Apotheosis

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 life-like 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. H

le 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.