Max clinically analysed every option and decided to choose the process of elimination to come to the best possible conclusion.
Although all the options were amazing, since Max could only choose one, the last thing that he wanted was to choose an option with incomplete information
Harbinger Of Doom sounded extremely ominous, however, it did not have a full information for Max to read hence gambling on that option was very risky.
Not wanting to take such a risk, Max decided to eliminate that option as he did not wish to end up connecting to another high level entity like Angakok.
The second option Max eliminated was the refinery blueprint.
It was a great asset that could potentially boost the economic prowess of his land and make him an alchemic powerhouse, however, money was one asset Max could always produce through various means.
A divine asset could always fetch him a lot of money, however, money could not necessarily help him buy a divine asset.
Only seldom did divine items turn up at auctions and even when they did, the monarchs would gather like hounds to personally bid on them.
For small players like Max, it was impossible to participate in auctions of that level, hence for now Max rejected the Refinery Blueprint.
The third option Max eliminated was the orb, as while the item was EXTREMELY useful, it was a logically flawed product.
It's biggest advantage was during seige where a flurry of arrows could be deflected away from the army.
But the same gravity that would interfere with enemy attacks would also interfere with friendly attacks with only 10 individuals getting the rings to defy its gravitational field.
This made the extremely useful object a bit useless and not practical for actual combat.
The dwarf king who made this was definitely talented but sorely lacking in general knowledge.
This left Max with just two options, the wind god boots and the Perfect Cloning technique.
Max was equally tempted between both options despite the perfect clone being a semi-divine technique.
In his fight against the dragon, Max had felt the need to have flight abilities, because he was a sitting duck while facing aerial enemies.
The boots of the wind god were an item that would allow him to walk on wind without needing to learn the necessary skills or expend mana which would be a great asset.
However, Max had a strong feeling that if he learnt the further levels of way of the wind he would someday master the flight technique organically.
Max had watched his master Kremeth walk on wind once inside dragon's paradise which was the basis of this hypothesis.
The only downside that the boots had were that they were permanently bound item, meaning Max could never swap them for other boots.
In the future Max might need defensive type boots, or stat booster boots, or equip a full armour set outright, but if he was bound to the wind god boots he would not be able to do so.
It was only for this small reason that with extreme reluctance Max decided to go with Perfect Cloning technique.
Max was already living a dual life as Max and Ravan, which was why he needed to have this extra layer of safety now more than ever with the Aurelius and Caesar clan breathing down his neck.
This way, he would be able to compromise one of his identities if the need ever be, and still have a safe identity to fall back to.
Since the clone was capable of replicating his voice and his techniques in combat, with a little bit of trickery anyone could be fooled that they were two different people.
This also increased his combat prowess by large, as his clone would possess nearly equal strength to him, effectively turning any one vs one battle into a two vs one battle in Max's favour.
Analysing everything Max finally decided to go for Perfect Cloning and made his choice known to the universal queen.
The queen imparted the knowledge of the skill to Max before teleporting his consciousness back outside the universal warehouse space.
Max opened his eyes and heard the sound of crackling thunder in his surroundings as the pilot kept glancing at him with a big smile on his face.
" You have awoken sir, we have already landed, disboard whenever you feel like it" the pilot said as Max glanced outside the window to look at an expansive green grassland covered in lush green grass that was moist from dewdrops.
In the sky was a pitch dark sky with thunder crackling at every 2 seconds as Max read a wooden signboard that said ' Welcome To Fields Of Thunder '
' FUCK!' Max thought as he saw a HUGE lightning strike destroy a large chunk of grassland underneath as he began wondering seriously about his life choices.
' Have some balls boy, this is the same place Agni ascended to tier4, the lightning of this place is special, it helps in body refining when absorbed, it will be a near death experience and will be hell, but it's nothing you have not experienced before' Drax said in Max's mind as Max nervously walked down the ship and waved to the captain.
" Oh I'm staying sir, I'll be witnessing your trial, I still have to take you back if you survive or your body if you die " The pilot said as he gave Max a thumbs up sign.
Max took a big gulp of saliva before walking into the fields of thunder as after walking five steps into the area he received a system notification
[ System Notification - You have entered the ancient tier4 promotion grounds ' Fields Of Thunder ' beginning evaluation
Prepare for the first lightning strike in 30 seconds….. ]
Max looked towards the sky and spread his legs as he grabbed his Runic Bone Staff from his inventory.
There was no point turning back now, it was either tier4 or death for him now.
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/// A/N - This bonus sponsored by patron DivineBeastTaco via PayPal, please thank him in the comments for this one.
All your votes have been tallied for, the decision was close between clone and shoes, but clone won by 5 vote margin ///