Is this really a Game?!

With the temple giving a buff to those that decided to join the temple and fight for them, they had become quite popular with the players since it was a way to become more powerful than others without really doing anything else but simply joining them.

Of course, that was simply wishful thinking from the players that soon found themselves inside the temple's training grounds.

Just like the temple, the entrance to the training grounds was a portal, to be more specific, there were multiple training grounds that the players could enter.

Each one teleported the players to a completely new space, one that was not present for only them, but all the ashen battlemonks that came from other temples as well.

The training grounds were enormous, each one being the size of a planet and having many dangers inside of them.

The training grounds were divided into multiple sections, the first section was devoid of danger and the players were supposed to spend a couple of hours there everyday training and getting used to the training methods the temple provided.

The training was similar to what people would see in movies that showed the Shaolin monks doing.

They had to do strenuous exercises that left most of them crying in pain, but even though there were many that wanted to quit, they were unable to do so before passing the first training session, which meant that they were forced to spend a couple of hours in the training grounds each day and simply had no way of getting out of the whole thing.

The other sections of the training grounds were there for the players to gain experience and fight monsters.

Contrary to how it was on Earth, dying here would not mean really dying, the players would be teleported back to the first section, but they would lose a couple of levels as a result, which meant that the more one died, the weaker they became.

That was only true for the first training grounds which were meant for players that were below Tier I, the other, more advanced training grounds, had no such function, and dying there was real.

There were even those that became enamored with the temple and its teaching and had full-heartedly joined it and started praying to the deity the temple worshipped. They found themselves becoming calm and collected and having a special source of power deep inside of them.

There were over a hundred players that had joined the temple and Reign could see many of them pacing back and forth through the temple.

He made his way toward Drayce's office, which was located on the very top floor.

Nobody gave Reign any trouble, even with him wearing a robe and hood that completely hid his identity.

The monks that were inside the temple and the battlemonks all seemingly could see through his disguise, which was true since they had a boost to their strength inside the temple and nobody could hide from them and their eyes.

The players had no such boost and were a bit surprised to see a man wearing a disguise simply walking through the temple without any issues from the higher-ranked monks.

Reign got up and finally reached Drayce's office. He knocked on the door and entered after Drayce told him to come in, only to be surprised to see Drayce there with another man.

The second man was someone that Reign immediately recognized as it was the long-haired blonde man that he and the others had met in the hidden challenge that they did together with the angels.

Reign had thought that the man was a part of the challenge, not a real person that would actually show himself again.

"Ah, it is nice to see you again, young man," Eigol said to Reign as he smiled warmly at him. He was holding a cup of dark red liquid and drank it with delight as Drayce was sitting in his chair and looking at Reign.

"Sit down Reign, I know why you came here." Drayce smiled and pointed at another chair.

"So, can you tell me anything about them?"

"Well, as you already know, telling you too much is not allowed since his majesty would punish those that dared do so, but I can give you more information compared to Eldar, specifically, I can tell you more about that 'copy' of yours," Drayce said with a smile as Eigol's lip twitched a bit.

"I already had a brief conversation with Jack and Eldar, it was not specifically about you, but he told me about what you guys talked about, so I know what information he couldn't tell you thanks to him not having the necessary knowledge."

"In short, the copies are different for each Nephilim, some are more forceful, some are shrewd and try to trick them, while others are somewhat silent as they are certain that the Nephilim will fall without them interfering much."

"But, I have also not heard of a copy actually doing something like yours, I do admit that my knowledge of you guys is not as deep since I only know a couple of Nephilims, but perhaps my friend over there can help us with that," Drayce said as he glanced at Eigol who scoffed.

"Tch, first of all, I will say that I don't like your sort, there's no specific reason for it, it's just that even though I have had a good relationship with some Nephilims in the past, I have also fought a lot of them, especially in the beginning," Eigol said as he put the cup down.

"But when it comes to knowledge, I do have a fair amount of it when it comes to you, including the behavior of the copies."

"First, can you transform for a moment?" Eigol suddenly asked Reign who was seemingly a bit confused.

"It's only for a moment, I need to see what you look like in your true form before coming to a conclusion."

Reign simply nodded at Eigol before standing up and using his powers.

His body grew larger and wings sprouted out from his back. Light and Darkness coiled around him while both Eigol and Drayce could sense the power of souls manifesting like an invisible barrier around Reign.

That only lasted for a moment before Reign turned back and sat down after exhaling deeply.

With him transforming for such a short time, the cooldown to the next transformation was only a couple of hours long, which somewhat surprised Reign.

"There's more light than darkness, at least I think so," Eigol said with slight confusion as he stared at Reign.

"Usually, there's a clear difference when it comes to how much power a Nephilim has over the two elements, most have a lot more control over the light, but there are cases when some have control over darkness primarily." Eigol suddenly sighed and leaned back.

"Those are the ones whose copies are very different from the rest, but they are very rare."

"They are those tainted with darkness and who are already out of control."

"They are not normal Nephilims, their wings are black and gray and they have a lack of control, often spiraling out of control and going on murder sprees."

"Their copies are there in order to bring them back to the light and safe them from becoming demented, unfortunately, it rarely works and most lose full control of themselves and end up being murdered by the other Nephilims."

"The relationship you have with your copy resembles them, but you are clearly not losing control, and you actually have a good balance of light and darkness, which is somewhat weird as well."

"So you have no idea either?" Drayce suddenly asked Eigol who shook his head.

"Nope, there is more darkness inside of him, which should mean that the copy is the manifestation of the element of darkness inside of him, a copy that is created in order to bring him to the dark and make him lose control, but the difference between light and darkness is faint so I have to admit that I am lost."

"You are the first Nephilim I have seen that is like that, well, other than that 'person'." Eigol showed a small change in his expression as he mentioned that, but it quickly went back to normal.

"You said that you managed to take a part of the element of darkness from your copy in the past?"

​ "Yes, it was quite a long time ago, and I suddenly saw that I can easily take a piece and manipulate it at will." Reign said as Eigol's face became even more confused.

"That ... is a first, to be honest."

"Usually that cannot happen before one awakens, as it is only after a Nephilim knows what he is that he is able to slowly start taking control over the second element before achieving complete balance in his body, but you have started doing so way earlier, which should have been impossible."