There was no prize offered for the final round. Dallion had quick the last round, just as the general had suggested he do. It was not the initial shock that had caused him to do so. Dallion’s gamer mind had already determined that it would come to a showdown, whether that would be the fourth or final round. Under such circumstances, he preferred that his opponent had four attacks less.

“All in,” Dallion said, placing all stats and skills on the table.

“You’re betting everything?” the general sounded surprised.

“Is there a point not to?”

This was the final round. Even if Dallion lost his sight, strength, or even the ability to move, it wouldn’t matter much if he won. That too was a gamble, but he felt it was a much safer bet than the alternative.

“I suppose you’re right,” the general said. “In that case, it’s only proper that I do the same.”

Two body tokens appeared on the table, along with one mind, one perception, three shield tokens, one shoe—the token for athletics—and three fury tokens. That made eleven. The general cleverly kept the prize from the last round, which meant he could destroy one of Dallion’s tokens at any point. As for Dallion, he had one attack, one reaction, one body, two mind, one perception, a forging token, two guard tokens, an acrobatics token, and Lux.

“You didn’t say we’re allowed to add other people as well,” Dallion noted, somewhat annoyed.

“They belong to me,” the general replied, as if it was the most common thing in the world. “There’s no reason why you can’t as well. You have a, how did you put it, fiancée, if I remember. You can bid her as well. I’m sure she’ll have nothing against it.”

That was a low blow. While bidding friends was a valid option—Dallion had seen many cases on Earth, where relatives and acquaintances were used to gain an advantage in negotiations—he didn’t feel comfortable using Euryale as a bidding token.

You are aware that such scruples might lose you the trial, Nil said.

I know. The complete lack of scruples will lose me Eury, though.

“I’m fine,” Dallion said through gritted teeth. “Who goes first?”

“Why, you do.” A wicked smile appeared on the general’s face. “I have another token, after all.”

“So do I.”

“That’s quite true. If I play my prize token now, I’ll erase your familiar. Of course, you can play your doubling prize token and restore the, or you might even use it before I do and create a copy of your familiar. If that’s the case I suggest you do so now. Otherwise, make your first move.”

So, that was the option Dallion was given: strength versus versatility. If he did what the general suggested, both prize tokens would be out of the way, leading to a much more straightforward game. Dallion would lose his chance of a game reversal, if things got bad, but so would the general. This was a difficult choice.

“Do you believe in your strength or do you wish to play it safe?” the general taunted him. “In the end, it all comes down to that.”

“That’s what people like you say.” The pyramid token appeared on the table. “I create another firebird.”

“And I promptly erase it.” A golden box appeared on the table. “Since we’re at an impasse, I’ve chosen what I’ll do. It’s your turn now. Better make it count. There’s no joy in winning in the first round because of a miscalculation.”

Dallion pushed a fist token to the center of the table.

“An attack with fists alone?” The general sounded disappointed. Most likely, he was hoping for something more imaginative on Dallion’s part. Nonetheless, the golden box disappeared, revealing the figure of a fury. “I counter with my fury.”

“I create an instant of myself and keep attacking.” Dallion pushed one of the mind tokens forward.

“Which is why I never travel with one fury alone.” The general pushed the second fury token forward. “But please, continue. It’s amusing to see what you’ll think of once you’re out of mind.”

Now was the time to start thinking. Furies had great reflexes and also had the ability to control air. Countering them with normal ranged attacks, athletics, or reactions would serve no purpose. Dallion could potentially use a guard token, but that would likely end up a waste, since the general could save his furies for a later attack.

“I create another instance.” Dallion pushed the second mind forward.

“There goes my final fury. It seems I’m quite defenseless. Maybe you’ll choose to attack?”

“In time.” Dallion thought about it. He was suspicious of the general giving him advice, even if it matched his intention. Scratching his nose, Dallion went over the options. It seemed he was at a slight disadvantage: an attack and a body token versus two body tokens and an athletics one. Theoretically, Lux could also be used as an attack token, although that was to be Dallion’s trump card.

“I search for weaknesses.” Dallion pushed his perception token forward.

“Interesting tactic. You’re trying to tip my hand so you win by doing a counterattack? Well, in that case I’ll use my perception to search for weaknesses as well.”

“I use my forging token to make a dagger,” Dallion said.

“Do you have the skill for that?” The general’s smile faded somewhat.

“I can summon ingots in the realms,” Dallion replied, avoiding the question. “We are playing in the realms, right?”

“Yes. However, you didn’t answer my question. Can you forge a dagger?”

There was a moment of silence. Both of them were aware that Dallion didn’t have that option. However, there was one small detail that the general had overlooked, and that was vital. In fact, there was every chance that it could lead Dallion to victory.

“You’re right, I can’t,” he said. “But I can use it to summon an ingot with a sharp point.”

“You’ll have to explain how you do that.”

“I can change the shape of the mold. It won’t be the most aesthetically pleasing weapon, but it will have an edge and a place to drip. And since I can forge all basic metals and alloys, I can easily mage it hard enough to deal damage.”

“And what about the grip? Even if the ingot is as you say, if you can’t throw it and you can’t hold it, it’s nothing more than a paperweight.”

“Oh, it will definitely hurt a bit, but that’s not an issue, is it? You never said anything about health being a concern.”

“Maybe it should be.”

“Then maybe we shouldn’t assume that the furies obeyed your instructions to the letter. Maybe they too were wounded before you called them?”

There was a short pause, after which the general started laughing.

“How sweet. You’re finally starting to catch on. Pity you had to make so many bad deals in the real world.”

“I’ve been accumulating experience,” Dallion replied, even if that wasn’t strictly the truth. “And after all, we all have to start from somewhere. I take it this trial is exactly that—my first attempt at negotiation.”

“Possibly. I accept your explanation on this one, but keep in mind, the more aggressive you become, the greater resistance you’ll encounter.”

The forge icon changed into a rather crude sword.

“Naturally, I use a shield to protect myself,” the general said.

“And I attack again with a normal attack.”

“Guard.” Another shield token to the middle of the table. “What now?”

“I keep on attacking.” Dallion pushed his glove token. “Using acrobatics I change the direction of my attack to attack past the area which you are guarding against.”

“Trying to defeat me before I have a chance to attack?” The last shield token was pushed forward. “It won’t work, you know.”

“What happens in case of a draw? Do we start the game again?”

“There can be no draw. Well, in the game there could, but it’s your task to move forward, so an impasse means you lose. Frankly, a draw would be unsatisfying for me as well, but such is life. We have to live with it.”

This was another trick that Dallion hadn’t been told. That was why the general was so calm. Although a draw would annoy the person—or echo in this case—the would still fail the trial. Quite nasty when thinking about it. That’s why he had to take a chance.

“I attack with Lux,” Dallion said, pushing the firebird token to the middle.

“Your firebird cannot do damage. It’s a healing creature.”

“It can lift you up and drop you from a great height.” Dallion crossed his arms. “I know from personal experience.”

“I suppose I can take you word for it… I’ll use my mind to create an instance of myself and avoid that.”

“I use my reaction to redirect Lux to your other instance.”

“That’s not how reaction works.”

“But it can be. I can move my mouth fast enough. I just need to be able to react fast enough to your action. And after training splitting for the last few months, I have a pretty good idea what I’m talking about. You know that.”

There was a long moment of silence. As expected, this was an element that the general had overlooked as well.

“You still can’t win. I jump safely away,” the general pushed his shoe icon. “And that’s a draw. So sorry you couldn’t win this one.” The general looked Dallion in the eye, mocking him. “A shame, really. You were so close to winning, and yet so far away.”

“The game hasn’t ended yet,” Dallion said. “We still have two tokens.”

“Two attacks against two guards. There’s little you could do. If you had my shield, I might disagree, but as things stand…” he shrugged.

“My shield.” Dallion corrected. “You know, general, I used to find your constant talking annoying. You’d always make a point to display your wealth, education, and social status, not only through objects, but through words as well. The way you talked, the stories, the useless comments you’d put in here and there just for the sake of it… I get it now.”

“Do you really?” The general crossed his arms.

“In fact, I think I’ll tell a story of my own. When I first awakened, I had no idea what was going on. Unlike you, I was born in a small village on the empire’s rim. There it would be an event if a traveling merchant came to town. The only thing we’d seen from the outside world were a few trinkets. Even monks from the Order were rare. Needless to say that when I was at my first crossroads, I made a mistake.”

“There’s a point to this? Or are you just a sore loser?”

“I was given a choice between attack and guard skills,” Dallion continued. For once, he could feel he was getting under the general’s skin. “Do you know what I chose? I went for the guard.”

“Congratulations.” The general yawned. “You proved you’d an idiot.”

“The reason I went for guard was that unlike a sword, you don’t need skills to hit someone on the head with a shield.” Dallion pushed his shield token forward. “Your move.”

Time froze. The general stared at the table, as if the world had ended. Dallion half expected for him to come up with the standard explanation that you could guard with a sword just as well, but that never happened. In this world, unlike Earth, things weren’t as versatile. Anyone had the option to hit someone else with an object, but one needed guard skills to adequately use a weapon for defense. Dallion had seen that in Veil’s method of fighting first hand—his goal was to kill the enemy before the enemy could kill him. It was possible for the general to try and do the same, but that would be futile. A shield could always block a sword, while also hitting the target in the process.

“You lose this one,” Dallion said.

The moment he did the table, along with everything on it, disappeared. The gold in the room vanished, replaced by stone.

Dallion was just about to add a comment about the armadil shield, when he found that the general had also vanished without warning. In his place, a bright blue rectangle floated above the ground.

You have broken through your barrier.

Your level had increased to 18.

Choose the focus that will serve you best.