreme. It was good that she was guiding the way to Dallion’s prize, although he would have preferred if she had joined in the actual fight. He had seen first-hand how destructive a shardfly’s wings could be first hand. Instead, using them, though, Gleam had cast an illusion over herself, making the swarm believe she was one of them.

Dallion extended his whip blade, spinning it around like a whip. That had proved to be the most effective method of creating a path. Not that he managed to kill any of the bugs—distractions, it seemed, could only be hit if targeted—but it allowed Dallion to move them about so as to see better forward.

Are you curious what the prize might be? Nil asked. Maybe it’s a new weapon blueprint. Having that will let you practice your forging and maybe create a masterpiece. Who knows, maybe you’ll be able to make it in the real world as well. That would increase your chances of winning the Tournament, possibly even patch up things with your gorgon.

The swarm thickened around Dallion. Concentrating, he was able to spot another red bug in the blackness. One measured slash with the blade whip and the swarm was dealt another wound.

Gleam, any other red bugs? Dallion asked.

A few, the shardfly replied. Three I can see. Maybe two more on your other side.

Between three and five bugs. Fighting them would be easy. What mattered now was for Dallion to kill the silver bug as quickly as possible.

Soon enough, the creature became visible. It was like a grain of sugar in a pile of coffee grinds. Focusing all his attention to it, Dallion was able to see exactly where it stood in relation to the rest of the swarm. Red markers appeared, indicating the fashion in which he had to attack with his weapon. Holding his breath, Dallion lashed at his target. The whip blade spun and twisted, its tip flying towards the insect along a wide arc. Then, just before hitting it, the insect reverted to a normal bug.

What the heck?! Dallion pulled back his weapon and immediately targeted a red bug. This time, there were no surprises.

You never know which distraction could lead to a prize, Nil laughed. Sometimes what you think is valuable turns out to be just another distraction.

Gleam, was that an illusion?

Not one that I could sense, the familiar replied.

Then where is it?

On cue, another bug changed color, obtaining a silver shine. This was clearly the catch. Completing the trial was annoying enough, but doable once Dallion grasped the basic principles. Getting the prize, though, required vast amounts of skill. Thinking about it, it seemed that the trial had two parts: the minimal requirement to pass and the real one. If he wanted Dallion could end the trial even now, but that would be a shortcut, and shortcuts were like poison for one’s development.

Once again, Dallion attacked the silver bug, only to witness the same result. So far, the logic held. His hypothesis was that perception would be the key to solve this puzzle. In order to proceed forward, it was alright to notice things and react to them. However, if he were to substantially improve, he had to learn how to anticipate things before they happened, and do so without the help of combat splitting… or familiars.

Focus, music, forging, Dallion thought.

For a moment, the distractions seemed to disappear. The majority of the swarm became transparent like air. The red bugs were fully visible now—there were three of them, covered with a faint coat of copper. As for the silver one, Dallion was able to feel faint traces of silver somewhere in the vicinity and yet he couldn’t see it.

Dallion focused further. Slowly the sensation gained form. However, it wasn’t a single entity. Rather, it was a trail moving from one bug to another. At times it would stop and remain still, but Dallion was still able to see the tail behind it as well as the nose directing it forward to the next target.

Like an eel in a swamp, he thought.

Congratulations. Nil could hear clapping somewhere away. You figured it out. Curious what it’ll give you once you kill it?

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“Yes,” Dallion said, as he swung his blade whip. The weapon moved along the length of the silver trail, slashing several insects as it did. Once the final one was dead, a blue rectangle appeared. “But not at the expense of everything else.”

CRESCENT BLADEBOW BLUEPRINT

A weapon of precision and elegance. One of the few weapons equally useful at close and ranged combat. With the proper ammunition, it can even wound creatures that appear invincible.

Not the reward Dallion was expected, but something that could prove useful. Still, there were a few more bugs to take care of before he could call the trial completed.

Maintaining his concentration, Dallion turned around, waving the whip blade as he did. The sky silver fragments danced through the air, slicing through its targets one by one. Finally, with the death of the last red bug, the rest of the swarm disappeared.

You have broken through your barrier

Your level has increased to 25

Choose the focus that will serve you best

Level twenty-five. Everything considered, it wasn’t much, but for Dallion’s purposes it was good, steady progress. That means he had already advanced five levels into being a seer.

After some thought, Dallion decided not to increase his empathy. It was challenging enough to talk with items a few steps away to risk hearing them across the city. The best solution for the immediate future was to get his body to twenty, then work on his reaction. Slow and steady was the way he wanted to go, at least until a better option came up.

“Pretty good,” Gleam said, landing on Dallion’s shoulder. “You have a desert now.” It was difficult to say whether she was being sarcastic or genuinely pleased.

Gen, think you can do something with this? Dallion asked.

Nope, the echo replied. I can only decorate rooms. You’ll need to rearrange things yourself.

Another thing that was impossible until Dallion passed the gate. Since it wasn’t of consequence, he stopped concentrating on it, summoning the bladebow’s blueprint instead.

The weapon seemed just as he had imagined it—similar to the ones he had seen Gloria use, although it had a few of its own quirks. Most notably, the blade that extended beneath the trigger mechanism was curved very much like a crescent moon.

Quite a nice catch, dear boy, the real Nil said in Dallion’s mind. To be expected, it being a Moon’s boon, of course.

A Moon’s boon?

That was right—Dallion had received a boon from Centor. He hadn’t imagined this would be what he’d receive. Compared to what the Green Moon had offered, this boon seemed outright insignificant. Then again, this was undoubtedly a complex weapon—a good first step, and something that Dallion could eventually create. Looking at the marker instructions, however, it was going to take quite a lot of practice before he tried to tackle it. Even an iron bladebow had more markers than Dallion had even seen.

After leaving the new room, Dallion spent a while resting. The trial wasn’t as difficult as most, but it had exhausted him. The good news was that he was slowly getting used to using his new vision. Once that was over with, Dallion returned back to the real world again.

Several hours remained till daybreak. The same had held true over a week ago.

Dallion stretched. All in all, this had ended up being quite a productive night.

When the time came, Dallion returned the training item to its shelf, left the Icepicker guildhall and went to the arena. With a quarter of the original participants left, the attitude of the organizers had changed completely. The further they progressed, the closer they got to local celebrity status. The third round was the first in which people started paying attention.

Leaning against the wall in one of the arena’s waiting rooms, Dallion looked around. He had no idea who he was going to face, although he knew that it wasn’t going to be anyone he knew. Celia had dropped off in the previous round, and there was a policy of members of the same guild not to face each other until the top eight.

“Hey, kid,” a mountain of a man said. “Nice tricks so far. Will you show any more?”

Dallion looked up. The man was a hull head taller than him, with muscles as a bodybuilder. Two things became instantly clear: the man was an awakened blacksmith, also a member of the Flameforge guild.

“Are you my next opponent?” Dallion asked, remaining calm.

“Who knows?” The man shrugged.

Thanks to his music skills, Dallion could tell that to be the case. Given that Dallion had humiliated the guild by defeating Mord in the first round, it wasn’t out of the question that some of the organizers had been incentivized to let him face someone else from the Flameforge guild.

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