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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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“Seo Yoo-rang…!”
She regained consciousness.
“…No, Allen.”
But Allen was already gone.
‘I had one last thing I wanted to ask him.’
Yuseora, having collected herself, looked around.
An empty, white space.
She was alone in this void.
Even Allen, who was experiencing his fourth trial, couldn’t hide his confusion in this space, so it was natural for her to be confused as well.
‘This is…’
She recalled her memories.
The knowledge Allen had shared about trials.
He said every trial had a purpose, and upon fulfilling it, one could pass the trial.
‘But…’
She couldn’t see anything resembling a purpose here.
There was only herself; nothing to interact with.
‘What am I supposed to do?’
She recalled Allen’s instructions.
His instructions were the basis of her actions.
It had been like that ever since she lost her Constellation.
Not always, but most of her actions were based on Allen’s instructions.
It was familiar, and she liked it.
‘He told me to pass the trial, right?’
Allen’s instructions were to pass the trial.
Then her task was to pass the trial.
But how could she pass it?
‘I don’t know.’
And actually, Allen’s instructions didn’t end there.
If the trial showed no signs of ending within three days, she should leave.
Then she might end up leaving after waiting for three days.
‘Then…’
Just as she was about to wait for three days, as instructed,
“What should I do while I wait?”
“What should I do while I wait?”
Her voice echoed strangely.
No, it wasn’t an echo.
Someone was behind her.
“Who’s there?!”
“Who’s there?!”
Startled, she turned around and distanced herself.
An unbelievable sight unfolded before her.
It was herself.
“You…!”
“You…!”
She wished the other person wouldn’t mimic her.
Hearing her own voice from someone else was unsettling.
Was it not another person?
“Who are you?”
“Who are you?”
The other person asked the same question.
There was only one answer.
“I am me.”
“I am me.”
Of course.
That fake seemed to think she was the real one.
Then she had no choice but to show her.
‘That I am the real one.’
She drew a Sacred Replicant from her inventory.
But the other person did the same.
Seeing her open her inventory and draw a Sacred Replicant simultaneously felt like looking in a mirror.
Except, unlike a mirror image, the other person wasn’t reversed.
‘She can use the inventory and has Sacred Replicants too?’
Then could she also do this?
‘Overload.’
Her sword was instantly enveloped in an ominous black light.
The light of Overload, which drastically increased a holy relic’s power at the cost of its durability.
For some reason, the other person’s sword also emitted the same light.
‘There’s still one more.’
The technique Allen taught her.
The technique she was most confident in.
Could the other person mimic this too?
She shouted,
“Sky Splitter!”
“Sky Splitter!”
Their swords clashed diagonally.
Two sword strikes, among the strongest of any swordsman, collided.
Naturally, neither of them was unscathed.
“Kgh!”
A massive shockwave swept through the space.
To survive, she had no choice but to let the shockwave carry her.
This space seemed infinite anyway.
She was flung into the air, then tumbled across the ground.
She finally stopped rolling, far from where she had been standing.
The other person had also been flung away; she looked like a small dot in the distance.
A tingling sensation remained in her arms and shoulders.
She had to admit it.
That wasn’t another person, nor a fake; it was herself.
‘So I have to defeat myself?’
There was nothing here but another version of herself.
She couldn’t think of any other way to pass the trial than to defeat her.
But was it even possible to defeat an opponent who mirrored her every action?
The thought of giving up crossed her mind.
The sensation remaining in her hand from their earlier clash screamed impossibility.
But at the same time, she remembered Allen.
‘He said you never know until you try.’
Her instincts screamed impossibility, but it wasn’t certain.
There was still something she could try.
She raised her sword again.
And began running towards the other her.
The other her did the same.
Crack!
The space groaned.
Their swords clashed.
She was flung away again, but she regained her balance and charged back in.
What should she do?
To win, she had to do something she hadn’t done before.
But every time she tried something new, the other her seemed to have the same thought and mirrored her action.
‘She really is me.’
No matter how much she swung her sword, it was a stalemate; there was no conclusion.
Then there was only one option left.
‘Something I would normally never consider…’
But it might work now.
It wasn’t just something she couldn’t think of; it was something one shouldn’t normally do.
She swung her sword downwards.
Crack!
The sound of space tearing.
But their swords didn’t clash this time.
The trajectory she chose was one that couldn’t possibly intersect with the other person’s if they chose the same trajectory.
But the implication wasn’t entirely positive.
It meant that the other person’s trajectory was the same as hers.
It meant that as she cut the other person, the other person also cut her.
‘Failure…’
Her consciousness vanished instantly, without pain, from the near-instant death blow.
But her consciousness returned immediately.
She was still in the same empty space.
‘This is…’
Her body was completely fine.
And the other her stood before her, also completely unharmed.
She had the same blank expression.
She learned one thing.
‘I can’t fail even if I die.’
But she still didn’t know the condition for success.
And even if defeating the other her was the way to pass the trial, she couldn’t think of how to defeat her.
She was another ‘her,’ thinking and acting exactly the same as her.
‘Then…’
Was there even a way to finish this within three days?
If it were Allen, what would he do?
Would he have already realized that there was no way to finish this trial within three days and left?
‘Then Allen would be waiting for me outside.’
He said they had to reach the Central Sea Islands as soon as possible.
He also said it was best to finish the trial quickly if possible.
Then shouldn’t she give up and leave now?
She shook her head.
‘There must be a reason why Allen gave me three days.’
And Allen said, that the true reward of a trial often wasn’t the reward received upon completion, but the growth gained during the trial.
Perhaps there was meaning in this trial, even if she couldn’t pass it.
With that in mind, she raised her sword again.
Three days.
“Let’s do this.”
“Let’s do this.”
She clashed swords again.
Hoping this trial held some meaning.
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“You are…”
“You are…”
Another me suddenly appeared behind me.
When I spoke, he spoke as well.
It was a pleasant voice, but knowing it was my own voice made it a bit creepy.
So I decided to shut my mouth.
And I smiled, thinking,
‘First, let’s verify if he’s truly a perfect copy of me.’
Just then, I noticed he was also smiling the same way.
‘Is that how I smile?’
It looked smug, combined with my playful expression. Somehow, it irritated me.
My expression changed instantly.
And seeing his expression change in the same way annoyed me even more.
‘My face is your face.’
Of course, he knew that.
That’s why he made that sad expression.
Now he was making the same expression as me, thinking, ‘Even if I look like this, it’s alright to be a bit smug, isn’t it?’
Seeing my own expressions so clearly was a bit unsettling.
‘First…’
This was a minor issue.
Verification came first.
‘Authority of the Wind.’
I applied the Authority of the Wind to the Sacred Replicant I held.
The Authority of the Wind also began to swirl around his Sacred Replicant.
‘Oh.’
He had replicated a divine power quite well.
So, I moved on to the next test.
‘Optical Camouflage.’
My face changed, and his changed as well.
And the changed faces were identical.
‘Overload.’
Naturally, he also activated Overload without any problems.
‘Sublimation.’
The Authority of the Wind intensified.
He was replicating most of my skills, even Sublimation.
It was quite unfamiliar since I had never seen myself before, but I could tell he was perfectly mimicking me.
‘No, is mimicking the right word?’
He would also be trying to verify me.
They were simply performing the same actions; it wasn’t a matter of one mimicking the other.
But…
‘Can he replicate this too?’
This wasn’t a simple skill.
Libero’s swordsmanship, which had reached S-rank.
Could he replicate that as well?
We were separated by a distance, having stepped back after our earlier clash.
I moved the Sacred Replicant, imbued with Overload.
Time around me began to slow down.
But I wasn’t the only one moving.
He was moving too.
And our swords clashed at the exact midpoint between us.
‘Even his swordsmanship is the same.’
Now I was certain.
That he was an exact copy of me.
Then defeating him would be impossible.
‘He would grow at the same rate as me.’
It was an obvious fact, without needing proof.
So, the objective of this trial wasn’t to defeat him.
And if he had to guess the objective, having him grow alongside me would be beneficial.
‘It’s quite an interesting trial.’
It was as interesting as the second trial.
But as interesting as it was, it was also a regrettable trial for him right now.
“It’s a shame.”
“It’s a shame.”
He didn’t have much time.
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