Chapter 496: 497. Three Towers

Returning to reality after a realm invasion felt surreal. After all that intensity of battle, the calm of the jungle made the real world seem somehow pale in comparison, almost fake.

Dallion remained tense, still splitting in instances and always cautions about the ground, expecting a swarm of bladeroaches to emerge and attack him.

You’re fine, Nil said. You survived through it. On the whole, that’s a good thing. You got quite a lot of experience, far more than you would have from a simple trial.

There was no denying that. The experience had given Dallion far more than he could have hoped, both in experience and trait increases. It had also filled gaps that he had sorely lacked. Thinking back, it might have been a good idea to practice realm invasion, both as an attacker and a defender. That required someone who he could trust, but he had that—Eury was there with him. Dallion had felt close enough to invite her into his realm, he could have asked her to take the role of an invader so he didn’t have to go through a trial by fire.

You knew, didn’t you? Dallion asked Harp. That was why you wanted me to return to my realm.

The harpsisword guardian didn’t reply. She had been avoiding him since the invasion. Even back when Dallion went through his realm to check the devastation, she had remained in her tower. Right now, maybe that was the best idea. He’d have a longer talk with her at a later point, possibly when he was back in Nerosal.

“I’m fine,” Dallion said. “I just need a few minutes.”

As life changing as the invasion was, that didn’t put an end to his main goal. There still was the matter of Felygn’s promise, and the towers that would potentially bring Dallion closer to fulfilling it. Still, there was the incessant desire for Dallion to return to his realm just for a bit to make sure that everything was fine. It was as strong as an itch he couldn’t scratch, no matter how many times he tried.

A shardfly landed on Dallion’s shoulder. Looking at it, Dallion saw that the rest were fluttering not too far away.

“Eager to go hunting, Ruby?”

The shardfly remained silent. Dallion could feel its determination and desire to face challenges.

“Okay, let’s go.” Great, I’ve found the equivalent of a kid who’s just like me.

Dallion spent the next ten minutes eating and drinking. The invasion defense had exhausted him on several levels. Still, after finishing half his food supplies, he felt considerably better. Once he was set up again the path continued.

His ability to sense creatures had considerably increased since the encounter. It wasn’t so much the traits improving, rather Dallion was a lot more focused. Most of the creatures were small, comparatively talking. They knew they were no match for him, so remained hidden, or scurried away as he passed by. The really big and potentially dangerous creatures were a long distance away, and Dallion made sure not to venture into their territory. That made the trip slightly longer, but everything considered it most likely saved him considerable time in the long run.

Morning came and passed, bringing with it the familiar humid heat and a new set of local animals to be cautious of. On one occasion, one of the jungle creatures attempted to do a sneak attack, but failed miserably. It was sensed long before it neared, and when it split into five instances, Dallion split into a dozen, casually ignoring it without even fighting back.

As Nil had said long ago, that was the measure of true strength: having the power to ignore something completely, even when it was trying to attack. Following that logic, the mage that had tried to kill him at the cloud citadel must have been not as strong as she was trying to make herself out to be. Even so, Dallion didn’t stand a chance against her as he was now. Unfortunately, the same could be said for the Star. It had taken him all his effort and concentration, not to mention knowledge of Earth, to score a victory against a mere echo. Fighting the real thing outside of the realms would be more than challenging. However, that was a problem for another day.

Around noon, Dallion finally reached the towers. The jungle was rather thick there, forcing him to use the Nox dagger to cut through vines and bushes as he approached. It was immediately noticeable that there was a complete lack of creatures in the vicinity. Unlike the broken tower, beings did their best to stay away, as if the towers terrified them.

Lux, Gleam, anything nearby? Dallion thought.

Nothing I can see, Gleam replied.

Nope. Nope. Lux added.

That was strange. Dallion was certain that the seagulls hadn’t lied. And yet the place seemed completely abandoned. So much for quickly finding the dragon’s nest. At this point Dallion was starting to have doubts about whether he had made the right choice to venture so far south.

The bottom floors were buried in the ground, similar to the last. The major difference was that no one had sliced any of the three towers in half. What was more, there were a series of connecting tunnels linking all three further up. All that was an impressive example of modern Earth architecture, in the worst possible place. Looking at it, Dallion had an instance reach into his backpack for the Swiss army knife.

“Neither of you belongs here,” Dallion whispered.

Dallion went to the base of the nearest tower and struck it with the tip of his Nox dagger. As he suspected, a spiderweb of cracks emerged extending two feet from the point of impact.

“Ruby, guard the outside,” Dallion said. “I’m going in.”

Is that necessary, dear boy? Nil asked. Your goal isn’t to go through every ruin you come across.

“I need to take advantage of everything offered to me,” Dallion said. “Nox and Lux can get stronger here.”

That’s precisely my fear, Nil sighed. You aren’t the first who’ve said this.

Dallion knew exactly what the old echo had in mind. Sadly, he didn’t see any way around it. He was extremely fortunate to have gone up two levels, but the present awakening trials were a lot tougher than they had been before.

“I’ll be fine,” Dallion said, and struck the tower wall twice more.

More and more cracks emerged until the spot was weakened enough so Dallion could kick his way in. The shardflies gathered around him. Their frustration at being excluded from the action was quite obvious, thanks to Dallion’s music skill. Ruby attempted to tag along with Gleam as the whip blade flew by, but the twist of the sword’s tip made him stay back.

Now look who’s being harsh to the kid, Dallion thought.

Stepping inside the tower felt rather different from the last time. For one thing, there wasn’t any smell of rot and decay. A pleasant coolness surrounded Dallion, as if he were walking into a room with air conditioning. To his surprise, there wasn’t a single piece of furniture to be seen.

“Nox, do you sense anything?”

Nothing nearby, the familiar replied. Check further up.

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“Gleam, any illusions you can tell?”

Absolutely nothing. What you see is what you get.

That was suspiciously easy. Not one to be discouraged, or let his guard down, Dallion spit into instances and started his way through the tower floor.

Five minutes proved enough to confirm that the floor was completely empty. By the looks of it, whatever had been here had been deliberately moved out at a certain point, rather than destroyed. The next two floors fared no different. Going through the rooms felt like walking through a sterile lab. There wasn’t a single speck of dust to be found to the point that Dallion left tracks of sand behind as he walked.

Unwilling to stretch himself thin, Dallion kept his familiars close, relying on combat splitting to speed up the exploration. Upon entering each floor, he expected an ambush, and each time he was proven wrong. On the twenty-first floor, Dallion reached the first set of intra-tower corridors. Out of principle, Dallion spent a full hour exploring the floor of all three towers, only to return to the initial one. There didn’t seem to be any changes. The towers were one giant empty husk.

Disappointing, Gleam said. I was hoping there would be something to fight, at least.

“There will be.” Dallion smiled. He could feel that the shardfly was still angry from the fight against the echo and was looking for any excuse to slice up anything to make her feel somewhat better. “Nil said there were creatures in the area. They probably aren’t far. Besides, there’s always the nest.”

You’re just saying that to make me feel better. I need to get stronger.

“You and me both.”

Nothing of interest was found throughout the next ten floors. Increasing the instances he split into, Dallion spent about ten minutes per floor before rushing to the next. Before he knew it, he had already reached the second set of connecting corridors, making two-thirds of the tower’s full height.

Initially, he expected to find nothing of interest there either, but this time, he was wrong. In one of the neighboring towers, Dallion came upon a locked room. Normally, that wouldn’t be anything particular about that. The thing that made it so, though, was the thick layer of sky silver within the walls of the room, just like the vault Dallion had seen in the Star’s pyramid. That wasn’t the only peculiarity, though. The door to the room wasn’t locked by a standard lock; there was no keyhole there, but rather a panel with a number pad.

What’s that? Nil asked, equal parts curious and concerned.

“A lock,” Dallion said, pressing the single green button on the pad. To his surprise, it lit up. Even after all this time, it still had energy. Whatever was providing power was rather potent. Either that, or the Star had made sure to construct a system that didn’t waste energy when not used. “We used to have them back on Earth. Much more secure than a key.”

Of course, back on Earth, one didn’t have the ability to split into instances. The keypad was of an old version, requiring an input of four digits. Even without safeguards, a person would need ten thousand attempts to go through all the combinations. With Dallion’s ability to comfortably maintain forty instances, he needed five minutes. The effort was still considerable. Despite imputing forty combinations at once, he still had to manually do the action, even if the vast majority never became reality. In the end, the door finally clicked.

Two thousand and two? Dallion arched a brow. That was a rather specific number. Could it be the year the Star was born? Or maybe the year the Star entered this world?

Pushing the door open, one of Dallion’s instances entered a small, dark room. The moment the instant became reality, lights lit up all over the walls and floors.

Dallion blinked. This wasn’t what he was expecting at all. Back when he had arrived in the awakened world, Dallion had spent a few months thinking how he could recreate human technology for his and everyone else’s benefit. Those ideas had quickly taken a back stage, mostly thanks to the effects of the limiting echo created by Dherma’s chief. Since then, Dallion seemed to have lost interest, focusing more and more on the local skills he had to learn and improve.

Looking at what was around him, the Star hadn’t faltered. Most likely he had awakened in a different part of the world in different circumstances, but he had created what Dallion couldn’t. Detailed miniature prototypes and finely crafted schematics filled the room. Modern filing cabinets—with a local twist—covered two of the walls. A large drawing table was in the middle, created almost entirely of light crystal. Glancing at a few of the schematics Dallion recognized watch designs, motorbikes, and a variety of other devices. Most of them couldn’t be called modern by Earth standards, but they were definitely a step up from the world’s current level of development. Also, and most alarming of all, he saw something that definitely didn’t have any place in such a world.

Weapons, Dallion thought in horror as he stared at what seemed to be a missile adjusted to use magic as a means of propulsion.

Rockets, Nil said very much to Dallion’s surprise.

“You know what a rocket is?” Dallion asked.

I know enough to be aware that only the Order of the Seven Moons are supposed to have the knowledge of constructing them.

“Didn’t the imperial family and the Academy have the knowledge as well?” At least Dallion remembered that was what Cleric had said.

They do, but they got it from the Order.

That didn’t sound too surprising, come to think about it. The Moons allowed their followers to know things that the others didn’t.

“Nil, which was older, the Star or The Order?”

You might as well ask me which is first the chicken or the egg, the echo grumbled. The Moons were the first to appear. Everything else came afterwards. For everything else, you’ll have to ask them.

“At some point, maybe I will.”

Could it be that the Star had been in the Order long ago until he had grown to the point that he had been acknowledged by them before falling? After all, while Dallion and the beings in his vicinity referred to the entity as “the Star” the official designations were “the Crippled Star,” “the Twisted Star,” “the Broken Star”—all descriptors suggesting that he was less than an actual Star.

Should I keep all this? Dallion wondered.

It was only knowledge, after all. Not to mention it would help Dallion level the playing field next time he faced the Star. Besides, so many people would lead a much easier life if some of the devices in this room were constructed. Not the weapons, of course, but everything else.

But what is everything else? Dallion asked himself. He was familiar with the notion that everything could become a weapon. However, even if it didn’t, which of the contraptions would be useful to him?

Don’t make the same mistake you made with the pocketknife, dear boy, Nil reminded. There was a reason it was left behind. And a reason it was not taken.

“There is,” Dallion said in a whisper. “It’s a reminder that the Star existed and the things he could have achieved.” He turned around. “Gleam, let out your frustration. I’ll wait.” He walked outside.

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