Chapter 764: Clone
Chapter 764: Clone
A second. Two seconds… three seconds…
[Stop counting. You’re making me fall asleep,] Nyx said. [Just boost it a bit more, nothing bad will happen.]
“Fair.”
So Rael did just that.
Accelerating the time of the egg by a couple thousand times more, it didn’t take long for faint cracks to appear across the surface of the egg.
When that happened, Rael immediately stopped what he was doing and took a couple of steps back.
In the next instant, a small hand tore through the shell and began breaking itself out.
In just a few minutes, a platinum-colored baby dragon crawled out of the egg.
At a glance, the amount of mana it was emitting was pretty intense, leaving even Rael surprised.
But once the baby dragon and Rael locked eyes, the baby dragon smiled before suddenly vanishing into particles.
And in the next instant, more pop-ups appeared in front of Rael.
<Ding!>
<Baby Dragon Grade: Grade 6>
<Trial of Worthiness has been completed!>
<Grade: SSS+>
<Would you like to proceed to the next trial? Yes / No>
A Grade 6 Baby Dragon?
God damn.
“Do you know how many trials are usually in this thing?” Rael asked.
Nyx pondered over it for a moment before saying:
[Not sure about this one, but most trial chambers with huge stakes like this usually have 5 trials in total. I’m guessing you have 3 more. At the rate you’re going, I’m positive you can finish everything within just a few hours.]
True.
“Well… I’ll get to it then.”
With that, Rael pressed “Yes.”
For the third time, the surroundings shifted, and unlike the previous two times, something felt a little off.
And only when he stared ahead and spotted someone who looked like a copy of himself did Rael understand what this trial might be.
The pop-ups only confirmed it.
<Ding!>
<You have begun the third trial!>
<Trial of One’s Self>
<Description: Defeat a perfect clone of yourself.>
<Time Limit: 5 years.>
“Hmm…”
If we’re anatomically the same, can’t I just cast some anti-mana skills at him? I think I have one or two.
[Do you think your clone cares about shitting its pants?] Nyx asked matter-of-factly.
Rael thought about it for a moment, then sighed.
Fair enough. Do you reckon I should stick a nuke up its ass and detonate it?
[…]
[Just fight it properly.]
Rael was a little sad that his genius ideas were being turned down like this, but like the big boy that he was, he gathered his wits and slowly approached his clone.
The clone also did the same, while also scanning Rael up and down.
Rael’s spidey senses were telling him that his clone also had the nuke up the ass idea, but he couldn’t prove it just yet.
Just then, Rael realized the mana in the air had undergone a change, and before he could even process what was happening, his clone reappeared in front of him and stuck a hand through Rael’s chest, as if trying to crush his heart.
Rael didn’t have a heart.
But he did have enough heart to appreciate what his clone had just done.
It had briefly entered the Mirror Realm, bypassing his Foresight.
That also made Rael realize that even if he could see someone with his eyes, his Foresight wouldn’t pick up on any attacks that happened from another realm.
And that was a big realization that Rael couldn’t help but chuckle at.
But…
“Mind letting go, motherfucker?”
Rael raised his hand and swatted away his clone a few dozen kilometers away.
Just like his clone, Rael entered the Mirror Realm to bypass the clone’s Foresight.
Naturally, it worked like a charm.
But now what?
It seemed like this clone’s intensity depended entirely on Rael’s intent.
So if he were to go all out, so would the clone.
But Rael had a suspicion that if he were to go all out, the clone would just destroy him because of how much more pragmatic it was.
Starting slow was the best bet.
Kicking off the ground, Rael reappeared in front of the clone and began a full-on fist fight.
Though, since both of them had the same technique, and both of them parried the strongest attacks, the fight didn’t go anywhere.
Even when Rael used one of his newer abilities, Life Drain, nothing happened.
Life Drain (Celestial): Focus on your opponent and drain 5% of their total HP per second.
After all, to avoid his Life Drain, the clone just had to Life Drain him back.
It really was an annoying struggle of a battle, and as much as Rael wanted to pull some eureka moment and figure out how to defeat himself through sheer effort and whatever… he could just take another route.
Nyx, could you help me out?
[Seriously…?] Nyx mumbled. [Don’t you want the satisfaction of beating yourself? You know you’d improve by leaps and bounds.]
I know better than anyone else how annoying of an opponent I am. And before you say ’oh, fighting yourself will make you figure out your weaknesses…’
Rael let out a sigh.
I hope you know that by the end of this trial, or even by tomorrow, all those weaknesses will be gone.
After all, with him being able to adapt to pretty much everything, and him constantly getting power-ups… trying to one-up himself was just a complete and total waste of time.
A waste of time he wasn’t keen on bothering himself with.
So with that in mind, Nyx grumbled and decided to finally step out.
The moment she did, Rael’s clone flinched and backed off slightly.
“Are you sure you want me to do this?” Nyx asked with a sigh.
“Yeah.”
She stared at him for a few seconds longer, then turned toward his clone.
The clone took even more steps back when, all of a sudden, it kicked off the ground and began running away.
Rael was confused by what he was seeing, since if this really was his clone, he knew he wasn’t that big of a pussy to run away.
But in the next instant, he figured out exactly why his clone was running away.