The sky darkens as I sit in front of the rift and close my eyes, reaching into the far corners of my mind to think of possible ideas. After a few seconds, I get up and begin testing everything I've thought of. I open my status and scroll through, trying to activate my body double skill many times, but nothing happens because all three of my doubles are still alive and well back in the real world. I even attempt to create lifelike manifestations of Emrie out of earth magic, pure mana, and even try water magic, but none of them portray levels, and it's very difficult to make a voice come out of an inanimate object. The black sky continues to descend, not caring for my lack of time, which only makes me speed up my scrolling and pushes me to think of even more out-of-the-box ideas. Then, in a final moment of desperation, scrolling through everything I have, one skill pops out at me, and I open it up to read its description. Combat Magic [Superior Dark Summoning] Info: Dark Magic allows the caster to summon darkness. It is the absence of light. Or, the absence of magic itself. If Dark Magic clashes with any pure mana-based attack, it will negate the opponent's attack proportional to the amount of MP the enemy is exerting. The black skeleton just stares off at attention, unmoving and unthinking as the void above continues to rapidly fall faster. It's less than 50 kilometers away now, and I'm sure there's under a minute left before it envelops the rift and everything on this cliffside. I grit my teeth, and think carefully while scanning over the possibilities. The next mode available is [Command] it will most likely allow me to give it orders, and do exactly as I command. The mode beneath it is [Battle]. My instincts tell me this will put the summon into high alert and fend off or attack anything in its surroundings. Just looking at the last option, [Free Reign] makes me shiver for a moment. This one is self explanatory, and I don't plan on allowing this mode to be activated any time soon. The massive black skeletons' overwhelming aura seeps out of its body even in this dormant state. I can feel its evil nature glaring down at me even while its mind and control is locked away behind the shadow summoning ritual. The stench of death still permeates out from it, and its mana control would easily knock out any hunters below the double ranked up status just from being this close to it. After coming to a quick decision, I yell out again. "Switch Modes. Command mode!" The interface at the bottom of its status shifts. My gaze looks up at the sky, then back to the Lich while I use conceal to change my own form and begin talking in Emrie's voice to give my next command. "This is how you must speak. Use this voice, and no others. I need you to become this identity. Your name is Emrie Carter until I tell you otherwise. We're on an infiltration mission, there will be no room for errors. Do as I command, read the room, and follow my lead." My heart beats more and more while the Lich does as I say, taking the newly created cloak, putting it on to shift the black shadow-filled skeletal form it has into a lifelike image of the bedrock region's hunter. He ties the item box around his waist, and then words come out of his lips. "Of course, master, this is an easy feat." The orange-haired fire wielder looks me straight in the eyes, and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference if it wasn't for the overwhelming mana control aura pouring off him, as well as the fact that his status shows all of his original information. I send a telepathy message into the Lich King's psyche next. "I'll be able to communicate faster this way, can you hear me?" "Yes." Is all I get as a response before I begin showing the Divine Beast puppet how to alter his status to match the bedrock Region Hunter's was. I feel a ripple of dark disdain pour off of the summon, but Emrie's face still keeps its smiling impression. With the high pressure of this situation, I can't tell if I'm hallucinating this, or if the monster's emotions are really leaking out from behind this skill. Less than 15 seconds remain while I try to solve the final problem before me. The Lich has unimaginably high mana control, enough to rival the A-Class hunters in strength if he walked in there . Another order blurts out through our link before I can think of the possible consequences. "I need you to make a limiter. You're a Divine Beast, you can do that right? Something that will hide your mana control... It only needs to be for a small amount of time. Just enough to keep up appearances once we walk through that rift." I turn toward the Lich, and it doesn't respond for a moment while putting its hands in the air in front of its face to focus on something. The moment it does, I realize what an absurd request that was. The limiter that Ember made for me took him almost a year inside an isolation pod to fully heal from. However, the quick response isn't one that I fully expected. "In this shadow form, my body cannot tire, so it can be done. I can create a limiter that will last one hour, but my Immortal Core will be dormant for quite a while afterward." As the sky continues to disappear, a bright silver light forms between the creature's hands. My heart beats faster and faster as reality shrinks around us, and the silver light glows brighter. Ten seconds pass before the light finally hits its maximum luminosity, lighting up the darkened world around us far brighter than the cyan rift. It disperses in a flash, and I instantly feel the overwhelming dreadful aura of the Lich King vanish. Without thinking any longer, I grab the replica of Emrie Carter by the shoulder and start running toward the rift. "That will do! Limit your output to that of a level 600 hunter, do this for me, and maybe I'll reconsider leaving you in suspended animation for eternity once we're done here." Again, I feel a faint aura of envy and darkness pulse out from the Lich while it calibrates its output to a level 600 hunter. However, during the shift, I feel an odd aura that feels like one of minor respect, like the Lich is giving me a mental handshake for my last remark. Everything is happening so fast, so I don't dwell on the minor changes around me and push through. I'm more focused on the feeling of extreme relief that washes through me realizing that with just seconds to spare I really managed to pull it off. I claimed everything I could from this construct, and the Association won't be even suspicious in the slightest. I load my own item box up that will be searched by the Association with a single item. It's one that I believe will simultaneously make it seem like I never made it up the cliffside and up past the ocean at all, but will also score me enough points to keep my number-one ranking. We both jump through the rift as reality collapses and disappears into the endless void behind us. Bright cyan light fills my vision, and the ringing of bells chimes in my ears, then my feet fall onto the hard mana shielding of the Apex Region's test site, right back in the same square room I started in almost a month ago. Over two dozen people fill the room, but my mind is elsewhere as I try to make sense of the hundreds of unexpected system notifications that barrage my psyche. [+19,743,387,910,550 MCP] [Imbuement][Mythic Grade] [Barrier Creation][Mythic Grade] [Flight][Mythic Grade] [Area Buff][Mythic Grade] [Mind Palace][Mythic Grade] [Astral Spears][Mythic Grade] [Flash Step][Mythic Grade] [Call of The Void][Mythic Grade] [Crystal Creation][Mythic Grade] [Heavy Hand][Mythic Grade] [Additional Stat Transfer] [+4,004 Mental Strength] [Additional PP Transfer] [Congratulations! Rising Emperor's Domain Milestone Reached!] [1589/1000 Links of Loyalty Created] [New Perk Unlocked: Ruler's Gaze]