Chapter 1305: Chapter 1305: Laughter

Everyone climbed up the pyramid and stood in front of their own statues.

The moment Zen arrived in front of his, the statue's eyes shone with a bright light that streamed directly into his eyes.

The moment the light hit his eyes, Zen felt as if he formed an instant connection with the statue as if it had become his clone.

“This is so strange,” he murmured to himself.

It wasn't just him. The other warriors also revealed puzzled looks as they looked into the eyes of their statues. They felt as if there was another copy of themselves somewhere in this universe and they were inherently connected to this supposed clone.

As they all tried to get used to this feeling, the mysterious girl's voice rang out.

"These statues represent your lives.

If one's statue is destroyed, then one will be eliminated at once."

The sound of the girl's voice startled Zen a bit but her words shed some clarity for the next challenge. 'It looks like we'll have to protect our own statues for the second stage.'

“From now on, these statues will serve as your clones. They will all be under your control. You may also refine them on the second floor of the blood-red castle...”

the mysterious girl continued to explain, laying out all the castle's rules to everyone present.

It took her a few minutes to list down all the pertinent information to the warriors. “I've told you all the rules. Now all you'll have to do is to avoid elimination. The countdown will be starting shortly. Once the timer runs out, prepare for a fierce attack...”

A bright, circle of light appeared at the top of the blood-red hall as soon as the girl finished speaking.

Everyone immediately understood that this circle of light was their timer. The fierce attack would be launched the moment it disappeared.

Zen shot a look at his statue and it immediately raised its hands and walked up to him. It acted accordingly to whatever Zen willed it to do.

The statue was now lifelike and looked exactly like Zen. The young man had no idea what material this clone of his was made of. It seemed to be made of stone but its body was flexible and its movements were fluid enough. The only thing that differentiated it from Zen was the small purple star painted in its chest.

Whoosh! Boom!

There was a loud explosion as a statue on top of the pyramid jumped down to the floor Zen was at.

“Oops! This statue is so fragile. Will it break after jumping that height?”

an ogre warrior muttered as he jumped down to retrieve his clone statue. He was extremely tall and bulky and so was his statue.

The clone that jumped down from the top of the pyramid now sported numerous cracks on its legs and chest.

The height was no more than eighty feet but it already looked as if it was about to fall into pieces.

There was no doubt about it.

They might look extremely like living people but these statues were still very fragile.

Their hardness was the same as any other ordinary statue.

A warrior at the nature level could probably smash it with a single punch.

As the ogre jumped from the top of the pyramid, that meant he was ranked above Zen and was at least an ace talent.

Zen couldn't help but sigh. Here was a mighty and powerful warrior who was too careless and broke his own statue before the attack even started.

The ogre didn't really seem to care. Instead, he continued to control his statue and made it jump its way down the pyramid.

Zen couldn't take that risk. He willed his own statue to walk towards him, afterwards, he lifted it up to his shoulder and flew to the center of the hall. 𝔯ᴀ𝐍Ꝋ𝖇ΕŜ

He landed perfectly and put the statue down carefully, afraid that he might break it if he was too rough in handling it.

This statue was a little too heavy for an ordinary person to lift but that wasn't the case for a mighty Soul Sea Realm warrior. All Zen needed to do was to flick the statue with a finger and it would easily shatter into pieces.

Zen wasn't worried that the other warriors would attack him or his statue. The mysterious girl had made it clear that fighting with each other was prohibited and so was harming another person's statue. Any disobedience would result in a swift elimination.

What they needed to watch out for were the fierce waves of attacks that would come once the timer ran out. By then, securing their own statues would be everyone's first priority.

Zen walked to one side of the hall and ordered his statue to follow.

The blood-red castle was divided into three floors which were accessed by a staircase at the side of each one. Zen climbed up and soon arrived at the second floor.

Here he found a couple of bundles of multicolored bamboo slips that emitted a faint glow as they floated in the air.

“According to that mysterious girl, these bamboo slips can be used to strengthen my statue though I would have to spend a couple of my Illusion Points doing that...”

he murmured as he let his consciousness fade away from his body and enter a bundle of red bamboo slips.

Zen soon got a message that these bamboo slips were for power. He could offer either a hundred thousand Illusion Points or Original Law crystals in exchange for these bamboo slips in order to increase his statue's power.

This bundle of slips was pretty much useless since the statue wasn't necessarily going to fight anyone. It was too fragile and its defenses were too weak. It would end up shattering before it even got the chance to attack.

Zen then left the bundle of red bamboo slips and chose a cyan one.

“The defense bamboo slips can directly intensify the defensive power of the statue...”

The description of the cyan bamboo slips made Zen's eyes gleam with excitement. He knew he was strong and powerful so he knew he could defend his statue but it was highly possible for it to take some damage from the fights that were soon to follow. Right now, the statue was so fragile that a level one beast could smash it into pieces. Zen knew that there was a need to increase its defense as soon as possible.

Zen glanced at the circle of light on top of the castle's hall to check how much time he had left. The light had only diminished to a quarter of its size so he more or less had half an hour left.

He then made a decision and poured his consciousness into the other bamboo slips.

Many warriors had also noticed the bundle of cyan bamboo slips. They also knew that defense was their utmost priority since they had to make sure that their statues remained intact during the oncoming siege.

A few warriors decided to check out the other bamboo slips while the more decisive ones chose to immediately exchange their points for the cyan one.

A hundred thousand Illusion Points were a reasonable enough price to intensify a statue's defense.

“Exchange all my Illusion Points for the defense bamboo slips!” a Night Group warrior said.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

Numerous Illusion Points began to burst out from the warrior and poured into the cyan bamboo slips. As the exchange was made, multiple rays of cyan light also covered his statue.

The rays of light coalesced and coated the statue as its defense increased significantly.

Those in the top 2500 had no shortage of Illusion Points. The person with the least points had more than forty million.

So the amount of points this Night Group warrior exchanged was enough to intensify his statue's defense hundreds of times.

The light shone for quite a long time before finally dimming to reveal a statue that glowed faintly of cyan light. From being extremely fragile, it now looked as hard as a diamond that even a Soul Sea Ream warrior would have trouble smashing it to pieces.

The Night Group warrior smiled, satisfied with his decision.

Of course, the other warriors weren't willing to be left behind. They too exchanged all their Illusion Points for the cyan bamboo slips.

Zen noticed this and turned his attention back at the bundles of bamboo slips in front of him.

The power contained within these slips was that of pure, precious Original Laws. The life bamboo slips could increase a statue's life power, the flame bamboo slips could grant it the power of flames, and so on. Each bundle of slips could be exchanged for a hundred thousand Illusion Points.

Zen's eyes landed on a bundle of golden bamboo slips. He poured his consciousness into these slips and heard the laughter of the mysterious girl.