After defeating the first copy, Yasenia and Soluna challenged the second one right away. There was a difference between each copy as the bronze aura became stronger. The brighter the aura, the easier it is for them to use Yasenia's skills.
The dragoness was stunned when she realized it. 'To think that they don't actually become stronger, but only more proficient.'
During the first run, Yasenia thought that the copies were becoming stronger physically. But it was her misunderstanding. What was happening was that the buffs each copy used were more efficient than the previous ones, so Yasenia felt like the enemy was becoming stronger.
The time she took with each copy was similar, not less than four hours, but not longer than six. So, a day later, Yasenia finally encountered the copy with a clear bronze aura around it and fought it.
Soluna, having received the explanation about the trial from Yasenia, also improved at a ridiculous pace. While it was not easy to tell, Soluna's genius was similar to Yasenia's. You could tell that, while she was over 3,000 years old, Soluna had never cultivated before meeting Yasenia.
At that time, the perfect balance that she needed to maintain kept her stuck at the first level of the fifth realm—the realm she was born in. So, cultivation-wise, she had been actively advancing for less time than Yasenia had been cultivating!
With that in mind, her current advancement speed was comparable to our monstrous dragoness.
"Hm…" Soluna dodged a laser that could erase a moon and squinted. "How are you creating the attacks so quickly? By the time I summon one attack, you've completed almost three of them! It's really unfair!"
Soluna focused on dodging, closely looking at how her copy manipulated the energy in its body. "It has not been long since I transformed into a Nascent Celestial Spirit… But is the difference between you and me that large?"
BOOM!
Soluna and the copy looked down, where Yasenia and the copy were fighting. The copy frowned for a second and tried to go down to help. "Where are you going? [Star Destroying Lunar Flame: Sky Flame]."
Soluna waved her hand, and a powerful, deep blue fire that burned with starlight swept the area. Soluna's copy was unable to block it, so the copy waved her hand back. "[Star Destroying Lunar Flame: Sky Divide]."
Soluna's eyes flashed, and she quickly dodged to the right. Then, the flames that covered hundreds of kilometers were sliced in half, passing right where Soluna was previously standing. "Whoa… How did you do that? Did you concentrate the flames so thinly that they became as sharp as a blade?"
The copy knew that she couldn't help Yasenia's copy, so she focused on dealing with Soluna. Both spirits exchanged a barrage of energy attacks, filling the area with countless explosions.
"Let me try… [Star Destroying Lunar Flame: Sky Divide]!"
Soluna slashed horizontally with her hand, but the only thing she achieved was a stream of flames that swept the area. There was no cutting power, only raw strength behind the attack.
"Ugh…" The spirit of the Sun and Moon blushed, her eyes shifting slightly. "H-Hey, don't tell Yasenia. So embarrassing…"
The copy giggled a bit, but her hands didn't stop. "[Myriad Worlds Celestial Twilight: Dragon Bow]."
Soluna's three skills all acted differently. First, [One With The Cosmos] was similar to her Intent Domain. Then, [Star Destroying Lunar Flames] was what she was made of, and she could control it at will, creating a myriad of attacks. Finally, [Myriad Worlds Celestial Twilight] was the innate skill that allowed her to manipulate energy and create different phenomena or even solid structures.
"A bow!?" Soluna exclaimed, somewhat nervous. "I can only create melee weapons! How do you even create the drag force needed for knocking the arrow—WOAH! HOW BIG ARE YOU MAKING THE ARROW!"
When the copy pulled her bow, Soluna saw a gargantuan arrow manifesting above the copy, together with a larger bow that simulated the one in her hand. It was a mix of applications using [Myriad Worlds Celestial Twilight] for the bow structure and [Star Destroying Lunar Flames] as the arrow.
"Y-You! Don't fire that!"
The copy fired it.
"AH! UNFAIR! [Myriad Worlds Celestial Twilight: Lotus Aegis]!"
BOOM!!!
The explosion resulting from the collision was so violent that Yasenia and the copy looked up for a second. Yasenia blinked. 'Did Soluna get defeated again?... No, I can feel her aura in the middle. It seems that fighting the copy is making her stronger much faster.'
Soluna appeared almost unscathed from the attack and smiled proudly. "How is this? I saw one of my copies do it previously! It's a layered shield that destroys attacks using the violent nature of the Celestial Energy! Even as a Baby Celestial Spirit, I can do something like… this… WHY CAN YOU PULL THE STRING OF THAT BOW AGAIN!? ISN'T THAT TOO STRONG!?"
The fight above and below went on, Yasenia finishing her opponent around four and a half hours into the fight. The dragoness was surprised by something that the copy did during this time. 'It actually used [Star Pierce] a few times.'
That was the skill she learned during the previous trial, which Yasenia basically placed on the back of her mind, thinking that they were too stiff to use. 'Perhaps, I am underestimating them. In the end, they are skills that were created by powerhouses of the past.'
"[Scorching Sword], [Moon Ice Torment], [Star Pierce], [Star Dome], [Crystalline Moon Dress], and [Fairy Moon Steps]... Should I try using them more often?"
As she pondered, she observed the battle above her. Soluna was fighting her copy to a standstill, much better than the previous time. Nevertheless, it didn't feel like there would be a breakthrough that would help her win soon. "Well, Soluna needs to defeat this copy if she wants to even have a chance moving forward. So, I will wait here. There are… Six and a half days left. Hm… It's not as long as I thought."
After tasting the bead, Yasenia wanted to take possession of this treasure. She knew she would have problems if she took possession of it, but it was just too powerful and tempting not to give it her best try. 'I can't not be greedy with such a treasure trove in front of me. If I combine this treasure with my [Primordial Palace], it would be like giving wings to my cultivation speed.'
Compared to the [Star River Rose], the benefit was in another dimension altogether.
After waiting for another two hours for Soluna to defeat her copy, they moved on. The sixth level is the first level with double opponents, forcing them to focus and be careful while training.
It took them 15 hours to beat it because they had been defeated the first time. Yasenia and Soluna stayed there particularly long on purpose. So, using this as an advantage, one of Soluna's copies managed to sneak attack Yasenia and flip the battlefield situation. From then on, they tried to resist using all their strength, but the copies didn't let go of the small advantage, widening it until they forced them both to their knees.
Thankfully, after being blasted back by the multicolored copy, they could challenge them shortly after and beat them while learning all they wanted to know.
"That was dangerous." Yasenia laughed, looking at Soluna's frowning, pretty face. "What's wrong, love?"
"Nothing…" Soluna muttered, confused. "It's just… I still don't know how that copy made her presence disappear like that to sneak attack you. How can you even use Celestial Energy to conceal yourself?"
Yasenia pondered and commented. "Perhaps… Can your [One With The Cosmos] act like the [Celestial Intent Domain] and create a separate dimension? The copy might've used that if it were possible. After all, they are doing some crazy things with our skills."
Soluna's eyes widened a bit. "Ah… You might be right."
Yasenia looked at the remaining time. "Five days and eight hours… We can meditate for two hours to calm down our minds and internalize our gains."
Two hours later, Yasenia and Soluna slowly made their way into the sixth, seventh, and finally the eighth level. To begin with, Yasenia lost on this floor the first time because Soluna was defeated too quickly. So, they had no problem beating it now that Soluna had grown.
They continued their streak, reaching the tenth floor and facing their two copies surrounded by the bright bronze aura.
The fight against them lasted for eight hours, but they managed to beat them. In total, from the sixth to the tenth level, they used 22 hours; this left them with four days and eight hours left for the trial."
Taking a deep breath, Yasenia stepped onto the 11th floor. "I wonder… What are you going to show me this time?"
However, Yasenia was bound to be slightly disappointed. Not because the challenge was not more difficult, but because of the way the challenge was scaled. "This… Three auraless copies this time around?"
Soluna groaned. "Three of them? Two of them were already a pain… Can we even defeat three of them?"
Yasenia nodded, confident. "I can. How about you, love?"
Soluna grumbled and sighed. "I'll… do my best." Looking at the excited dragoness, Soluna couldn't help but chuckle. "To be honest, this is the one thing I don't understand from you. Why are you so happy when you fight?"
Thinking about it, Yasenia chuckled. "I just… like the feeling of challenging myself against worthy opponents and beating them. It feels like my efforts have been answered and makes me even more motivated to continue becoming stronger."
"Sadistic. Tsk."
Hearing the clicking tongue of her dear spirit girl, the dragoness didn't deny it. Instead, she grinned and asked back. "Who is the one who begs me to squash her with my body weight, eh? More, you shout, as I…"
"Aaaahhh! STOP!" Soluna raised her hands, placing them against Yasenia's mouth. The dragoness's eyes flickered as she licked Soluna's hand with her long and flexible tongue. The agility of the tongue as it entangled between her fingers made Soluna's face explode in red. 'When that's inside… AH! FOCUS, SOLUNA!'
For the last 104 hours, Yasenia and Soluna managed to fight until they reached the 21st level. After going from two to three, going from three to four was not that big a difference. The only problem was time.
Yasenia saw the five copies she was fighting with disappear and sighed. "Twenty-one floors… Let's hope it is enough."
Her body disappeared and appeared in another location with the 99 people who entered the challenge. Looking around, she could see people showing despairing expressions, making her curious.
The voice spread around. "Now, I will disqualify everyone who has not defeated the first copy. Thirty-seven participants will be thrown out and crippled for a month. If you managed to beat at least one copy, you will not receive penalties. Now, for the top eight…"