Leveling up the World

Chapter 191: Being too Good

In effect, splitting is nothing other than possible paths for you to take, Vend said. Think of it as the flip side of markers. Markers give you options you react to. Splits show you the result of actions you take.

The proper term is simultaneous reality selection, Nil said in snobbish fashion. Honestly, learning from him is like learning from a caveman. At least, hes putting some effort into it. Of course, disregard most of what hes saying, Ill explain things better once youre here for your training.

And why didnt you explain all of this earlier? Dallion grumbled.

It would only have confused you. Its not like you actually gave any thought to the way you improved your attributes. What was it again? I want all tens because its a round number?

Dallion felt he could strangle Nil. However, since doing so would destroy the echo, he would have to restrain himself.

Okay, let me try explaining this way, Vend said, looking at Dallions annoyed expression. Think of it as going back in time and doing an attack differently. Then, seeing the results you get to choose that attack of the two, thats better. Makes sense?

Yeah, Veil replied.

Perfectly, Gloria nodded.

Eh, sure. Dallion straightened up. He felt as if he were back in high school and was caught whispering with a friend during class.

Vend gave him a suspicious look, but then went on.

No one knows the precise number of splits you can make, but increasing your mind, lets you do more.

In fact, the precise number a person is capable of is usually the level of the mind minus ten, Nil said. Occasionally there are exceptions, but

Shut up!

The reaction was a bit harsh, but there was nothing worse than having an echo second guessing someone during an explanation. Nil, apparently got the hint, for he stopped with his commentary.

Splitting is a way to gain an edge in battle. Just one note of warning, until you get really good at it dont rely on it blindly.

What happens if its used on us? Dallion asked. He had gone through a few such instances and the results were nearly always bad. Is there a way to use splitting to defend against splitting?

There was a moment of pause. Thanks to his music skills, Dallion could see that Vend was somewhat taken aback, but also impressed with the question.

In general, yes. Though it takes passing through the next gate to do it effectively. Either way, you need to increase your mind a lot for that.

So much for that option. As things stood, mind was of Dallions lowest attributes. At present, he was focusing on improving his perception as much as possible to be able to see marker layers. Now it turned out he also had to improve his mind to actually see the markers on time. Apparently, Nil was right when he had warned Dal not to go along that route. High perception seemed to be a gorgons thing.

Another little-known fact is that splitting can also be used in real life, Vend said.

How? Veil immediately asked.

Have a coin on you?

Veil nodded.

Toss one over.

After a moments hesitation, Veil took a silver coin from his pouch and tossed it to Vend. The elite caught it, then closed both hands.

Any guesses? Vend asked.

No need to guess. We saw in which hand it is, Vend smirked.

Dallion had to agree. There didnt seem to be any tricks involved. However, if it was so obvious, why was he asking? For a split second, Dallion considered asking Nil what the trick was. Quickly, he changed his mind. For one thing he didnt think the echo would provide assistance, especially considering this was a teachable moment.

Right hand, Gloria said.

Its obvious, isnt it? Vend asked. Its easy since youre using your perception. And even if you didnt you had a one in two chance of getting it right. Using splitting, there is no guessing. Vend opened his right hand. To everyones surprise, there was nothing there. Ive been splitting myself all this time. In one instance I caught the coin and moved it to my left hand, in another instant I didnt. That way any hand you picked would be wrong.

I thought you couldnt do that in the real world? Dallion asked.

Dear boy, you can use all your skills in the real world. The only difference is that they are real. Markers, health rectangles, weapon summoning, all those are merely concepts so they can only gain form in the awakened realms. The skills, on the other hand, can be used anywhere. Arent you using your music skills on him right now?

That was a fair point. Dallion was indeed using his music skills a lot lately. While he couldnt see the emotional vibrations with the same clarity he did in the awakened realms, he definitely had a sense of them.

This is just an example to prove the point, Vend tossed the coin back to Veil. The moral of the story is, dont gamble with awakened unless youre prepared to lose.

Does that mean if we get good enough, we can redo past mistakes in the real world? Dallion asked.

If you had read a few history scrolls, youd know the answer to that, Nil sighed

No, Vend looked at him. This is the extent of my ability and Im mind focused. Given your development, it would be extremely difficult. At most it might help you with split-second decisions. That doesnt mean you cant use splitting in the awakened realms.

Vend cracked his fingers. The sound made Gloria wince.

One more thing you wont find in any scroll. Focusing on more attributes or skills isnt always a good thing. It wont be noticeable until you become a double digit, but each focus takes from the rest.

Thats completely disproven, Nil protested.

Any questions so far?

No one said a word.

Good. Now we get to the important part. Vend took a step forward. Join me inside the garden realm. He extended his hand forward.

It didnt take long for all three of his trainees to grab hold of it.

AREA AWAKENING

The surroundings changed as the four entered the realm of the stone garden. Rocks and rock pillars were everywhere as before. This time, though, there was no black smoke to be seen.

You did a pretty good job here, Vend said. A bit reckless for my taste, but it worked for the most part.

Are you saying we missed something? Gloria asked in a semi-indignant tone. Now that they were in the awakened realm, her emotions were much more visible, vibrating brightly in shades of blue.

As far as Dallion could say, there was no indication the realm wasnt flawless. Then again, given this was a large city, a lot could have happened since morning. It would be some kind of record for someone to have trashed a part of the garden so fast, though.

Im saying that you took more effort than you had to. Getting achievements is fun, but its not good in the long run. Trust me. Seeing how easy you took out the first crack settlement, you should have gone along the longer route. You had a week to complete your job, so there was no point in rushing it.

Strictly speaking that wasnt true. As Estezol had pointed out, Dallion wasnt allowed other tasks until the completion of this one. Maybe there was some deep point behind that, but the way things were presented to him, there was absolutely no sense in not getting it done as quickly as possible.

Thats for another time, though. Vend changed the subject. Were here because the lord mayor has given the guild another request. Since weve done such a good job mending the gardens, he has asked that we improve the garden as well.

Dallion could see the shock in the Luors as if they had openly gasped.

Im sure you two know how its done, given that you have done it before. This time, theres a slight catch. The garden is part of the mayors domain and must remain that way. This is something common in sanitation jobs. We often get requests to improve an area, but must be careful not to become the new owners of it.

So, we must improve all the guardians, except the key one? Veil asked.

Not quite. This area is a bit different. Its not a district or village, so there are no other area guardians. In order to improve the area, we must defeat him.

Thats impossible, Veil said with absolute certainty. If we defeat a guardian, we become the owner of the area.

No, theres a way, but it isnt pleasant.

When it became clear what the way was, Dallion and the Luors had to agree. Initially, Dallion had hoped that the area could be treated as an item: all they had to do was transfer it to the cityor the lord mayorand everything would be settled. That turned out not to be the case. Area guardians were an entirely different matter. Maybe due to their size, or maybe because they didnt physically change hands as much as items, they remained loyal to the person who defeated them. Just handing them over to the city wouldnt be enough, and would definitely not be accepted by the local nobility. Instead, the solution was to have a member of the Nerosals ruling household participate in the fight itself. By participating, however, it meant that they were to perform the final killing blow. That wasnt the annoying part, however. In order not to waste a nobles time, the party had to beat down the guardian to such an extent that a simple attack would finish him off. Also, everyone from the group had to escape from the area before the final blow took place. What that meantother than the humiliationwas that none of them would receive any rewards for the work theyve done. Instead, it would be the noble who would level up and become the new de facto owner of the garden.

Finally, Dallion had a good idea why so many awakened guilds preferred not to take on city jobs. Sanitation was bad enough, but at least there was a chance that someone might be lucky and get an achievement of some sort. Improvement of city property was guaranteed to have no reward other than the money spent on the job. As an awakened, Dallion felt himself being robbed.

After a few more explanations and a bit of chit-chat, the group set off through the realmthere was one more annoying task they had to do before the battle could take place: scout out the guardian and determine its strength and attacks so they could form a strategy for the real thing.

This definitely isnt how we did things back home, Veil grumbled. Next to him, Gloria nodded a few times in silent agreement.

Dallion couldnt help but smile. Apparently, there was spoiled, and then there was outright rotten. Back in the days of the former village chief, there was no question that members of the Luor family were spoiled beyond belief. Nothing they had done, though, could compare to an actual noble of Nerosal. So far Dallion hadnt even seen one, and that was very deliberate. High-ranking nobles didnt mingle with the populace, except on a few rare occasions. That was another reason why the festival was so popularit was a chance for a common personawakened or otherto get a glimpse of the illustrious owner of the entire county. In a sense, it was literally the event of the year.

I know it sounds clich, but its actually an honor to have a noble join in on an improvement, Nil said. The guild master had to be quite convincing to make it happen.

Really? Dallion asked.

Well, no. Even the guild master doesnt have that much sway. Were a small guild, after all. It was a bet.

What?!

Apparently, you finishing the job in record time prompted some nobles to bet that you couldnt improve the area by the end of the day. Given the amount of favor such a request carries, it was impossible for the guild master to refuse.

Just great. So not only will we do all this for nothing, but well have an angry noble on our backs when were done.

Dont be so dramatic. Nobles can be petty, but not about things such as this. It would be the same for someone to hold a grudge against a coin because of fell heads instead of tails.

That didnt make Dallion feel any better. If anything, it illustrated the rift between nobility and everyone else. It also further explained why the Dame couldnt compliment him directly during the chainling hunt. However, one question remained. If Falkner was part of such a world, what was he actually doing in the Icepicker guild? Despite what he claimed, there had to be more to it than getting to train under March.