It took half a week for it to become clear that Dallion’s self-imposed deadline was far too optimistic. While it could be said he was making good progress in some areas, it was obvious he could get nowhere as close as where he wanted in the allocated time. Furthermore, he had abused his fame, adding in a bit of music skills, to learn more about the creatures that Katka had warned about. As it turned out, the beings were very much real. The tome he had managed to get illegally from an apprentice at the novice administration building described them as extra-realm beings that ventured into the world at random. In most cases, they only came and went, but sometimes they would cause chaos or create a home for themselves in the wilderness. It was speculated that some of the non-Star-spawn monsters were, in fact, such creatures that had adapted enough to the world that they lost their ability to leave.

Dallion had skipped through the philosophical reasoning—it was exceedingly boring and often conflicted with its own findings—and flipped straight to the bestiary section. Everything there ranged from annoying to terrifying. The reality chameleon was there, as well as the platypain—the creature that had defeated Dallion in humiliating fashion back when he was an apprentice.

“Nil, how strong do you think I’ve become?”

Not enough to take on a noble, if that’s what you’re asking, the echo replied. I know I’m wasting my breath, but rushing things will only put you at risk, as well as anyone who tries to protect you.

“So, I haven’t improved at all?”

I didn’t say that. The fact that your magic trait is eighteen proves that you’ve improved. As the saying goes, you’ve acquired a little knowledge, sadly just enough to get yourself into more trouble that you can handle.

“Can I take on an apprentice?”

That’s a difficult one. It depends very much on the apprentice. With your current knowledge, you can probably take on most of the apprentice clerks even without casting spells. However, you’ll have no chance against an actual assistant mage.

“What about the artifact guardians?” Dallion said. “The one I started improving.”

The question had taken a surprising enough turn, leaving Nil momentarily speechless. It had been so long since Dallion had entered the artifact’s realm that one would have thought he’d learned his lesson and left it alone. Going back to it wasn’t the best of ideas. Then again, it was better than trying his awakening trials again.

You already know you can defeat the first one, Nil said. The second one might cause some trouble, but you have a chance. To be honest, it can still go either way.

“And the last?”

That depends on what the final guardian is. Might be something weak, or it might be a full-fledged dragon.

“Come on,” Dallion laughed.

Where do you think the first emperor found his familiar? It wasn’t in the wilderness, I can tell you that.

“Okay, so a mini-dragon.” Not that made it any better. A dragon with adequate knowledge of magic wasn’t something Dallion felt he could win against. Then again, it was definitely something he could face.

You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?

“A boy can dream, Nil.” Dallion said, then went to the stash or artifacts in his room and grabbed hold of one.

SPHERE ITEM AWAKENING

Reality changed.

The AETHERIZER is level 1 of 3

You are at the START of the AETHERIZER’s first level.

Unseal all levels to fulfill the AETHERIZER’s destiny.

Two purple rectangles appeared, same as the last time Dallion was here. An octagonal mirror corridor continued forward—Dallion’s path to the first guardian. Last time, it had taken a lot of energy and spark infused line attacks, not to mention magic projections, to get the creature. This time, Dallion intended to focus solely on spells.

COMBAT INITIATED

The red rectangle didn’t take long to appear. The guardian remembered their last fight and had taken steps to try and change the outcome. However, Dallion had improved as well.

His fingers faced through the air, casting the obligatory starting spell for a mage: reaction speed; even with the current values of his trait, being faster was always better. In the world of mages, reaction speed marked the difference between casting one or ten spells for every opponent’s one.

MINOR WOUND

Your health has been reduced by 5%

The visenair emerged, biting Dallion’s left leg, before disappearing into a mirror on the side of the corridor once more.

Dallion ignored the attack. A five percent reduction was nothing Lux couldn’t handle. Instead, he cast a spell to light up all the magic threads around him. The entire space transformed into a vortex cage. However, Dallion wasn’t done. Other than his spellcreaft abilities, there was one other big advantage he had obtained since his previous visit, and it was time to use it.

“Gem,” he said. “Make the portals visible.”

The aetherfish popped into existence on his left shoulder. Quickly it flew to the nearest mirror and cast a spell Dallion was unable to copy. At a later point, he was going to reverse engineer the pattern of symbols so as to be able to duplicate it, but for the moment it was better to have a familiar do it.

Once one mirror was done, the aetherfish moved to the next. Naturally, it didn’t do it the way a person would, instead concentering the mirror and continuing within the maze of reflections. Yet, for a magic creature, it wasn’t a reflection.

Of course, Dallion thought, looking at Gem.

It seemed so simple now. Magical creatures didn’t follow the physical laws. For them, what seemed like a maze was nothing but an open plain of connections. And with a bit of training and a lot of focus, Dallion could see the same. His physical body prevented him from doing what Gem could. Yet, looking closely, he was able to see the truth of this place; it wasn’t a realm, but rather a multitude of interwoven realms, all shrouded in an illusion.

Beautiful, isn’t it, dear boy?, Nil said.

It was. “Like being in an origami,” Dallion whispered. “Or a paradox cube.”

MINOR WOUND

Your health has been reduced by 5%

Dallion suffered another bite, and yet again, he didn’t react. Until the creature kept on attacking physically, he was safe. Only when magic started being wielded would things become tricky.

Postponing his fascination till later, he cast the portal spell he’d seen Iksa do, on the mirror and stepped through. Within the realm, it seemed that he’d only taken a single step through the mirror. In truth, that was a lot more—he had gone crossed into another mini-realm. Splitting into instances, he both continued forward and stepped back into the corridor. The portal opening remained active.

Boss, she’s casting a spell! Lux warned.

A few steps away—or three realms off, respectively—the vixenair was on the verge of completing one of its spells. Remembering the configuration from last time, Dallion knew exactly what would follow.

“Gem, get out of here!” he shouted, bursting into dozens of instances.

The aetherfish popped out of existence, just as water droplets emerged through multiple realms, all darting towards Dallion.

In theory, it was possible for him to evade them, but there was no point in doing something complex just for the sake of it. Summoning his armadil shield, Dallion dashed in various directions with his instances. Quite a few of them were hit, even heavily wounded by the guardian’s attack, but over half remained unscathed. Now it was Dallion’s turn. Rushing forward to the next “mirror’ he directly cast a portal spell. If the logic was the same as it had been so far, he was supposed to end up “on the other side” and indeed he did.

“It’s not too late to surrender,” Dallion said, infusing his words with doubt. “I won last time, and I was better than before.”

The music attack worked. The vexinair hesitated for several seconds as Dallion moved from realm to realm. He didn’t reach the guardian, sadly—the creature ran off the moment he got near, but this was a lot closer than what Dallion had managed to achieve last time, and without using a single line attack at that.

Symbols appeared in the air, as both sides cast their spells. The guardian was focusing on mass area destructive spells that would injure Dallion enough to kick him out of the realm. Meanwhile, Dallion focused on simultaneously casting two spells: portals and magic barriers. The entire combat changed into a tactical game of tic-tac-toe.

Each time Dallion crossed into a new realm, the area in which the vixenair could venture in got smaller and smaller.

Magic really is powerful, Dallion thought.

Especially against magic and magical creatures, Nil agreed. Just don’t get overconfident. In the real world, magic only succeeds if it’s stronger than the person it’s used against.

Considering Dallion had several mage encounters, he should have known that. Right now, though, he ignored the comment, chasing after the guardian.

Athletics, he thought, running on the wall of a realm in order to avoid the spikes of water that spouted from the floor. The vixenair was getting more creative as it struggled to defeat his enemy. Occasionally he’d even deal Dallion a bit of damage, only to have it immediately restored by Lux.

Then, the inevitable happened. Despite its active attempts, the guardian was left with no choice but to get trapped in one of the corridor realms. Turning around with a hiss, the creature circled itself. To some, it would seem that the vixenair was chasing its tail, yet any mage could see that was the final casting of an intricate and extremely complicated spell. Heat and air symbols were present in abundance, suggesting it planned to go out literally with a bang.

Crap! Dallion thrust forward.

This was the first time he’d summoned his harpsisword in the fight, but right now, he didn’t have any choice. There was only one way he knew to stop a spell in progress, and it involved a sharp weapon infused with spark.

A slash split the air, landing on the floor in front of the vixenair. Time seemed to stop. The creature looked down. The tip of the blade had failed to hit its paws, yet that didn’t matter. The pattern it had so diligently created had been sliced in two. The spell quickly fizzled away, leaving both face to face.

“Give up,” Dallion said, splitting into six instances.

Why is it hesitating? He wondered. It was obvious who the winner was. Even if the creature managed to escape the current trap, there was nowhere it could go. It was completely outclassed, and yet there was a hint of stubbornness coming from it that prevented it from accepting defeat.

The AETHERIZER Guardian has admitted defeat.

Do you accept her surrender?

Dallion didn’t hesitate, hitting the thumbs up rectangle the moment it appeared. Normally, this would mark the disappearance of the vixenair, but since magic was involved, the creature remained where it was, looking at him intensely. Now that the fight was over, and the vixenair had calmed down, it looked rather cute.

“Thanks.” Dallion reached to pat the creature on its head. To some surprise, the creature let him.

“You have a magic companion,” the vixenair said, in a high-pitched female voice.

“Yes. Yes, I do.” Dallion smiled. Was the vixenair offering to join as well?

“How?”

“I have the skills for it.”

“How did a magic companion agree to join void companions?”

From what Nil had explained, magic and void didn’t go well together. From this perspective, it made sense that the corresponding creatures wouldn’t get along as well.

“I’ve no idea. They just agreed.”

“You’re a strange one. Strange and dangerous.”

This was yet another time that something out of this world had called Dallion dangerous. The prophecy shared by the dwarf hunter came to mind. Yet that was over… wasn’t it? Or maybe Dallion had mistaken the event. The destruction of the world wasn’t related to the Star, but to something else entirely.

“I’m not dangerous.” Dallion remained calm. “Just a unique combination of traits, skills, and companions.”

“No, you’re not.” The guardian disappeared, and with it, the mirror blocking the main mirror in the corridor.