LiseEclaire
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Leveling up the World (Chapter 720)
🕑 Added 2023-03-19 22:35:49 +0000 UTCThere was nothing more satisfying than using a bit of high-school physics to get out of a bind. It would have been nice if simultaneously heating and cooling a wall were enough to help Dallion escape from the prison realm. Even Dallion wasn’t that optimistic, although he wouldn’t have had anything against a wall or two in the room collapsing. That didn’t happen, although it proved something else he had heard from Earth: no material is fully homogeneous. Apparently, this applied to realms as well.
Thin lines appeared on the solid surface. Almost invisible to normal perception, they represented the boundary between hot and freezing. At first glance, the lines seemed to be of little significance, but given a bit of Earth knowledge and some awakened scholarly skills, one could see a pattern. The lines represented invisible seams—weaknesses in the monolithic material.
With a lot of patience, and even more combat splitting, Dallion sliced the walls along the lines. The material made an attempt to reform, just as Nil had explained it would. However, in one case, Dallion was able to slide a piece out, just like removing a manel from the case of a mobile phone. The block was no larger than a cube with a side of one foot, but it was enough to create a hole within the unbreachable wall.
Got you, Dallion thought.
With lightning reflexes, he tossed the block to the ground, then cast a spell summoning an ice cube in the open space. No sooner had he done so than the wall filled up any cracks, making the ice cube part of it. To be on the safe side, Dallion drew a few ice symbols on the ice.
“Interesting approach,” Nil said. “Of course, I was just starting out back then. My better works don’t have such obvious flaws.”
“Good thing they didn’t use those,” Dallion grumbled.
The block he had taken out had already started to fade away on the floor. Mere seconds after falling there, it already appeared to be part of the room again. Within minutes, it would seem like a loose tile. An hour after that, there would be no trace that anything had happened in the room at all.
Using his layer vision, Dallion tried to peek through the ice. As far as he could make out, there was a space beyond the wall. It was impossible to tell whether it was a separate room, a corridor, or just an air shaft of some sort. The important thing was that it was there.
“What’s your plan from here on?” Nil asked.
Dallion glanced at the echo over his shoulder. The self-confidant arrogance within him urged him to answer the question; his suspicions made him hold back.
I’m starting to think like a mage, Dallion thought.
“I’ll see either way.” The echo shrugged.
“Then why ask?” Dallion went to the ice patch.
With a lot of luck, he could burn through the center of it and squeeze through just before the whole thing collapsed. It had its risks, but with a few instances, Dallion reckoned he could make it happen. Then again, based on the metaphor Nil had given him regarding the material of the realm, he didn’t have to. While sand and dust actively filled any opening, they could easily be displaced.
Bit by bit, Dallion cast several dozen spells, each increasing the side of the cube by a tenth of an inch. Finally, when it was large enough, he went to the other side of the room, then rushed forward, charging at it head first.
All the action movies, back on Earth, clearly illustrated that head-butting was the strongest attack possible. When combined with a point attack, that actually proved true.
Dallion shattered through the block of ice, flying into the neighboring space. Even as he did, he could feel the wall close behind him in a desperate attempt to grab his feet like quicksand.
Head Smashing
(+2 Body)
That’s one way to use your head. Never do it again, please.
“At least you have a sense of humor,” Dallion said to himself as he stood up.
The new area resembled a corridor, although it had more openings than walls. Looking up and down, Dallion could see rectangular holes in the floor and ceiling. Everything continued to be completely bare, made of the same transparently-opaque material as the room had been. The only major difference was that this time there were a number of magic threads visible. Like cables, they went through the walls, spreading in all directions. None of them were very bright—it was unlikely Dallion would be able to increase his magic level by consuming them. Naturally, that didn’t stop him from trying.
“That would be a waste of time, dear boy.” Nil appeared a few steps away. The benefits of being the prison’s creator meant that he could appear in every part of the realm he wished.
“Magic is stamina,” Dallion said, placing his hand on the nearest wall. The magic within him spread out in the forts of hundred minute threads, twisting around the purple line. Katka’s training had finally proved to be useful for something.
“You can’t eat or drink it. Stamina rarely is an issue in prison realms. Well, unless you happen to be caught in the prison item of an extremely sadistic noble.”
“So, the next part is a maze?” Dallion pulled out the thread from the wall. It snapped in two. One part disappeared completely. The other remained attached to Dallion’s hand, continuing forward along the wall.
“That’s part of it. Mind you, it wasn’t intended to serve as a challenge. The whole point of this realm was to face prisoners with an unbreakable wall. Most would despair after a few days. After a few weeks, they’d even lose the will of escaping.”
“So, you’ve used this?”
“Of course I have. I’ve even experienced it myself. Every good real builder must know the details of his craft, and that includes thinking like a person using it. Well, using might not be the correct word, everything considered.” He slid a finger along the wall, then looked at it, as if inspecting for dust. “It was also used on a few troublemakers. Rest assured, though, it takes for such punishment to be considered. There’s a far greater chance you might end up imprisoned at a noble’s tea party.”
“So I keep hearing.”
“It’s no surprise. As the saying goes, what’s the use of all that power if you aren’t ready to use it?”
There were a lot of things Dallion could say in that regard, but he chose not to. Instead, he continued along the corridor, consuming the magic thread as he did.
Given that he had managed to escape the windowless room in less than a day, Dallion had high hopes he’d be out in six hours at most. Mazes, even three-dimensional ones, were his thing. He knew well that things in this realm would hardly be as they seemed, but at least he had a direction to follow: away from the room.
During the first few hours, he’d constantly split into fifty instances, exploring all possible paths in the vicinity. After half a day, he decreased the number to ten. Five hours move, and he only kept one to act like a save-point of sorts.
“You’re sure there are no creatures?” Dallion asked, hoping for anything to distract him from the tedious boredom.
“None whatsoever. Guardians would allow a way out, and cracklings would defeat the purpose. Still, I would recommend you checking if you happen to end up in another prison. There are other schools of prison realms and not all get rid of their guardians.”
“Thanks for the tip.” Dallion had no intention of ever getting caught in something of the sort again. “If the maze wasn’t intended, why create it?”
“You’re still ignoring the obvious. The maze is the guts of the realm—a carefully arranged and mathematically perfect combination of walls and openings that ensure the room walls deal with any attempts to destroy them quickly and efficiently. Going back to my sand example, you’ve seen the speed of sand. Eventually it would even out, given some external encouragement. The latticework of walls makes sure that happens sooner rather than later.”
“Wait.” Dallion stopped. “You made this?”
“I carved the concept, yes,” the echo replied with a smile. “It took me months back then. Several times I almost messed up. I was never gifted in splitting, so I couldn’t resort to it.”
“Then you know the way out!”
“Dear boy…” Nil sighed. “If I could tell you, don’t you think I would have? Despite what you think of me, I have no desire to see you dead. Even from a pragmatic point of view, there’s nothing I would gain from your death. I’ve become rather fond of you.”
“You just have more tasks you want me to do.”
“Let’s assume that’s true. You still need to be alive to do so.”
Yea, right, Dallion thought.
“How big is this place, at least?”
“Depends on your perspective. Definitely smaller than a world item. Larger than most common sphere items. That’s not an easy question to answer.”
Even now, after everything, the echo remained vague in its answers. Either he was playing a longer con, or something was restricting him from sharing what he knew. Most likely it was a bit of both. If Dallion wanted to get out of here, he had to rely on himself. For the moment, he was doing a good job following the magic thread. Also, thanks to his mind trait, he could see the part of the maze he’d gone through in his head. If one could take Nil at his word, which was no longer a given, Dallion was supposed to reach the end of the maze rather soon.
Half an hour later, Dallion arrived at a straight wall. This had to be it. Outside the initial room, there hadn’t been a case of a wall lasting more than five steps without twisting in some direction. Just to be certain, Dallion continued walking along the wall for another twenty steps. There were no changes.
“Is this the way out?” he asked.
The echo, constantly following him a few steps behind, said nothing.
I’ll take that as a yes, Dallion said to himself, and let go of the magic thread he was consuming. There was no point in keeping on with it. It had done his job, taking him to the outer layer. Now all he had to do was to break through.
Using his Nil dagger, Dallion sliced a scar on the wall. The mark shrank before his very eyes, completely disappearing in a matter of seconds. Clearly, the maze was doing a good job of distributing the material everywhere throughout the entire realm. In theory, it was supposed to be a bit less efficient now, due to the magic thread Dallion had consumed, though not by a noticeable amount.
“Has anyone escaped this realm before?” Dallion asked.
“Just one.” Nil approached. “The emperor. He took a liking to my work, so asked me if he could test it out. I’m still clueless how he managed.”
“Damn. And I thought I’d be the first.”
Dallion drew a series of heating and freezing symbols on the nearby sections of the wall. It didn’t take long for him to see the seams that appeared. Following the same practice as last time, Dallion sliced an opening, cast an ice cube spell in it, then expanded it enough to bust through.
Mentally, he had already prepared himself to continue the fight against Phoil from the point where they let off. Spending a bit over a day in the prison realm, virtually no time should have passed in the real world.
Splitting into instances, Dallion rolled on the floor, then did several three-sixty slashes with his Nox dagger. The only issue was that he didn’t find himself in mage Enroy’s inner sanctuary, but rather in a small windowless room… the same windowless room he had started from. The shame and dimensions were just as he remembered it, as was the glowing blue rectangle in the center.
“As you’ve probably guessed, dear boy, it’s not the walls that make the prison. At least. Not just them.”
