Surrounded by a thousand fears sounded great as a fantasy book or television series. Having to face them in combat, on the other hand, was not so great. Even back-to-back with his echo, and all the advanced gear he had obtained, Dallion was starting to have difficulties. Defeating a single soldier was roughly as difficult as fighting a level ten guardian—they were intelligent, resourceful, and always helped each other. The worst part was that while fighting one, Dallion got a sense of what the fear was, making him even less confident of the outcome.

Similar to a harp, the soldier’s very existence was centered around a negative emotion vibrating in their core. And while it took little effort to counter the vibration with Dallion’s music skill, there was no way he could block thousands.

What’s my grandpa doing? Dallion asked in his mind.

“Just standing there,” the echo replied.

That was another thing Dallion had to be mindful of. His grandfather remained the focus of the challenge and could swoop in at any moment if he was presented an opening.

The fight also made it clear to Dallion why so many people chose not to pass through the gate of awakening. Not only was leveling up much more difficult than before, but it also forced people to face the things they had spent a lifetime avoiding. It was so tempting to call it a day and surrender. He had killed one of the three main opponents, after all, so with a bit of practice there was every chance that he’d do better next time. However, a voice deep in Dallion’s mind told him not to give up.

“A hundred and one,” the echo said, trying to bring some cheer to the experience.

“You know that’s only ten percent,” Dallion said, out of habit. “Or less.”

“Just trying to look on the bright side.”

The bright side. There wasn’t anything even remotely bright about this. If the defeated fears dropped some loot or even gave imaginary experience, then there would be a bright side, or at least Dallion would trick his mind into seeing one. As it stood it was one long grueling battle for survival.

Extending his armadil shield to block a double charge, Dallion attempted to do a zig-zag attack. The action was successful, although every single one of the enemy soldiers deflected it.

“A hundred and three,” the echo shouted a short distance away.

Great. Even my echo is going better than me, Dallion grumbled. This was beyond humiliating. Gritting his teeth, he fought on.

Your skills, a voice said in his head. Use all your skills.

“What do you think I’m doing?” Dallion hissed out of frustration. He’d never stopped using his attack, guard, and music skills! And as for his level one forging, it had proved to be useless…

Suddenly, the realization hit him like a wall of bricks. He wasn’t using his forging skill, not anymore. He had during his fight against the trio, but seeing their gear was flawless, Dallion focused on other things. After all, while he had gotten used to utilizing his music skills, combining them with forging still brought on the headaches.

Music and forging, Dallion thought.

His enemies light up like Christmas trees. Every part of their armor and weapons were covered with flaws and outright cracks begging to be exploited.

Are you seeing this? Dallion asked his echo.

“Absolutely,” the echo replied.

Race you to five hundred, Dallion grinned.

In a single instant, the battle turned. It was quite impressive how something so simple and obvious was able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. It was also infuriating how Dallion had forgotten about it when subjected to stress. If it wasn’t for the voice’s advice, he would almost certainly have lost this challenge.

Thanks, Dallion thought.

“You’re welcome,” the echo shouted back, clearly missing the point.

One after another the soldiers popped out of existence like popcorn kernels. While their skills remained just as impressive as before, even they couldn’t guard against attacks that focused on their guard abilities. As their weapons and armor were destroyed, so were their owners’ abilities to protect themselves. What used to take tens of seconds or sometimes even half a minute now took less than two. Through a series of piercing attacks, Dallion would first aim at the weak points of an opponent’s armor—following the aim markers that had appeared—then finish them off with one more blow. After a while he combined both in a single attack, piercing through with his Nox dagger and directly eliminating his fear.

While fighting in this fashion, Dallion also got to see a partial result of Nox’s level up. The crackling could not only perform line cracks as in the past but also spiderweb ones, which proved very useful when piercing through a piece of armor or even an enemy blade. The sensation was oddly satisfying, like piercing through an eggshell with a dull needle.

In fifteen minutes, a mere hundred of soldiers remained. Dallion’s echo was still leading in their competition by a dozen, but the difference was quickly melting away. As the number of enemies decreased, Dallion spent more and more time looking at his grandfather. There were several points during the battle at which it would have been extremely beneficial for Kraisten and Kierra to join in the attack, but for some reason they hadn’t. Clearly, they were planning something, but the question was what.

“Four eighty-nine,” Dallion’s echo shouted.

Dallion picked up the pace, doing another zig-zag attack. Thanks to the aim markers and the properties of his Nox dagger, all but one of his targets were killed off this time. The last remaining soldiers paused for a moment, looking at his shield that was only partially there, only to receive a piercing blow through the breastplate and into the chest.

“Five hundred and one,” Dallion said loudly.

“Well done.” His grandfather started a slow clap, while Dallion’s echo went after the remaining five fears. “Who would have thought?”

“Not you, that’s for sure.” Dallion said defiantly. Technically, he wouldn’t be wrong. If it wasn’t for the voice, Dallion wouldn’t have made it so far. “Any more advice you’d like to give?”

“Wow. He really is arrogant, isn’t he?” Kraisten turned to Kierra. “He defeated a few of his own fears and things he’s king of the world.”

“Just like you,” the woman said with an expressionless face.

“That’s right.” Kraisten grinned at Dallion. “Just like me. Or maybe you think you’re better?”

There was a moment of silence. Dallion didn’t dare say a word. For some reason, his grandfather still managed to get under his skin.

“You really do think you’re better,” Kraisten went on. “Not that I’m surprised. Arrogance runs in the family. Sadly, it seems that intelligence has skipped a few generations.”

“So has cowardice,” Dallion shouted back. “Aspion is gone, and so is your army. What will you do now? Fight me or just sit up there and talk?”

“That’s a very good question.” Kraisten snapped his finger. “One thing you would have known about battle forgers, if you had the skills to be one, is that we do our best fighting on the back lines.”

A feeling of dread swept through the battlefield, so heavy that for a moment Dallion felt as if he were being pushed into the ground. At the same there was a sense echo of allure.

A silhouette of darkness appeared beneath the arch Dallion’s grandfather was standing on. It then grew, tripling in size until it was as big as an elephant… a very fangy elephant with the body of a wolf and dozens of eyes all over its black torso.

“Chainling…” Dallion whispered.

“You got so caught up in the moment that you forgot the real fear you were here to face,” Kraistain laughed. “It never was about me, it was about the things I could do. Using friends to fight my battles, relying on subordinates, even armies… Interesting, aren’t they saying the same about you?”

Dallion felt a chill in his stomach.

“No need to answer. I already know what you know. Weren’t you told several times that you can’t rely on others forever? And still you keep doing that. You did so this morning. Vend asked you to clear the area along, but you asked Veil and Gloria to do it for you. Remind me, how did the battle go?” The man scratched his chin, pretending to think. “You were to play your harpsisword, while Veil and Gloria protected you, isn’t that right? And didn’t you send out a crackling to fight the gremlins as well?”

“It wasn’t like that.”

“But it was. It was exactly like that. Even when you fought the chainling cub you relied on Falkner and Bel to do most of the work for you.”

“I saved a person back then.”

“No, they did. You just helped from the backlines. The only reason you have been engaging in combat at all is because you’re too stupid to learn how to forge. When you learn that, you’ll stop altogether.”

“Did you stop fighting when you became a forger?” Dallion countered. His mind was already filled with doubt. And with each new thought of uncertainty, the chainling facing him grew larger.

“You’re convinced I did. In fact, that is part of the reason you can’t overcome your forging skills block. A child would be able to do it, but you specifically chose something that would keep you from progressing. You might claim there was some big brain move behind it or that you’ve been practicing every day to get better, but we both know the truth—that you’re afraid.”

“If I was afraid, why would I have asked for the skill!”

The grin on Kraisten’s face widened, making his face look grotesque.

“Because for a moment you thought that you were better than me.”

Beneath the arch, the chainling roared in laughter. “

“But think about this,” Kraisten went on. “If you really were, I wouldn’t be here. The fear you’d have to face would be different. You’re here because you’re still struggling to accept the truth. But I’ll help you. After all, that’s why I’m here.” The man took a step forward, standing on the very edge of the arch. “I’ll tell you how to make a chainling of your own.”

The words pierced Dallion like a thunderbolt. That was the last thing he wanted! There was nothing good that would come of it. Even if he could create a chainling, it wasn’t like he could use it without people finding out, and if they did, the Order of the Seven Moons would get involved.

“You’re thinking of the consequences, aren’t you?” Kraisten asked, as if reading Dallion’s mind. “Oh, there will be many, trust me. Using such power comes with a few risks. When it doesn’t work out, you might end up like me, or worse. They won’t kill you. They never kill… it’s more suitable for them to let those they dislike walk around with a curse or two as a reminder of what happens to everyone who gets caught. However, there’s a way around it. All you have to do is learn from my mistakes and be better.”

“No!”

“That is your choice to make, of course. It’s the wrong choice, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. A wrong choice here will only cost you a few weeks, after which you’ll be back here to try and level up again. I’m just trying to save you some time. You want to get stronger to face the Star, don’t you?”

That much was true. If Dallion was ever to face the Star he had to get much stronger than he was now. He had to go past the level twenty cap.

“You’ve seen the Star make chainlings at will. If you can’t, there’s no way you’ll defeat him. Fight fire with fire and all that.”

There was so much wrong in that, but still there was no harm in Dallion hearing his grandfather out. At the very least, he’d know what not to do. It was always better to have all the information available. That way he wouldn’t make a chainling by accident.

“It’s all very simple, actually. You were definitely much luckier than I was,” Kraisten said with a faint note of envy in his voice. “You already have a crackling. Chainlings are basically the same thing. The only difference is that they require a sentient entity to flourish. The smarter the entity, the better. You’ve seen the shelfeys? Disgusting failures which are the result of a guardian attempting to become a chainling.”

That explained why they only appeared in sphere items. Those things were so old that the cracklings had become powerful enough to challenge the item guardians, but since there was more than one guardian keeping the item stable, the result had been a level with a brainless abomination instead.

“You’re saying I have to sacrifice someone.”

“In the real world, yes, but we’re not talking about the real world. In fact, I would recommend against doing so. As you’ve seen, things tend to get complicated even when there's a good reason for doing so. No, we’ll only be dealing with chainlings in the awakened realms. They will be your allies there, and once you’re done with them, you can poof them out of existence.”

“You make it sound too easy.”

“Because it is.” Kraisten crossed his arms. “Making a chainling is extremely easy, and you have everything it takes. All you have to do is to infect your echo with your crackling dagger.”

Dallion turned towards his echo. There was alarm in all of their eyes.

“As long as it’s just a scratch the echo won’t die,” Dallion’s grandfather went on. “Think of it as an injection. Instead of making a scar, have the substance slowly pour in. It will be a bit rough to watch the first few dozen times, but you’ll get used to it.”

No way I’m doing that, Dallion thought.

Staring back at him, his echo nodded in semi-relief.

“Having a chainling of your own is the only way you’ll win here,” Kraisten pressed on. “You’ve faced a monster like this before, so you know what it’s like. And keep in mind that the one you fought back then was severely injured. This one isn’t, and there’s no army to help you.”

Dallion looked at the creature. It had grown so large that it was almost touching the top of the arch. Defeating it in his current state was impossible.

“After all, what is an echo, but an extension of yourself? Sacrificing it is the same as sacrificing yourself. And don’t you want to sacrifice yourself for the greater good of your friends?”

That was the one question that Dallion needed to answer.