I am the Arcane Archer, and all my skills are self-created.

Li Wu's team entered the third floor and found it to be a vast, white space.

"Tower of Despair, Third Floor: Mirror Trial." The system notification sounded.

"Clearance condition: Defeat the mirror image that is exactly the same as you. Hint: The clone has the exact same skills, attributes, and... perfect combat awareness as you."

In the center of the space, the light distorted. Ten figures, identical to Li Wu and his companions, emerged. Their levels, equipment, and even facial expressions were exactly the same as the originals.

"Holy crap, this is too weird." Zhui Feng looked at the "Zhui Feng" opposite him who was dressed the same as him and holding the same bow, and his scalp tingled.

"How are we supposed to fight this? Their attributes and skills are exactly the same, and they have perfect awareness. Aren't we just asking for death?"

Steel Shield gripped his shield tightly: "Yes, the mirror image is definitely better at teamwork than we are."

Hua Zitong also frowned.

The rules of this trial sound like a simplified version of the "Mirror Abyss" that veteran players encountered before.

Even the simplified version is extremely difficult to deal with.

They have the same attributes and skills, but the opponent shows no fear, no hesitation, no mistakes, and always takes the optimal action.

He remained unmoved, looking at Li Wu: "Boss, what do we do?"

Li Wu didn't speak, but just stared at the "himself" opposite him. That "Li Wu" was also quietly looking at him, with cold eyes, and also holding an arcane bow in his hand.

"Interesting." Li Wu suddenly smiled. "The system's rules are that you must have the same skills, attributes, and perfect combat awareness. But it didn't say that you can't create new things on the fly."

"Boss, you mean...?"

"It can perfectly replicate our attributes and existing skills." A glint flashed in Li Wu's eyes.

"But can a new arrow signal that I haven't even thought of yet, that I can only create in the next second, be copied?"

Everyone was taken aback.

"Create something new?" Zhui Feng's eyes widened. "In this kind of high-pressure battle? And be even stronger than the enemy?"

"It's not that it's stronger," Li Wu corrected. "It's completely different. The attributes and skills are the same, but the combat awareness is perfect. This is indeed a tough opponent."

"But what if I attack in a way it has never seen before, or even understands? Will its perfect combat instincts still be able to make the optimal decision when faced with completely unfamiliar rules?"

Hua Zitong instantly understood: "You're trying to use syntax to create temporary new rules to break the mirror's perfect response mechanism!"

"That's right." Li Wu nodded. "It can copy my past, but it can't copy my future. From this moment on, every second, I am new."

As soon as he finished speaking, the ten mirror images on the other side moved simultaneously!

With a flick of his wrist, Li Wu unleashed a [Burning Star Return to Ruins - Desolate Domain]!

The arrows that followed the wind in the mirror image rained down like a storm!

The Mirror Steel Shield immediately activated [Absolute Defense] and charged towards the front row!

Their movements were perfectly synchronized, incredibly fast, and carried a chilling efficiency.

"Scatter! Hold them off!" Hua Zitong immediately commanded.

Immovable Mountain and Steel Shield stepped forward, while Wind Chaser and Shadow tried to harass the Mirror's backline.

The scene instantly descended into chaos.

When teammates fight each other, with identical skills, every collision is like a mirror image.

But soon, the Myth Guild was at a disadvantage.

The mirror image's coordination was perfect, with no redundant movements, and every attack was aimed directly at the vital points.

An unwavering block is always a step too slow; the stealth of the shadows is exposed by the mirror image "Shadow's" anticipation.

"No! They're more like us than we are!" Steel Shield was forced to retreat step by step by the blows.

Li Wu did not participate in the melee.

He stood a little further back, his eyes slightly closed, then suddenly opened wide.

The arcane bow in his hand was slowly drawn back, but no common elemental energy was gathered on the bowstring.

Instead, three new cipher symbols, radiating unfamiliar fluctuations, emerged, spun, and intertwined on the bowstring.

That was a combination he came up with on the spur of the moment while observing the mirror image's actions, combined with his grammatical intuition: [Lock] + [Chain] + [Illusion].

"Lock" means to bind, "chain" means to connect, and "illusion" means a false image.

This is a temporary combination that has never appeared in any archery record.

The results are unknown, as this is his first time trying it himself.

A translucent arrow, wrapped with pale silver chains, took shape.

"Now!" Li Wu released the bowstring.

The arrows were not aimed at any specific mirror image, but at the very center of the battleground!

The silver arrow landed silently, without an explosion or any visual effect.

But the next second, something unexpected happened!

Centered on the point where the arrow landed, dozens of semi-transparent silver chains appeared out of thin air, as if they had a life of their own, and instantly wrapped around several nearby mirror images!

Mirror Image Li Wu tried to dodge with Flash Arrow, but the chains seemed to have anticipated his trajectory, appearing at the end of his flash and binding him tightly!

Mirror Chaser tried to break free using high-speed movement, but found that the chains followed him closely, becoming tighter the more he struggled!

Even more bizarrely, the mirror image, bound by chains, caused the air around it to distort, creating illusory light and shadow that were exactly like their own. These light and shadow began to mimic their movements, but were always a beat behind, interfering with their judgment!

"What kind of skill is this?!" Zhui Feng stared in disbelief.

His own reflection was entangled with those phantoms, and his movements became somewhat sluggish.

"Interfering with perception and movement trajectory." Hua Zitong immediately saw the trick. "The chains not only bind, but also create illusions of movement, interfering with the judgment of perfect consciousness!"

The mirror images were thrown into brief chaos.

Their perfect combat awareness attempted to analyze the effects of this never-before-seen skill and find a way to counter it, but the rules of "temporary creation" were not in their database.

Li Wu seized the opportunity and drew his bow again.

This time, the bowstring was imbued with [Blazing] + [Condensation] + [Decay]. It was another combination that came up on the spur of the moment, designed to counter the mirror image's infinitely regenerating and flawless state.

He temporarily named the variant of "Undying Flame" "Erosion Flame".

The dark blue flame arrow shot out, but instead of aiming at the physical object, it struck the ground beneath the mirror image of Li Wu.

The flames spread rapidly, but instead of burning the material, they began to "erode" the space itself. The small area beneath Li Wu's feet began to fade, turning grayish-white, as if it had lost its "presence."

Mirror Image Li Wu tried to move, but found herself stuck in place by an invisible force. That eroded "non-existent" place had become the most solid cage.

"Beautiful!" Huayufengyin couldn't help but exclaim.

He realized that Li Wu wasn't competing with the mirror image in terms of skill strength at all, but rather using completely unfamiliar rules to break the "perfect logic" upon which the mirror image relied for its existence!

The mirror images began to focus their attacks on Li Wu's main body.

However, Li Wu's [Fate Perception] had already predicted all attacks, allowing him to stroll leisurely across the battlefield in conjunction with [Flash Arrow].

Each arrow he shoots is a new, temporary fragment of the rule.

Sometimes it's a "slowing" arrow that slows down the flow of time in a region; sometimes it's a "misleading" arrow that temporarily alters the identification of friend or foe, causing two mirror images to attack each other.

The mirror images possess perfect combat awareness, but faced with these endless and unpredictable "new rules," their responses begin to show flaws and become sluggish.

Finally, Li Wu drew the bowstring taut.

This time, what was gathered on the bowstring was no longer a single temporary rule, but an experiment in which he forcibly combined all the temporary combination fragments that had just been successfully verified, guided by his grammatical intuition.

Seven faint lights lit up simultaneously: [Lock] [Chain] [Illusion] [Blazing] [Condensation] [Rotten] [Mistake].

Even Li Wu himself felt the arrow was somewhat unstable as it took shape. But he still fired it.

The arrows did not fly towards any of the mirror images.

It drew an arc in the air and landed right in the center of the ten mirror images.

No sound.

But all ten mirror images froze at the same time.

Chains, flames, gray-white erosion zones, misaligned phantoms... all the temporary rule fragments erupted, overlapped, clashed, and merged simultaneously, forming an extremely short-lived yet completely chaotic rule force field.

Within this force field, "perfect combat awareness" becomes completely ineffective. This is because there is no "optimal solution" here; only conflicting temporary rules clashing within it.

One second later, the force field disappeared.

The ten mirror images, like punctured balloons, burst one after another, turning into specks of light and dissipating.

"Passed." The system notification sounded.

Zhui Feng gaped, and after a long while, he managed to stammer out, "Boss... that was... a skill you made up on the spot?"

Li Wu put down the bow, his face a little pale, not from injury, but from the exhaustion of his mental energy.

Creating a combination of seven characters on the spot, even with grammatical intuition, places a great burden on the mind.

"I suppose so." He sighed. "It validated my idea. No matter how perfect the mirror image is, it can't beat a creator who doesn't play by the rules."

Hua Zitong looked at Li Wu with a complicated expression.

This isn't just about increased strength; it's a dimensional crushing defeat. Li Wu has already reached the level of setting the rules.

The teleportation array in the rest area lit up, and Caesar appeared in a disheveled state with the members of the Heavenly Punishment Guild.

They had clearly also undergone the Mirror Trial, and won it with great difficulty, with several of them bearing injuries.

When Caesar saw that Li Wu and the others were already waiting safely at the exit of the third floor, his expression became even more unpleasant.

He didn't ask Li Wu how he got through it; he simply led the group upwards in silence.

Watching Caesar's retreating figure, Li Wu said to Hua Zitong, "Let's go. Next, we should check out the fourth floor. The real challenge should begin here."

He had a vague feeling that the "feel" of the tower was about to change starting from the fourth floor.

What came before was just a warm-up.