Chapter 571: 573. Inner Storm

You’re in the halls of destiny.

Defeat your hidden fears and shape your future!

Sharp cliffs went down from the end of the tunnel to a savage sea amid a storm. Waves and clouds clashed together, making it clear that nothing but air and water was welcome.

It’s always worse the second time, Dallion said to himself, standing at the end of the tunnel. He had tried this trial before, and it was by far the least appealing. In a way, that was precisely why he had chosen it. Despite Nil’s continuous nagging as of late, he was correct on that point; Dallion had become complacent.

Even when pushing himself, he rarely went all out. It was as if he knew that he’d reach the gate at some point and was pacing himself. For others, that could have been a good way to move forward, but at his stage of development, it was as right as it was wrong. As the old saying went: the more one delayed a trial, the more he walked closer to giving up. There was a time when he could barely wait for the failure restriction to pass. Now, he didn’t even think about it.

Facing your greatest fears might have gone a bit too far, dear boy, Nil said.

“Only if I fail,” Dallion replied, and stepped off the cliff.

Without needing a word, Lux appeared, enveloping Dallion with his flames. Even with the firebird’s help, going through the storm was going to be more than a challenge. The abundant amount of water would extinguish part of his flames, and the winds were strong and chaotic enough to pull him in every direction—most often into a wave.

The last time Dallion had used slicing-attacks to try to cut through the shifting mountains of water. Now, he planned to adopt a more precise approach.

I could calm the waves if I was my proper level, Gleam said, fluttering a short distance from Dallion. Using her illusion powers, she had created a bubble of calm around her. Any wave or raindrop that got close was transformed into nothing using her power of illusion. Alas, it wasn’t going to be able to help Dallion. Even if she were on her previous level, Dallion wanted to do this on his own.

“Stay close by,” Dallion said, then burst into a hundred instances.

Thousands of markers of various colors appeared, providing Dallion with all the information he could hope for: the “attack” areas of the waves, the position he would hold the shield at to protect himself, the spots where he could slice the waves, causing them to collapse on themselves, as well as the vectors and twists he should follow to avoid them.

The only issue was that a mind trait of fifty was only enough to let him see markers just in the immediate vicinity of his instances. Anything more than ten feet away was anyone’s guess.

It won’t be easy crossing a sea this way, Nil said.

Dallion didn’t reply. He was fully aware of the strain he was subjected to. The difference was that unlike his past self, his body had reached a stage that it didn’t complain about it. The pain was there merely as a reminder. It didn’t affect any of his actions.

A hundred instances flew onward. Some avoided the waves, others shielded themselves from them. Over seventy, though, fell victim to the storm, dragged down into the water.

Switching to the instance Dallion found most advantageous, he split again.

Each split was no longer than a second, allowing him to move just over a dozen feet forward. The process was slow and laborious to the point that Dallion considered having the armadil shield cocoon him, then use Lux to propel him forward. Of course, he didn’t. That was one of the other things he had tried last time. The flight had been brief. One wall of water had proved enough to cause the firebird to drop the ball into the sea, at which point the trial had failed.

Seconds turned into minutes. Dozens of feet became thousands. Soon enough, there was nothing but sea and storm in all directions, the cliffs becoming nothing more than a memory. This had to be the fear that Dallion was facing: getting lost in a storm. From here on, it was up to him to find the right direction and preserve his strength so that he could make it across.

A trial of endurance and mental fortitude… It was just like something like the Moons would throw at him. And still, Dallion felt that something wasn’t right. The trial was challenging, without a doubt, as he had witnessed during his previous attempt. However, it still felt too easy and at the same time completely impossible; two easy if Dallion had the ability to fly. If he didn’t, would a boat have appeared? Or would he have to swim through the storm?

Gleam, sense anything that shouldn’t be here? Dallion asked.

What you see is what you get. There aren’t any creatures hiding about. Not close by, at least. If there’s anything deep beneath the water, I can’t see it.

Two waves slammed together, creating a thunder rivaling the sky.

MODERATE WOUND

Your health has been reduced by 20%

Red rectangles emerged in front of all instances. In some cases, the wound was a lot more serious, forcing Dallion to pick the one with which he could get away with. Wounds weren’t as serious as before with Lux around, but even so, they were best avoided.

More waves emerged. Almost shooting up from the sea.

I must be getting close, Dallion thought. From what he remembered from the computer games on Earth, enemies and obstacles increased as he was following the correct path. There were no clear paths here, but the storm might as well have been a neon sign telling him which way to go.

Dallion found that progressing forward by merely evading was no longer an option. He had to use guard and attack skills as well. It was at that point that he found that guide bonuses didn’t apply when fighting forces of nature. As nice as it would have been to have time to slow down to the point that the waves became motionless mountains of water, it wasn’t going to happen. Attacks, on the other hand, seemed to work just fine.

Picking the most suitable of his instances, Dallion did a point attack. The force of the strike was strong enough to momentarily create a tunnel through several waves. For a fraction of a second, it almost looked like Dallion could fly through it, but that was an illusion. The tip of the waves crashed upon themselves, providing a few moments of breathing space.

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I think I see something, Gleam said, flying further away from Dallion.

Gleam, stay close! He ordered.

Waves can’t harm me. I’ll just check—

A water sprout shot up, engulfing the familiar. The action was sudden and merciless, causing Dallion to force split into a reality in which the shardfly had remained behind.

Wow, that was close, Gleam said as the column of water emerged half a dozen feet away from her. The familiar’s current level didn’t allow her to be aware of other instances that had passed, or at least she behaved as if she wasn’t.

Gritting his teeth, Dallion performed a vertical line attack. There was no way he could fly through a column of water without losing his ability to fly. This had to be the final part of the challenge. From here on, every mistake could turn out to be his last.

The line of destruction went through the water sprout, but against all expectations, it didn’t slice it in two. Instead, a red rectangle emerged.

ATTACK NEGATED!

Your attack has been sliced in two by CAPTAIN ADZORG

Attack has no effect.

Even wrapped in Lux’s flames, Dallion felt chills down his spine. This simple message had shown him so many things he wasn’t prepared for. The only thing he knew was that he had to shield himself immediately.

Shield! He ordered, just in time to block the explosion of water that followed.

Drops of water hit the shield front of the shield like bullets, creating indentations visible on the other side. Dallion could feel the pain that Vihrogon had been subjected to.

Can you remain? Dallion asked.

It’s not the best experience, but I’ll be fine, the dryad guardian replied. Don’t expect me to go through this in real life, though.

Splitting into instances, Dallion peeked above the shield at where the column of water had been. To no surprise, the only thing there was Adzorg, floating a hundred feet in the air. The old man was exactly how Dallion remembered seeing him last. The circle of glowing symbols around him, though, was quite new.

“Halfway there,” the old man said. “I’d congratulate you, but second best isn’t best.”

Dallion remained silent, trying to determine what was going on.

“Nothing to say, seeing me do magic?” the trial echo asked. “I’d have thought that at least you’d make a comment, at least.” He waited for a few moments. “Guess not. The big question is whether your fear is finding out that I am still part of the Academy, or merely facing a mage in a storm. It might be both, of course, in which case, I guess you should consider yourself lucky?”

“It won’t be the first time I’ve faced a mage at sea.”

“And how did that turn out last time? You weren’t the focus of attention, not to mention you had two others to fight alongside you. And let us not forget how extremely lucky you were. If Katka didn’t have such a short fuse, there was no way you could have won.”

“Just as there’s no way to be sure you’re telling the truth,” Dallion countered. “You’re a trial echo. You only say what the trial requires.”

“That’s a bit harsh, dear boy. I guess you might be right, but even if you are, it wouldn’t matter. The trial isn’t a mind game. In fact, nothing has changed. You only have to reach the other side of the storm. Make it there and… well, you know the rest.”

“Why do I get the impression that you’ll try to stop me?”

“Probably because that’s part of the trial.” The old man smiled. “As I said, that’s part of your fear, though not only. If you’re to survive further on, you’ll have to be able to go through this much. Maybe not all of your battles against nobles will be this intense, but the vast majority will be. So far, you’ve only touched the surface of what real noble duels are. The pompous idiots you’ve faced still believe in false concepts such as honor in battle. The sad truth is that there is no honor, not when the stakes are high. Lose and you might end up dead, banished, or deleveled like your grandfather.”

“So, this is to prepare me to fight nobles?”

“Dal…” Adzhorg shook his head. “All your trials are about getting prepared to face nobles. There’s nothing strange or special about it. All nobles have gone through the same. Make no mistake, even inexperienced idiots have a far greater combat potential than you. Now and again, you might be able to pull off a trick to catch them by surprise, but even if you do, it won’t be enough to kill them. The noble you faced in Halburn didn’t lose because you defeated him. He lost because he defeated himself. If he had just continued with his attacks, there was a very large chance that you would have lost.”

“Or maybe I’d have won?” Dallion drew the harpsisword from the scabbard on his back. “We’ll never know.”

“Quite well put. The thing is that we could very well learn. And while there’s no guarantee that if you defeat me, you’ll be able to defeat a noble. If you lose, it’s pretty much guaranteed.”

COMBAT INITIATED

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