Chapter 640 - In a sea of fakes

Sofia held nothing back, and instantly activated the third tier of [Runeforged Overlord], allowing her to start to catch up with the running hero. Their goal was room n°1, which was directly marked by a green dot on the Ark’s map, at the very back of the ship.

I’m faster.

Every second Sofia flew she got a little closer, she would overtake the hero long before reaching the other side of the Ark.

A tall and narrow staff appeared in the hero’s left hand.

Mage!

The Andarian did not turn back or stop running, he cast a seemingly simple spell, and a large wall of ice appeared in front of both him and Sofia, blocking the entire path. When he got up to it, he simply kept running through, as if the wall did not exist.

Sofia used [Summon Self] to get through, teleporting herself to the other side while only losing a bit of momentum. Multiples fireballs exploded at her face on the other side. They did no damage, as damage was currently prevented by the trial’s rules, and the shockwave did little to stop Sofia at all.

I don’t want to reveal my trump cards yet.

The andarian threw more fireballs behind him as he ran, they were like tiny balls of flame that expanded into a large inferno on collision. Sofia weaved herself a path through them, and was steadily getting closer.

The magic pattern of the hero’s staff suddenly changed, all the flying fireballs transformed to strange seeds, bursting out in explosions of roots and vines, trying to catch Sofia in the air. Sofia was used to much worse in terms of tentacular enemies, avoiding these was a breeze.

Finally Sofia caught a good opportunity.

Pareth! Now!

Pareth appeared near Sofia, instant-casting [Chains of the four seals] before he was even fully there.

Golden chains appeared, grabbing the Andarian’s arms and legs. He broke them all with a shockwave, but the momentary stop was all it took for Sofia to overtake him.

Hold him back. Sofia ordered Pareth, she could finally see the end of the Ark’s top floor, and the room marked N°1.

To her surprise, the andarian appeared next to the door. Feeling Pareth’s distress, Sofia knew it wasn’t an illusion.

Teleport?!

The andarian opened the door, throwing a glance back at Sofia who was still a good distance away.

I think not!

[Paradise toybox]

The trial’s simulation stopped and froze. Sofia herself was stuck in place, seeing everything for was it really was, just layers upon layers of mana, she was mana, Pareth, the Andarian, the Ark, everything was. Like this she could see through walls, though everything was mana, so the most she could make out were the four huge mana sources in the distance, spread out throughout the ark, which were likely the Seraphs.

It’s really stopped. The question is, can I move? I am supposed to be excluded from the effect.

Focusing her thoughts on the [Paradis toybox]’s skill’s strange mana patterns, Sofia could somehow tell what was happening. Though she did not understand how, she understood what. She was too weak to interfere much with this fake world, which was too big for her. It was fine as long as she didn’t move, but trying to change her position now would likely break her controle over the timescale, letting time in the fake world flow freely again.

Crap. It feels like I will have maybe a second between moving and time being back to normal.

Can I get into the room in one second?

I need more speed. No time for [One with Suffering] or the demon transformation. My title is already on [Olympian]... Do I have another title for more speed? I don’t think so… I just need a little push…

Speed!

Drawing the rune by punching holes for a speed boost. Exactly what I need.

Sofia prepared herself, taking control over her bones with [Bone Dominus], and on the instant she finally moved forward, her ribs pierced her abdomen from the inside, the messy holes in her chest drawing out Speed’s divine rune.

Sofia flew forward as fast as she could as time in the fake world started to flow again. She flew past the Andarian at the last moment, landing in the room with a boom. She only caught a glance of the hero’s incredulous face as she slammed the door shut.

‘Quest: The first test of the Ark, completed!’

‘Room 1 has been secured for her team by - Sofia Aphenoreth - in 13.534s’

“SHIT!” Sofia heard the hero curse from the other side of the door. It was a short-lived annoyance, though, as he quickly moved on, and another announcement followed.

‘Room 2 has been secured for his team by - Ezerid Rodes - in 14.67s’

Next Sofia heard a loud bang, and felt the Ark tilt.

Wha-

‘Room 3 has been secured for his team by - Saint Tartaros - in 16.198s’

‘Top rooms attributed, end of public announcements.’

“Oh. Yeah that’s a name I know… And Ezerid… He’s that guy Death was talking about! He’s already level 299?! No, he might already be level 300! How fast do you need to level up?! Looks like he failed to take Victory’s crown though. That was the God plane’s pendant so he’s rank 4 at worst. Tough luck, my rank hasn’t changed. I wonder if he took Saria’s second place or not even that.”

Sofia opened the door to let Pareth in. “You could have teleported in, you know? Well whatever. Bookie’s going to be leading the others here.”

As she spoke with Pareth, Sofia observed as the rooms after room 3 were being taken one after the other.

Some scrawny-looking elf teenager took room 4, a winged beastwoman took room 5, and a fight broke out for room 6.

Sofia observed from her door as a fake Saria went blow for blow against a human in sandals.

Weird to see Saria like this. I can tell it’s a fake without even talking to her… Wait… Is that… Sen?!

He looks younger.

Sofia smirked, and launched a tiny piercing bolt at Sen.

Sen actually felt it coming, and blocked the bolt with an outstretched palm.

“Sorry!” Sofia apologized.

The small distraction was all Saria needed to break free from the fight and secure room 6, leaving Sen alone in the corridor.

Sen sighed and walked up to door 7, “Are you two related?” he asked Sofia, who was still looking, “You look the same. Why not let her come to your room?”

“She’s my sister,” Sofia confirmed, “but we came in different groups.”

“Uh. I didn’t expect there to be so many other humans at my level already… You’re human, right?”

“Damn right we are!” Saria answered, opening back the door to her room, “But brother sandal, you should take that room before someone else does, more people are coming.”

“My name is Sen, for the record. Don’t worry about me,” he answered before finally entering room 7.

Saria turned back to Sofia and Pareth now that Sen was in his room. “I thought I could get room 1 but it looks like I was outmatched. If I had time to use my Dragon form… Anyway, well done Sofia. But I thought you would only come to the trial a bit later?”

Yeah, it is later… But I won’t be allowed to say that, will I?

“Ahah… Things on the forbidden moon were wrapped up a bit faster than expected, I guess. Who did you end up coming with?”

“Eheh, you’ll see soon enough, sister. Don’t worry, I got myself some good teammates… But I should go find Cinthia for now.”

“Right, don’t make her wait. I’ll go explore my room, see you in the other tests.”

“See you soon!” Saria answered with a bright smile before Sofia closed the door.

Creepy.

I’ll have to interact with fake Saria this entire trial? This is going to be long…

Sofia observed the room while the others made their way over.

The first room ended up being worth the effort, if only for the view. Situated at the back of the ship, it gave a panoramic view of the ocean planet. There were four double beds arranged in a line, and all the accommodations on could expect to find in a luxury room on one side, while there were ‘different’ facilities on the other.

Forge, alchemy lab, recovery ritual circles… There’s even a rack with free healing potions…  And what’s this thing?

On this side of the room, some sort of blue pedestal stood in the very center, like the place’s main feature, but it was not a device Sofia had any clue what it did. Upon closer observation, there was a handprint shape on one of the device’s multiple flat panels, so Sofia put her hand on it.

A screen lit up.

[Skill optimization available]

[Your point balance is ‘0’, you do not have enough for guided optimization]

[Please come back after earning enough tournament points]

Is this what room 1 really is for? Skill upgrades?!

I imagine we are going to be competing for the tournament points in the next quests. There must be other uses for these points though, unless there’s actually a device like that in every room, so spending the points here might not be the best idea... I’ll just have to earn enough points that it won’t be an issue.

I already know there is going to be an individual tournament. If I want first place… I need to beat Saria again, just this is going to be tough. Then there’s Ezerid. He seems to be using elemental magic, but his physical stats are also high, from what I could see. There are also Tartaros and Sen who will be obstacles, that elf and beastwoman who took rooms 4 and 5 can’t be discounted either, not to mention all the people in all of these guys’ teams.

This trial is not going to be easy.