Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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/Clack!/

Closing the doors behind him, Dale thought about what to do next.

And after pondering for a few moments, he decided that it was time to clear his inventory.

There were many items cluttering inside his slots, weighting him down. And many of those items had an expiration date, some of which were fast approaching.

So he thought it would be for the best if he took them all out first.

He had the monsters' bodies to handle, their meat would be processed and likely turned into tasty food by Illia during the next few days while their skin and bones would be processed into items, or just stashed somewhere to be used later since Barme and the others only has so much time.

Maybe, with the arrival of new able hands, those items may find a use sooner than expected.

That alone was 60% of his inventory, a monster's body was very heavy after all…

Aside from that, he had the herbs and small critters he found together with other interesting items he collected along his journey, the alchemical materials to help Yumi make her Master Grade Potion.

What she would make, however, was yet to be revealed.

This also included some of the items he acquired during his Level 50 privilege, from the two Boss monsters he fought and the items from the Wyvern he defeated.

Speaking of that, Dale had yet to test his Level 60 privilege… So he decided to do just that and take that out of his way.

So as he walked through the narrow streets of Resko, once he found himself relatively alone, he activated it:

[Self Reflection ???-Star]

/Fwoosh…/

"!"

As the Skill came into effect, Dale saw strange dark smoke rise from the ground, but even as he tried to flee from it, the smoke followed with a pace faster than his.

It was much faster than he could ever be, so before he even had the time to take a step back, his entire vision had already turned black.

"..."

'Where am I?'

The first thing Dale realized was the complete lack of anything around him.

He wasn't in the alley anymore, or at least, he couldn't feel his surroundings anymore.

To prove that, he first tried walking around, using his hands to try and reach anything, but he never did despite being an arm's distance from a wall before activating his Skill.

Whenever he was, the space around him wasn't a reflection of the one when he activated the Skill.

"I can still see my hands but… It feels strange."

Albeit the entire world around him had turned into pure darkness, Dale could still see his hands and entire body with striking detail.

At least, it felt like he could, because there was no light in this place so… How was he seeing these things?

Dale compared this feeling to trying to inspect an object through Mana or maybe even trying to use sound to scan around, though he was extremely awful at doing it.

A type of extra sense he had never touched upon before was now being presented to him in a sudden way, it was no wonder he was feeling overwhelmed.

/Crouch…/

'The ground… It feels like dirt but it's not staining my hand, as it if was sand.'

'It's unusually solid as well, much more than rock, this doesn't make any sense.' He said as he tapped it

'It's like… Some Non-Neutonian fluid?'

/Shashasha…/

"Hum?"

While Dale was distracted by the ground, a few meters away from him, the sand gathered together, becoming a humanoid figure as it turned and twisted.

"No way…"

And as he got up from the ground, disbelief taking over his facial expression, the sand finished its transformation…

"I think I know why this Skill is named Self Reflection…" He mumbled to himself as he looked at the being in front of him

The sand had taken his appearance down to a T, it was a perfect depiction of himself so much so Dale felt he was looking at the mirror.

From his posture to slight bodily movements, from even his habitual acts such as how he touches his head to scratch it whenever he's thinking.

"Hello?" He asked, trying to strike up a conversation with the creature

"..."

/Silence…/

"Hum…"

'Is it unable to speak? What is it anyway?'

'Most importantly, am I in danger?'

Despite the bizarreness of the situation, Dale did not let himself be taken over by the waves of the moment, instead focusing his attention on his safety.

He didn't believe the Skill he received from the Privilege would work against him, but neither would he silently accept it before running some simple tests first.

Such as how to leave this place and what could he do in it while he was inside.

…

/Later…/

"It's been fucking forever… Or five minutes…" Dale complained as he lay on the ground

'I tried everything, opening my System, failure, logging out, failure, canceling the Skill, failure, hurting myself… Success but I don't have the balls to kill myself.'

'So I tried to dig on the ground, failure… Kind of.'

'I managed to dig the ground but the deeper I went the harder the ground became, so much so it was impossible to do so with my hands.'

'I didn't even need to go that far, just digging through an arm's length was enough for me to reach the rock, this sand isn't that deep at all.'

'I can only think of two ways to leave this place… Maybe three.'

"First… The Skill's effect ends due to effective runtime or my Mana."

'But I don't think those are possible choices, I felt nothing when I used the Skill, which may indicate that its energy consumption is so little it becomes insignificant, maybe so low that I'll never run out, meaning I'm trapped here.'

"Second and Third… To kill or be killed." He said as he looked at his reflection

After going through a multitude of possibilities Dale arrived at a conclusion, the sole one he could think of right now, that this was some training arena and his opponent was none other than himself.

Like those Mental training techniques martial artists in Novels would often do.

It was now his turn to experience it.

'If this Skill is truly a way for me to create a sparring opponent for myself… It may have quite the value... No, it would be invaluable.'

'Depending on what it can do of course.'

"I would already say it's a profit if the injuries I take in here don't reflect on the outside."

'If I can train and experiment to my heart's content, then this Skill would reach Legendary Grade in terms of applicability and use.'

/Fwoosh…/

With that on his mind, Dale raised his hand, and the sand around him gathered as it concentrated into the shape of a Spear, his own Spear, Failure!

Dale had learned as he tried to dig a hole that if he thought about an object strongly enough, then it would manifest inside this place.

This knowledge came to him by mistake as he desired a shovel to dig through the ground, his surprise when a shovel materialized in his hands wasn't small.

The only problem is…

/Fwoosh…/

Opposite to him, his reflection also gained a Spear, holding it calmly as it stared at him blankly.

"My reflection will also gain whatever I create."

'It seems there's a lot to learn about this place… So how about a little bit more experimenting?'

/Fwoosh…/

First, Dale imagined a metal ball tied to a chain, a very heavy one.

/CLANG!/

And as he desired, the sand gathered on his right foot, the same happening to his reflection.

"Can I change its design on the fly or do I have to re-do the process?" Dale asked himself as he changed the balls shape to that of a Morning's Star

/Fwoosh.../

"It worked."

Then, he repeated the process a few more times, creating things like weapons, clothes, armor, and even other things such as horses and even obstacles in the environment.

To the point he eventually successfully replicated the entirety of the training arena behind the Mercenary Guild.

"Phew... I can feel some degree of Mental strain after doing this much."

'Seems like I can play around, but how much I can should be the Question.'

"How much can I create and how far can I go? And how complex can the thing I'm imagining be, if there are such limitations."

'If I can bring forth a Legendary Item, then I don't think there are any limits to what I can do.'

'Unless it's more of a size limit rather than quality and a complexity issue.'

With that on his mind, he continued with his experiments.

…

/Later…/

"That works too huh, it seems I can do whatever I want." He thought as he looked at his newest creation, the Great Devil

And it wasn't any Great Devil, but it's a completely mature version!

'It's really a shame I can't inspect its Status...'

'From what I found out, I can add or remove whatever I want, to create any kind of environment, give me any kind of limitation, or simulate any scenario.'

'Be then modern or not.'

'Living creatures also apply, but I can't create things that don't exist... Yes, I won't deny it, I tried to make monsters from other games.'

'What? Was I supposed to try something else?'[1]

"On that topic of living beings, I'm not able to manifest others, maybe if I could it would remove the point of this being a self-reflection."

'I'm already impressed I can create monsters, maybe they're taken as props and not really as living beings?...'

'Although potions and other effects seem possible as well.'

'Of course, if I make something that isn't tied to myself, the reflection won't be affected, and although that can be considered as an unfair advantage, I guess that's part of the point of this place.'

'Though what use is a training ground made specially for you if you cheat your way through it?' .

"I can even remove my arms and legs if I want to, and this leads to the next inquiry…"

'If I can make all of this… Can I be more specific?'

This time, Dale thought about giving his reflection Caladgolg, but not to himself…

/Fwoosh…/

As he desired, the sand gathered, taking the shape of the ultra-large sword.

"!... It worked."

'If this is possible, then I'm satisfied.'

/Clap!/

Dale clapped his hands, and apart from the environment around him and their clothes, everything was cleared away.

"That said… How do I get out of here?" He asked as he looked around, his eyes getting a bit sharp

/Raise hands…/

As he thought that, the reflection got into a stance, its gaze changing as it looked at Dale.

"... Did you read my thoughts?" He asked with a smirk as he turned around

'I was thinking about fighting it, and lo and behold, it got into a stance…'

'Why is that stance so good though?' He asked himself silently

Despite its complete and utter silence, the reflection's stance was flawless, at least from Dale's perspective.

Not only that, its breathing was smooth, silent, and strong, Dale could feel the strength of the reflection's lungs even from this distance.

"What the… Are you… Better than me?" He asked as his eyebrows furrowed, disbelief and even a bit of rare envy in his tone

'No… Maybe not better… It's more like…'

Dale couldn't quite put his own thoughts into words.

The reflection in front of him, it wasn't doing anything he couldn't do as of now, or in better words, it wasn't pulling anything from outside his realm of understanding.

It was doing what he could do… But it was focused, to an inhuman degree.

Not only that, it was minding its own breathing, also to an inhuman degree, calculating every breath it took… All at the same time it watched his own movements.

Maybe, it wasn't that Inhuman at all, because with enough training, wouldn't he be able to make all of that second nature?

"Is this what I should strive to achieve?"

"Maybe on a fundamental level, yes…" He mumbled as he touched his chin

'I think… I think I know what this Skill's purpose truly is. If my conjecture is correct.'

'But first, I have to run one last test… To confirm my suspicions.'

/Fwoosh…/

The sand around him gathered, turning into a Failure, the same happening to the reflection.

"..."

"..."

Dale said nothing as he stared at his reflection, only taking a step forward as he dashed forward!

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Notes

[1] Caught on 4K! ??

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