Rain was glued to the screen, knowing he was about to witness how B-ranks fought and used their genetic energy. The holographic video split into two parts, one showing Lady Caldwell and the other showing the head of the Hei family. Rain watched as one of the wooden gorillas reached Lady Caldwell. Without wasting any time, the creature launched a flurry of punches, but Lady Caldwell dodged them with ease, leaving only afterimages as the attacks missed their mark.
Rain turned to watch how the head of the Hei family handled the other wooden gorilla. He saw the head of the Hei family land on a rooftop park, calmly waiting for the enemy to approach. Like the first gorilla, this one launched a barrage of punches once it got close. However, unlike Lady Caldwell's evasive tactics, the head of the Hei family met the wooden gorilla's attacks head-on, matching its punches with his own. Rain noticed that the head of the Hei family didn't use his genetic energy to form a protective energy glove or enhance his strength. Instead, he punched back with his bare fists, meeting the wooden gorilla's blows directly.
Rain watched Lady Caldwell fight the wooden gorilla, or rather, dodge its attacks with ease. He noticed that frost was beginning to form on the nearby buildings as she moved. Sensing something changing on the battlefield, Rain realized that the wooden gorilla was becoming slower. Over time, its speed decreased further, and soon its wings stopped flapping as frost formed on them. The gorilla eventually plummeted, headfirst, onto a bridge, destroying it instantly, before crashing into a lake in a rooftop park. Rain knew the fall alone wouldn't cause much harm to the gorilla. Then, behind Lady Caldwell, a white-furred tiger with ice-blue eyes, light blue stripes, and claws made of ice crystal appeared. From the tiger's mouth, an ice beam shot out, freezing both the monster and the lake together.
Rain noticed that the head of the Hei family had also destroyed his wooden gorilla, but he had missed the fight. His attention returned to the tree where Francis's clone was waiting. Lady Caldwell arrived, followed by the head of the Hei family a few seconds later.
The head of the Hei family said, "Francis, the game is over. As a Titled Genetic Warrior, you should destroy yourself before we take action."
Francis responded, "The game is over when I say so. You've only completed the first objective, not the second." As he clapped his hands together, a large round ball fell from the tree's canopy. When it hit the ground, the ball burst open, revealing human-shaped creatures covered in purple scales, with red eyes, claws extending from their wrists, and bat wings on their backs. Rain counted 20 of these monsters. Together, they screeched loudly and began moving toward them.
The head of the Hei family said, "Sylvia, you go and engage with Francis's clone. I will take care of these monsters." Rain realized that Lady Caldwell's name was Sylvia. She nodded and flew toward Francis's clone.
The head of the Hei family turned toward the monsters. Rain noticed a dark green snake head emerge beneath his feet, and the head of the Hei family was standing on it. Slowly, the full body of the snake, 100 feet long with wings, emerged. With a flap of its wings, the snake carried the head of the Hei family toward the monsters. As it neared them, the snake opened its mouth and spat black gas. The two monsters charging ahead were unable to dodge and quickly melted from the poison. The rest scattered and surrounded the snake, and the battle began. Rain noticed that the head of the Hei family now held a whip in his hand, which he used alongside the snake he formed with his genetic energy to attack the monsters.
Rain noticed that Lady Caldwell was fighting Francis's clone, wielding two swords at incredible speed, but none of her strikes landed on Francis. He either dodged or deflected them with the wooden staff in his hand. The fight reminded Rain of when Lady Caldwell had faced the wooden gorilla, but this time the roles were reversed. Lady Caldwell's attacks were being dodged or deflected by Francis.
Rain sensed that Francis's advantage would diminish as frost began to form in the surroundings. After a while, the crown of the tree formed an ice ring, and Francis's clone also started to slow down. The head of the Hei family, having defeated all the monsters, landed on the ice ring as well.
Francis, sensing the disadvantage, distanced himself from Lady Caldwell. He said, "We have both cleared the second objective. Now, let's begin the final and third objective."
Rain noticed in the video that after Francis's declaration, both Lady Caldwell and the head of the Hei family tensed up, summoning their genetic beasts: the Ice Tiger and the Corroding Wing Snake. Seeing both beasts, a previous thought resurfaced. The Corroding Wing Snake, a B-rank genetic beast, confirmed the head of the Hei family as a B-rank genetic warrior, but the Ice Tiger was a C-rank genetic beast, meaning Lady Caldwell was a C-rank genetic warrior. This left Rain puzzled—why was this called a battle between B-rank warriors?
Rain continued watching as Francis mentioned the third objective and slapped the ice. The ice shattered, forcing the head of the Hei family to climb onto his genetic beast to stay in the air. Rain thought, "Maybe he can only fly for a short time."
As the ice broke completely, Francis's clone remained standing in the air. The tree began to glow with a purple light, shrinking by the second. Then, the light split in two, and from it emerged two mirrors—one with a purple frame and the other with a black frame.
Then the mirrors rushed to Francis and hovered beside him as he began speaking, "Do you know why my title is 'Mirror Man'? If you two answer correctly, I'll destroy this clone."
The head of the Hei family and Lady Caldwell exchanged glances. They both wanted to avoid fighting Francis's clone, so if answering correctly would complete their mission without conflict, it was worth a try. Both nodded and agreed to Francis's proposal. Rain, too, was curious to learn how an A-rank warrior earned their title and became a Titled A-rank.
Francis smiled and said, "First, Hei Shun, you guess."
Rain remembered the name of the head of the Hei family. Hei Shun stayed silent for a few moments before saying, "Because of your ability to create mirror images of others, your title is 'Mirror Man.'"
Francis shook his head, "Wrong. I could do that long before I reached the Titled A-rank realm. Now it's your turn, Sylvia."
Rain watched as Lady Caldwell paused briefly before replying, "I know that before an A-rank warrior can break through to Titled A-rank, they must fully comprehend a mystery. You've mastered the Mirror Path, so your title must be 'Mirror Man.'"
Francis remained silent for a few seconds before responding, "You're half right. The title of an A-rank isn't given to them by anyone—it's bestowed by the world itself. Since both of you are wrong, I'll show you what my title truly means."
Hearing this, both Lady Caldwell and Hei Shun attacked without a word, but Francis's clone dodged and distanced himself from them again. Francis continued, "I'm not done speaking. Since you're half right, I'll use only half of my ability." He pointed to the two mirrors and said, "You know these two mirrors have names. The purple-framed mirror is called the Mirror of Virtue, and the black-framed mirror is called the Mirror of Sin.
After a Genetic warrior, or in my case, a user of strange energy, reaches the peak of A-rank, our practice ended. We fully comprehend a Mystery, but comprehending a new mystery won't raise our rank—only our strength. To break through to the next realm, you must extend the mystery beyond the boundaries of our world. By doing so, we receive a gift from the world: the title we are given comes from the world itself. You can probably guess from the names of the mirrors which path I extended to form a new mystery that doesn't exist in the world before."
Rain thought deeply. Virtue and Sin are emotions tied to living beings. How do mirrors relate to emotions? If he could figure that out, it might help him when he reaches the peak of A-rank as a Genetic warrior and fully comprehends his own mystery, guiding him forward.
But for now, Rain focused on the video. He noticed that the mirrors didn't copy Hei Shun or Lady Caldwell. Instead, the two mirrors transformed into two new clones of Francis. Unlike the original clone, which had silver hair like the real Francis, these new clones had purple and black hair.
The black-haired Francis spoke rudely, "You can't even handle one B-rank and one C-rank Genetic warrior, and you had to call us for help?"
The silver-haired Francis responded, "Are you forgetting I'm just a clone? With your poor brain, it seems your eyes aren't working well either."
"Shut up!" the black-haired Francis shot back, stepping closer to the silver-haired clone.
Without backing down, the silver-haired Francis retorted, "What are you going to do about it?"
The purple-haired Francis intervened, "You two stop fighting. We're all one, and you're making a joke out of us."
Rain watched this strange quarrel between Francis's clones. They argued as though they were separate personalities, not just clones of the same person. Rain also noticed that both Hei Shun and Lady Caldwell were watching the clones' argument in silence, seemingly unsure of how to react.