When Luke thought of what he should do to get stronger in that space. He realized that he had two options: the first was to train himself there and try to resist the hardships of the flow of time there. Not the usual flow of time, but the one in his head. Even if time doesn’t pass in reality, he still would feel it like he wasn’t making any progress on getting Aivern, at least not quick progress. The second option was to learn how to make a clone in one way or the other. Still, it was hard to say if he could get the experience of the clone if he made one that was real and made of bones and flesh. It would be a bit weird.

Considering that only mana could move there, Luke realized that the clone would need to be made of mana. So, that complicated things even more. After a while, he realized that he would have to make a copy of himself using mana crystals, and that took one hell of a time. Still, the hardest part was how to figure out how he could get the memories of the clone. For that part, he got the clue from Aivern himself. He said that he received the memories of his other versions in the multiverse, after all. He only got it when the other universes were destroyed... So, Luke assumed that he would recover the mana inside that dimension if he were to make it disappear and the experience of the clone as well.

However, there was another problem... The clone had mana, but the system didn’t recognize its existence. Not to mention, it didn’t have Luke’s skills... It only was recognized when Luke gave it a skill book. The final problem, the clone could only level up skills up to level ten. So, every time Luke made that dimension disappear, he could only make some skills reach the max level of their current rank.

Solving all those problems took several weeks, and while Luke wanted to use it only against Aivern to get some stupid power-ups, that wasn’t an option right now. Still, at least Luke would surprise both assholes in the end.

Mana Clone LV 01 - 00%

HP: 01/ 01

MP: 50.000.000/01

SP: 01/ 01

STR: 01

SPE: 01

INT: 01

END: 01

RES: 01

FOC: 01

Free points: 00

Gold Coins: 00

Active Skills: Sonic Blade Lv 10

Spells:

Passive: Swordsmanship Lv 10,

Another thing that Luke learned thanks to his clone... that it was possible to have more mana than his cap allowed him. One just had to find the right way to force it, and since the clone was made of mana, that was pretty forceful.

"With one point in focus... You must have gone through hell to make Sonic Blade reach level ten, my mana clone," Luke said. "Perhaps I should have named you Mona Lisa."

In any case, Luke began to heal himself because he wasn’t going to create another dimension until he defeated the red giant. With that much mana, he could make things more equal on the battlefield. However, there was no telling what would happen if he pushed his body beyond the limits, even with the help of magic... He might get seriously injured. Not to mention, he will only have around five minutes if he uses all that mana available.

"More than enough..." Luke said while showing a vicious glint in his eyes.

Things in reality only happened in a single moment. However, Artheim still knew that something was off when Luke disappeared looking like crap and returned fully healed. After a snap of Luke’s fingers, he destroyed his dimension and then obtained all the mana experience gathered there. He didn’t need to snap his fingers, but he did it anyway.

The skill Swordsmanship has leveled up.

You obtained 05 status points.

The skill Sonic Blade has leveled up.

You obtained 05 status points.

...

A massive wave of headaches afflicted Luke. It was a side effect of learning everything that happened inside the dimension. Usually, that would happen, but since his mana was there following his will, it did. Fortunately, he only got a few weeks’ worths of memories because it was at that point that the skills stopped evolving. Still, it was really troublesome to learn all that in a single instant, but the experience was a bit different.

When Luke received the mana, he immediately used his buffs to increase his speed, strength, and endurance. He also increased their capacity with Mana Manipulation and then charged toward Artheim. The red giant reacted on time even though Luke suddenly appeared and swung his sword at his head, but even with both arms, he failed at stopping the strike. In the end, the katana cut his face and chest downward, making blood gush from the wound. Still, Luke could tell that the wound was Superficial, so he prepared another attack, but Artheim made him fly to the distance with a roundhouse kick.

While making a high pitching sound, Luke flew and only stopped when he hit a nearby mountain. The impact made the entire region tremble and also made a massive crack open on that. Still, Luke got up as if nothing had happened and instantly got where he got hit. Artheim welcomed him with a punch, but Luke stopped it with the tip of his katana. While they were trying to overpower each other, the ground began to crack around them like it was an earthquake. Lightning bolts were emerging from their bodies and moved to attack the other, but they canceled each other out. One couldn’t see anything but anger in Luke’s eyes, but in Artheim’s eyes, one could only see excitement. He didn’t expect to find a worthy opponent anytime soon, but he certainly welcomed that surprise. His surprise disappeared when Luke changed his stance and then kicked him in the stomach, copying what he did a few seconds ago.