Ray’s teeth crunched into an apple as he watched the latest broadcast. It was honestly so weird to find an apple of all things here, but then again, it wasn’t any normal apple. No, this was one of the rather expensive Mana-infused fruit that Gritty had purchased. Not bad, honestly. Though, he could do with less glowing bits getting stuck between his teeth.

  “They actually caught him?” Marcus asked, shaking his head at the broadcast on the screen. “No way that’s real. That guy would never let himself get captured.”

  Ray nodded. Pierce Holloway wasn’t someone who would let himself get caught easily. Not after how long he had evaded the Sylvans. “That’s because that’s not Pierce.”

  Marcus turned sharply to Ray. He winced, rubbing his chest. Despite self-professing that he was fully healed and fit to fight in the next dungeon, Ray still had his doubts.

  “Don’t tell me that’s actually… you?” Marcus asked.

  “No,” Ray said. “Not technically.”

  “Not technically,” Marcus mimicked in a horrible rendition of Ray’s voice. “That’s your mimic isn’t it?”

  Ray just grinned. They had told him the day after Ray’s meeting with the Tower Lord, when Marcus had finally woken up, everything that had gone on. Because of the summarizing, some of the details had gotten lost. Like why exactly Ray had decided to meet the Tower Lord.

  They took a bit of time watching the rest of the broadcast. The Sylvans were making a big show of shackling fake Pierce and dragging him to their palace.

  “Why bother with it?” Marcus asked. “What did you gain?”

  “We gained a fast-forward to the last dungeon of this whole tournament business,” Ray said.

  “That helps us how?”

  Ray glared at him. “Hasn’t Gritty been filling you in on what the Sylvans probably want from us all here?”

  Marcus had a weirdly unreadable expression then. Then he sighed. “Right. Dungeon coming up. We better get ready.”

  Ray watched the last of the broadcast before he agreed and got busy. The way the Sylvans were handling fake Pierce emphasized that they were shutting down this part of the saga. The audience could look forward to the tournament resuming soon.

  And while the Tower Lord would no doubt appreciate all this in his own way, Ray had to wonder if it would influence things long term. Would he be able to actually restrain the Floor Lord enough for Ray to win the Immortalizer Tournament? And then there was the bigger question—how was Pierce going to react?

  Ray was hoping Lent would have passed on information regarding everything that had happened and who was responsible for it to Pierce. Which meant the bastard would owe him.

  Should owe him.

  Honestly, Ray didn’t care if Pierce targeted more Tower Nodes. Ray wasn’t particularly drawn to gaining more unless necessary. But hopefully, after the disastrous effects of the last one, Pierce would be a little more circumspect. And he would hopefully remember whose side he needed to be on when things finally came to a head.

  “Take it easy,” Ray said as he was about to leave. “Alright?”

  Marcus scoffed. “I’m fine, stop nagging me.”

  “So long as you’re fine tomorrow too.”

  “I will be.”

  “And so long as you don’t plan on killing yourself—”

  Marcus glared at Ray. “It was a heroic sacrifice.”

  Ray shook his head. “Sure, buddy.” He hesitated for a moment, not sure he wanted to broach the topic. But now was one of the better times. Who knew when they’d have such a clear-cut and calm moment to talk. “You mind telling me why you want to go out with a heroic sacrifice?”

  Marcus blinked at Ray, taken aback a little. “It’s not like I want to go out in some kind of blaze of glory, you know. It just…”

  “Just what?”

  “Well, it felt like the right thing to do. I didn’t want to… to be the guy who’s holding the team back.” Marcus had been hesitating, but the more he spoke, the surer he sounded. “If that’s what I need to do at any given moment, if that’s my role, then I won’t hesitate. I won’t be the one responsible for us falling behind.”

  Ray stared at his teammate, at a man he could honestly call a friend by now. It took a second for him to register the words. “Did… uh, something happen? You know, in the Tower before you came to this one? Or maybe even in this Tower, when you got—”

  Marcus tutted. “It’s obvious isn’t it? I wasn’t up to snuff… before. I hesitated. Hesitation is defeat. And that’s what happened. I got beat.” He took a deep breath before snapping it out. “Now, I wont.”

  Ray considered asking more, but decided against it. Marcus was already battling against discomfort to reveal as much as he had. Ray didn’t want to make the poor guy feel even worse.

  Plus, would he have been open to talking so freely about his failures? About things he was insecure about? He wasn’t so sure, so not wanting to be a hypocrite, he let it rest for now.

  Next step was training. Ray had been a little too busy with bullshit the last few days, but he was looking forward to not having much to do besides going through his collection of training crystals. He really needed to be ready. A Tier 35 dungeon had kicked his ass more than he preferred.

  Tier 38 was going to be even worse. Especially considering the Sylvans had decided this was going to be the final dungeon of this tournament.

  Except, just as he was about to sequester himself in his room and start, Gritty came back.

  “Wingman!” her shout almost made his door jump on its hinges. “They’re conspiring against you.”

  Ray groaned. Could a man not go through his alien training crystals in peace? “What is it now?” he asked as he opened the door.

  Only to collide with Gritty as she tried to barge into his room.

  Unfortunately, Ray was the only one to fall. He rubbed his chest where she had hit him, which hurt more than where his ass had struck the floor. Weird how stats changed things in this world.

  “You’re famous!” Gritty grinned down at him, holding out her hand, which he accepted before she pulled him up. “Or, infamous I guess.”

  “What?”

  “Remember the other teams that came to visit the other day?”

  “I’m not sure I’d call that a visit.”

  Marcus thumped in, drawn in by Gritty’s boisterousness. “What’s going on?”

  Gritty motioned for him to shut up as she explained. Apparently, after one of her trips, she had recognized a few of the competitors who had come to the hotel a little while ago to demand that Ray assist getting the auction going. Marcus already had that context.

  After following them for a while, Gritty had chanced upon a meeting between all the competitors who had visited that day. This time, every single member of all the teams were present. Clearly, it was an important meeting, so Gritty had done her best to spy on them. Ray never failed to be a little amazed at how casually she could infiltrate places.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Maybe he should have asked her to get in touch with the Tower Lord.

  “And that’s when I learned how they were going to beat us,” Gritty said, pausing a bit to build the suspense. “They’re going to combine into one team.”

  Marcus and Ray both frowned.

  “That’s not allowed,” Marcus said. “We can’t combine winnings from different teams, or this whole Immortalizer Tournament Auction would fall apart.”

  “They’re not going to combine their winnings so far. That would be illegal, as you said. Instead, they’re going to work together to take us all out as one. They’re going to beat us in the last dungeon and try to claim the treasures for themselves once we’re all out for good.”

  Macus’s frown deepened. “Why do you sound so excited about it?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be? Don’t you see how exciting this is?”

  “Exciting?”

  “Yeah! They’re all coming after us! How cool is that?”

  Ray figured most people had a very different definition of cool compared to Gritty. But he saw what she meant. Which was probably because he had known her long enough that he could guess why she felt exhilarated. It was the prospect of blood.

  “Us specifically?” Ray asked. “Or…”

  “Yeah you guessed it,” Gritty said. “All the teams who are ahead. Us, the bully-guy’s team, the team with the boulder… although, now that I think about it, will he even be allowed to participate? He’s not a team anymore with two of his teammates out.”

  Good point. Ray wasn’t sure how that was going to work. After all, the Sylvan member of Team Albatross was dead and Pierce was “captured”. Even if the real one managed to find some way to enter the dungeon undetected, the Sylvans wouldn’t let him participate before invading the dungeon. He would be stupid to reveal himself now.

  “So what are we going to do?” Marcus asked. “Form our own coalition?” His face curdled. “I don’t see Sameer agreeing to work with us.”

  Their own coalition was definitely a tempting proposition. But Marcus was right. Sameer would eat his own boots before he decided to help Ray, no matter what the circumstances were.

  “Maybe we don’t need to make them agree to help us,” Ray said.

  At his teammate’s questioning looks, Ray cast Resurrect Recollect twice, calling up two Imitator constructs. They appeared as silver blobs that quickly took on their own shape, resolving into the familiar forms of their competitors.

  “Oh.” Gritty grinned. “Smart idea. Can I punch them?”

  Ray laughed shortly. “No, don’t abuse my poor mimics. Save the punches for the real ones.”

  Marcus marvelled at the lifelike lookalikes of Sameer and Eliza standing before them. “I’m really glad I’m a part of this team and not a part of the team where a member is hunted down by the entire Sylvan administration.”

  “Uh…”

  Marcus blinked. “Oh, sorry. You know what I mean.”

  They took some time to discuss what their plan for the Tier 38 dungeon was going to be, with regards to the other teams ganging up on them. It didn’t take too long. Ray didn’t let it. He had training crystals to attend to.

  With his teammates finally gone, Ray turned his attention to levelling up. He had already used the rewards from the last dungeon. The three Aeon Mana Tier points went to Resurrect Recollect, Aetheric Trace, and Momentous Domain. He was going to get more Tier points by levelling up through the training crystals, so he hadn’t agonized about choices for long.

  The True Mana skill point had reminded him of his True Mana skills that he still had. Namely, Vengeful Plunder and Abstract Conversion, the former of which received the Tier Point. Meanwhile, the Origin Mana Tier Point went to Core Deconstruction.

  Ray clenched his hands together. That was key. Using Core Deconstruction. That was how he could stop Pierce if the asshole came after him again.

  If. He owed Ray now. Would the bastard disregard it and still attack Ray, still determined to take away any Tower Nodes in his possession?

  Well, they might find out soon enough.

  Ray entered the training crystals. He scoured through his memories. The more recent ones this time. He was determined to face off against strong foes, enemies he wouldn’t be able to defeat easily.

  Over and over, he fought the Segmented Titan. Over and over, he faced off against the Second Foor Lord and her strange, cosmic powers. Over and over, he faced the Viledrake, the First Floor Lord, even Derrick Orden. Every fight where he had struggled, where death had been a possibility, where he had given it his all.

  Interestingly, Ray could never call up memories of battles that had ended inconclusively. For instance, he couldn’t fight Pierce or Sameer again. Even if he had struggled hard against them, even if their combat had been furious, the training crystals wouldn’t allow it.

  Ray figured it was because the battles hadn’t resulted in any of them dying. That was the only common denominator he could determine.

  Nevertheless, after painstaking recollections of memory after memory, Ray exhausted his entire supply of training crystals.

  He fell onto his bed. The training crystals didn’t physically exhaust him, recreating his body in an intangible space that didn’t use up any real resources. But the mental exhaustion was undeniable. Ray needed to rest. He had earned it, after all.

  Level 55. That was how far Ray had reached with his current batch of Mana crystals. Four levels higher than he had been after completing the last dungeon.

  Was that really enough to help him tackle people like the Tower Lord, or even the Third Floor Lord? Ray… didn’t really believe so. But then again, levels themselves or the stat gains he earned weren’t everything. Nor even were the Tier points he was earning. What really mattered was the moment of the fight. The instant of the life-or-death struggle.

  Of who could outsmart who during the fight itself.

  That said… Ray did appreciate that he had learned a new spell through his Ascension Class.

  [Information Request—Spells]

  Temporal Scour [Tier 10] [Utility]

  Scour the temporal passage of any target, which can then receive damage and other secondary effects in place of the actual target. When the temporal apparition rejoins the host, a percentage of damage is transferred to the actual target. At Tier 10, this spell pulls out an apparition for 1 minute within 10 meters of the target, transfers 20% of damage dealt, and costs 200 Aeon Mana per target.

  Ray whistled as he read the spell’s description. Honestly, it sounded a little broken. Well, it had the potential to be broken. The only drawback was the range requirement. Ten meters of the target… was still pretty close. He could cover ten meters in the blink of an eye once he got going.

  It also reminded him a bit of Time Link, although he couldn’t actually do anything to the apparition pulled up by that spell.

  With new levels, a new spell, and newfound confidence, Ray was ready to face the final dungeon of the Immortalizer Tournament.

  The expectations seemed to have replaced the air when they all headed to the final dungeon of the tournament. People were excited. The audience was ready. The officials all had tension riding their shoulders like they were wearing capes made of it.

  “You feel it too, huh?” Gritty asked, eyeing Ray.

  He nodded slowly. “This is it. Practically everybody knows it.”

  The three of them walked over to meet up with Sridayne. She asked her attendant to carry out the rest of the preparations for her broadcast, before greeting Ray and the rest of his team.

  “I unfortunately could not discover much about what you are about to face,” she said a little apologetically.

  Ray waved it away. “Don’t worry about it. It would have been difficult.”

  No way was the Tower Lord going to allow anything about the dungeon to leak ahead of time. This was the final dungeon. The crowning glory of this whole tournament that he had organized. He would go the extra length to make sure everything was as perfect as possible.

  “I did manage to discover one particularly interesting bit of information,” Sridayne said, lowering her voice. Her eyes had an edgy look. “A new team is entering this dungeon specifically, and you had best be wary of them.”

  “A new team?” Gritty asked. “Why? Who’re they?”

  “Sylvans.”

  Ray tensed. Oh, he knew where this was going and who was responsible for it. “Figures they want to screw with me even now.” He frowned. “Also, can’t they pick a new method, at least? They already tried this exact trick in that other dungeon. Remember?”

  Gritty nodded. Marcus did as well, though distractedly so. He was too busy looking around and taking in everything on the Tier 38 dungeon island.

  “Perhaps this does look like an… old trick,” Sridayne said. “But I would be wary.”

  Ray nodded. “Yeah, not dismissing your concerns. Thanks for the info. We’ll be careful.”

  Moments later, the official called all the competitors to come register. There were a lot of hard looks between them all. Ray tried to act nonchalant when he caught the other teams, the ones who hadn’t made a splash in the auction yet, all eyeing him with barely hidden malice.

  What he was actually interested in was getting in touch with Sameer. The asshole ignored him though. When Ray called out directly, Sameer simply raised a middle finger and walked away.

  Ray cursed. “What a jerk…”

  His plan mainly involved his Imitator constructs, but if he could get Sameer’s actual team involved, things would go a lot smoother.

  “Don’t worry,” Gritty said. “You don’t need to talk to him. You could just talk with a different member of his team.”

  She pointed off to their right. Ray blinked. Marcus had left their side a little while ago, and now he saw why. He was talking rather animatedly with Eliza. And she was actually responding. Maybe in a more reserved manner, compared to Marcus, but she was definitely not drawing away. Not even giving Marcus any glares or withering looks.

  “No way…” Ray said, slowly shaking his head.

  His surprise quickly abated. He remembered that moment in the last dungeon when Pierce had been moments away from destroying everything in his fight against Ray and Marcus. When things had cleared, Ray had seen the familiar wash of colours that had reminded him of Eliza’s own time-bending powers.

  She had saved them. More specifically, she had saved Marcus. How had he known, or found out?

  Ray: Marcus. Try not to react. I need you to pass on a message to your gf.

  Marcus: Bro, what? Gtfo!

  Ray: Just tell her what Gritty told us about the other teams targeting us. And tell her—

  Marcus: I’m trying to have a moment here.

  He was clearly having difficulty chatting with Ray while also carrying out his conversation with Eliza. Ray almost thought it was funny the way Eliza was slowly starting to frown at Marcus’s sudden strangeness, but he decided he didn’t need to be so cruel.

  Ray: Just tell her to work with us when the time comes. It’ll help you too, trust me.

  Marcus had the foresight not to reply further to Ray, just focusing on his actual conversation instead. Ray left him to it. Though, he’d need to sate his curiosity about how Marcus and Eliza were even a thing at some point.

  They all headed to the dungeon entrance before long. Ray stood before the large stone arch, Gritty to his left and Marcus to his right.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  Gritty grinned back. “To win? You bet.”