Chapter 69: Copy

It was the island of stalagmites. A perfect copy.

And a few feet in front of him was Ormann, standing ready with his arms covered in igneous chains. He was frozen in time. Unmoving. As if he was a wax sculpture that flawlessly captured his desperation.

What is this?

Eren approached the scene carefully.

The stalagmites felt slick against his touch. His steps, solid against the limestone floor. Frost billowed out of his mouth from each breath.

It felt real. As real as the Immortal Library of Ræzoň in his Mind Palace.

If it’s the same as my Mind Palace, then it means I can control it as if it’s a lucid dream.

With a single thought, Ormann spurred into action. Knife gripped upside-down, he lunged towards Eren and unleashed a powerful punch.

Eren shirked backwards, but the blade’s edge reached the bottom of his left rib, cutting fabric and drawing blood.

With another thought, Ormann stopped in the middle of his lunge. He froze when the igneous chains wrapped around his hands were just about to unravel.

Eren looked down at his body. The broken skin in his torso healed almost instantly. Even the fabric sewed back together in one piece.

This... is a Mind Palace of my battle with Ormann. A perfect record of our fight...

A smile broke out on his face. He couldn’t believe how this was possible.

He turned around and exited the door leading back to the Immortal Library of Ræzoň. Behind him, the grand redwood oak door closed.

His sights turned towards the Spire of Cultivation. He scoured the text and manuals inside it. But even then, he couldn’t see a single cultivation technique that allowed his mind to perfectly recreate his battle scene with Ormann.

Even if it did exist, how would he have learned it?

It must be because of that blue orb of light.

Was it a unique instance in this world that he happened upon by coincidence? Or was it something that only he could perceive and therefore touch?

The latter made more sense.

My Ascension Art...

Perhaps, there was no record of a memory technique such as this because it was not written down in the library. Just like his master’s Ascension Art.

But now that he’d learned Athan’s Ascension Art from that untitled book, he awakened the ability to do so.

Does this mean I’ll get another Battle Record if I kill my opponent? Or will winning suffice?

The exact rules of this new ability were still undetermined. More examples would help him figure it out.

He sighed. He wouldn’t have to do such things if only his Master documented a legible journal for him to read. Instead, Athan only left behind vague poems that made no sense.

The first part still stumped him.

[Change is inevitable.

With your vision unlocked

Gone are everything memorable

Soon you will find truth to be ever locked.

Beware of what seems.

Follow only in your dreams.

Open the meridians

Forge it black with obsidians]

It didn’t matter. This Battle Record was already tremendously helpful for his cultivation progress.

Battle experience was his greatest weakness. It’s the reason why he amassed a lot more injuries compared to Ormann despite him basically guessing every single one of Ormann’s moves.

Ormann trained for years. Eren had a month.

But with this simulated environment, he could sharpen his skills at any time he wanted. The visceral realness of the simulation would prove enough to build experience without the risk of actual injury.

Though, one could argue that the lack of danger was a detriment to the training. But it was still better than nothing.

He simply needed to visit his Mind Palace and the training grounds for everyday practice and it would accelerate his progress greatly.

If it worked the same as it did with the Mind Palace, time would pass there at the same rate as it did in the real world.

Meaning, he could only spar during times of meditation. It was not something he could leisurely do during this First Test.

He exited his Mind Palace, finding himself back into the cold, dark Subterranean Burrows.

Taking out a sunspore, its luminescent cap brightened his surroundings. There, near the base of a stalagmite, was the glimmer of a blade.

Eren picked up Ormann’s knife.

Its handle was made out of dark metal. Molded to fit someone else’s grasp. It felt unnatural in his hands.

But he could get used to it. The blade was sharp on both sides with a pointed tip. Wavy patterns of grey and black on its surface meant that it was made out of Damascus steel. Very durable.

He pocketed it in his pocket compartment. He’d never refuse a good weapon.

As he closed the zipper, the ground underneath his feet trembled. Above him, particulate limestone debris peppered his hair.

Something shifted in the ceiling.

A cylindrical pillar descended from the darkness above. It was accompanied by bioluminescent smoke spewing from all four sides, as if it was some kind of ceremonial celebration.

It continued to descend till Eren saw a gap at its center.

He’d seen this before. He knew what the vibrant red box inside the pillar represented.

A lootbox... he was right.

Perhaps he had to thank Ormann for his accurate insight.

The pillar grinded to a halt just as the red box arrived in front of him. It was adorned with a lace ribbon more intricate than the one he saw before.

Even the box itself looked different. There was something about it. An invisible quality he couldn’t quite voice out with proper words.

Engraved on its side and on the lid was the symbol of a snake eating its own tail.

Perhaps, a snake didn’t quite describe the grandeur of this beast. It was more like a giant serpent that encircled the Earth entirely.

It was Jörmungandr, the colossal sea monster from Norse mythology. Though in Immoræ, this creature was less myth and more historical relic.