Chapter 65

  Keith gasped.

  Was the celestial grade skill upgrade token what he thought it was?

  Based on the name, there were two possibilities: it upgraded a celestial skill to transcendent grade, or it brought a lower grade skill to celestial grade. The first option was completely useless to Keith. His Mana Body already made it so that all celestial grade skills could perform as a transcendent grade. Keith hoped it was the second option.

  The first skill Keith thought of upgrading to celestial grade was Mana Barrier.

  Mana Barrier was unique in that any damage you took consumed mana instead of health. If it was upgraded to celestial grade, who knows how much more efficient the ratio between mana and damage would be?

  Keith figured the System wouldn’t reward him something he didn’t need.

  In any case, he would find out after completing the remaining challenges.

  “I’ll continue after resting,” Keith spoke to the System.

  As soon as Keith made his decision, information about the next challenge appeared.

  Challenge 3 (Final): Doppleganger.

  Description: A duplicate of your current self will spawn. Defeat it.

  Note 1: The doppelganger will have a copy of all of your current combat experience, equipment, innate gift, skills, and stats.

  Blinking repeatedly, Keith's mouth hung open in disbelief.

  He suddenly regretted his choice to continue the challenge.

  Keith had never guessed for a second that the last challenge would be so outrageous. After all, it wasn’t hard to imagine that killing a copy of yourself would be incredibly difficult, or outright impossible. Following his shock came anger, then depression.

  Withdrawing a chair, Keith slumped into it, his courage withering away.

  Half an hour passed before Keith shot up.

  The System wouldn’t make an unbeatable challenge. There has to be a way! Keith thought, mustering his confidence. Reading through the challenge’s information again, he instantly latched onto a word that appeared twice: current.

  That’s it! Keith’s eyes narrowed.

  The System clearly stated that the doppelganger would possess Keith’s current parameters. That was the key. To overcome his doppelganger, Keith needed to grow during the battle. While he became stronger, the doppelganger remained the same.

  For Keith, that wasn’t anything difficult at all.

  His confidence came from the fact that every day, he saw tangible growth in his overall strength. Not many could say the same. For example, Torg had long reached the peak of the Grandsky Realm. It took months to years for him to see progress.

  Keith calmed his emotions and prepped his mental state.

  During the remainder of the rest period, he reviewed his skills and the equipment he had on him, theorizing about how the doppelganger would fight.

  Soon, the ten second countdown appeared.

  As the timer ticked down, Keith retreated from the center of the arena, putting his back to the wall.

  5…

  4…

  3…

  2…

  1…

  An array appeared on the far side of the arena, from which a human youth sporting cyan hair arose. Everything about him looked exactly the same as Keith, except he had no expression.

  Before Keith could admire how handsome the doppelganger was, it looked at Keith and conjured five arrays.

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  Slimeballs! Keith cursed in alarm.

  Without hesitation, Keith used Blink and teleported ten feet to the left just as five Laegur Beams passed through his previous location.

  Keith’s heart raced at the close call.

  The doppelganger had used the fastest skill in Keith’s arsenal right off the bat. Thankfully, Keith recognized the array, or who knows what would’ve happened.

  After the Laegur Beam arrays failed to kill Keith, the doppelganger waved its hand, summoning weapons from both Quickdraw and Arsenal of the Desert.

  A chill went down Keith’s spine when he saw over thirty golden weapons point in his direction. He knew full well how deadly Arsenal of the Desert was. A few slashes from Arsenal of the Desert could snuff out his life.

  Keith forced himself to remain calm and unraveled the seals of two Mana Cores.

  The compressed mana promptly spread throughout Keith’s body, restoring all the mana he had spent during the first two challenges. When the doppelganger sent its weapons flying over, Keith matched them with his own.

  CLANG!

  Like two swarms of angry bees in battle, both Keith's and the doppelganger’s weapons clashed repeatedly in the space above the arena. Each weapon could only last a few blows before crumbling apart, and when they did, Keith and the doppelganger summoned more.

  For a time, each side was evenly matched, yet as the battle went on, Keith’s expression grew increasingly grim.

  To overcome the doppelganger, he needed to grow stronger, but Arsenal of the Desert was already at max level. There was no way for the skill to improve. Out of all the skills he had, there was one that could pave the way forward: Sword Mastery. It still had much room for growth.

  However, that meant he needed to engage the doppelganger in close combat. Doing so was incredibly risky, as he couldn’t make a single mistake. Keith knew how powerful his skills were. They could breach the defenses of a level 800 divine grade monster with ease. In comparison, Keith’s defenses were nothing worth mentioning.

  With no other options, Keith locked onto the doppelganger in the distance and abruptly dashed forward. Grabbing hold of a nearby longsword, he sprinted across the arena as countless conjured weapons clashed above his head. Keith’s summoned weapons blocked whatever the doppelganger sent his way.

  In a few steps, Keith successfully arrived in front of the doppelganger, using his momentum to his advantage as he swung down from overhead. Still expressionless, the doppelganger grabbed a longsword of its own and parried Keith’s strike with expert precision.

  Undeterred, Keith pressed forward, and the two descended into a duel.

  They fought throughout the arena, sometimes retreating and sometimes advancing.

  All the while, their conjured weapons fought in the sky above.

  The minutes passed as Keith repeatedly undid the seals on his Mana Cores.

  12…

  11…

  10…

  Initially starting with 14, he was now down to five.

  And yet, even after fighting the doppelganger in close combat for over an hour, Keith was unable to break past his guard. While he had gained a few levels in Sword Mastery, it wasn’t enough to make a significant difference.

  Worse, fighting for such a long period, where a single mistake would lead to tragedy, had frayed Keith’s nerves. He was mentally exhausted, especially since he had to control Arsenal of the Desert the entire time.

  Though the doppelganger fared no better, it remained expressionless, like a golem.

  Unlike it, who was a monster, Keith was human.

  He had emotions – both positive and negative.

  And at a time like this, his confidence started to wane.

  For a swordsman, that was something that absolutely could not happen.

  The sword reflected the heart, and when Keith thought of retreating to try something else, he no longer attacked to kill. Instead, he tightened his guard and gave the initiative to the doppelganger.

  Now on the offensive, the doppelganger attacked continuously, giving Keith no time to breathe. Though he blocked and parried to the best of his abilities, Keith’s exhaustion finally caught up to him.

  CLANG!

  A brutal cleave sent Keith’s longsword flying out of his hand.

  The doppelganger followed up with another swing, and Keith’s eyes widened as his right arm flew through the air. Before the doppelganger could finish the job, Keith teleported away.

  The doppelganger used Blink to catch up to Keith.

  Once…

  Twice…

  In seconds, Keith used all his Blink charges.

  When the doppelganger swung down once more, Keith had nowhere to run, so he activated Void Shadowstep to make himself phase through physical damage. The colossal amounts of damage he avoided severely drained his mana, and he was soon running on fumes, even after unsealing his remaining Mana Cores.

  Time slowed to a crawl.

  Keith watched as the doppelganger’s weapon sliced through the air to make the final blow when he saw one of his conjured weapons out of the corner of his eye. In a desperate bid to survive, Keith controlled the spear with his mind and deflected the doppelganger’s attack at the last moment, causing it to miss Keith’s body by a narrow margin.

  The sight shocked Keith to his core.

  Not long ago, Keith’s Sword Mastery skill entered a new realm as he came to understand force and all its subtleties. It allowed him to break apart his opponent’s use of force with ease.

  But just now, when his spear deflected the doppelganger’s weapon, Keith suddenly realized something. What stopped him from applying his new understanding of control to all his Arsenal of the Desert weapons?

  The answer was nothing.

  Nothing at all!

  No matter whether it was a dagger, axe, spear, or any other weapon, they could do the same thing Keith did with a sword. Thinking about it now, Keith realized he had used Arsenal of the Desert in the most barbaric manner – clashing with brute strength and no finesse.

  Keith now knew how stupid he had been.

  At that moment, Keith was at ease, and under the control of his divided minds, he extended his understanding of force to all his weapons.

  Nearby, his dagger struck the doppelganger’s axe at the starting point of its swing, interrupting its momentum. In the air, his spear guided a short sword to collide with another weapon, causing both of them to shatter. All over the arena, Keith's weapons immediately gained an advantage.

  With renewed confidence, Keith withdrew a sword from his grimoire and locked down the doppelganger, once more entering a fierce duel.

  As they fought, the doppelganger’s Arsenal of the Desert weapons broke apart one after another, and soon, Keith had the superiority in numbers. Now that a few of Keith’s weapons were freed up, he swarmed the doppelganger, overwhelming it beyond its abilities.

  In but a moment, it dissipated into motes of light.

  Seeing that he’d won, Keith raised his head to the sky and vented his emotions with a mighty shout that echoed throughout the colosseum.