As he stepped through the dark portal, Stark found himself in an entirely different realm.
When he was transported to the 'Domination trial' or when he dreamt about meeting with his doppelganger, he didn't actually leave the real world, instead his physical body stayed behind.
But this time, his body had actually gone somewhere else from his hotel room, and it was safe to say nobody would find him if he decided to stay here.
'At least I know how to escape the cops or assassins,' he smiled before looking around the area.
He was inside the 'Memories Museum'.
It was a large space with a red carpet rolling down toward an endless hall that seemed to never end.
[Welcome to the 'Memories Museum', please select the memory(ies) you want to experience!]
On both sides of the hall (which weren't very far from him) were marble displays, and on top of these displays weren't any sort of item or statue, but an image shaped like a thought bubble: it was a picture of a boss he had fought.
Stark looked around, going from left to right to check all the displays that were available., and he counted that there were 6 of them, 3 on each side.
When reaching out for one of the images, a holographic screen would appear in front of him, displaying the name of the memory and a short description of the boss he had faced.
...
[Judicator, The Fallen Angel]
[Description: Judicator is the second apostle of the 'Godless Demon', he is an arrogant piece of shit who thinks he owns the world, but you taught him his place and took him by surprise, he uses his dark wings to fly and has a multitude of skills that are able to end a battle in a single attack.]
...
This was the same for all the other displays: Malakar, The Conjoined Siblings, The Black Water Devourer, The Creeping Shadows and The Mirror Master, as these were all the bosses he had faced.
'But... what's the point of that?' Stark couldn't understand.
What did it mean by relive the memories of his battles, maybe he would be able to rewatch them all and analyze every bit of them?
[Please select the memories you want to experience!]
Not knowing what to do, Stark approached the memory of [Malakar] and of [Judicator], selecting the two of them by putting his hand inside the image.
[You have selected... 2 memories: Malakar; Judicator]
[Do you want to experience those memories now?]
[Y/N]
Stark clicked "Y" without a second thought.
But the moment he made the choice, he found himself consumed by the memories, his body surrounded by a dark aura as he was transported somewhere else.
And the moment his eyes were cleared from that aura, and he regained his vision...
He found himself inside of a giant circular arena, and before him... were the two bosses he had selected.
'Huh?' Stark's eyebrows arched in confusion and his heart rate quickened as his eyes grew wide with shock.
His senses were on high alert as he took in the sight before him: [Malakar], wearing his elegant suit and black sun mask, and [Judicator], the angel with black wings, were both in front of him.
"SHIT? THE TWO OF THEM?" Stark immediately got in position, why were they both here? Hadn't he killed them?
This was bad, really bad.
[3...]
"WAIT!"
[2...]
He could already see Judicator summon his scythe in hand, now wielding his two respective weapons.
[1...]
Malakar also summoned his cane in hand, spinning it, a wide grin on the visible half of his face.
[FIGHT!]
"THE CANE!" Malakar extended his cane toward Stark, which elongated.
'It's fast! Way faster than before!' he used his arm to deflect the cane away.
But...
~SLASH~
Judicator used that opportunity, and unlike last time when he was playing around, he didn't let Stark a single chance to retaliate.
"INVINCIBLE DODGE," Stark rolled away.
"DARK PULSE," but Malakar answered immediately, and a dark vein that came from the ground was rushing to pierce Stark.
[The Purgatory Shadow took the hit in your place]
Stark didn't know what the fuck was happening, he was currently fighting two bosses he had struggled against so much, and at the same time.
"ANGER OF THE FALLEN!" Judicator didn't waste any time, and instead of waiting for Stark to deal damage to him, he immediately activated one of his ultimate abilities.
And so while Stark was still avoiding the dark veins that came out from the ground...
~SLASH~
"-57784!"
He was cut in half by Judicator's scythe.
'Oh... I guess... I lost...' he closed his eyes, thinking it was over as he felt the world around him spin.
He had been completely overwhelmed by these two bosses as they kept launching skill after skill at him...
But...
"HAH~" he took a deep breath as he opened his eyes, and found himself back in the memories museum again, with the displays of the memories still at their respective places.
'What the?' he reached for his stomach, but there was no wound at all, yet he could swear he had been cut down by Judicator...
[Do you want to try again?]
[You can try as many times as you wish, you cannot die inside the memories museum, but you also do not receive any experience defeating the bosses]
Immediately, everything clicked inside of Stark's brain: the museum was a way for him to train in battle without the risk of death, basically... it was a way for him to get stronger without going anywhere else.
"This is... amazing," Stark put his hands on his chin and smiled.
He was easily defeated by the two bosses, who were both at his level... but what if he persisted and tried again and again? What if he adapted to the situation and improved his movements to dodge even more attacks?
Wouldn't that help him in the future too?
"Now..." Stark loved that new feature, "It really does feel like a game..."
Also... couldn't it help him try out all of his skills, finding new ways to use them and also testing out his new ones?
Even more so knowing that he is bound to unlock a new class soon...
This was perfect.
This was actually so great that Stark couldn't help but laugh.
'Oh yeah... I need to spin the wheel,' he remembered after thinking about his new class.
"Class Wheel!" he mumbled to himself, and this time he was actually able to use it since he had checked all the panels.
And so just like last time, the giant colorful wheel appeared in front of him.
"Let's do this," he smiled.