The revelation that the Luors were related to every overseer in the empire was enough to send chills down anyone’s spine. However, that paled in comparison to the realization that one of Dallion’s friends might end up in that position for their own village should it ever obtain a city status. The worst of all—that was most likely the best thing that could happen to them. Given that they had already attracted quite a bit of attention, thanks in a large part to Dallion, they could easily be made overseers of some other city in the province. According to Nil, the practice was all in all rare, and there were no indications that any cities might require one, but the same had been said about Nerosal forty years ago.

Calmly Dallion closed his eyes and recited the names of the Moons. If there was one skill that differentiated hunters from everyone else, it was to compartmentalize pain and fear. Dallion’s concerns were founded, but they had nothing to do with his current task at hand. When he opened his eyes and finished treating his wounds, he proceeded to explore the floor.

Now that every piece of furniture and decoration had been destroyed in the attempt to turn him into a chainling, the space was completely empty. That presented a curious dilemma. While killing the void insects helped Nox increase his level, it also eliminated any information Dallion could find. After weighing the options, Dallion decided to level up Nox as much as possible. There would be other towers, while having Nox become strong as early as possible was only going to be an advantage.

Floor after floor swarms of insects attacked Dallion, only to be slain. Now that he knew the principle by which they behaved, taking them out was no issue, even if it did cause a substantial amount of pain. It was obvious that Dallion’s form was lacking. For him to move on, he was going to have to level up a bit. In order to do that, though, he’d have to find enough food and water; lately the trials were becoming more and more difficult and he didn’t want to gamble that he’d end up with a logical one.

Eight floors had managed to increase Nox’s level up to seven. It wasn’t as much as Dallion had hoped, but he was grateful for it. If things continued at this pace, there was every possibility that the creature got to level fifteen, or even twenty, as he had been in Dallion’s trial, only stronger. Unfortunately, upon going to the next floor, Dallion found that it had already been cleared. There was no reason or explanation, just a whole lot of emptiness. After checking everything on the floor, Dallion went to the one below. The situation was identical there as well.

“Any ideas?” Dallion asked, sliding his fingers along the wall.

Nothing that comes to mind. But remember that you’re not the first person here.

After a few more floors, the first clue emerged, leaving little doubt to what had happened.

“Cutlings,” Dallion said, looking at a series of marks on the floor. “They must have come from the bottom. I guess that’s why they’re so strong here.”

It doesn’t work that way. Nox and Lux level up because they are your familiars. Normal cracklings don’t get stronger by consuming other Star-spawn. Most likely, the creature had a long time to grow undisturbed.

“Yeah, that’s probably it,” Dallion replied, although he couldn’t get rid of the uneasy feeling in his stomach.

All the floors were explored, just to be sure, including those that went beneath ground. As expected, there was nothing to be found. The once glorious tower was now nothing, but an empty broken shell.

Getting out of the tower was much easier than entering it. Unwilling to climb all floors, Dallion simply used the Nox dagger to create an opening with one hit. The crackling’s new skill, combined with the familiar’s current level, created a spider web of cracks around the point of impact deep enough to cut through solid stone.

Yay for big bro! Lux chirped.

The crackling just let out a confident meow in response. Normally he wasn’t one that sought attention, but was pleased when he got it.

I could have done the same, Gleam said with a note of envy as the whip sword descended from the tower top. She was followed by the shardflies. I could do more if I up my level.

“You will.” Dallion patted the hilt of the weapon. “I promise. There aren’t many places for Nox and Lux to level up, though, so I’m leaving the Star-spawn to them.”

You better. The hilt moved up and tapped his forehead. So now what?

“Now, we go to get some water.”

Maybe because of the Dallion’s victory against the cutling, or Nox’s level up, no creatures dared attack as Dallion made his way through the desert forest. Dallion could feel many of them, hidden away, he could hear their whispers. For the most part, they were discussing the “new visitor” ready to flee if he tried to hunt them. That was one of the major disadvantages of the zoology skill. Despite deliberately avoiding learning the languages of food animals, Dallion’s general knowledge of animal communication allowed him to catch a few words here and there.

The first time it had happened, he had almost been sick. However, Nil had asked the logical question: did you feel better before doing the same? In truth, that had felt even worse. Thus, Dallion appreciated the hunter’s code a lot more: only kill what attacks you and what you need to survive.

As time passed, the two Moons disappeared from the sky, only to be eventually replaced by the sun. With the sun came a new wave of heat. The temperature increase was far greater than one would expect, now also combined with vast humidity. Thankfully, soon enough, Dallion reached the river itself.

It’s fine, the wooden bowl said after Dallion used it to scoop some water. Nothing that would harm you.

Thanks.

That was good, it meant at least one thing less Dallion had to worry about. Gulping down the bowl, Dallion then scooped another, and another. Funnily enough, that also made him go relieve himself in the jungle almost immediately after. Once that was done, Dallion returned to the edge of the river and started planning his next move.

“Lux, Gleam, I’ll need you to keep looking around,” he said as he started filling his waterskins. “Head straight south and let me know if you see towers or anything else interesting.”

Will I get to fight in a tower? Will I get to fight? Lux asked eagerly. I want to become strong as big bro.

“You’ll get your chance,” Dallion couldn’t help but smile. “Just don’t fight anything for the moment. I just need to get a lay of the land.”

You sure you’ll be okay on your own? Gleam asked. Despite her grumbling, she was skilled enough to see the danger that Dallion was in. The cutling and the furniture insects had both caused far more problems than they should have, and those were only creatures on the edge of the canyon. Anything further in was undoubtedly going to be far stronger.

“I’ll be fine,” Dallion lied. “Just go.”

Watch out! A deep voice suddenly echoed in Dallion’s head. It had been a while since Dallion had heard it. The voice rarely interfered, but whenever it spoke it was when Dallion was in grave danger. This time he reacted accordingly, splitting into three dozen instances, all of them leaping in different directions.

A split second later, an alligator the size of a small caravan emerged from the water, biting through the patch of land on which Dallion had been standing.

“What the heck?” Dallion switched to the instance that was furthest away.

The river wasn’t small by any stretch of the imagination, but it definitely wasn’t large enough to hold such a creature. That was, until he saw that the land bitten off was nothing more than a thin crust covering a far larger pool of water.

“Gleam, Ruby attack from the back!” Dallion ordered as he drew his hammer. “Be careful, there might be more of them!”

Like dancing razorblades, the shardflies descended upon the enormous alligator, managing to chip off parts of its thick skin moments before it submerged again.

Wasting no time, Dallion did a point attack on the ground with the hammer, while splitting into instances again. His suspicions turned out to be true as a large part of what he thought to be ground—sand, trees and all—collapsed into a vast pool of water below.

Leaping away, Dallion focused on the forming lake, combining his music and zoology skills. At that point he saw them—large fish and reptiles that had remained invisible up till now. Somehow, thousands of years had managed to have an entire jungle creep over the majority of the lake, holding it hardened sand and earth in the process. Dallion knew of no such things ever occurring on Earth, but clearly here, they did.

“Everyone, move away!” he shouted as he drew his harpsisword with his left hand and did a line attack strike through the length of the lake.

A line of destructive power sliced through the air, continuing into the water. It was as if someone had drawn upon a picture. There were no splashes, no giant waves, just two tools of water one next to each other with nothing in-between, as if they had suddenly become gelatinized. Moments later, the line disappeared, and parts of large fish floated up to the surface. No alligators, though. Dallion had seen that the attack had annoyed them, probably inflicting some damage, but that was it.

“Gleam, get the fish and pull back!” Dallion ordered. He wasn’t taking a creature of this size today, and using music skills on them was going to be tricky because of all the water.

Great, I’m back to being a newbie again, Dallion grumbled as he kept leaping back, using his athletic and acrobatic skills.

The last few months he had always been in control when it came to fights—capturing small creatures, defeating stronger ones, and outright avoiding things he knew he didn’t have the skills to face. Here, everything was either impossibly stronger, or on the verge of his abilities. It was a miracle that the seagulls weren’t monstrous entities that caused hurricanes with a flap of their wings.

Running from crocktiles? Gleam asked with a sigh as she pierced through the large fish parts, like a shish kebab. That’s disappointing. Back in the day, I used to slice them up for fun.

“Can you slice them up now?” Dallion asked.

There was no answer.

Moving a mile into the forest, Dallion did another point attack on the ground. This time, the only result was a large hole; the land was solid. Even so, he remained on guard for a while.

Not what you were expecting, I take it? Nil asked, which was his version of “I told you so.”

“Not now, Nil,” Dallion grumbled. On the surface he was mostly calm, but deep inside, his heart was beating like a drum. A moment ago, he had almost died. If it weren’t for the warning, he would have been crushed by the jaws of the giant alligator with no option to do anything about it.

For over a minute, he stood there, motionless, contemplating what to do. Given what he was about to face, should he continue on, or move back as Nil suggested and return at a later, when he had increased ten levels or so.

If nothing else, you have enough food to last you a week, Gleam said as the whip blade landed next to Dallion.

The chunks of fish were massive, and not too friendly looking either. It seemed that even the bottom of the food chain had the size and ferocity of great white sharks.

Moments later, the shardflies, led by Ruby, arrived as well.

Be determined, Dallion said to himself. If I can’t deal with this, how am I going to deal with things to come?

“Gleam, find some wood that would burn,” Dallion said. “We’ll need to make a fire. After that, we’ll see.”