He stepped into the next arena, finding that it had a normal theme this time around as well. His opponent was large, larger than the giant even. It had two silver horns growing from its head, giving contrast to the yellow scales that covered the rest of the dragon’s body. Silver eyes bore down upon Amon, before the dragon eventually lowered its head.

You’re a child of the Great Mother.

It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

I bear no ill will towards you. Even if I manage to defeat you, the rest of my life will be very short lived. Victory is yours.

He released his tension. He didn’t have to fight? Fine by him. He wasn’t sure if he could even defeat a dragon with the party he currently possessed.

How can you tell?

You’re releasing an incredible amount of mana. Any dragon could tell who you are since we’re sensitive to mana unlike humans and mixed breeds.

He was happy to find that the dragon answered his question. There was a chance that he would answer more, so Amon took advantage of it.

Where exactly are we?

You’re unaware? Interesting… This is a dungeon, or at least it once was. There was a great man that curated this world for his own ambitions. When Players perish, there is a chance that their dungeon may remain connected to the Tower as a sort of legacy. You can enter an instance such as this to hopefully receive something that once belonged to the Player, but the rules of every place are very different and you can only enter them once. It’s normally his descendants that enter this space, so it’s strange that you’re here.

He’s dead, but you’re still alive? Were you one of his summons?

Yes, every creature here is. The Tower stepped in as a mediator for the energy he provided to upkeep our lives, so we can all exist indefinitely. We’re just trapped here until someone earns the right to summon us.

Can we only get summons?

I’m unsure.

I see. Thank you. What was your name again?

Aurel.

I’m Amon. I hope you find freedom.

He started walking towards the entrances to the next stage and Aurel vanished into nothingness. Amon chose to go straight to 7 stars, even though he didn’t know how hard 6 stars really was. Maybe the Tower was pushing him towards 7 stars? He had officially defeated two different rooms through no real effort of his own, but the blood that flowed through his veins.

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When he entered the new stage, he found himself looking at himself. A perfect copy of his body, alongside identical figures of Seru and Blue.

This is fitting. We have to overcome ourselves as the greatest challenge? What would we gain from the dungeon, though, since we can’t exactly summon ourselves? How does this even work? There were so many questions he wanted to know the answer to in this world that he was in. It felt like the more he explored and learned about it, the more he found himself utterly bewildered and excited by how much he truly didn’t know.

Fight yourself.

He knew his own weaknesses better than anyone else, so he intended to make quick work of his clone. He planned to win by taking advantage of the fact he possessed no real defensive skills and charging in with an onslaught that would eventually overwhelm himself.

When he swung his regular sword for the first time, it looked like the clone knew what he was doing before even he did. His attack was dodged easily, leaving him to hit nothing and receive a quick slash at his own back.

-300 HP!

He reset himself.

How the hell did it do that? Since he can do it, doesn’t that mean I can too?

The clone was on the offensive this time. As he ran in towards Amon, four mana bullets hovered in the air around the copy. Fire, wind, water, and regular. Amon focused on the clone while it approached. When it was upon him, he met the strike with his own sword, only to be immediately assaulted by the fire mana bullet.

He knew it was there, but he didn’t have enough room to pay attention to it while also engaging in physical combat.

-700 HP!

The blast knocked him off balance, giving the clone more opportunity to press forward and leave him open to yet another attack that he took full on.

-300 HP!

He jumped as far back as he could to put some space between the two of them. While he was retreating, he created his own mana bullets and fired them off, only for the clone to skillfully slice through all of them with its sword.

Is he reading mana? That wouldn’t explain why he was able to predict my attacks too, would it? Well, no. Aurel said I’m outputting a lot of mana. He could’ve used that.

He knew it was a risk, but he wasn’t a match for an enemy that could read him perfectly. He took a deep breath and shifted his focus. He was going to run away while he meditated, but he found that that wouldn’t even be necessary.

When he focused on reeling in his excess mana, he decided to gather it all into the mana core that was next to his heart. He felt a sudden influx of energy as all of the mana around his body and in the air was pulled in, condensing near his core until he was aware of the ring orbiting it.

Once the ring finished forming, he felt much more powerful than he had before. He assumed it was an extra level of power that he could call on before draining his actual core, or maybe it just helped him regulate his power more efficiently. Whatever it was, it allowed him to make use of an ability he hadn’t been able to take advantage of up until now.

War God’s Insight.

He saw multiple lines coming towards him. Each of the remaining mana bullets had yellow trails connecting to him, and there was a multitude of red lines coming from the clone. There were a few yellow trails coming from the clone, as well as two green ones and one purple one that was much more convoluted than the others.

This is such a fun game.