A feint to the left, followed by a downward slash meant to disable, not kill- parried in the exact same manner. A mad lunge for the opponent’s heart retorted by a similar lunge, forcing Noah to swerve away at the last second. Killing both the opponent and himself had no meaning; he had tried that already. Anything Noah could think, imagine or even faintly envision, his clone could counter. Out of desperation, he even dropped his gladius to the floor and met his clone in hand-to-hand combat, but the result was the same. Fist met fist, kicks met kicks, and Noah even tried to remain perfectly idle for a few minutes and then burst out in a surprise attack; the result being equally disappointing.

Noah cycled through the various forms of myriad illusions, attacking, defending, feinting, and evading, wondering what crucial element he was lacking that kept holding him back.

“Your problem, mate, is that you keep thinking in terms of a regular human. Or rather, your own capabilities are shackled by the limits of your imagination, what you cannot envision you cannot achieve,” Liam again badgered Noah with cryptic words from the side, but it did get him thinking. What did Liam mean by that, was there some hidden ability Noah had overlooked?

“For once, can you be straight with me?”

“Be faster than what you imagine your limit to be. Be stronger, smarter, and more dexterous than anything you believe yourself capable of. Only then will you realize what I am referring to.”

“Oh, gee thanks, really helpful advice,” Noah snapped, irritated by the vague, unhelpful advice. “Might as well tell me to start glaring at my clone and hope I develop laser eyes?”

Noah channeled the frustration he felt building up towards Liam and charged at his clone. Be faster? He would show his clone the meaning of speed. The first slash, parried? No problem. A second, third and fourth rang out, metal against metal. Noah followed through with a low kick that his clone copied, sending both of them tumbling backward. He had planned that, and Noah pulled his Assassin’s dagger and threw it towards the clone, following after it and using the dagger as a smokescreen. As expected, the dagger’s clashed against each other, and Noah switched from a piercing stance to a slashing stance, hoping he had been fast enough to catch his clone off guard. The clash of metal instead of smoke told him that, unfortunately, he had not.

But in that instant, Noah felt that he discovered a third… dimension, a force that had always existed in the atmosphere around him, as sure as oxygen existed in the air he breathed, but it had somehow eluded his detection until now. It was a milky white aura that permeated the surroundings around him, and Noah could only barely detect it. But when he looked down at his own body, he saw a circular ball full of the milky white aura floating roughly where his lower abdomen was…. And some instinct screamed at him to reach out for it, there was a natural yearning for that aura that he found hard to deny.

“That’s it! Direct it towards your blade!” Liam called out from behind, and Noah finally let go of his inhibitions and reached out for that aura. It flowed through his lower abdomen, and by the force of his will, Noah directed it to flow towards his sword arm. The visions had never given him a glimpse of this power, but somehow Noah knew what he had to do.

“Ready for the final round?” Noah asked his clone with a leisurely smile and then charged towards it. Both Noah and his clone ran towards each other with weapons drawn, as if only one of them could walk away from this encounter.

Noah slashed, and he felt the white aura that he was directing towards his arm drain at a tremendous rate- time itself slowed for a moment, and Noah could see… an illusory copy of himself overlapping with his slashing stance. Hurriedly, Noah lowered his head and made a stabbing motion, followed by a parrying motion by placing his blade at an exact angle to meet his clone’s blade. The flow of time resumed, and three phantoms of Noah simultaneously parried, slashed, and stabbed at Noah’s clone, while the real Noah sidestepped his clone, who was flailing its weapon in random directions as if it's algorithm was broken by three attacks from different directions at the same time and stabbed it from behind.

Noah’s clone burst out into a cloud of multicolored fog, while the real Noah dropped to his knees, panting rapidly.

Origin- 0/50

Congratulations, you have passed Azamorath’s Trial! Slain Trial Phantoms x 180- 9,360 EP Awarded. Please speak to Azamorath for an additional reward.

Congratulations, you have reached level 5!

Congratulations, you have reached level 6!

Congratulations, you have reached level 7!

You have 15 unused free points

Title Unlocked: Azamorath’s Inheritor

Receive a minor inheritance from Azamorath, The Last Titan.

+10 Strength

You have learned Combat Art: Myriad Illusions (Basic)

Class system unlocked! Please reach the main tower to acquire a class.

Sub- Class system unlocked! Please reach the main tower to acquire a subclass.

Name Noah Smith

Level 7

Race Human

Titles Trailblazer, Unflinching, Azamorath’s Inheritor

Origin 1/50

Primordial Spirit: (0/8 slots filled)

Combat Art Myriad Illusions

Class -

Sub- Class -

Intelligence 9

Strength 20

Wisdom 7

Constitution 8

Dexterity 17

Luck 1

Free Points 15

A surge of strength enveloped Noah, and his lean, wiry frame suddenly started gaining muscle at a rapid pace. What happened next was certainly an oddity- the muscles started deflating as if they were compressing themselves to not inconvenience Noah, and while it was slightly painful, he was glad to get rid of the excess weight. He felt like he could bench press a few hundred kilos without too much effort, and he could be positively lethal in a fistfight if he were to go up against a regular human.

“Put 7 points in Constitution and the remaining 8 in Strength,” Liam once again started offering his unsolicited advice, and Noah couldn’t help but blurt out “I prefer dexterity. Oh and, what’s this origin stat all about?”

“Sure lad, we can do what you prefer, but later. There are only a few hours left in the trial, we need to hurry this up and throw ourselves in the arena. If you want to deal the maximum damage, trust me just do this. As for Origin, you already used it so it's not all that hard to understand. I’ll explain later. ”

Name Noah Smith

Level 7

Race Human

Origin 2/50

Titles Trailblazer, Unflinching, Azamorath’s Inheritor

Primordial Spirit: (0/8 slots filled)

Combat Art Myriad Illusions

Class -

Sub- Class -

Intelligence 9

Strength 28

Wisdom 7

Constitution 15

Dexterity 17

Luck 1

Free Points 0

“Tch, Killjoy,” Noah said, as he walked up to Azamorath’s kneeling, chained figure. “Wha

“You have done well, O’ Inheritor of mine,” Azamorath’s voice echoed out, once again overpowering Noah, but this time he could resist far more easily.

Azamorath gives you his blessings.

Origin Stat Restored.

Regeneration Speed x 3 for one hour.

+5 buff to constitution for one hour.

“Err, well thanks I guess,” Noah sheepishly scratched the back of his head, unsure what to say.

“The energy coursing through your body is called Origin, the very fabric using with the multiverse, in all its iterations and glory was created through. It is an energy that is vested in you by the mere authority of your creation, but lower races seldom can find a way to sense it. Origin is not a source of immense power, but the very embodiment of power itself. Origin is everything, so much so as everything is Origin,” Azamorath, his voice slow and rumbling, explained with a certain amount of gentleness to his manner of speaking.

“What about the reason-“

“I am sure you have many questions, but I am afraid I must disappoint you, child. The answers you seek are not ones I am qualified to give,” Azamorath said, looking at the empty air around Noah and smiling for some reason… the chains around him started falling off one by one, but as each chain fell off Azamorath’s silhouette seemed to get fainter and fainter.

Liam got up from his chair, visible, genuine shock on his face as he stared back at Azamorath, who spoke some words without any sound, Noah tried to lip read but it was in some complex, foreign language that he couldn’t understand.

Liam collapsed back on his chair, his face as pale as snow, as he gave one last glance at Azamorath’s almost illusory silhouette one last glimpse before it faded away leaving behind a bright purple globule of light.

“What… what was that supposed to be?” Noah asked, deeply unsettled by what he had just witnessed.

“I…. cannot say,” Liam replied, his voice firm and grim- without the slightest indication that he was joking or pulling his leg.

“But-“

“Leave it for now. Please,” Liam said, his voice tired and weary as if his age had finally caught up with him.

“Fine…” Noah raised both his hands up in the air as a peace gesture. “But what’s that?” he asked, pointing at the purple globule.

A mischievous grin returned to Liam’s face, and he replied, “That, my boy, is some real firepower. Time to crash the party!”