Chapter 427: 428. Sudden Capture

“Careful!” Dallion shouted. “I don’t want you to kill them.”

Like I’m the one to blame! Gleam grumbled, directing the whip blade to slam a dragonlet with the blunt side of its fragments.

The fight was going so well that the results were bad. It had been over a minute since the cracklings appeared, and Dallion was yet to render one of them unconscious. Nil had assured him that it was possible, and yet the creatures would always end up bursting in a cloud of smoke.

It was ironic that Dallion often found himself wishing that the cracklings were slightly stronger. Even with him deliberately not being on the offensive, the creatures kept dying. In the past, he had always been concerned that cracklings were too numerous or too smart, or too agile to get hit. Now, he found that it was far more difficult to defeat one without killing it.

Look at the silver lining, the armadil shield said. Capturing creatures is a must for hunters, anyway.

“Not helping,” Dallion said through his teeth. “Can’t you cocoon them?”

Sure. As long as I’m in an awakened realm.

Normally, Dallion would have come back with a snarky comment on the matter. This time, though, that got him thinking. It was quite true that in the awakened realm, he’d have a lot more options. Using the shield, or even his music skills to capture a creature, would be elementary. It was also true that Dallion had a way of moving things from one realm to another. The Moons prevented this, although the Star had managed to find a very specific loophole to use the Vermillion rings to get the Nerosal overseer—as well as the entire city—into its awakened realm. Now that Dallion had become an initiate, maybe he could do the same for a single crackling?

The notion of letting a crackling into his domain didn’t fill him with enthusiasm, but if he wasn’t willing to constantly venture out of his comfort zone, he was stifling his progress.

Nil, your thoughts on the idea? Dallion asked as he spit into instances in order to get the Vermillion ring from his backpack.

It’s reckless, but you knew that already, the echo replied. Aside from that, it’s a well thought out plan. The crackling would become a bit stronger in your realm as well, but I think we’ll be able to handle him. The trick is getting the timing right. Cracklings can still hurt you in the real world. Even with Lux, healing isn’t always easy.

I’ll keep that in mind.

Sliding on the ring, Dallion leapt at the nearest dragonlet. Once again, he split into a dozen of instances, each placing a hand on the creature’s underbelly. In three of those instances, the action was too forceful, resulting in the avian’s death. In the majority of the remaining, though, he came into contact without causing any harm.

PERSONAL AWAKENING

The rocky mountain disappeared, along with the forest around it. Instead, Dallion found himself in the sky above a tropical island.

His first thoughts were of confusion. What he’d expect was to find himself in his awakening room as usual. The fact that he hadn’t sent waves of fear through his very beings. It was only after several seconds that he remembered—Gen had remodeled the realm completely. Gone were the rooms, for the most part, replaced by open spaces. Considering that Dallion was in full control of the weather, that was a logical choice. The two nymph towers had become the central point of the realm, rising in both parts of a perfectly shaped bay between Dallion’s island, and the chain that was Vermillion. Lush beeches extended into lovely meadows, and picturesque forests, to which all remaining linked items were connected: Vihrogon’s mansion, the bowl’s garden, Lux’s observatory nest… Everything had been placed with extreme care and an eye for detail. Even Nil’s library seemed grand.

You really did a great job, Gen, Dallion thought.

Thanks, the echo replied. Sorry I’m not there to greet you. We’ll wait your battle out in Nox’s lair.

CRACKLING PULLED IT

You have successfully brought a DRAGONLET into your realm.

All damage done to your realm will reflect on you in the real world.

So, it was successful! Dallion split into instances, searching for the creature. Instead, a set of rectangles appeared, blocking his view.

You have broken through your forty-first barrier.

You are now Level 41

Choose the trait that you value the most.

This was rather unexpected. The only time that Dallion had leveled up without an actual trial was when he had unsealed his mother. At the time, he had thought that this was an exploitable abuse, until he had learned that only the first instance was worthy of a level up. This had to be similar.

Naturally, he chose to increase his perception. At the moment, that was the trait that suited him best.

The crackling appeared immediately after. Confused by the sudden change, the creature flapped about to find its bearings. That proved more than enough.

“Cocoon it!” Dallion ordered, throwing the armadil shield at the avian.

Freed from the limitations of the real world, the shield did just that, extending around the crackling until a solid metal sphere was formed.

That confused the creature even more. Going into a panic, it attempted to break its way out, but to no avail.

“Can you handle it?” Dallion asked as blue wings of blue flame emerged from his back.

It isn’t pleasant, but I’ll manage, the dryad guardian said. It’s like constantly being bitten by mosquitos. It won’t kill me, but it’ll leave some nasty marks for a while. At least it isn’t a cutling.

Seems you’ve gotten stronger as well, Dallion said.

So far, so good. The capture had gone without a hitch to the point it was almost climactic. Now the more complicated thing began—interrogating a crackling.

The first step was easy. Combining his guard, music, and attack skills, Dallion managed to use sound to entangle the dragonlet—which back on Earth would have been described as partially paralyzing it. The process had taken a few more attempts than expected. It was slow and cumbersome and yet clearly unsuitable for actual combat. When dealing with an already captured enemy, however, it was more than perfect.

Alas, despite the string of nearly miraculous successes that had led Dallion to this stage, he found that it was the simplest of trivialities that kept him from going forward: his inability to understand the creature. Up to now, he had assumed that his empathy would help him. After all, it had allowed him to have conversations with items and area guardians. Unfortunately, cracklings and other Star spawn weren’t part of the world. The only reason Dallion was able to understand Nox and Lux was that they were his familiars; and even then, it was mostly a matter of feeling what they were saying rather than the words themselves. The dragonlet didn’t even have that connection.

Well, that’s a bust, Onda said, looking at the tied-up crackling with utter boredom. You should have learned writing.

Dallion agreed, he should have learned writing. In fact, he would be overjoyed to learn any additional skills, but apparently it wasn’t that easy. From what Nil had told him, awakened usually were granted new skills when passing a gate. By all accounts Dallion should have as well. Then again, it was he who had hassled the Moons into granting him skills that weren’t offered. His forging skills, and even his spark weren’t something he should have received. At the time, Dallion was under the Moons’ protection, even favored by one, so it wasn’t a big deal. Now that he had entered into the you’re-on-your-own territory, they were unlikely to grant any favors.

“Harp, can you handle him?” Dallion asked.

Yes, the nymph guardian appeared. Are you sure you want that?

Dallion thought about it. In truth, the last thing he wanted was to have such a creature in his domain. However, it was looking as if he didn’t have any other choice.

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“Is there a way I could learn a skill through a trial?” Dallion asked.

Not unless it’s a gate, Nil said. Or a Moon is feeling particularly generous.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to release it back into—"

You can’t, Nil interrupted.

Dallion paused for a moment.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not like doing so would cause any particular harm. The matter is that you physically can’t. The ring is a powerful tool, and you have cleverly found a loophole allowing you to snatch a crackling from the world. However, the Moons won’t allow you to release one back out.

“What?” That sounded like a bureaucratic trick.

Unless you’re a Star-cultist, you’re not allowed to create cracklings, you should know that. And releasing one from your realm is the same as creating one.

Dallion didn’t find that fair. However, he had to admit that the Moons were good at placing safeguards. With that option gone, he had to resort to something else. If interrogation wasn’t an option and releasing was impossible… what else was there?

“I don’t suppose anyone has the writing skill?”

Something told him that even if they did, they might not be allowed to use it. It still remained a mystery when guardians could help him with tasks and to what degree. He knew that echoes were supposed to, but Nil—the only external echo in his realm—had flat out refused to provide anything other than tutoring.

“Alright, just hold it here for a while. I have another idea,” Dallion said, then exited his realm.

The first thing he remembered upon returning to the real world was that he was in the air, and without Lux’s wings. Thankfully, a quick combat burst took care of that issue, helping at least one instance land safely on the ground.

“Get them, Gleam,” he ordered. “I have what I want.”

The whip blade extended, setting off on its slicing spree. Dallion was quick to join in. Now that there was no danger of anyone getting hurt, the fight was significantly easier. It also helped that the flock was a third of that which had attacked the nearby village.

One after the other, the avians were reduced to puffs of black smoke. Once they were all dealt with, Dallion picked up his backpack and rushed in the direction they had come from. Gleam, of course, was used as a scout to try and pick up the trail.

Initially, signs were easy to find. As Dallion had suspected, the dragonlets had come from another mountain relatively nearby. The upper area of its cliffs had multiple cracked rocks, indicating—according to Nil’s method—that this was a frequent stop for the creatures to flock before going elsewhere. Unfortunately, there was no indication that the avian—the dragon’s shadow—had been at the location.

From there, Lux and Gleam had gone through several more of the cluster mountains in the area, and after significant research found one other site that had darkened rocks. Unfortunately, after that the trail ran cold.

Nothing here either, Gleam said. They must have been perched on trees to get here.

That’s unlikely, Dallion said. You didn’t find anything of interest?

Other than some village, and a few animal hunters, no. Absolutely nothing.

Alright, get back here.

Dallion didn’t like it when Gleam got snarky, but she was right. There didn’t seem to be anything significant to go on. It was possible to pass through the village and ask about, but would that be helpful, though?

Gleam, in what state was the village?

Don’t you think I would have told you if there was anything up with it? The shardfly snapped. It’s perfectly fine. Nothing broken, or rotten, or cracked.

That left Dallion back to square one. He had a general idea from where the avians had come, but little else. If the dragon’s shadow moved from one place to the other, as it likely did, finding it would be complicated.

Harp, can you make a copy of what I’m seeing using water? Dallion asked.

Yes, the nymph replied from his realm.

Perfect! I want you and Onda to recreate this entire area, just make it smaller. Not too small, though. I want it to be able to fool the crackling we have.

There was a moment of silence.

You want to see where it’ll go? This isn’t the real world. It might not react the way you think.

It’s worth a try. Please do that for me, and let it go at the spot I pulled it in. Onda can help you.

In his mind, Dallion could imagine the geek nymph getting all nervous. For some reason, even after spending a while in Dallion’s realm, he still couldn’t relax when Harp was close. One of the perils of being an eternal teenager, it seemed.

Give me a while.

The while turned out to be quite short. There was no telling how much time passed in Dallion’s realm, but in the real world, it was only a few seconds later that Harp let him know that everything was set. Dallion then immediately went into his realm to watch the flight of the dragonlet first hand. Of course, he had Gleam cover him with an illusion, so he appeared to be a crackling as well.

Despite Harp’s initial reservations, the plan worked out perfectly. Finding itself free, the creature darted through the air towards what was familiar. It flew over several mountains that Dallion already knew were perching spots, over the village, and beyond the visible cluster of mountains.

That’s enough, Dallion said. You can capture it again now.

Why not see where it goes? Onda asked, confused.

There’s no reference for that area. Besides, it doesn’t matter. We found something far more interesting.

Like what?

Like why would a starving dragonlet not attack a food-rich village it flew over…

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