"Ashenveil... huh, I guess I'll be getting my fourth defeat. Dammit, dying isn't funny... Hey, brother, how about you don't kill me after defeating me? I'll quietly walk out of the arena."
Vaelen looked at his opponent speechlessly.
Oh well.
[00:00]
Vaelen immediately dashed. PlayMe wanted to move back to avoid him, but Vaelen had used 10 percent of his total essence just to dash.
It was wasteful, but since he would be ending it in one move, it didn't matter much.
In the blink of an eye, Vaelen reached his opponent and caught his hand, but he didn't slow his speed. It seemed like Vaelen would collide with his opponent, but he slithered his way back and brought his opponent's right hand with him.
CRRRRCKKKK!
"AGHHH... AHHHHHH—"
PlayMe cried in pain due to the breaking of his hand, but he didn't have to finish his agony when he was lifted off the ground with the same broken hand and thrown out of the arena.
[Victory Ashenveil]
Vaelen looked at PlayMe, who was crying in pain. In the end, he had fulfilled his wish, right? Anyway, beasts wouldn't listen to you, so you have to get used to the pain.
Your death didn't matter to vanish from the arena. When you lose, you return back to your original location, totally fine, so PlayMe didn't have to endure it for a longer time.
Vaelen came to the tree and started again...
...
Five matches passed quickly. He didn't let his opponents react much and finished them with a single attack. It marked his 18th victory streak.
He left after that.
...
Vaelen came to dinner. His uncle and father seemed to be busy somewhere. His brother was present, though.
"Little brother, how was it?"
Just as Vaelen sat down, he got a question from him.
"Not so bad."
"Tsk... I know you were dying to go outside, little brother. You can at least reply enthusiastically."
Vaelen just looked at him. Should he be happy like some kid who got a new toy?
"Alright, don't stare at me like that, little brother. By the way, Lucen mentioned that Lysara's mood seems off today. Do you know something?"
"How should I know that?"
Although Vaelen said that, he had a feeling that it might have something to do with him cancelling all his friend requests.
"Is that so? Well, then it's good if it doesn't have something to do with you, little brother, because women are scary creatures, especially the women of the Lysara family, believe me."
"What does that have to do with me?"
Vaelen really didn't feel like entertaining his brother right now. Thank goodness their mother wasn't here yet.
"By the way, when are you going for your trial, brother?"
Vaelen asked as he was curious.
"Most probably in a month. Our team is already ready."
Vaelen nodded. The trial for crossing rank three is a big deal and it is dangerous. Even though having seven rankers above 90 percent affinity is reassuring for their team, it will not be easy as the difficulty of the trial increases according to one's affinity.
But the rewards gained also increase. Most rewards consist of treasures, but there is one thing that everyone seeks: awakening a personal skill. Every rank-up unlocks one skill that matches your element. This type of skill doesn't come into learned skills, more like an unlocked skill.
There is a reason why these skills are the best. You don't have to manipulate your elements actively to execute these skills; just think, and it will be executed.
That's why the better this skill is, the more advantage you will have in your battles, as these are your personal skills and are instantly unlocked.
The more difficult your trial is, the better skill you get, and how to get better trials? Simple, you have to have high affinity.
If it is a third-rank trial, then you have to have a team consisting of high-affinity members. That's why, even if he didn't want to, he had to make a team. Five or ten team members didn't matter; affinity matters.
Vaelen already knew that his armor is similar to a skill of his own, but since he didn't get any information about it, he wasn't sure.
Once someone gets this type of skill, they get knowledge about it in their mind by itself. Let's see if he has a similar dream today or not.
After dinner, he came back and lay down on his bed and closed his eyes. In a while, he fell asleep.
...
"As expected, I came here again."
Vaelen sighed. He wondered how long this would go on.
Right now, he was on the same pillar.
Vaelen moved to the edge and looked below. He was surprised as there were no dark tendrils on the pillar anymore.
Well, it's better this way. He didn't want to feel that agony and suffocating pain again.
Vaelen wondered what he would experience this time. Just as he was thinking this, he saw the darkness around him move, and a figure of a man was formed on the pillar.
Vaelen just looked at him once before determining that it was no one else but his own copy. The most important part is that the copy was wearing the same armor he had gotten from here.
Now he is confused. Would this clone of his teach him about the armor? If yes, then how? Can it even speak?
Vaelen was really intrigued by it, but just as he thought something interesting would happen, his eyes widened as his clone moved. It was too fast, and before he could react, he was punched in the stomach.
THUCKKKKK!!!
"ANGGHHHHHH...."
The punch was strong enough to send him flying, but it was also not to the point that Vaelen would fall off the edge.
Vaelen held his stomach and looked towards the clone, which seemed to be looking at him.
Vaelen wanted to curse, but he doubted that this bastard would be able to listen. He also understood that this lesson wasn't going to be voice-driven but pain- and battle-driven.
Vaelen sighed and stood up on his feet. His stomach had healed somehow. It seems this domain has increased his natural healing by many times.
Well, he was just an avatar here too, as it was a dream, so it is believable.
Now the point is how to activate his ability. He had just thought that when he felt agitation, similar to when he was near Lysara, but the intensity was quite low.
Vaelen was surprised. He focused on it to feel it better, and when he did that, his whole body was covered in the armor.
He immediately felt his strength rise immensely. There was one more thing he noticed: his essence wasn't draining right now.
Another perk of being in this dimension.
Finally, he looked towards his clone again and moved at his full pace. He wanted to return the favor, though inwardly he doubted it would be easy, and it happened exactly like that.
The moment his punch was about to land on the stomach of the clone, it moved just a little back to avoid the initial impact while sidestepping at a steep angle. Vaelen's punch only grazed the armor while passing away from its target.
Vaelen wasn't surprised seeing this. He only sighed. If this clone really is something made up of his element, then its fighting style would be the same too.
In fact, he might have learned this fighting style from his element, so this clone would be considered his real master. So how could he even possibly think to outclass it?
It definitely is impossible. All he can do is reach as close to it as possible, and it seems that this domain is for that purpose.
"Well then, shall we start?"
Vaelen knew that he wouldn't get a reply. He just wanted to say those words for himself.
And as expected, the clone looked at him without any response.
But the next moment, it moved. Vaelen became focused, but it didn't help him at all.
The clone closed the distance, and when it came too close, only then did it attack, bringing its fist up from below and hitting towards the chin of Vaelen.
Vaelen was only able to evade a little before it hit him.
"Dammit..."
The brawl continued...
...
Time passed, and two years passed quietly.
Vaelen had just woken from his dream. He still wasn't able to land a clean hit on his clone, but he knew that he was very close to it.
Today was his birthday. His mother had mentioned organizing a small party, not as a birthday party but a social revelation party.
A lot of things have happened in these two years. The most annoying was going public.
It was a decision made by all the Hidden Lineages. It was because descendants of hidden lineages are like the foundational strength of humanity, so hiding them isn't the correct decision.
This happened because the second layer might break anytime, so they want to know how much strength they have.
But there was one point that wasn't mentioned: affinities. So he was good as long as he made it lower. No one would pay much attention to him then.
He was worried that people would connect him with Ashenveil. Although he recently became 16 years old and awakened now, while Ashenveil has been an Awakened for two years now, there is one piece of news that might make people connect the dots.