He remembered what was to come next however and he dashed back towards Edgar, in order to prepare the man for the doppelgangers that would come for them next. Edgar had healed over from his share of the essence, but he still looked utterly exhausted, and the man was clearly not ready for what was to come.

Before Jonathan could reach him, two figures appeared in the center of the cavern, both of whom were mirror images of Jonathan and Edgar. Edgar’s clone ran towards him, and Jonathan’s approached him, its face unreadable under its helmet. Jonathan readied his fist, and then punched towards his foe, sending a straight right, imbued with the power of the Void, into his clone’s face.

The monster ducked, and then sent a return strike towards Jonathan’s stomach. Jonathan twisted out of the way, and summoned the Void to his foot, kicking his enemy in the right leg. Last time it had been unable to use this element, and it seemed as if the theme would continue here. There was a dull crack as the bone was bent out of its socket, and the clone snarled. It used the momentum to drive one of its fists, burning with the power of condensed mana, towards Jonathan.

Jonathan parried the blow with his left hand, sending another punch into the monster’s face. It was torn off its feet, and the monster tumbled head over heels before regaining its balance. Jonathan surged forwards, running after it at near sonic speeds. It was strange that he was not already there, given the amount of stat points that he had in Dexterity, but it was probably some physics related problem, to do with how hard it was to accelerate a body to that high of a speed. The air resistance alone would cut off a lot of his potential momentum. His hands were capable of reaching that speed, but they were too small to make much of a noise, given that the sound of his punches normally were louder than the resulting sonic boom. However, it was still impressive to say the least.

Jonathan engaged his doppelganger in a blurring display of skill and speed, parrying, punching and blocking in equal measure. He had increased a lot in his martial skill since he had fought this dungeon last, and the difference was nothing short of astounding, especially with his new speed. His punches stirred up the air around them, and his kicks sent shockwaves through the air as they landed on the armor of his counterpart. However, his clone was holding his own, which was to Jonathan’s benefit, as he was using this as a training opportunity. His elemental abilities were too strong to be denied if he used it, but there was no better opponent to hone one’s skills than themselves. Jonathan had used quite a few battles in the past to hone his skills, and this one would be no different.

As he felt his own attacks and techniques coming back at him, and how they integrated with another, he was able to refine his moves and attacks, in order to become better than himself. Over the new few minutes, he eventually started to overpower his doppelganger with sheer skill, doing something that should have been impossible. He was beating himself in a fair fight. His punches started to land with greater frequency, and soon the doppelganger was on the back foot, being pushed into the wall.

Jonathan sped up even more, weaving his punches around the hasty blocks and parries of his opponent, with most of them striking home. He underwent a sort of minor apotheosis within that moment, and he knew exactly what his clone was going to do in the next moment. After all, it was himself.

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As if in a trance, Jonathan mastered his own body for one brief moment, and simply responded. His fist soared through the air at the exact right angle to cross right between the incoming punches of his enemy, and straight into its face. Such was the skill imbued within that punch that it cracked the helmet of his clone, and shattered its skull, killing the creature in an instant. Jonathan withdrew his fist, sensing that there was a notification waiting for him.

You have reached Student Rank 7 with Flowing Hurricane!

There was another notification waiting underneath that one as well, and seeing as Edgar was still fighting his clone, Jonathan decided to open it. After all, it seemed as if Edgar had this in hand, and he would likely see it as an insult for Jonathan to try and help him.

You have gained a new title!

Mastery of the Self:Legendary

You have defeated yourself in a pure contest of skill, showing that you can adapt to new environments faster than the you of a few minutes ago. In doing this, you have demonstrated the ability to learn at impressive rates, at least in the sphere of martial abilities.

+25 percent to all martial skill advancement

There were no stat bonuses, but the actual reward was quite good. It would allow for Jonathan to hone his skills far faster than before, and he would let him increase the rank of his martial arts and fighting style skills greatly.

He looked over at Edgar, who was still engaged in a magical display of power, locked in a wizard’s duel with his doppelganger. The two fighters were throwing bolts of wind and other such attacks at one another, seeming to be fighting until one of them ran out of mana. Both men dodged and weaved around the attacks, and sometimes summoned shields of air around themselves. Edgar looked haggard, but he was slowly gaining an edge on his clone, which was good. Jonathan would step in, courtesy be damned, if his friend was losing, but as that did not seem to be the case, he was fine with watching.

The only way he was able to tell the two apart was by scanning them, as one of them simply came up as a monster of the doppelganger species, while the other was actually Edgar. The man seemed to be honing his magical abilities in the fight, and his elemental techniques were increasing gradually in size and power as he fought, seeming to be responding well to facing himself. His doppelganger was able to use the power of the Air for some reason, while as Jonathan’s had not been able to fight with the Void, but perhaps the Void was too powerful for a doppelganger to channel, while as one of the more basic elements was not.

A few minutes later the battle came to a close, with Edgar thrusting a spear of wind through the head of his opponent, killing it once and for all. With a light whoosh, the world around them warped, depositing them within a small room. It was not the same as the reward vault that Jonathan had been transported to when he had cleared the dungeon for the first time, likely because this time he had fought with a companion.

The first time around, he had been promised extra rewards on account of his solo delve, but this time there was no reason to do so. As a result, the stacks of weapons, armor and other items were far smaller than before, and they seemed to be tailored specifically towards Edgar’s talents, as the dungeon seemed to recognize that Jonathan had cleared it before. A notification appeared, and Jonathan opened it.

For completing the dungeon in a group of two, each of you may choose either one piece of armor, or one weapon.