There was nothing glorious in the way Dallion had become level five—he hadn’t bested the mountain, nor had he achieved a bone crushing victory. Even so, he was remarkably pleased with the result. Reaching this level had proved to be far more difficult than he had expected; it definitely wasn’t as simple as computer games back on Earth had made it out to be. Now, finally, he almost had what it took to challenge the village chief. Only one last step remained.

When given up the choice of what to improve, Dallion chose to improve his body. Despite the clear advantages of a single focus of development, being balanced seemed to be the key. At least at this point he wouldn’t be worried about the chief outlasting him on stamina.

Done, Dallion went back to his starting awakening room. The gateway to the shrine was still there, although it no longer led to the mountain realm, but the circle of columns instead. That wasn’t the only change. Dallion’s room had also grown to the size of a meeting hall. A pity that it remained so empty. Having two weapons and a buckler in such a vast space was quite noticeable.

“Time to go for broke.” Dallion took a deep breath and left the room.

The moment he did, all six columns shimmered a bright blue. Five of the archways connecting them had become solid walls. Only the sixth remained open—it did not have a roman numeral, nor any other symbols written on it. Was this part of the test? Now was the moment to find out.

Surprisingly, Dallion wasn’t in a new area as he walked through the archway. Instead, an altar emerged from the ground. Moments later, a figure of blue light emerged behind it.

“Hello, awakened.” The figure shifted, taking the appearance of a woman dressed in a combination of long cyan robes and metal armor. If there was a way to describe her it was a cross between the Greek Goddess Athena and a Valkyrie. “Congratulations on passing your initial trial on the path of greatness.”

“Thank you.” It was nothing much. Dallion smiled.

“One last task remains, before your full awakening,” the woman continued.

“Bring it on! I’m ready.” Dallion puffed his chest, then mentally froze, realizing he had become like Veil. The realization sent cold chills down his spine. Some things were too horrible to imagine.

The woman narrowed her eyes.

“This task is unlike the ones you’ve done till now. There will be no enemy to best, no beast to capture, no puzzle to solve. No, now it is time for you to face the thing people fear the most.”

“Err, before that, can I ask a question?” Instinct made Dallion raise his arm, as if he were back in school. Thankfully, the woman found that acceptable enough, for she nodded. “Who are you?”

The question was so cliché that Dallion expected a sarcastic response at best. However, the features on the woman’s face shifted in surprise.

“You are the first to ask me that in quite a while,” she said in a pensive voice. “Sadly, that is not an answer that I can give you yet. Instead, I shall tell you what you’ll gain should you complete this test.”

Strictly speaking that was a clear bait and switch. Dallion didn’t seem to mind, though. There was something about the woman that made him feel at ease—a sense of shelter, calm, and hope. Just looking at her made all his questions seem insignificant.

“If you complete this test, you’ll become a full awakened and gain the power to awaken areas, as well as create echoes of yourself.”

The spark of curiosity flashed, burning through the sensation of calm that surrounded him.

“I can make echoes of myself? Does that mean that I can place them in the heads of others?”

The woman’s expression suddenly changed. Thanks to his perception level, Dallion was able to see the scorn written all over her.

“That is not what they are meant to be.” The woman’s voice had become as sharp as glass. “No more questions, Good luck in your test.”

With that the woman disappeared, transforming into blue mist that scattered in the air. Whoever she was, she definitely didn’t appreciate the question. Still, Dallion couldn’t help but wonder about her relation to the shrine. Could she be a goddess? A guide meant to help the awakened achieve their full potential, or at least become fully awakened? Or maybe just the magic equivalent of a hologram inbuilt in any awakening shrine? Either way, it was clear that the village chief was doing something that he wasn’t supposed to.

“That old man really is a jerk,” an oddly familiar voice said.

Without warning, a new person had appeared across Dallion on the other side of the altar. The concerning part was that the new person also was Dallion.

“Huh?” The first Dallion blinked.

“What?” The other Dallion shrugged. “We’re both thinking it. It won’t matter much after I challenge him. Everything will return to normal when that happens.”

“Yeah, but… who’re you?”

“I’m Dallion,” the second Dallion laughed.

“I’m Dallion!” the original Dallion said.

“In a way, yes. You’re my echo.”

Your echo? There was no way that could be possible. Dallion was the real one. He remembered fighting through the sand dragon and the grand colossus to get here. Surely, he was the real one and the other him was the echo. In that case, why was the echo so confident?

Dallion took a step back and carefully examined his other self. The clothes, the weapons, the buckler… everything was a perfect copy down to the scrapes he had received in his last fight. Was this the test? Was he meant to defeat his echo?

“You are the echo,” the second Dallion sighed, as if reading his mind. “This new power definitely will take a while to get used to.”

“What? Aren’t you the echo?”

“Okay, let’s play this game.” The other Dallion crossed his arms. “If you’re not the echo, how come I can read your thoughts and you can’t read mine?”

That was a good question… a very very good question. As much as Dallion struggled, he wasn’t able to come up with an answer. The logic was ironclad, but it had to be false. There was no way for him to be the echo!

Or was there?