Leveling up the World (Chapter 868) (Patreon)

The door appeared to be one large slab of metal. There were no keyholes, no handles, just a frame and a pair of metal sheets within it. A single line ran down the middle, indicating the place where the doors met. One could say it dared Dallion to slide his thread cutter through and pry the door open. There was every likelihood the method would work, just as it was certain to cause him to fail the trial. As Unnie had told him, the goal was to demonstrate ability in the second set of skills, not just pass through.

I must admit, I’m envious of you, dear boy, Adzorg said from his domain with a sigh. You’re in a temple of otherworlder life.

Maybe you can ask the emperor to make you an honorary member?

Very funny. On another note, your return has stirred things again. There’s some indication that I might be released into your custody. A pity, even if a welcome one.

Pity?

I was actually winning the current game we were playing. A rare occasion, to be certain. Between you and me, that might have contributed to the decision.

Dallion cracked a smile. If nothing else, the old mage was worth returning to the capital for.

“Found the answer already?” Unnie asked, reacting to Dallion’s smile.

“Maybe,” Dallion lied. It was time to focus on the task at hand again.

On the surface, the door was simple to the extreme. There were no components, decorations, latches, or openings to put anything in. In many ways, it reminded Dallion of an elevator door. Given that he had glimpsed similar in the fallen south, he could expect a mechanism of some sort, yet couldn’t locate the power source.

Let’s think logically, Dallion said to himself. This is meant for non-mage awakened, so magic cannot be the answer. And neither is force.

Cautiously, Dallion placed all five fingers of his right hand on the left part of the door and slid them along the smooth surface. The material was cool with no signs of temperature variation.

Back when Dallion used to go through his awakening trials, Adzorg used to say that the answer was always present in the question. What Dallion had learned through personal experience was that there were even more answers in the restrictions imposed.

Combining his forging skill with layer vision, he examined the door more closely. A whole different picture emerged in front of him. While the metal came from Earth—some sort of aluminum alloy, if he would guess—it wasn’t entirely homogeneous. In fact, in places, it was incredibly thin, just like a layer covering up the real mechanism.

“When was this made?” Dallion asked, following the imperfections. The design was too precise to be random. It rather resembled a circuit of sorts, waiting to be activated.

“Centuries ago,” the woman said.

“It’s in too good condition.” Dallion took a step back. It was notable that the imperfections were only on one the right part of the door. More interestingly, they formed a very specific pattern.

Buttons, Dallion thought. There could be no doubt—the thin layer was hiding buttons beneath it. When Unnie said that he needed a key, she hadn’t specified that it had to be physical. If his guess was correct, all a person needed to do was input the correct combination of buttons by pressing specific points on the door’s surface. Upon matching the combination, it would open, allowing him inside. It was something an otherworlder would think of, and yet it also seemed overly simple. For one thing, it required a good mastery of forging, without relying on any of the other three crafting skills.

Dallion reached out to try his luck, but then stopped. Brute forcing the correct combination was unlikely to work. There had to be another trick. There had to be a way for him to get a better look, but what was it? Back in the Broken Star’s pyramid, he had entered the realm of the lock to find the means to bypass it. The same was impossible here… or was it.

Once again, Dallion focused on the door. After a few seconds, his attention diverted to the frame. Unlike the door itself, that didn’t have an otherworldly glow. There was no way that could be a coincidence. Reaching out, Dallion pressed the side of the frame with his index finger.

SPHERE ITEM AWAKENING

You are in the land of DOOR FRAME.

The DOOR FRAME’s destiny has already been fulfilled.

Reality shifted, bringing Dallion into a realm made of cliffs and wind. A massive mountain extended both up and down from the ledge he was on, vanishing into infinity. Yet, the jagged cliffs weren’t made of stone, but millions of metal shards.

“Cheeky,” Dallion said. “You almost had me there.”

There was no response. According to the blue rectangle, the realm was deprived of guardians, yet that didn’t make it empty. Dallion’s instinct was to cast a spell and reach the top of the cliff. That wasn’t allowed, and neither was using any companions—while scholarly skills were considered crafting skills, zoology definitely wasn’t. In order to reach the top, Dallion was going to…

“You must be kidding me.” He let out a bitter laugh. Athletic and acrobatic skills were also forbidden during this trial. “You want me to forge my way up there?”

It was either that or carving; more likely carving.

Look on the bright side, Adzorg said. At least you figured out another part of the puzzle.

“Some puzzle.” Summoning his hammer, Dallion started chiseling.

Bronze markers appeared on the cliff’s surface, showing him exactly which parts to remove. Doing so with a forging hammer wasn’t an easy task, yet in Dallion’s case, it was more of a nuisance than anything else.

Hours passed. Thanks to his body and reaction traits, Dallion was moving up five times the speed a normal person would be running. Given the size of the cliff, that still left a lot to be desired. The sun set in the realm, replaced by the Red and Cyan Moons and still, there was no indication the top of the mountain was anywhere near.

“There has to be an easier way,” Dallion told himself. It was absurd that the trial involved repetition to such a level.

You never know, dear boy. Maybe it’s aimed at testing your stamina as well?

“They have a pretty good idea of my stamina from my previous trial,” Dallion grumbled.

Why couldn’t this be a standard crafting trial? There wasn’t an item he couldn’t make—possibly with the exception of sphere and world items, of course. All of his crafting skills were at a hundred, and he had constructed and obtained enough blueprints to impress anyone. Maybe he wasn’t at the level of a master craftsman of Count Pilih’s level, but still close.

COMBAT INITIATED

Dallion split into instances, spreading along the side of the mountain. Blades of various shapes and sizes rained on the side of the cliff, bouncing off as they did.

Bladerers! Dallion turned around to look at the sky with several instances.

Dozens of them were flying towards the mountain, with hundreds more on the way behind them. Moonlight shined off the sharp metallic blades, causing them to appear like red and blue flashes of light.

Don’t attack! Vihrogon shouted from Dallion’s domain. You can only use crafting skills.

Anyone’s first thought would be that this can’t be part of the trial. There was no way one could face so many enemies and not be ejected from the realm without using some combat skills.

Damn it! Dallion hissed. There was one alternative, which if true, painted a very poor picture on the Order of the Twelve Suns. Just as carving and forging could be used for combat, arts—or dancing in particular—could be used for evasion.

“Whoever came up with this idea was really sick!” Dallion dropped off the section of the cliff, using his art skills to dance along the footholds he had already made.

Other than the skills allowed, this was no different from the common room trial—Dallion still had to face enemies in combat and little else. There was no clever trick, no actual craftsmanship, just the ability to improve his fighting.

A bladerer swooped at him, its massive wings of blades expanding to cover as large an area as possible.

“If that’s the way you want it,” Dallion split into fifty instances, striking the construct’s shoulder.

Since the balderer was effectively living armor, Dallion’s forgings skills allowed him to see the weak spots, while his carving skills presented the best way to peel parts off.

CRITICAL STRIKE

Dealt damage is increased by 200%

ARM SEVERED

Enemy will no longer be able to make use of its LEFT ARM

A pair of red rectangles emerged. Losing one of its wings, the bladerer fell to the endlessness below. Sadly, he was quickly replaced by another two.

“You’re getting on my nerves!” Dallion struck again.

CRITICAL STRIKE

Dealt damage is increased by 200%

ARM SEVERED

Enemy will no longer be able to make use of its LEFT ARM

TERMINAL HIT

Dealt damage is increased by 1000%

One of the new attackers followed the first on the way down, while the second disappeared in a cloud of fading particles, having its head carved off.

Even Dallion had to admit that forcing him to use such skills for combat purposes opened up a few new tricks. If he were facing a few dozen enemies, maybe such an approach would have worked. Against hundreds—even with his level of combat splitting, he was bound to tire or make a mistake.

Keep it up, dear boy! Adzorg encouraged. You lose nothing by hanging on.

Technically, the old mage was correct. If Dallion were to lose the trial, it would be after getting ejected from the realm. Was there a point in fighting without a chance of success? Even if he somehow killed all the bladerers, he was no closer to discovering how to open the door. Unless the bladerers were the way.

Splitting into a hundred instances, Dallion took a better look at how the bladerers were arranged. While the distant ones kept on throwing blades, only a pair had approached up to the cliff itself. Using his scholarly skills, he determined that the distance between pairs of bladerers was just enough for him to reach by jumping; or rather by dancing.

There was a brief moment of hesitation. Once it was gone, Dallion pushed off the metal cliff, landing on the nearest bladerer’s shoulder. Blades flew off the construct’s wings. Before they could reach Dallion, he used the established carving method to decapitate the entity.

TERMINAL HIT

Dealt damage is increased by 1000%

A red rectangle appeared—Dallion’s cue to move on to the next.

As he did, the sun emerged from the horizon. Moving three times as fast as in the real world, it flooded the realm with light, providing Dallion with a far better view. In the bright light, it was obvious that the bladerers were in fact thousands, not merely hundreds, as he expected. That wasn’t the main issue. From his current position, Dallion was able to see a massive change on the mountain he had leaped off from. A large section stuck out, perpendicular to the cliff face. Dallion had been climbing so far. It was absilytely massive, stretching miles in length, and at least ten times more in height. A faint glow of purple was visible along the outermost part of the chunk—a glow Dallion had gotten to know quite well.

“Portals,” he said. The end of the chunk was covered in portals.

I don’t see how that helps you, Vihrogon said.

“A lock,” Dallion said as he kept on dancing from one bladerer to another, killing them off in the process. “That’s the tongue of a giant lock!”

This was how he was supposed to enter the realm of the door proper. With this, he had been given the answer to the question. All that remained now was for him to nail the execution.