Light and Darkness (3)
'You've got to be kidding me.' Of all the things he could offer, why something this completely useless?
Alkest might not know it, but I was already training in a far superior place to anything he'd developed. Unless I couldn't use the Soul's Training Ground after a year, there was no reason to play along with his intentions if it was only available for a single year like this.
“Sorry, but I’ll have to decline.”
“What?! Don’t tell me you don’t understand the value of this item?”
“No. I understand it perfectly.”
In truth, if I didn’t have the Soul's Training Ground, that item would be valuable enough to make anyone drool over it.
“Then…!”
“But I don’t need it.”
“I truly don’t understand. Why are you rejecting it?”
“Well, even if I explained, you probably wouldn’t get it anyway, right? If you were handing over the artifact itself, maybe I’d consider it. But if not, I decline.”
He would never understand my position.
- Exactly. When you already have a much better training ground, why go through the hassle?
- I agree this time too. Why help someone else when there’s nothing to gain? Unless you’re a total pushover, rejecting it is the right choice.
They were both right. Unless you were some grand pushover with the grandiose title of hero, no one would eagerly rush into a task that offered no reward and only drained your strength.
“Ah. I’ll decline too. I don’t really need it either.”
The slightly surprising part was Mir’s refusal. I had the Soul's Training Ground, but she didn’t. Alkest’s proposal should have been incredibly tempting for her, yet she still shouted her rejection. I wondered if she was just watching my reaction and refusing out of consideration, but her expression didn’t seem that way at all, which only deepened the mystery.
“Hoo… Both of you turning it down. This is something I genuinely didn’t expect.”
Alkest scratched his chin, looking truly flustered as he struggled to find his next words.
“More importantly, how about you bring out the demonic beasts already? This session is part of an important lesson for us.”
“You two can choose the demonic beasts yourselves, so don’t worry.”
Program Activated.
First Tester Confirmed.
Beginning Stage 1.
Please select difficulty.
[Easy / Normal / Hard]
Absorption rate varies according to difficulty.
The message floated prominently in the air. I spent a brief moment marveling at its system-like appearance before muttering quietly while staring at the text beneath the difficulty options.
“Absorption rate?”
“It refers to the changes inflicted on your real body. The higher the absorption rate, the more your physical body in reality will accept the experience and power gained here. Naturally, higher difficulty means higher absorption rate, so choose wisely.”
Along with Alkest’s explanation, Mir immediately fired off a question.
“Is there a huge difference in the demonic beasts that appear for each difficulty?”
“Well, since we divided them by difficulty, there’s naturally a gap even at the same level. Let me tell you in advance—in Stage 1, goblins appear. Easy difficulty gives you weak goblins without weapons. Normal features the cunning goblins we usually know. Hard summons the mutants known as elite goblins.”
At Alkest’s explanation, Mir and I nodded at the same time.
“Then I’ll take hard.”
“Let’s go with hard.”
“...You’re not even going to think about it?”
We weren’t weak enough to need to agonize over something like this. Without hesitation, the hard difficulty was selected, and a translucent goblin that looked like a hologram appeared.
“KIYAAAAAH!”
“That’s the core of this artifact. I named them Illusion Beasts. They don’t have magic stones, so they’re a bit weaker than regular elite goblins, but they’re still worth fighting, so don’t worry.”
“Aren’t you joining?”
“Haha. There’s no way I’d miss an opportunity this good. Plus, if there are any small bugs, I need to fix them quickly, so please bear with me.”
Alkest answered with a sly grin. Naturally, we lowered our voices and exchanged a few words about him.
“Is it really okay to just leave that guy be?”
“Even if we told him to leave, he wouldn’t budge. He’s the one who created this thing in the first place.”
So even if it felt uncomfortable, we’d just ignore him and fight. Mir nodded in understanding and summoned a weapon from thin air.
According to Cheonma, it was a technique that became possible naturally once the soul dwelling in the weapon spent time with its user and they grew familiar with each other. As a weapon forged from souls, its full power was clearly displayed even in this place.
“Aren’t you summoning yours?”
“......”
Unfortunately, unlike Mir, I couldn’t summon a weapon. My weapon couldn’t handle Cheonma’s power, leaving its durability on a knife’s edge. I had no idea what might happen if I took it out and swung it, so until I prepared a proper countermeasure, summoning my weapon was strictly off-limits.
'Wait a second. Now that I think about it, what am I supposed to do about a weapon?'
I never imagined I’d run into an unexpected problem like this here. Since I wasn’t summoning anything and simply standing still, Mir gave me a puzzled look for a moment before quickly focusing on the elite goblin in front of her and swinging her sword.
Slash.
No matter if it was a mutant, a goblin was no match for her. The creature’s head flew off with a single strike. Mir glanced at her bloodless blade, then turned to me and asked.
“Why aren’t you using a weapon?”
At her question, I immediately turned to Alkest.
“Isn’t there a weapon provided here?”
“Hm? You can just use the one the academy issued you. What’s the issue?”
“I’m going to use a different weapon.”
“So you’re saying it’s not even worth summoning your weapon again?”
No, it’s just that I literally can’t summon mine.
“Haha! Looks like I got one-upped.”
“......”
For some reason, it felt like the two of them were looking at me strangely.
- How do you always phrase things to cause misunderstandings like that?
- He’s not usually like this, but he does pull this sometimes.
- If he keeps it up, he might stack up misunderstandings and end up in serious trouble later. That’d be bad.
- Nonsense. If he’s my disciple, he’ll overcome it just fine. We’ll be right beside him anyway, so what’s there to worry about?
- Sigh… Yes~ Yes~ We’ll stay close, so could you please take your hand off those clothes you’re trying to grab?
Ignoring the two women chattering behind me, I kept my eyes on Alkest and pressed him for an answer.
“So, about the weapon?”
“Hoo, hoho! This is starting to irritate me as the developer. Fine. If you want a weapon, you’ll see a small circle in the lower right of your vision. Focus your gaze there and think of the weapon you want to use. You’ll obtain it that way.”
Following Alkest’s instructions, I shifted my gaze slightly to the lower right. A small square that wouldn’t obstruct my view appeared. I focused on it and wished for a sword, and soon a well-forged blade was floating before me.
“Not bad at all.”
“You’re really going to fight with that?”
At Mir’s question, I nodded. The weight was perfect, and the swinging feel was excellent.
“Then we’ll move straight to the next stage…”
“Wait. Let me make one more proposal to you both.”
“What? I already said no.”
“Hehe. This time it’ll be a proposal neither of you can easily refuse.”
Alkest laughed like some wicked mastermind. If he was going that far, he had to be offering something extraordinary.
“If you accept my proposal and defeat those opponents, I swear on my name that I will personally give you two a tour of the empire’s heart—the Imperial Palace.”
“Th-the Imperial Palace?”
“Whoa…”
I wanted to ask what right he had to invite us to the Imperial Palace, where the Emperor and his blood relatives lived, but Alkest’s fame and influence were so vast that I couldn’t dismiss his words.
- Oh. So that guy is actually that impressive?
- His face looks like a street beggar, yet he turned out to be quite the big shot.
Both Cheonma and Hoya knew the importance of the Imperial Palace, so they let out slight exclamations at his statement.
“The Imperial Palace, huh…”
Gulp.
I didn’t know what she was thinking, but Mir looked extremely shaken. The way she swallowed her saliva made it obvious she had already fallen for the proposal.
'Well, I’m no different.'
I wasn’t in any position to judge. I wasn’t much different from her. When I thought about the hidden pieces hidden within the Imperial Palace, I couldn’t help but be tempted. Originally the chance to challenge them would come much later, but seizing this opportunity would let me obtain those items far faster than planned.
'Plus, it’d be good to get familiar with their faces in advance.'
On top of that, getting acquainted with the princess who would enroll in the academy next year would be the perfect bonus.
“I’ll do it.”
“Me too.”
In the end, we decided to follow Alkest’s proposal of such an extraordinary reward. He nodded with clear satisfaction at our decision and began manipulating the system in our place.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
“What exactly are you summoning that requires so much tinkering?”
“It’s a creature I can’t summon without a specific code I possess. I can guarantee you one thing while you wait—this guy will definitely elevate you two to an entirely new level compared to now.”
Ziiing.
As soon as he finished speaking, two masses made of 0s and 1s began forming in front of us.
“The one I summoned is an Emperor Doppelganger, born with an extremely rare probability even among doppelgangers. Due to the nature of illusion beasts, their base stats are naturally lower than the original, but this is the sole exception where I’ve reinforced it using various artifacts.”
“Reinforced?”
“Yes. A normal Emperor Doppelganger can copy its opponent up to 80% at most, but this one is different. It copies up to a full 120%.”
- Oho, which means?
- It possesses abilities superior to the original…?
Along with those words, the mass of 0s and 1s—the Emperor Doppelganger—began expanding and taking on a familiar shape. Considering a doppelganger’s traits and the current atmosphere, the form they were assuming was probably…
“Yeah, I knew it would turn out like this.”
The fight I had predicted from the moment the word “doppelganger” was mentioned. As expected, my prediction was spot on, and they had copied me and Mir.
“Zeon.”
“Yeah?”
“Which one do you want to fight?”
“Uh… Given the vibe, isn’t it right to fight against yourself?”
When I answered that way, Mir gave a meaningful smile and said.
“I want to relieve some stress… I mean, I want to fight you. Since the original class was supposed to be sparring anyway, how about we take this chance?”
At Mir’s words, I seriously considered it for a moment before slowly opening my mouth.
“My doppelganger… Can you win against it?”
Crack.
“...What?”