Leveling Up The World 4: A LitRPG Adventure, page 23
Taking a while to readjust to the real world, Dallion stared at the sword. Despite the rust, decay, and damage covering large parts of it, there was no doubt that it was whole.
How is this possible? Dallion wondered.
There are many secrets lost in time, Nil replied. This is one of them. It shouldn’t be possible for the realm to exist, not in that state, and yet it does.
Do you think it has to do with the eighth Moon?
That’s a question you’d be wise not to ask in future. Danger aside, I think it’s entirely possible. After all, who knows? Maybe the Moons themselves decided to flood the realm? It’s in their power. At least you have what the Star was after. Now all you have to do is learn how to use it.
VISION PICNIC
Everything seemed different, almost to the point that Dallion hadn’t returned to the real world, but instead entered another realm. To some degree he knew that this was the world that he was supposed to be—the city was bustling with far more people than he had become used to, all the shops and stalls were there and full of goods—and still he couldn’t be fully sure.
Every few minutes Dallion would stare at a person or try to climb a building wall, expecting to see awakened markers. When none appeared, he would relax for a short while, before the doubts returned, forcing him to repeat the experience.
That’s why you should have remained at the guildhall, Nil said. It’s normal to be confused after your first big expedition. It’ll be like that for a day or two. Don’t worry, though. It gets better from then on.
Dallion understood the words but was unable to grasp their meaning. Part of him was unable to tell whether this was part of the dream as well. Even the constant shoving and pushing in the crowded streets wasn’t able to let that sink in.
Why was it flooded? Dallion kept asking himself. There were probably many reasons for that, but why had the Moons allowed it? Unless it was the only means through which they had destroyed the cracklings. Or maybe it wasn’t cracklings that were the original targets, but the local inhabitants? Since the world had been filled with dryads, Dallion had still assumed that they were a calm and peaceful race with a deep communion with nature. As the armadil shield had recently told him, just because they were dryads wasn’t a reason to consider that all Earth-based—or even local—fantasies relating to them were true. There could have been, just as well, a war between the major cities in the hilt section of the world. All that had the foresight to flee had done so, though even they had been caught up in the war, or so the fragments of emotion in the plains suggested. It was quite possible that such or even more destructive weapons were used across the ocean to the point that the Moons had had enough. Or maybe the local inhabitants had used some weapon on the eighth Moon and that was the result?
At one point, Dallion found himself in front of the Gremlin’s Timepiece. There were a number of people seated outside, even if it was still morning. The building seemed like a distant memory from the past.
For several minutes, Dallion stood there, unwilling to enter. He would have stayed minutes more if Jiroh hadn’t emerged carrying two trays of drinks.
“Dal?” The fury looked at him. “You okay?”
“Sure.” Dallion smiled, reminiscing about the time he had spent in the inn.
“What are you doing here?” Jiroh continued serving the drinks. Her multitasking ability was unparalleled. Thanks to his high perception, Dallion noticed that all the drinks she served seemed to float along the table the moment she let them go. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the guild?”
“I was. The expedition’s over.”
One of the glasses trembled slightly, almost spilling.
“You’re back from the expedition?” There was concern and a note of sharpness in Jiroh’s voice. “Where’s Eury?”
“Eury had to stay with March. They’re—”
“Just hold on a moment,” Jiroh interrupted. “Stand there silently for a few seconds, okay?”
“Okay.” Dallion found the request amusing.
“Perfect.”
Dallion watched how his friends served the tables, collecting a substantial amount of tips in the process. Inadvertently, Dallion’s mind wandered once more, thinking why he hadn’t been getting such tips lately.
“Let’s go.” Jiroh grabbed him by the hand.
Dallion didn’t even notice when she had approached. One moment she was several steps away and the next she was leading him into the building.
“That’s it. Up the stairs to your room.”
“You’re floating,” Dallion said as they went up. “You’re floating things around you.”
“That’s right. You already know that.”
“Am I drunk?” A wave of fatigue hit Dallion, making his body feel like lead. “I don’t remember drinking… Maybe it was in the food?”
The answer that came was unintelligible, as if someone was talking to Dallion through a water tank. It was impossible to determine whether they were questions or not.
Dallion’s vision became blurry. He opened his mouth to give a reply, but the words never came. The floor—without warning—rose up in an attempt to smack him in the nose. Moments later, everything was gone. There was no floor, no corridor, only a wooden table in the middle of a meadow.
Nil, any idea what’s going on? Dallion asked.
There was no response. Dallion looked around. The place looked familiar. He had gone there several times as a child with his family. He couldn’t remember how exactly he had spent his time there, but he had a feeling it hadn’t been any fun.
“Always a critic,” the petrified dryad guardian said. “Instead of focusing on problems all the time, why not focus on the positives for once?”
“Positives?” Dallion asked. “What positives are there?”
“Don’t be like that,” the second guardian said. “It’ll be fun. If you want, you can walk Luna’s pet. Just don’t feed it.”
“Why must I always walk it?” Dallion crossed his arms.
A loud sound came from the air. The massive whale floated above everyone’s head, flapping as it did. Dallion could tell that it liked playing with him, even if he had only walked it once. For some reason, it liked him… Most animals liked him.
“You don’t have to,” the third guardian said. “It might be good for you. At least it’ll give you something to do until lunch. Unless you want to get back to doing your homework?”
What homework? Dallion thought. There wasn’t supposed to be any homework for the summer, and yet there always was.
“You know, I was thinking of having a pool built in the backyard,” the first guardian said. “What do you think? I think I have a way of getting a discount.”
“We don’t need a pool.” The second guardian gave him a side glance. “Dallion can’t swim.”
“I can too!” Dallion pouted.
“He can,” the first guardian continued. “And if he can’t, it’s time for him to learn. He’s not a child anymore. Every person his age should be able to swim.”
“I prefer having the yard…”
“The yard is full of moles,” the third guardian said. “Vine can’t take care of all of them. Putting in a swimming pool might be a better solution. It’s not like we can call the exterminator now that Dallion’s gotten into a fight with him.”
That felt like a low blow. Dallion hadn’t started the feud, the exterminator said. Actually, he hadn’t even said he was an exterminator when they first met, pretending to be just a friendly neighbor instead. There was no reason Dallion should feel guilty about the things he’d said and done. If anything, he would have preferred if the exterminator just stopped coming about the house altogether.
“Hey,” the third guardian whispered. “Don’t feel bad. It isn’t your fault. You did the right thing.”
“I know,” Dallion replied.
“Just try to look at things less seriously. Take it easy, especially when dealing with things beyond your control.”
“But if I take it easy all the time, how will I get anything gone?”
“Just because you take it easy doesn’t mean you have to slack off. Keep a cool mind. Everything will fall in place on its own eventually.”
“And don’t fall back on your studies,” the second guardian noted, pointing at Dallion. “Your latest report card was… Well, it was an earful. Mister Adzorg told me you’re falling behind in history. That’s not something I’d like to hear.”
Of course, it had to be Adzorg. Just because he was Dallion’s homeroom teacher was no excuse for him calling Dallion’s family each time Dallion forgot about his homework. It wasn’t like he was the only one doing it. Lots of his classmates knew nothing about history; they weren’t even interested in the subject.
“All right.” Dallion looked down at the table. “I’ll study more.”
“Glad to hear that, dear boy,” Adzorg said across the table. “I never had any doubt.”
Of course you didn’t, Dallion thought.
“Just remember to always lock behind you and don’t lose the key again like last time.”
Key? Dallion wondered. What key? He turned to his left to ask the third guardian, but the dryad was no longer there. Confused, Dallion turned to the other side…then he woke up. There was no park, or field, or table. Dallion—still in his clothes—lay on his bed. His gear had been removed and carefully placed on the small table that Dallion was using as a bed stand. More unusual, or rather alarming, was that Pan stood there.
“Can you sit up?” the cook asked.
Dallion was confused. Even so, he did his best to comply. It took more effort than he would have liked, but ultimately, he managed to lift himself in an upright position.
“Here.” Pan handed him a cup of steaming liquid.
The vapors smelled like boiled oranges mixed with watermelon. Seeing no hostile emotions within the cook, Dallion took a sip. The liquid was warm, though not as hot as he feared. The taste was as he would expect it to be—perfectly exotic. After a few more sips, he felt that much better, as if starting to recover from a phantom hangover.
“Careful. Don’t drink all of it at once.”
Dallion nodded, still taking a few more small sips. After a few seconds, he stopped.
“Thanks,” he said, holding the cup with both hands. “I feel like I was at a massive party last night. Problem was, I know I wasn’t.”
“Soul confusion,” the other explained. “It’s not only a way to describe us. I heard you experienced your first expedition?”
“Uh-huh.” Dallion remembered there was something he was supposed to ask Pan from back during the time the cook tried to take over the world. As much as he tried, though, Dallion couldn’t remember the exact question.
“It happens sometimes. Usually it’s rare, but you’re a rare case as well. Can you see colors?”
“I think so.” With the curtains drawn, it was difficult to tell. “Yes. I think yes.”
“It’s fine, then. Just some minor trauma. You’ll feel tired and confused for a few days. It’ll come in waves, so I suggest you stay in bed at least for a day. After that we’ll see how things are going and you can return to normal activities.”
“Now you’re a doctor, too?”
“I’ve been a field surgeon,” the cook replied with a smile. “It was advantageous to know many skills.”
“Must be fun.” Dallion handed back the cup half full. He no longer felt thirsty. Rather, he was starting to feel tired again. Thankfully this time it was the nice kind of tired.
“All right, I’ll be back down. Don’t worry about performances today. The others will handle it. Jiroh will bring your food for when you feel like you’re in a condition to eat. I’d advise you don’t go to the kitchen until you’re fully okay, but knowing you, I suspect you’ll be there sooner.”
“Most likely.” Dallion cracked a smile. “Pan. Do you know of Moons flooding world item realms?”
“Flooding? First time I hear about it. That’s no guarantee, though. The Moons have lots of powers. If they want to flood a realm, they can do it easily.”
“So nothing like this happened when you were trying to take over the world?”
“Nothing. That’s not saying there weren’t cases. Normally such a catastrophic event should affect the item’s shape.”
“The shape was fine.” Dallion yawned. “Perfect sword.”
“That’s weird. The Moons can’t be ruled out, of course, but the only thing I can think of is magic involvement.”
“Not the Star?”
“The Star has a very specific behavior. Things would have been different if he was involved. The best bet is battle mages. Back in the day, those were the military powerhouses.”
Battle mages… That was what they were capable of, at least back at the time of the world item. The questions relating to them now were, given they had potential power to flood the realm, why had they, and also were they as powerful today as back then? With the festival nearing, Dallion wanted to know what to expect in the case of the mages arriving in the city, especially after a mage had given him a very specific warning.
It seemed that the expedition wasn’t fully over.
REST AND RECOVERY
Returning to normal was a gradual process. Unlike Dallion’s previous experience, a simple nap wasn’t enough to get him fully functional. The sensation was rather like recovering from a cold—it required a lot of rest, relaxation, and liquids. The staff of the inn took turns checking in on him. For the most part, it was Veil and Jiroh, though. Pan was needed in the kitchen full time and Gloria spent the afternoons doing theater training. Apparently, she had reached the level at which she had been invited to join the opening act of a day performance. This was undoubtedly a big thing for her, even if it was clear it wouldn’t last. In less than a week, the countess would arrive, marking the start of the festival. A few weeks after that, Gloria and her brother were to return to Dherma.
The first two days Dallion spent most of his time in bed. During the third, he was feeling well enough to walk about and even return to playing music during lunch and dinner hours in the inn, very much to Hannah’s satisfaction.
The thought of leveling up or having a long talk with Pan regarding the sword world crossed Dallion’s mind, but he reconsidered once every guardian and echo in his realm disapproved of the idea. All in all, the recovery went quite well, although he would have preferred if Euryale had visited. From what Dallion learned from Nil, both Eury and March had been called to the overseer regarding an unknown matter, after which they had been scarce. If Dallion was to venture a guess, it was probably related to awakened death cases as well as the ongoing copyette hunt. After all, Dallion hadn’t shared the secret with anyone, which means that as far as the city was concerned, there still was a dangerous copyette general on the loose.
On a slightly ominous note, the tournament bureaucrats had gotten wind of Dallion’s condition pretty fast and went through the trouble to send a messenger the very next day, wishing him the best and informing him not to worry about a thing. Faced with the prospect of Dallion losing his first match by default, a few rules had been bent and his match had been rescheduled to several days later; being the favorite of the free tournament had its advantages. The trick was not to rely on that. There were creatures and people far more skilled and experienced than him, and if Dallion were to earn his place at the arena, he couldn’t rest on his laurels.
On the fourth day after the expedition, Dallion felt back to normal. The fatigue had gone completely, and he was absolutely certain that he was in the real world. Even so, several people—among which Hannah and Estezol—thought it wiser if he spent the day walking about the city, rather than getting back to his usual chores. Given that Dallion had been slacking on his “copyette search” lately, he decided to hold off any awakening activity for a day.
The first place Dallion went after leaving the inn was to Eury’s workshop. It was barely a surprise to find the back locked and empty again. This time there was no note left inside, only piles of weapons and gear waiting to be repaired and modified in time for the festival. Leaving a note that he missed Eury, Dallion then left, locking the place behind him.
Next on the list were two of the three most crowded areas of the city: Performer’s Plaza and the arena. The plaza had changed considerably since the last time Dallion had been here. The crowds were still present, abundant on the ground as well as on the lines above, but there was a clear change in activities. Gone were the standard music and acrobat wannabes, now replaced entirely by professionals. As far as Dallion could tell, all performers were upper tier double digits, at least. Seers were also present in large numbers, doing feats that would put Gloria to shame.
They don’t play around, do they? Dallion thought.
People rarely do when money is involved, Nil replied. See the colors of their outfits? Those are linked to respective theaters and opera houses. The more people someone manages to impress, the greater chance that their performance would get paying customers.
That means Gloria must be here somewhere.
As much as he looked, though, Dallion was unable to see the blonde. What he did see, though, was that all of the top-tier performers were relying heavily on combat splitting. And it wasn’t just a matter of them using it not to fall—such instances were nonexistent—rather, they were aiming to get the greatest reaction from the crowd. Quite cutthroat, come to think of it. The entire plaza was in fact a battlefield, only it wasn’t weapons that people were using, it was skills…and music. It didn’t take long for Dallion to catch quite a few tunes attracting attention. The skill was by no means impressive, but it did the job, making people in the vicinity look in the performer’s direction.
Sneaky, Dallion said to himself.
Now do you see why I dislike the festival? Nil grumbled.
Nil, you’ve already given me a hundred reasons why you dislike the festival. I think I got the general idea.
One cannot stress the fact enough.
