Chapter 159: Doppleganger
A Challenger has entered the 200th floor…
William looked at the man standing before him, a black-haired man with arched eyebrows and bright green eyes. His face was different from the blue-haired S-Rank Ice Mage, and the only real difference between William and this new person was that the latter had no beard.
“My name is-”
“William.” the two said in unison.
Neither William moved, each of them inspecting the other. Will noticed that the trial-generated version of him was only holding the Sword of Shifting Sands, and not the Mana Gathering Staff. He assumed it had something to do with the abilities of the Staff, or possibly how much energy it would take to replicate.
How and when did this happen? Was it created when I entered the trial, or when I entered the Gravitas Ruins?
He did not know, but it would be obvious the moment the two of them clashed. William had upgraded his Talents quite a bit since then.
“Let’s see how strong I am!” William shouted as he rushed forward, amplifying himself with an Advanced Speed Array he created in the blink of an eye and supporting it with the Wind Element.
The opposite William did the exact same thing, both parties running at each other with speed close to the middle-stages of the Nascent Soul Realm.
Boom!
The sound of swords clashing resounded throughout the room. On William’s end, his Forcefield was covered with cracks, the high-speed swing threatening to shatter the protective measure in a single hit.
On the clone’s end, a similar veil expanded, but it was a bit different from William’s Forcefield Talent. It seemed to be an exact duplicate in terms of defensive measures, but William recognized it as a Spirit Aura, which only Golden Core Cultivators and above were able to use.
William noticed that it wasn’t just the Spirit Aura that was different, but also the way that the clone ran. Instead of speeding out seemingly out of random, the clone’s legs bulged as he ran. It was as if the golden orb was trying to guess what kind of abilities William was using, applying said ability to the clone.
So it has the non-cheat version of my abilities? Interesting…
William continued to fight with the clone, each of their physical attacks matching in strength. William and the clone added the Lightning Element to boost their speed further, but instead of just boosting his speed, the clone covered its entire body and ran at William without abandon.
The aura of Lightning clashed with William’s Forcefield at the same time as a sword strike from the clone, shattering William’s Forcefield just moments before the clone’s Spirit Aura broke. William took a direct hit, his Hard Skin absorbing the impact while he was knocked back a few meters.
For some reason, the Attack Reflection Talent didn’t trigger on either of them. Maybe it was because they were the same person, or that both had the same ability which canceled out the effect.
I lost that exchange, but how? William wondered. It was already clear to him that the clone’s Magic wasn’t on par with his own since it wasn’t holding the Mana Gathering Staff, but the expected outcome didn’t happen.
He clashed with the clone a few more times, but it always seemed to use a different or more powerful Magic Spell than William would normally use. When William launched Earth Spikes at the clone, it responded in kind by creating a giant Ice Wall that blocked the Spikes, then continued feeding Mana into the wall to launch Ice Spikes from it as a counterattack.
William was forced to defend from the Ice Spikes, but a set of Earth Spikes rose from the ground, forcing William to jump into the air and dodge. While he was in midair, a giant fireball engulfed him, causing a few minor burns and knocking him back even further.
His back pressed against the wall, but there were half a dozen Ice Spikes rushing in his direction, while Earth Spikes came in from the sides. There was nowhere to go, so William was forced to destroy as many spikes as he could with his sword and tank the rest of the damage.
Some blood was drawn, but William managed to break free from the encirclement of Magic Spells and catch his breath.
Not only is he copying my techniques, but he has improved them! Have I been fighting with Magic the wrong way this entire time?
He held an advantage of twenty percent Mana Control and Magic Power, among other effects, yet William was still on the defensive against this clone. William would normally be frustrated by this, but since it was his own self that he was fighting against, he became excited instead.
If he could learn from this clone, his combat strength would improve to a new level!
William spent the entirety of the battle analyzing his opponent’s attacks, using his impressive memory to its fullest to instantly replay every action the clone made, adopting the techniques into his own arsenal of attacks.
This could also be considered a form of fighting, learning from his opponent to become stronger.
William and the clone exchanged moves for over an hour. The clone’s attacks became increasingly less difficult to deal with, and eventually he managed to switch back to the offensive.
By the second hour, William had nearly defeated his opponent, realizing that the clone hadn’t used a single one of William’s extra Elements that hadn’t been used in the Gravitas Ruins before. It seemed that the golden orb couldn’t replicate something it hadn’t seen yet, so when William figured this out, he linked in the Time Element to achieve a decisive victory over the clone.
The William clone turned into particles of light, but William wasn’t teleported to a higher floor.
While his move seemed risky, William felt that since Sect Master Gu had displayed both the Space and the Time Elements, and another Cultivator had used an Ice Domain, he would only be regarded as a bit more impressive than the others, yet not overwhelmingly strong.
His guess turned out to be correct, since the Artifact Spirit didn’t react too much differently than before when he reappeared in the room. It gifted him a golden box that was identical to the silver and black boxes, then began to speak.
“Congratulations, William. You’ve cleared the trial tower, earning yourself its ownership, as well as the ability to take out any non-artificial creatures inside. Of course, only Flame Dragon Uri remains to this day, but one is better than nothing, right?” it smiled.
William was about to respond to the Artifact Spirit with a question when he saw a System Message that made his jaw drop in shock.
-Completed an SSR-Rank Trial in the Gravitas Ruins: +10000 PP
-Gained ownership of a Gravitas Ruins Trial Tower: +5000 PP
“Surprised at such an impressive reward? In my opinion, being able to fight a doppleganger with a ten-percent combat improvement is more rewarding than any treasures we could give you. After all, treasures are temporary, but learning is eternal.”
William heard the Artifact Spirit speak, but he couldn’t be bothered at the moment. He stood in a daze, the situation quickly becoming awkward.
“Disciple William, are you…alright?”