Dallion remained still for several seconds, cursing his own complacency.

I’ve been too long in this world, he said to himself.

All this time he had been so focused on obtaining new skills than he hadn’t even wondered what bonuses they provided. That wasn’t something written in the skill scrolls he’d read in the library, and yet he was fully aware. Since his first three skills had bonus capabilities, all the rest should have had as well. Strange why Euryale hadn’t told him about that. Then again, it wasn’t like Dallion had asked.

Acrobatics, Athletics, Forging, Zoology.. all the skills he had obtained, provided massive advantages in many areas and he hadn’t bothered to find out what. Even the limiting echo that Aslion had placed in his mind back in Dherma had taken advantage of skill bonuses, causing quills to appear out of thin air and attack him. Dallion had achieved the same on a few occasions by combining scholarly and attack skills. However, he had only gone so far.

“Dark, new plan,” Dallion shouted. “When I say we both simultaneously charge at from both sides and do a combined attack. Keep a few instances as a safeguard, but keep on attacking until you can do a multi attack.”

“That sounds dumb,” the dragonlet complained.

“Most solutions are dumb,” Dallion said. “If we do it simultaneously, we should be able to do the multi attack right after. When things get dangerous, we pull back and repeat the guard sequence thing. Remember, the point isn’t to kill all the dragonlets, just as many as we can. We have all the time in the world for this.”

“I still say it’s stupid.”

“On three.” Dallion fastened his grip round the hilt of his harpsisword. “One. Two. Three!”

Both Dallion and dragonlet charged at the dragon simultaneously. With the time freeze still in effect, the creature didn’t have the option to move, let alone defend itself, until the first strike was hit.

MINOR HIT

Damage dealt is increased by 10%

Red rectangles emerged, stacking one over the other. Caught unprepared, the massive dragon attempted to move back, but that only increased the amount of wounds it received. Both attackers followed, continuing with the fierce multi attack. It was only after several seconds that the yellow dragon was able to react. The large form burst into hundreds of dragonlets. Those under threat split into a dozen instances each as they attempted to escape. The rest, in contrast, swarmed in the direction of Dallion and Dark.

“Guard!” Dallion shouted.

Fighting the urge to combat split and retreat, he waited for the green markers to appear in the air, then followed them. Dallion’s body turned and twisted as he followed the three-dimensional sequence. It was like dancing in the air. Tails, jaws, and wings slashed about, eager to tear off chunks of Dallion’s flesh. After a dozen unsuccessful attempts, the creatures’ actions slowed down, making the task of evading them even easier. Moments after that, a new green rectangle appeared.

“This is how you win fights?” the dragonlet asked a fair distance away. “It’s..”

“Boring?” Dallion suggested.

“Unfair.”

The comment made Dallion smile. It sounded so innocent, while coming from a creature that had been granted so many special powers from birth. From a practical perspective, the dragonlet was a flying bag of magic, allowing it to do things impossible for many others. Come to think of it, the vast majority of this world probably thought the same of Dallion. He too was from another world with knowledge that far exceeded theirs, not to mention he had nearly no limitations imposed.

“As long as the Moons allow it, it’s fair,” Dallion said. “You need to take advantage of everything in order to survive and get ahead. The trick is what to do after using these advantages.” That even sounded somewhat deep. “For now, let’s focus on the fight. No splitting and no taking needless risks.”

Dark let out a distinct grumble. Dallion could hope that the creature would be pragmatic enough to follow the plan.

“On three,” Dallion said. “One. Two. Three!”

He spun around and did a line attack. As he did, he saw another line of destruction approaching from the opposite side—Dark had done a similar attack of his own. By the time the yellow dragonlets could move again, dozens had already perished, reduced to puffs of smoke. Many more attempted to escape their fate without success.

It’s so easy, Dallion thought. There was no doubt that the number of enemies had increased vastly since he had attempted the trial on his own. Despite that, using skill bonuses and a friend made the fight unrecognizable to the point that he felt as if he was bullying the trial opponents. In a way, it was just like with action-adventure video games: the first enemies could be defeated using nothing but basic attacks. However, the further players progressed, the more they had to make use of the items and skills of their characters to achieve victory.

Grains of chaos appeared throughout the yellow dragonlets. After two times they were smart enough to figure out what was going on, just as they didn’t have any means of countering.

Flying away from the danger zones, the creatures merged into clusters of larger creatures, which then went on to form a quite larger—though nowhere as large as before—dragon.

“You can surrender,” Dallion said loudly. “Even if you fill the cave with lightning bolts, we’ll keep freezing time and attacking you. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

One would never know whether it was a mistake saying that. For several seconds, the dragon kept staring at Dallion with his giant eyes the size of small houses. Then it did something that Dallion couldn’t have expected: imploded on its own accord. Dallion felt as if he was being sucked in by a vacuum.

“Shield!” he shouted.

Both the armadil shield and Lux spring into action. One propelled Dallion as far away from the dragon’s last location, while the other extended, forming a protecting sphere around its owner. A blast wave followed, propelling the sphere like a bullet projectile. The force was so great that Dallion was able to feel every second of the acceleration, as well as the abrupt stop.

FATAL WOUND!

Your health has been decreased by 75%

FATAL WOUND!

Dark’s health has been decreased by 75%

“Damn it!” Dallion managed to say, despite the pulsing pain that went through every part of his body. He knew from Nil that magic creatures were a force to be reckoned with. Now he had a first had experience. If it wasn’t for the shield, the trial would have already ended in failure. Even now, the damage received was significant enough to keep him from effectively fighting any new groups of enemies, should they appear?

Vihrogon, are you alright?

I’ve been through worse. A shield gets to experience a lot after a few hundred years of duels.

The guardian’s humor seemed intact, which was a hopeful sign.

“Lux, heal him first,” Dallion ordered. “Once you’re done, jump back onto me.”

Flames moved from Dallion to the inside of the metal sphere, as the firebird did as it was asked.

You have broken through your sixty-first barrier

Your level has increased to 61

Choose the trait that will serve you best

A sense of euphoria went through Dallion. It was as if a curse had been lifted, allowing him to enter new territory.

DRAGON FRIEND

(+5 Empathy)

Few are able or willing to team up with a dragon. Well played, but keep in mind that dragons are like cats: there’s no telling what they are thinking.

The achievement made Dallion chuckle. That was a unique way of describing a dragonlet, even if absolutely accurate. Five empathy was quite an impressive achievement, bringing his overall trait to thirty.

After some consideration, Dallion increased his body trait to thirty-nine. Given what was to come, that seemed like the best option. With enough physical strength and stamina, he could well focus on maxing out his skills while gaining a few achievements in the process.

“That was pretty lame.” Dark flew up to Dallion. “It wasn’t even a real fight.”

“We won,” Dallion said. “How often have you won a battle against your father?”

The comparison was false, but it made the dragonlet think a bit. In terms of size and skill, the trial enemies couldn’t compare to the old dragon, although they were no dragonlet either. An internal conflict brewed in front of Dallion’s very eyes. In the end, the blue blob that was acceptance gained dominance.

“I’m sure the next opponent will be tougher.” Dallion patted Dark on the head.

The dragonlet pulled away almost instantly.

Seems like he considers you a parent figure of sorts, Nil said, amused.

Yeah, right.

If there’s one thing I’ve consistently seen after decades of observing people at trials and important events, it’s that they are utterly ashamed of being seen to be congratulated by their parents.

Dallion didn’t exactly agree with that, but he had to admit that having a dragon as a party member was a huge benefit. The question was, would that be enough when facing the Star?

“Let’s go,” he said, making his way to the tunnel they entered.

With a snort, the dragonlet followed.

“What’s your level?” Dallion asked.

“It’s high enough.” The reply left no doubt that Dark had a way to go until he too could level up through trials. Normally, that would be an issue, but in the present circumstances, Dallion had the perfect solution.

Nil, there’s a citadel of the order here, right?

That would be the case, yes. It won’t help you much, though. The Moons don’t care if you try to talk to them from a shrine or a temple.

That’s not what I had in mind. I’m thinking of having Dark level up so he can pass the second gate.

What?!

Dallion could almost picture the old echo choking from shock in his library.

But.. You can’t level up a dragon at a citadel!

Why not? All that’s needed is an awakening altar, right?

Well, technically yes.. but a dragon? That’s just not done!

As an initiate, I’m free to enter without waiting, right? And one there’s nothing stopping me from entering the trial. Of course, I won’t be participating, but just observing like Falkner did.

I know that your words individually make sense, but putting them all together doesn’t, Nil grumbled. I’ll give you that you can smuggle the dragonlet in the citadel. However, how do you plan on having it enter the realm of the altar? If you use the Vermillion ring to reveal him, there will be more than a few questions..

I thought you said you’ve become used to my thinking outside of the box, Dallion mentally laughed. I don’t need him to emerge in the real world. Once I’m in the realm of the altar, I’ll just open a link to my realm and have Dark cross over. There’s nothing that can harm me in an awakening realm, so there’s nothing for me to fear. Besides, who would go against two chosen of Felygn?

Well, I.. hmmm.

The logic was ironclad. In theory, there was nothing stopping Dallion from executing the plan. What was more, it seemed to be simple enough to do without any major risks. At worst, that would end up being a wasted trip. No one was going to get hurt, including Dallion, and no one was going to be none the wiser.

Are you sure about this, dear boy? You’ll be asking him to go through half a dozen levels, at least.

I’m sure Dark can handle it. He’s a lot stronger than I was. And don’t forget, I’ll be there to keep an eye if anything goes wrong.

Well, I suppose it could work. However, you’ll need to prep him for that. Even with all his raw energy, I think he’s not fully ready.

Don’t worry. I have the perfect person for the job.

“Dark, you think you’re ready to take on stronger opponents?” Dallion asked as they emerged back above ground.

“As long as they’re stronger than this.” The dragonlet sounded quite confident in its abilities.

“Great.”

Dallion drew his harpsisword and threw it forward. The weapon transformed into the shape of the nymph, a stern expression on her face.

“Meet your new trainer. Harp will make sure you get enough training.”