The night turned into most of the day. Even with Eury taking care of all the auxiliary things: working the bellows, bringing food, not to mention providing constant advice, the work was gruelingly hard. On several occasions Dallion felt exhausted to the point of fainting, but each time he would keep on.

Finally, by the next evening, the item was complete. Having to etch an intricate design on a material as hard as glass on a disk the size of a penny was extreme, requiring that Dallion measure every hit precisely and only use the sharp edge of the hammer.

Once he was done, holding the small element in the light of the forge, carefully held between his fingers, one thought passed through Dallion’s mind: he wasn’t going to do that ever again, or at least not in the next few years.

“Let me have a look?” Euryale said, reaching out.

Dallion gave her the emblem, then went to the bucket of water in the room and splashed some on his face and neck.

“Rather well done,” the gorgon said, clusters of snakes extending to view the emblem better from all sides. “You’ve got the lines quite well. I’d have made the ear a bit bigger. I assume you’ll use a sky steel chain to hold it?”

“I’ve no idea.” Dallion replied, leaning with both hands against the workbench. The thought of having to make a chain crossed his minding, sending waves of utter terror through his soul.

“I’ll try to find something.” The gorgon flipped the emblem. “It’ll be my gift.”

“You’re the best,” Dallion said with the enthusiasm of a snoring cat. “I think I’ll wash and go to bed.”

Eury must have replied something, but Dallion could no longer register it. The next half hour passed in a blur. In some capacity, he remembered what had happened: they had cleaned up the forge, left home, even met some old acquaintance Dallion was in no condition to place. When he next woke up, though, it was morning and he was once again in bed. The major difference was that this time, legs, back, and entire right arm were screaming in pain.

This was the first time in quite a while that he had felt overworked, and by doing non-awakened activities at that. Normally, it was his head that wasn’t able to handle things—using too much focus, trying to maintain his combat splitting for two long, or merely relying on his music skills a tad too much.

Onda? Dallion asked, looking around.

I’m here. A reply came from the other room. You're fragile as glass. Who gets tired after one item?

It’s my first time working sky silver, Dallion replied. There was no way he could remain mad at the guardian. Despite his cheek, the nymph had no ill intentions.

That’s the price of talking to a prodigy, Nil said with an understanding sigh.

Dallion knew the feeling. Back on Earth, he had met one such person while participating in a puzzle tournament. His name was Michael Gray, and he had been utterly obnoxious. While everyone else was preparing to solve warm up puzzles he had spent his time walking about and commenting on how simple the puzzles were. Then, when the official part of the competition had started, Michael had completed the challenge in under five minutes, then left to get a nap. It was only later than the boy and Dallion had become friends, or rather close acquaintances. The truth was that Michael was just extremely bored with everything and criticized everyone not on his level. By the looks of it, Onda was a similar case. Then again, that was the perfect fit for a hammer.

Well, get better fast, the nymph said. I want to see you start making the really wild things. You won’t be able to at your level.

I’m working on it. Dallion stood up.

There was no sign of Eury other than a note next to a basket of food. It was no surprise that she had been called by the city guard to deal with something again. Dallion suspected that despite the victory against the Star, not all cultists had been dealt with. Either that or there were troubles of another sort. Either way, he had the day to himself.

The first thing that Dallion did after having a bite was to go to Alabaster’s forge and start fulfilling his part of the deal by playing music for a few hours. While playing, he chose to add a lot of enthusiasm and speed in his tune. The gesture was very much appreciated, although sadly Dallion didn’t receive any tips. This wasn’t an inn after all.

Following the performance, Dallion went back to practice his own forging skills. While he didn’t have any special metals, he did have everything it took to work on normal items, which he did. Each success steadied his hand and helped him improve his skill level. As all crafting skills, forging was affected by real life achievements as well. Each time Dallion managed to make a new masterpiece in the real world, it would increase his skill level. Initially, Dallion had mostly done so in the awakened realm, but soon after, he had started with the real deal.

The next creation was to make a crescent blade bow of iron. The design was rather complicated, but working standard metal proved much faster and easier. After half a day’s work, he had already composed most of the body parts. Only the mechanism remained, which Dallion decided to leave for later.

After sufficient progress, Dallion spent what was left of the day at one of the park areas of the city, returning to the workshop by evening. It wasn’t until well after dark that Eury returned. As usual, she didn’t mention anything about her work, choosing to keep the focus mostly on him. Several enjoyable hours were spent talking, after which both went to bed to be ready for the next day.

The days became a perpetual routine divided between the workshop and the forge. Occasionally Dallion would pass by Hannah’s inn to have a chat with her and Aspan, but there were seldom any major deviations. After a bit of fiddling, the blade bow was complete along with a stack of bolts for the test. The results were far from optimal, though that was because such a weapon was required to be made out of proper material.

The hammer guardian kept insisting that Dallion melt down his standard dartbow and use the material to create a new weapon, but Dallion refused. Item melting wasn’t something he was prepared to do, although he considered transforming the item from the inside. At present that was beyond his skills, but potentially when he passed the next awakening gate it could turn into a valid option.

Dallion’s leveling up also continued. The decision to level up once every two days proved to work surprisingly well. What was more, Dallion’s choice to try out the hammer as a weapon wielded even more unexpected results. For one thing, it turned out that combining forging and attack skills made it possible to shatter enemy shells and hard armor—something Dallion had further tested by improving a few more glasses at Hannah’s inn to her annoyance. That was only the start, though. The hammer’s metal core allowed Onda to shift the center of gravity, in effect transforming the weapon into a real-life version of Mjolnir. The only part missing was the hammer’s ability to return, but Dallion could easily do that on his own by summoning it to his hand as any other item. At one point, he had used Lux to move the hammer around just for fun, but had decided against the practice. Being able to fight himself provided a far better advantage.

Both trials that Dallion had completed were more of the standard skill and strength variety, this time setting him against opponents that had the power to split. The first one was against a group of Dallion’s former guildmates. Facing them proved slightly disturbing at the beginning, but once it came to exchanging blows, Dallion had no issue taking them down. In the process, he had also gained two achievements: Hammer Bash for using the hammer as a weapon, and Chisel Combo for combining it with the Nox Dagger. Both had provided him with two points of body, which had urged Dallion to spend the point from his leveling there as well to get closer to a round thirty.

The second trial was facing a pack of cutlings. While Dallion knew that these were only mental constructions and far from the real thing, it was almost laughable how easily he had defeated them using a combination of a blunt weapon and his zoology skills in the area. Sadly, it also reminded him what was required for that particular skill to advance further.

In the second week after his return from the wilderness, Dallion finally approached the subject of him gaining his apprentice emblem once more.

“Are you ready for this?” the gorgon asked, several of the snakes on her head twitching as she did.

“I’m close. I’ve got two more levels until I reach the gate.” In theory, he could continue trying to create forging masterpieces, but that was becoming more and more difficult. He had already created everything he had seen other smiths do, as well as the blueprints he was given—including a metal whip blade, although it too wasn’t as remotely efficient as the one that he had given to Gleam.

“Pass the trial, then I’ll let you go on a solo hunt.” There was a slight pause. “This time I won’t be there with you. Succeed or fail, it’s all up to you.”

Dallion was fully aware of what she was saying. There was a real possibility that he might not return. That was what a real hunter’s trial was. There was a time when he wouldn’t have dared. Now, though, he felt adequately prepared.

“Thanks,” Dallion whispered. “Any news about Jiroh? She hasn’t been to Hannah’s.”

“She’ll be back.” Eury chose not to give any details. “I’ll make you some armor for when you’re ready to set out.”

You’re really different when you’re serious, Dallion said to himself.

The issue was that Euryale had been serious a lot lately. It was normal for the near destruction of the city to affect her, but it was almost as if she had turned into a different person. The whole end of the world prophecy hadn’t helped either. Whatever the gorgon had on her mind she wasn’t sharing it with anyone… very much like Dallion hadn’t shared in the past. Always wearing a blocker ring, Eury tended to focus on the moment, taking it a day at a time. Now and then she’d give a vague explanation as to what was concerning her, but even that involved a lot of guesswork.

Helping a close friend leave this world is more difficult than you can imagine, dear boy, Nil said. As you know, otherworlders attract each other. Severing such a bond would come with its consequences. For all we know, that might be the reason she doesn’t like using echoes.

I thought you didn’t like her, Dallion made a note.

The fact remains. Hunters aren’t the only ones who’ve seen otherworlders. I’ve had friends as well.

You? That wasn’t surprising considering the skill and age of the echo’s creator. Did they leave this world?

Some tried to. It didn’t work out very well for all.

That was slightly ominous. Dallion understood the point, though. There were a lot of things on Jiroh and Eury’s minds and he couldn’t rely on them to get him out of trouble anymore. Passing the game and completing the solo hunt were proof that he had what it took to take care of himself. He had been given a chance to achieve that. Now all that remained was for him to actually do it.