[Level 45 Reached: please pick a card]
And of course, three cards appeared in front of the boy, their color was pink, and yet again no indicator to show him which one could be the best.
Frankly, Stark had never thought of it, but just how different would his life be if he had chosen another card from the ones he had been given?
What if he never got [Aura Smash], [Clone Frenzy] or [Invincible Dodge]…?
After all, it had all been luck, and the other cards also held different skills, whether they were better or worse than the ones he got were all up to luck.
‘Let’s just get this over with…’ he closed his eyes and began to aim his hand randomly, reaching for the cards and picking the first one that he touched, it had become somewhat of a ritual for him.
But…
~THUMP~
Something grabbed his shoulder before he was about to grab one of the cards, and when he looked back, he saw it was the [Superior Clone], shaking its head as if telling Stark this wasn’t the right thing to do.
‘…?’
And so before the boy could even ask anything, the clone headed behind the cards.
‘…!!!’ Stark immediately understood, and if it worked, then it was insane.
The cards didn’t turn once the clone went behind them, but did it truly mean he could read them…?
Cards can only be read by the very person who they are given to, which is why asking other people to read your cards isn’t an option to begin with: there was no way to cheat the system.
But… what about a semi-sentient clone made out of the user’s aura, then could it maybe… just maybe…?
Suddenly, the [Superior Clone]’s smile grew bigger.
And then… it pointed to the card to the right.
“Can you see the read about the skills?”
‘…’ the clone shook its head, seemingly it couldn’t know the name or the description of the skills, which was a bummer.
But then, why would it pick this card in particular.
‘…Oh!’ Stark’s eyes widened, “Is it because of the images?”
“…” the clone nodded.
Of course, he had no current way to know the skill he would pick, but the cards always had some sort of drawing related to them at the front, so this was the only thing that could help outside of the panels.
Basically… the clone picked the drawing that looked to be related to the most powerful skill out of the bunch.
Of course, such a logic was flawed, as there was the possibility of a boring drawing being related to the most powerful skill, but this was already a good enough indicator.
“Can you tell me the drawings?” he asked, this could also help as he would be judging too.
But…
“…” the clone shook its head.
‘Sigh…’ Stark reached for the card the clone pointed at and picked it up, making the other two disappear.
And when he turned it to see what the drawing was…
He saw the picture of two crimson chains intertwining one another.
“…”
He looked back to his clone, and it was giving him two thumbs up.
…
[Skill: Domi-Chains Restrain]
[Type: Legendary]
[Description: A skill that allows the user to create a powerful, crimson chain that can bind enemies in a restrictive grip, making it impossible for them to move or use their abilities freely. The longer they remain bound, the stronger the chains become. With enough restraint, the enemy will lose consciousness, allowing the user to freely engage in battle with other foes in the area.]
[Note: The chain has 10000HP, but as long as it is not broken, it will continue to slowly bind itself around the enemy like a moving snake, oh, and you also get one chain for now, plus twenty minutes between each use]
…
‘…!’ Another legendary skill was granted to him, and this one also seemed interesting.
Of course, descriptions give an overall idea to how the skill works, but it was always better to try it out for yourself before attempting to use it in battle, which was why Stark loved the [Memories Museum] so much.
After reading the description a few times over, Stark closed down his new skill’s panel and looked at the one next to it.
[You will be able to spin the ‘Class Wheel’ in 4 levels!]
Of course, this was logical, although Stark did wonder what other class could he possibly get, and how would he align its usage with [Domination] and [Alchemist].
Of course, getting a new class was always good, but… what if it was totally useless?
For example, getting [Warrior] seemed utterly useless in his case since he only used his fists with his domination aura, so other than some skills that could help, then he probably had absolutely no use to it?
‘…I’ll think about it later,’ he mumbled as he moved to the third and final panel.
And…
[You have eliminated ‘sublevel 4 ELITE Guard’, and…]
‘And…!?’
[He had the key to the next floor! Good job!]
Suddenly, the key materialized out of the thin air into his right hand.
‘NICE… VERY NICE…!!!’ Stark’s widened as he opened his palm and saw a bronze-key with a very small ‘sublevel 3’ note attached to it.
‘Spatial Inventory,’ he wasn’t going to play any risky games and instantly put the key inside of his inventory void, no way in hell he would allow anyone to steal it as it would be a battle to the death.
And now… everyone was stuck on this floor until Stark eventually finds the exit =).
Plus, if he ever died, the key would stay inside the inventory, not leaving it, meaning that the others would be stuck inside and die of starvation.
Well, if they don’t just straight up kill one another that is, and even then it wasn’t sure they would get the perks related to keys.
Basically… he had the perfect excuse to stay alive in front of the others as long as he got a key.
‘Very good…’
“…” the [Superior Clone]’s smile grew very wide, stretching from one corner of his face to the other, and it was becoming uncanny at this point, it seemed to like Stark’s idea: if he dies, everyone else is fucked.
Stark realized it somewhat, but [Superior Clone] seemed… how to say… evil?
He was more malicious and ill intentioned than Stark himself, was it because of his domination aura or something?
‘Doesn’t matter as long as it listens…’ he jumped the destroyed obsidian wall the elite guard had made and ended up in another hallway, then the clone followed closely.
He tried to summon back the clone to himself, obviously, but…
[If you bring the ‘Superior Clone’ back to you, then the transformation will be cancelled, and you will have to wait for all three clones to regenerate, meaning 1h30!]
‘Yeahhh I’m not waiting that long for something that isn’t even sure to happen since the transformation does take a while to take place…’ in the end, he just decided to keep it close to him.
And so like that, now that they had the key to the next floor in hand, the two Stark continued walking through the maze of the prison’s fourth sublevel floor.
Of course, all the others weren’t doing nothing either, as they were all slowly leveling up and looking for the key as well: the map showed the exit, so all they needed was the key for it.
‘None of you are escaping until I get out… =)’ Stark smiled as he turned around another corner.
“=)” the clone smiled too, nothing but bad intentions on its expression: nothing mattered to it except for the safety of the original Stark.
