Michael brushed the dust off of his clothing, he was finally at the last pillar after collecting the other two along the way.
82% progress towards the next tier, it was massive.
Added on to the fact that his mana purity finally crossed the 100% threshold, reaching 103%, his mana had been amplified by a great deal.
Yet, as he stood in front of the last pillar, he was not exactly feeling confident, after all, whatever awaited him afterwards, was definitely going to be troublesome.
He had also noticed that his halo had begun glowing, albeit faintly, it was still enough for him to be concerned.
Michael was now able to instantly kill those of similar strength to him, however, those who were stronger, would most likely pose a greater challenge than he could anticipate.
Stop worrying about it already and sit down, I will help you absorb the remaining 10%.
‘Fine..’ He grumbled and sat down, quickly absorbing the light of the pillar, the speed was much faster than the first time he had done it.
And in just 20 seconds, he was able to fully absorb it, pushing himself into the upper level of his own tier, only 8% were remaining until he could finally
He also noticed that he was finally able to push his INT stat into the S category, and he could instantly feel the difference.
The world felt slower and his mana felt much easier to control, it honestly felt unreal, but as the seconds passed, he adjusted to it very quickly.
‘Hmm..’ Michael attempted to summon a single sword of light but it seemed way too easy, so he opted to summon at the very least a hundred of them.
And to his surprise, there was no strain or anything of the sort, just like his other skill usage attempts, it felt effortless.
The mana drain wasn’t huge either, 2.5% to summon 100 swords of light, that was quite the feat.
‘I could definitely u-oh..’ As Michael was about to begin gloating to the system, the light of the pillar reignited, this time, however, it was a pale blue color.
He could see the rest of the pillars in the distance and they too were lit up, casting a bright light that seemed to be directing him to go to the very middle.
‘This is a bit ominous..’ Michael thought and proceeded to follow the light, until eventually, he ended up in front of some sort of arena.
It looked like a massive slab of stone in the middle of nowhere, however, that was not enough for him to let his guard down.
After all, there was a single man sitting on a chair in the very middle.
Middle of Tier 2 from what I can tell.
He nodded and walked up to and on to the arena, arriving right in front of the man, who, upon closer look, seemed to resemble him quite a lot.
‘For fu-‘ As Michael was about to inwardly cuss at his own trials, the man spoke up.
“Stop whining like a bitc-h.. fuck” The man attempted to sound intimidating, however, he bit his own tongue.
‘…’
He’s not you, he only resembles the current you, that’s about it, his appearance might be a bit different in reality had this place been a little less.. weird.
He listened to the system’s words and continued staring at the man who seemed to be trying to hide away from his embarrassing little act.
“So… were you the one who was helping me?”
“That’s right, you whimp I was tasked to.. steel your resolve?” The man began talking while staring directly at Michael’s eyes and his mana, confusion growing with each word he spoke.
“You..? You are not the one I was told about” He took out some sort of notepad from his pocket, it seemed pretty comical given his previous impression.
Michael raised his brow “And who were you told about exactly?”
“Some kid who was supposed to be the last of something, one of the higher-ups asked me to train his resolve.. but you are not him, are you?” The man glared at Michael as a hint of bloodlust slowly crept up his spine.
‘System?’ Michael backed off a little bit as he was not sure what kind of abilities the man in front of him had.
Coupled with the fact that this fight seemed to be one big misunderstanding.
I have no clue if I am being honest, though by whimp I would assume he’s referring to one of your previous selves. However, that wouldn’t make much sense considering he was indeed told that someone would come.. in this timeline.
Michael thought for a moment before he furrowed his brows, he had a hunch that his thoughts were correct.
‘What are the odds that I replaced the previous Michael? The one Kevin talked about.’
That’s impossible, I was with you when you first came to this world and I was there when I sealed your memories until your condition stabilized, it’s highly unlikely for something like that to happen.
‘Is it not? I mean, you were corrupted once, weren’t you?’ Michael glanced at the man in front of him who was slowly taking out a pair of daggers from his waist.
It seemed like he had already made up his mind.
Are you saying that the Michael who Kevin knew was in actuality you with sealed memories..? Listen… The case where someone took over last time was because I relinquished control for a mere moment.
The system paused for a moment before once again continuing, this time its voice was filled with doubt.
Though… I did have to do the same when I was forced to seal your memories.
‘Time paradox bullshit perhaps, on that note, how was I even chosen? Do you remember that much at least?’
No, I can only remember your previous life, I only gained sentience once you were transported to the other world.
‘I guess neither of us knows shit then..’ Michael took a deep breath and spoke once again, trying to probe the man’s personality.
“I am not sure who you were looking for, however, don’t you think some courtesy is in order, after all, you treated me so well with all of those gifts.”
However, the man finally drew his daggers and held them right in front of himself “You are nothing but a thief masking as the chosen one, I will cull you where you stand.”
“Right, sure, but before you do that, can you tell me what you meant by the higher-ups? Who are they exactly?” Michael tried getting some information out of the man, besides, he was not sure who were his allies at this point.
“Hah.. You imposter. You don’t even know about them…” The man seemed riled up as he finally dashed towards him, aiming straight for his neck.
But with the system’s assistance, and his newfound strength, he was able to deflect the attack while also sending one of his own.
He started off slow, only casting around 10 swords of light and trying to impale the man.
However, the attacks were easily blocked, it seemed like the man was definitely not to be taken lightly.
Need I remind you he’s a Tier 2? One in the middle stages at that, don’t let down your guard and fight with care, I’ll handle the dangerous attacks.
Michael cast a barrage of mirrored swords of light and watched with a small frown as the man deflected them all.
‘Sure..’
