[ You have arrived on the Floor Boss Island. Defeat the Dueling Lord Tathan in a 1-minute duel. ]

Ainen got a notification. Not one, but two.

[ Floor Boss: Dueling Lord Tathan. ]

— Duel Ongoing.

'Interesting.' Ainen blinked and floated up before speeding away into the island. 'This island is crazy.'

Ainen passed by lava regions, snowy mountains, giant trees with strong winds, glacier planes, muddy jungle, and various crazy biomes while flying at Mach 14.

'And it's crazy big.'

'Ainen, you have one minute and thirty seconds remaining until your burger's buff wears off.'

'No problem.' Ainen took out some meatballs and ate them before taking out a sandwich, devouring it. Finally, he drank a soup and a juice.

[ Buffs: +100% Fire Potency, +100% Wind Potency, +100 in all stats, +40% in all stats, +300-400 Fire, Water, Ice, Earth, Wind, Darkness, Lightning, Resistance, +50% boost in Action Speed. Healing and Stamina Recovery +100%. ]

'Your class perk really makes you broken.' Lord Black wryly smiled.

Ainen grinned.

"Oh, found them."

Ainen paused as he sensed a barrier and saw two people fighting in a large ring amidst clouds and giant trees.

'So that's how the duel grounds are set up. This is making me excited.'

An area of 10 kilometers radius was the duel ground, and this particular area was a mix of blizzard in one half and large trees with clouds in the other half.

Ainen watched the duel after flying high above, but it was hard to see clearly due to obstacles and the dueling ground being very large.

[0:12]

[0:11]

…

[0:03]

'Looks like she will fail.'

The countdown was over.

Dueling Lord Tathan appeared right above Ainen as the duel ended. He was like a storm in human form.

Bare-chested with bronze tattoos pulsing beneath his skin like molten veins. His hair was a wild tangle of white and ember-red, while his golden eyes were sharp and feral.

A large ring around both of his wrists hummed with destruction rhythm as he roared before punching the air and cracking a slit, through which he flew and vanished before the slit mended.

[Dueling Lord Tathan is free to have the next duel. Find him, and defeat him.]

"Tsk, I should have used that poison from the start."

Ainen heard a mutter behind him and turned around to see a girl with strange hair that slowly and steadily changed its hue to different colors while a strange mist lingered around her, hazily changing its color constantly.

Her half-open robe could hide a black-laced dark silver dress she wore that pulsed with the magic of a Tier-3 Legendary gear set.

'Her stats are around the same as Elber, but she has an SS-rank class with a badass name of Hexer Dealer, and what's that talent? Innate Physique- Myriad Poison? Damn. She is stacked.'

"Fire boy." Prisha blinked as she recognized Ainen. "You look stronger than the last time I saw you."

Ainen raised his eyebrows in surprise. "When?"

"When you were fighting against the first-floor boss."

"So you've been on us since that time."

Prisha nodded. "Did you escape from Elber or didn't encounter him? Or did you kill him?"

'Her intuition is good.' Lord Black commented. 'She won't be careless against you.'

"He's dead. And so is everyone else. Only you are left." Ainen smiled and challenged her to a duel.

[ Duel between Adventurers is forbidden on this floor. ]

"Looks like you only tried to duel now," Prisha yawned. "Did you think I didn't want to duel you? I tried the moment I spoke the first word here."

Ainen frowned. "That sucks."

"Well, let's see who kills the boss first. I fought him five times so far, and each time he had a different set of skills and a change in appearance, so it's impossible to learn his patterns to figure out counter later." Prisha's eyes glinted as she smiled. "So, we can compete to see who kills him first."

"If I do, you will do one thing I say wholeheartedly. If you do, I'll do the same. Deal?"

Ainen raised his eyebrows. "No arcane contract?"

"No need. You will still abide by this, right?" Prisha's lips curved into a small smile, her eyes showing a strange triangle pattern in her pupils.

'Don't answer her!' Lord Black quickly alerted Ainen.

'Eh? What happened?'

'She is using a curse or at least, a curse-type skill. It might trigger if you respond to this verbal agreement from her.'

'Damn, there are such skills?' Ainen looked at Prisha, sizing her up. 'If only I could see her skills.'

'The world of the arcane is vast and full of mysteries. I don't know everything, but those eyes…I have seen the same, no, not the same, but strikingly similar symbol in someone's eyes in the final time of my living life. An enemy that was with the leader of Starion Blade Magic Tower, who was hunting me, had those kinds of eyes.'

'I succumbed to his cursed means and was about to die right before I got the chance from the unknown entity that chose you.' Lord Black added. 'There is a protection barrier around you by the Labyrinth since fighting between Adventurers isn't allowed here, but it might not block the curse-type skills.'

"Why aren't you answering me? So you will not follow this deal?" Prisha tilted her head.

"I am not going to listen to anything you say. Since we can fight each other right now, I am going to kill the boss."

Prisha pouted. "Looks like you know about my class. How strange. I don't think anyone, even Elber, knew about it, so how did you get that information?"

"That's a secret." Ainen smiled and left, flying away to find the boss. 'Maybe this girl got her class the same way that person who was after you got it. After all, classes can also be granted by a some kind of strong entity like Evermore Goddess, right?'

'That's true, but it's not easy.' Lord Black wryly chuckled. 'The information about those entities is hard to get. The Labyrinth might have some scriptures and scrolls containing information about such entities, which can be used to earn power-ups, but it's not easy.'

'There are only three such widespread known entities. Goddess Evermore, Sun God Raav, and Fortune Deity, but none of them gives classes with curse-type powers.'

'Oh, so there are three? I thought there was only Goddess Evermore.'

'Sun God Raav is more popular in the Runebound Continent, not in this Risentide Continent.'

'Interesting, so people can even get very strong classes from them?'

'Indeed, but what one gets depends on factors that are not deciphered completely, but the harder you work and hone your talent, the chances of getting a higher rank class also increase.'

'Interesting. So does that mean people can replace their classes or something?' Ainen asked as he got curious about this.

'Yes, it's possible. If you want a new class, you can earn it from these entities to replace the old class with a new one. Many people who are dissatisfied with their class try to join such institutes that have information on such entities, but Sun God Raav and Evermore Goddess have been present for the last thousand years, with their information collected and secured by the two major institutes that have a higher percentage of letting people acquire new classes. They influence big parts of both continents.'

'That's pretty cool. So aside from these two, are there other small institutes with information on different entities or not?'

'There were in at one time, but then these institutes were targeted constantly by people who wanted information they had about entities, so now, the scrolls or whatever containing the information constantly change owners as people target each other for it.'

'Well, I am not interested in getting a new class, but I wouldn't mind getting my hands on such information if I have a chance. Might be helpful to Ron and Syl.'

Ainen suddenly paused as he sensed a powerful aura nearby.

Dueling Lord Tathan was floating in the air above a large lake with steaming hot water and multiple geysers shooting out of it every second. His appearance was different than the last time Ainen saw it.

He had a large necklace of palm-sized beads around his neck that covered a part of his bare upper body that had aquatic glowing patterns, and wore an exotic leaf loincloth below.

Ainen grinned, his eyes involuntarily showing clear excitement at getting to fight a strong opponent.

"This will be fun."

[ Duel — Tathan vs Ainen. ]

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