No one but Vend witnessed the agony that Dallion went through. The wave of pain felt as if lasted for hours, while in reality only seconds had gone by. During that brief moment of his lurching in pain on the floor, the rest of the group was preoccupied with an entirely different event—the rectangle announcing the guardian’s defeat.

All of a sudden, the pain stopped, leaving nothing but a lingering memory. Time remained distorted for several seconds longer. When Dallion had regained a good enough grasp of reality and raised his head, Vend was standing above him, a hand extended in his direction.

“Don’t tell anyone of this.” Vend formed the words though his lips, barely letting out a sound. “Nothing happened. You just hurt your back when you were thrown back.”

Dallion nodded.

“Good job.” Vend returned the harpsisword. “I didn’t expect you to do so well.”

Dallion felt like crying. The party’s entire approach had been one jumbled mess since the start. Even so, finally getting some actual praise felt nice.

“We’ll talk more in the real world. Now, though, go see what you’ve gained.”

Sheathing his weapon, Dallion did just that, entering the large chamber.

“Dal, come on,” Arthurows over his shoulder. “We’re not getting any younger.”

Someone’s eager to rush on, Dallion thought. Strange that it was the very person who had remained at the back of the group the entire time.

DAGGER Level 1 has been cleared!

Claim your focus that suits you best and continue on to fulfil the DAGGER’s destiny!

The message was another first, though the gist of it was the same. Beneath the blue rectangle, the standard four options were provided: body, mind, perception, and reaction. Looking at the numbers, Dallion had improved quite a bit since his first awakening. Back then, everything except for reaction had been three. Now, everything was at level five or more.

Interestingly enough, there was one more option offered. The rectangle had no name or color, with nothing but "two of twenty" displayed. Traditionally, when something was hidden, that made it all the more valuable in the eyes of Dallion. Maybe it was a new skill, or even one of the hidden attributes. Investing in it had a large chance of proving useful in the long run. At the same time, he really could use some mind improvements if he wanted to use his music skills for more than slicing library tomes.

The heck with it! Dallion tapped the grey rectangle. The number shifted from two of twenty to three of twenty. Moments later the large rectangle crumbled to dust. With a loud creak, the giant gate began to open.

“What did you pick?” Falkner asked, taking a step back. “I chose mind, so I’m an all out ten.” He beamed.

“That’s good.” Dallion smiled. If it wasn’t for the boy’s cheerful expression, it could have seemed like he was bragging.

“Yep, definitely. Now even if I fail, I have a chance of being selected.”

“That’s a bit pessimistic.” Not to mention confident. What was so special about reaching ten? Other than it marking the limit of the level cap, Dallion couldn’t see any significance.

“Party trials are the toughest ones. I thought we’d do sparring or fight echoes of the older guild members until we drop. The fail rate of this is far greater.”

“Not by much,” Arthurows interjected. “Besides, we have Dal with us. There’s no way we’ll fail!”

“Hurray us,” Dallion grumbled beneath his breath.

The gate revealed a spiral ramp leading to the level below.

“Is the length of the levels the same?” Bel asked.

“Depends on the item, but in this case yes,” Vend replied. “You’ll roughly face the same number of enemies on each level up to the third. Occasionally the item throws in a few surprises of its own, but that’s unlikely to happen.”

“What surprises?” Dallion quickly asked.

“It won’t happen, so don’t worry about that. There are enough other things that should concern you.”

That was the most annoying answer Dallion had heard, worse than a cliffhanger! However, Vend did have a point. The creatures on the first level were simple and still they had come close to overwhelming the party. By definition, the second level had to be two times as difficult.

“Cellano, take the lead,” Dallion said.

“Not Falkner?” the large one asked.

“Low visibility. If someone attacks us the moment we get down, you’re the best to react.”

Thankfully, there was no surprise attack at the end of the staircase. The chamber was pretty much identical to the one in which the party had fought the leopard. Walls of veins of silver surrounded them, leading to a large tunnel on the opposite side of the chamber.

“Seven waves and a guardian,” Arthurows noted. “Could be worse.”

“Okay, we take the standard formation.” Dallion took hold of his dartbow. For the time being, he was going to rely on that alone. At most, he’d use the harpsisword as a common sword. “Everyone okay on health?” The rest of the group nodded. “Good. Let’s go.”

It didn’t take long for the first group of creatures to show up—large rat-like vermin that charged at the party in groups of five. Three bolts and two knives instantly split the air, burying themselves in several of the creatures. However, that didn’t kill them. Instead, the large rats burst into a mischief flooding the floor with miniature versions of themselves with large teeth and glowing red eyes.

“Back!” Dallion shouted as the river approached. “Revert to melee! Slashing attacks!”

Half of the group did just that, waving their swords with extreme ferocity. Arthurows, of course, was quick to rush back and away under the pretext he was taking Vend to safety. Dallion didn’t like the approach, although there was nothing he could do. That was one of the shortcomings of a group trial—everyone passed or failed together.

“What are those things?” He asked and quickly regretted it, as white rectangles filled the corridor.

Species: Toothroach

Class: Earth

Statistics: 100% hp

Skills: Venom bite

Weak spots: Body

Rarely had Dallion seen a name describe a creature so fully. It combined two of the most disgusting creatures into one squeaky package. It was a relief that they were no stronger than echoes, but the fact that they could poison people had him worried. So far, he had no idea how poison worked in the awakened realm.

Back on Earth, Dallion remembered getting bit by a snake while camping. He was too young to remember the type of snake, or much of the incident altogether. What he did remember was that he felt a deep fear and loathing towards snakes for years afterwards.

Large rats joined the flow of small rats as they pushed on, only to be sliced mercilessly by Cellano, who was holding out the tunnel pretty much on his own. In a one-to-one fight he would probably be an impossibly difficult opponent to beat. His strikes were precise and not wasteful in the least. Falkner and Bel acted as a second line, killing off the few remaining creatures that trickled past.

“I’ll take care of the big ones!” Dallion shouted, shooting forward.

Thinking about it, the party had effectively created a blender: Dallion would even the mixture while the rest would slice it to a pulp. Only why did it have to be so disgusting. With every “toothroach” killed, the stench in the tunnel increased to the point that Dallion feared he might actually puke. Thankfully, once all creatures were eliminated most of the smell disappeared with them.

“What a way to start.” Dallion shook his head. “I can’t see us facing larger quantities of these things. If there’s any more they might flood the whole tunnel.”

“I don’t think so.” Falkner moved closer to the ground, then slid a finger over the stone surface. There were no marks. “I don’t think the next waves will be that. This could be one of those surprises that Vend spoke about.”

“What do you mean?” Dallion moved closer.

“The floor is too smooth. Not ideal for tooth roaches. Maybe these don’t have anything to do with the trial?”

Even if they didn’t, the possibility of facing another batch of them remained.

“You know a lot about monsters.”

“Yeah, my father made me read up on most of the basic creatures and guardians.”

“Nice.” Dallion made a mental note not to slack in his studies. Once this trial was over, he’d spend half a day every day reading books in his ring library, potentially without complaining. “Need any rest, Cellano?”

“I’m fine,” the other replied, brushing off the sweat from his forehead. “Roaches I can deal with.”

“You’ve dealt with them before?”

“I’ve been on a few mending missions. Full of roaches.”

Dallion swallowed. When Estezol had said that the guild took tasks other guilds avoided, Dallion didn’t think that meant sanitation—or whatever the local equivalent was.

“Also, don’t worry about bites. Their poison’s slow. We’ll need to stay here for days for anything serious to happen. At most you’ll feel a slight itch.”

That’s how every nasty starts, Dallion thought. All with a “slight itch.”

A few minutes later, the group was back in formation and marching on. The further in they went, the larger the tunnel became. Columns became a common occurrence, linking the floor to the ceiling. If size was an indication, the next enemies the party would face either was a lot bigger, or much greater in number. Either way, the unease in Dallion’s stomach grew.

When after five minutes, no enemies were to be seen, he knew something was not right.

“Stop,” Dallion said, looking around. “We’ll rest a bit by that column.” If only he could connect to the library! This was the ideal time for him to get adequate information from Nil. Linking his awakened room to this place, though, was out of the question. There was no telling what might seep through.

“What’s the matter?” Bel asked. She, too, seemed on edge.

“Nothing,” Dallion replied. “And I mean nothing. We should have come across some creature by now. Instead…” Suddenly the most terrifying thought came to mind. “Falkner, do you know anything that turns invisible?”

“Invisible guardians?” the boy blinked. “Not that I can think of. What are they?”

“They don’t have to be invisible, just something that—”

Crap! Please don’t be what I’m thinking! Dallion looked up. The cave ceiling was pretty much what one would expect of it—dull, greyish, with patches of stalactites here and there.

Dallion swallowed. I want to attack, he thought as he raised his dartbow to a cluster of stalactites. Target markers appeared, along with dozens of white rectangles.

Species: Shardflies

Class: Earth

Statistics: 100% hp

Skills: Razor wings

Weak spots: Body

“Falkner,” Dallion began speaking in a very calm and quiet voice. “What can you tell me about shardflies?”

“Hmm?” Curiosity made the boy look up. “Wow.” He almost smiled. ”I’ve never seen so many. My aunt keeps a roomful as pets. The crystal ones are nasty, but the rest aren’t particularly dangerous. Think of them as butterflies with stone wings.”

Butterflies with stone wings… Was this the reason Vend had suggested they wouldn’t pass the second guardian? Judging by the patches of creatures on the ceiling, Dallion had walked beneath several groups without even noticing.

“I think we should go back,” Dallion whispered. “Slowly and quietly.”

“Why?” Cellano grumbled in a low voice. “Even if they merge into a few giant ones, they won’t harm us much.”

“The test isn’t only about us…” Dallion looked at Vend. A moment later, everyone else joined him.

This was it—the obvious trap that everyone fell in. On the surface, this level was nowhere as difficult as the previous one. The only enemies they had faced were insects—plentiful, annoying, but by no means lethal. At least that was what they would have been, if the group didn’t have an echo to protect. One single wound and the Vend disappear along with their chances of succeeding in their trial.

“We go back slowly, then part of us return and—”

Arthurows sneezed. It wasn’t even a loud sneeze—the shardflies hadn’t even noticed. Unfortunately, in his eagerness to put his hand on Arthurows’ mouth, Falkner rushed towards him. One of the boy’s dartbows hit the nearby column, letting off a sharp metallic sound. A chorus of flapping wings filled the tunnel…