Mark's heart skipped an entire beat, when he saw the figure of the doppleganger to disappear.
Slice!
This was the last thing mark had probably heard, as every thing went mute following it.
His vision was slowly fading and turning blank!
The portion below his neck was not sensible as if it went paralysed, from fear. The vessels in his face started cooling down all of a sudden.
The plane he could probably vision was tilting down gradually, little by little.
Mark could see a headless body spinning around, which was flying back wards along with him, with blood gushing out fast from the opened vessels of that poor body.
" Just where had this headless body came from? Wait head less!! And that robes... aren't those mine?
Don't tell me that I was beheaded Ah!~~~ I don't want to die... give me a chance, I still have many things to do! System! Just what kind of death trap had you arranged to me this time?
Lord class my a**... What would the goal of hastening my cultivator do, if I didn't even have a life to begin with! "
Just when he was bellowing in loudly, the head of his turned back a little on still air, looking at the back of the figure that had beheaded him earlier.
The back of the doppelganger was clearly visible, with its right arm stretched. It carried a thin blade within its fingers, that seemed to have caught the blood of mark, which was overflowing like a stream of current from it.
It was walking away majestically, as if the killed target of it was not even worth mentioning, and may even stain it's name if the word of it killing him were to spread!
Though he didn't have a heart to skip a beat now, Mark was terrified when the figure of doppelganger had disappeared again, frightening the soul out of him.
Puchi!
" How vicious! "
There's a old saying that "A person after he had been beheaded, could at most gaze his surroundings for a second!"
This time gap might increase for cultivators of higher realms, but mark at his current strength could also hold for few final seconds.
Yet the doppelganger of him hadn't spared him that final moment, and pounced back it's blade right into his petite head, killing mark in a single clean flash.
" Mark White (Max), is this what it mean?
Just how on the earth could it move that fast?
Even I couldn't see the moment of my death, until I found my headless body spinning around!
Had i trained well... Could i really had attained that state as well? " Series of questions started popping in his head, and mark was regretting that he couldn't train his body well, and he had die in a flash like some sidekick from the protagonist's strike!
" Well, he had to be named as mark white max for a reason right? The maximum limit my body could be pushed forward, where I could rival some ordinary emperor with the merely might of grand master!
It seems that I truly deserve death! I was slacking off my time before... Had I practiced and trained well, I could had attained that powers and be invincible in younger generation!
Who else would had the courage to fight me by then? Now that this mark had been dead, my responsibilities, my duties, all had broken this moment.
Lu'er... mei'er... sorry for being a bad father, I had implicated you to death! Aimin sorry i wasn't a good husband to begin with, made our children father less by my mistake.
Now that I am dying, I'm regretting for slacking off during my past six years... Che! Still I do not want to die this early, I should had listened to that bone monarch and followed him back to his world, at least I could had preserved this life for a revenge!
And this damn system, i curse her mother and her seven generations to rot in hell!
Had it not been for her to give away that relic. It could probably had the capacity to protect against a peak emperor class experts, much less this doppelganger that couldn't exert that force! "
" Argh! Curse you syst... " Before he could curse out to his heart content, his soul was being sucked out by a golden vortex that looked mystical.
Glare!
That doppelganger of his had shifted its head abruptly, looking straight at Mark's wise soul that had been caught under the influence of golden vortex.
" Fast! Suck me fast! Who knows what this psycho might do once he caught my poor soul!
Oh myriad number of realms, I am comming! Grant me a quick soul dispersal! Let my soul vanish into your existence and become nothingness!!
Zoop!
The vortex finished sucking up mark, and had thrown him in the other side with his head hit hard against the grey floor below.
" The fuck! Do ghosts even feel pain, after they're dead? " Mark cursed out in pain.
" Wait! Why's this place giving me a sense of Deja Vu! " He muttered in lightly.
" Is this your first time here? " A voice rang out from behind.
When mark turned his head to look at the fellow ghost from behind, he could see a tall red haired youth in adventurers robes standing along with the silver masked person he met before.
" So you people have also died to become a ghost like me! " Looking at the floor below, mark sighed, but still he couldn't see their feet distinctly that confused him.
" Since when does us ghost stsrted to have feet! " Mark exclaimed out in surprise looking at the strange ghost before him.
" Ghost! Haha... hey kid, didn't your guide informed you about this place before hand? "
The red haired youth giggled out looking at the naive face of mark which was staring at him in surprise!
" So I didn't exactly died right! " Mark sighed out in relief, but suddenly a word popped his mind that started him.
" Guide! " All of a sudden, Mark's body jolted out in surprise, staring at the red haired youth with a doubtful face, he then exclaimed " What do you mean by that? "
" Hahaha... You became a slayer, yet you didn't know the existence of a guide! " Placing his hand over the silver masked youth at his side, he laughed out again, looking at mark as if he needs a proper education to begin with.
" Well, leave that guide thing for later, right now I'm curious about your result! Say how long did you last against that doppelganger of yours? " The red haired youth asked out with an excited eyes.
Looking at the embarrassed face of mark, that did not want to exclaim, the red haired youth made a guess out in air.
" One minute! " After this word rang to his ears mark started to glare aggressively at the youth's eyes, as if he want to chew him down this instant.
" Excuse my offense earlier, but that was the time, I lasted against my doppelganger a decade ago! "
Rubbing the back of his head, he exclaimed out proudly, as if it was the proudest thing he had done in his life.
" O...O...One minute! " Mark was startled, his eyes almost rolled out in surprise.
He was looking at the face of the red haired youth, as if he was looking at the figure of a monster.
He couldn't even last a blow against his doppelganger, much less one minute as boosted by this red haired youth.
But all of a sudden the words decade ago, echoed his ears!
A decade ago! Looking at the stature of the tall youth that may necessarily have reached a height, little less than that of a couple meters!
Mark could easily state that his body hadn't aged more than a decade since birth, much less to last against his doppelganger decade ago, while he couldn't even had taken birth to begin with!
" Did he played me earlier... Looking at the naive face of mine that hadn't exceeded the age of six, do you think I am easy to fool? "
Mark muttered it internally, gazing angrily at the red haired youth that seemed mocking him, this moment!
" Hey!~ Hey!~ don't take offense for that earlier, this silver masked bro had lasted against his doppelganger for a period of five minutrs... just at his first time! So my feeble record of one minute fades before him! "
" Five! Minutes! My a**! " Mark choose to ignore the red haired, but under anger he almost stood out, wanted to punch this youth till his mother's fails to recognize him.
Mark quickly controlled his fist, as he didn't want to create a scene right now.
" Wait! What I'm going to say will probably make you scream out in surprise... Did you know a thing called refinement in the doppelganger! "
He finished the last statement in a single statement, as if all things he said earlier aren't necessarily important before it!
" Refinement! " Mark mumbled out in surprise, which was clearly heard by the two before him.
Looking at the face of mark, that seemed to be frightened, he exclaimed stating " Not only had this silver masked fought against his doppelganger for five minutes!"
"It was also a refinement category!"
"Still the achievement of five minutes was noteworthy of systems notice, as it rewarded him later with a single skill book access card! "
Listening to his words, mark started to feel even more dejected towards his failure, he wanted to find a hole somewhere else, so that he could hide his embarrassment this instant.
" So fighting against a refinement doppelganger is not common, curse me for being unlucky, why do I have to fight against it that time. " Mark muttered in lightly, with a troubled face, which was heard clearly by the two before him.
" No wonder little chimp feels this dejected, you were probably too unlucky to face a refinement doppelganger the first time, don't feel pity, it happens some times... Well, how long did you really lasted against it. " Extending his hand towards mark, red haired youth asked out.
" So he wasn't all that arrogant I thought... " Exclaiming it internally, mark catched that extended arm of red haired and spit out his name, to change the topic" Mark white! My name is Mark white! What's yours? "
" Haha... So little boy is also from a nobel house hold! My name is Blank Frost, this silver mask has registered himself as such, so I doesn't know his true name yet! " Blank replied back.
" Hey, how about you temper your body with us it'll be fun? " Pointing his index finger towards the circular platform from behind, Blank asked out to mark.
" Temper! Together! " For a second mark had misunderstood Blank's true intent, and took him for that third case.
Later he found that, the cultivation platform to be the thing blank was stressing on, he sighed out a relief that his imagination actually wasn't true.
" I used the term "temper" instead of "cultivation", because we actually aren't cultivating in that round platform to improve levels. But are going to improving our body standards and transcends the limit to attain the Max state we saw in our doppelganger!" He stressed on his last words, and stated that it was important to take note of it.
"Only by doing so could we improve our chances at beating it!" Making a tough face, he weaved his hands as if what he said was natural.
" But before we attempt to temper your body, we must earn sufficient collateral... as a price to tribute the cultivation platform! " Just when the red haired youth spilled out the word collateral, he had a troubled face over there.
" Collateral! " Mark was surprised, what collateral could he provide to the system?
The only thing he could pay back are the mana stones, that he earned from the underground arena in dungeon. Would that suffice? He didn't know the answer to that question!
" Collateral, It's nothing we just need to finish some missions and we get "slayer points", with that we could choose to access things around here. "
The silver mask gave a solid blow to Blank's abdomen through his elbow, sending a telepathic message following it, stating " { He isn't qualified yet... you idiot } "
" How did I forget that! Little mark you need to challenge your doppelganger for ten times, to let your name register in the ranking board!
So without it you cannot access mission board in the least, much less tempering by obtaining collateral! "
He then turned his head towards the weaponry and said, only the first weapon is free of cost, remaining all could only be exchanged through points!
" What a pity~ sigh! You took the weakest of the blade out of there! Were your eyes blind when all those shining weapons were present on top to be choosed! "
Mark could only bend his head down in regret. If he had one chance to pick a weapon, would he choose this small blade, which wasn't much different to a maths metal ruler, of course he wouldn't.
" What could regretting do to me anyway, could it provide me with those valuable points, that could buy a thing. "
" But do I really have to steel my hear and die ten more times, before I could access the mission board! " Mark could only use the term die instead of challenge, as the difference between the both were such that he couldn't touch his hair in the least, much less fight as equals.
" How do I challenge my doppelganger ? " mark made an abrupt question which started them, but later recollecting the fact that he was just a new bud, they said the procedures to summon the black vortex over him.
Authors content:
1. Blank frost : Red haired adventurer, a slayer like Mark.
Traits - long, Red hair and a black heavy sword hung on back.
2. Silver mask : A slayer wearing a silver mask to hide his face.
Traits - Silver mask, short, spear user, black robes.
Slayer points : local currency of slayers.
Currently earned from completing missions in the mission board.
Requirement for doing missions = needs to be registered, I.e to fight against the doppelganger for a total of ten times, before hand.