Chapter 1385: Into the Antique

Just like before, Michael found his own soul being transported into an entirely new reality. It only took a moment for him to finally see himself in a completely new environment.

The skies were completely dark. No sign of the stars or heavenly bodies that would have painted the heavens if this was anywhere in the universe.

Instead, it was just dark, with a few floating pieces of black stone rubble hovering in the skies.

Once again, he looked around using his Mini Drones. They scoured the entirety of this new unknown place, before he was able to verify that it indeed was another island just like before.

A floating piece of land, where everything around was darkness, just like the skies itself.

And in the distance, he saw the hazy figure of another island.

Michael was almost a hundred percent sure that that island was the very same one in which he had challenged when he had gotten the Antique before. If he could fly there, he’d be able to see the very same monolith that had challenged his use of Unity.

Of course, on this island, there was another monolith.

It stood at the center of the island. Black entirely, with only streaks of gold lining it around as if they were once shattered and only repaired with liquid gold.

Michael immediately went towards this monolith, very excited to see what kind of challenge it dared to put against him.

The last time that he entered into an Antique, he had gained a lot of Unity Clones for him to use. And hopefully, this time, he’d be able to gather a lot more of them.

And so, he put his hands onto the monolith itself and used Unity.

Upon unleashing the combination of all eight mana into the monolith, it began to emit a golden light from the very peak of its stature, before letting it spread out into the deep, dark skies as if it was a signal.

Michael waited and waited... but then, nothing.

By now, there should have been some kind of challenge that the monolith prepared for him.

After all, from what he surmised and theorized, this Antique was actually something that was created by the Ancient Humans. They had created these challenges as they waited for a worthy person to complete them and inherit the knowledge that was hidden inside it.

This was where he got the Internet Cube in the first place! That very mysterious object that allowed him to connect phones despite the very large distance between them. It was all because of that cube, which could somehow connect to the natural mana waves in the world.

Perhaps, there was another one of those things here. That was why he was so excited about getting another Antique.

But then, there was nothing here!

No Unity Creatures for him to fight. No puzzle for him to solve. There was absolutely no sign of anything at all.

Even when he used his Supreme Talent to look around the island, the only thing that looked to have some supernatural essence imbued into it was the monolith itself.

But aside from that signal, the structure did nothing else!

Michael waited for an entire hour, and still, there was nothing. If he didn’t know that time worked differently here than it did in the real world, then he would have definitely panicked.

Because at this point, he didn’t know if he’d be stuck here for hours on end. Maybe an entire day. Maybe a month. Maybe even years! The thought struck him as terrifying. Even fighting against other, much stronger Nascent Spirit hadn’t put fear into him.

But this... this was different.

He didn’t know how to get out. The only way that he got out last time was because he solved the puzzles and he defeated the guardian creatures. But without them, Michael had no idea how to leave this place.

Time seemed to tick on and on and on. Michael even got bored.

By the tenth hour of simply scouring the entire island for any clues, Michael gave up.

Perhaps, this was the test that the monolith prepared for him. Boredom.

Eventually, he chose to simply just practice his swordplay. There was nothing better to do anyway.

He took out his Unity Saber and began to swing it. He used the proper stances first, moving his body the way that a normal swordsman was taught to use their weapon.

His movements were a culmination of thousands upon thousands of sword styles, all condensed into one cohesive stance. ChatJK6 got it after absorbing all of the technique scrolls during one of their visits in the library of the Order of the Heavenly Knights back in Angora.

But it was already proven that this kind of swordstyle was not going to help him get his mastery.

He knew that if he wanted to master his own weapon, he had to do it with his own style, his own essence.

Fighting Draco had allowed him to get a touch of inspiration. He realized that comfort was his one and only true goal. So, his swordstyle should reflect that.

Because of that, he had realized that a comfortable position was best for him.

He lowered his Unity Saber, lowering both of his hands until they were perpendicular to the ground.

Usually, a swordsman raised their sword either in offense or defense. They either raised both of their hands, or only one at a time. But never both down like what Michael was doing now.

After all, there was no defense with this kind of stance. He was practically just waiting for his opponent to hit his critical spot in his chest.

However, Michael knew that this was the stance he was most comfortable with.

[Initializing a projection for sparring purposes...]

ChatJK6 saw what he was doing and helped him by giving him someone to battle.

A golden magic circle appeared beneath his feet. Magic globules began to coalesce and condense until it formed into the exact same feature and face as Draco.

Even the bloodlust in his eyes was the same.