[Max's POV]
The Final Score Leaderboard caused a huge ruckus among the players. Everybody wanted to talk about the absurdity of my score and others in the top 10. I just stayed silent with my hood on and listened to the gossip of others.
One player near me almost screamed, "Just who the hell is this Max? He has Titan-like Andreas beat with almost 4 times the points."
The other player beside him hit the first player on the back and shushed him, "Shh...Do you even know that I heard Max is among us in this group and was with us in StormRend Plateau? So do you want to offend someone that powerful with that tone of yours?"
The first player nodded. I chuckled at their words and moved on to the next group.
A bit far away, a group of 5 players were discussing the score. The first player said, "Hey, do you guys think we should invite Max to join our guild on the 25th floor? Our guild will become famous and strong if he joins."
"Who put that crazy idea in your head? All the Guilds and many of the top ten families of Mythos Planet or even top families of other planets will be out poaching for him.
Why do you want to kill us by putting us in that battlefield?" Second scolded the first player in the end.
The first player nodded and put his head down. The third player joined the conversation; he said, "Let's leave the guild talk and think about the tournament first. I heard Andreas has reached around the 18th or 19th floor, but he still lost to Max. Just how high did he climb already?"
The fourth player replied while playing with her hair in one hand, "Maybe he is just that powerful. He started almost a week ago, so at best speed, I think he is at the 10th floor.
Do you guys think he has some sort of artifact or equipment with him?" She questioned in the end.
"Have you heard of any such thing that allows you to kill monsters for 24 hours? And remember, you still have to use such things even if he has any.
Because for such a high score, he would have had to keep killing monsters for almost 24 hours without a break," the third player replied.
I chuckled inwardly at this remark. I was almost tempted to go near them and say, 'I took about a half-hour break for snacks.'
The fifth player, who was silent until now, spoke up, "Guys, do you think Mr. Max has any girlfriend? If he doesn't, I would surely want to be his girlfriend, and even if he has, it doesn't matter if he gives me some of his time."
The third one spoke again harshly, "Quiet your daydreaming, Silva. Not everyone is out there to be your boyfriend."
The first one also supported him and added, "He is right, you know, and what if he likes boys? I would like to be his love interest too."
I raised my brows and shifted my focus from them to others. This conversation was getting weird for me.
A duo at the opposite side were talking about the tournament. The first one, with a staff in his hand, spoke, "What do you think? Is it almost final that Max is going to win the tournament?"
The second one, holding the spear, replied, "I mean, it's not set in stone, but that seems to be the case. There are many new extra names in this month's tournament. Coming events would sure be fun."
"Well, you are right about that. Who is the Rheya Dawnbringer? Never heard of her or him; we at least know about Max due to the system notification," the first one answered, agreeing with the former.
"Yeah, you are right. Do you think the upcoming Planetary Control Challenge will have a different result?" The second one raised a question.
"It's too early to tell. Well, we guys can only talk about such things. I am excited about phase 4. Will it be the last challenge, or will there be more?" The first one answered.
The second one replied, "I think there may be more; there are still about 50,000 players but I am nearing my capacity now."
The first one nodded and replied, "Yeah, me too....." Their conversation was cut short as system panels flared up with details about Phase 4.
[PHASE 4 | ASTRAL ECHO MIRRORS]
[Participants – 50,000]
[Advancement Slots – 5000]
[Duration – 6-8 hours]
[Each player will be transported to a personal mirror dimension]
[Objective – ]
Defeat your Astral Echo, which will be shaped from your:
Stats
Weapons & Artifacts
Your Skill, Class, and Talents
Combat rhythm & Battle sense
Weakness & Decision Pattern
*Clear as many as possible of the 10 Echo Stages in the given time duration.
[Scoring Parameters – ]
Your final score will depend on:
Highest stage cleared
Clear Time
Retry Count
Efficiency
Adaptation rating
[Caution – ]
Each stage grows exponentially harder.
The Echo learns, evolves, and remembers everything.
[Initiating transfers to Mirror Dimensions...]
The last thing I heard before being teleported was, "Oh boy, you know it's deadly when the system gives you caution," said some player.
I landed on something, but on what? It was difficult to tell. There was darkness all around, and I could only see my hands from light coming from above.
I didn't launch any elemental orbs because I was completely unaware of the situation; even OGS was telling me that it was actually all black.
The system screen manifested in front of me.
[Astral Echo Dimension]
[Participant – Player Max (Flagged)]
[Status – Initial Reflection Failure detected]
[Reflection Attempt #2]
Scanning Player Max
Extracting —
Skills...Complete
Talents...Complete
Combat memory... Complete
Behavioral data...Complete
Stats....ERROR
Soul Signature...ERROR
Structural identity...ERROR
[Attempting to construct Astral Echo...]
[Failure – Player Data exceeds Mirror capacity]
"Damn it, that ERROR hasn't always been a good sign," I complained as I remembered a familiar message from long ago and also from a recent Tower entry. The system messages continued.
[Reflection Attempt #3]
Invoking High-tier Echo Algorithm...
Stabilizing Dimension...
Attempting Mirror Synchronization...
[Failure – Player cannot be copied due to Undefined Existence Parameters]
[CRITICAL ERROR]
[Echo generation terminated]
[ALTERNATE TRIAL PROTOCOL ACTIVATED]