I started advancing through the dungeon floors while killing every monster I came across along the way. I'll admit—it was fun. Goblins, Kobolds, Lizards, but nothing beyond that. At least, not until I reached the 6th floor.
I remembered that new monsters start appearing on the sixth floor.
Monsters that are a bit stronger.
That got me excited.
I walked through the 6th floor—I didn't rush. Along the way, I ran into a few adventurers, who avoided me. Every adventurer I'd met so far either kept their distance or looked at me with curiosity and tried to strike up a conversation.
But I always ignored them.
After walking for a few minutes, I encountered the monster said to be the strongest on these floors. A "War Shadow." I looked at it through the cold eyes behind my mask, and a smile formed on my lips.
I slowly approached.
The monster, with its back turned to me, sensed my presence and spun around. When I looked into the darkness on its face, I felt a strange discomfort. I glanced at the large, sharp claws on its hands—claws that could easily slice through bone.
The War Shadow locked eyes with me for a few seconds, then lunged.
It closed the distance fast, but I wasn't scared.
It's not my body—and I'm strong enough to handle it.
So I attacked.
"Thrust." Using the Thrust skill, I moved at high speed, creating two clones behind me that also attacked the War Shadow. My sword struck the monster's abdomen with a sound like an explosion.
Its insides were probably obliterated.
The two clones created by the skill "Fragmented Clones" appeared and attacked the War Shadow—but the monster had already died and vanished before their hits landed.
The clones disappeared soon after.
The dropped item was automatically sent to my inventory, and I moved on to face more monsters.
But after a few hours of hunting between the 6th and 7th floors, I started getting a little bored, so I deactivated the "NeuroLink" skill and returned to my original body. Once I was back, I was starving—so I went to make something to eat.
But when I got to the kitchen, there was nothing to cook.
"I'll have to go out and buy a few things."
I dismissed Chen's clone, took off the armor, and then summoned him again.
He reappeared without armor, a sword, or a mask.
"Chen, I'll take control of your body to go to the market."
"Why? Can't you go in your own body?"
"Are you questioning me?"
"That's not it—I'm just curious."
"The less I show my original face, the better. That's all."
"Alright."
I took control of Chen's body again. The skill didn't seem to have a long cooldown—if it had any at all. When I took over Chen and stepped outside, I noticed the way everyone looked at me.
Not because Chen is strange—but because he's handsome.
'Maybe I went overboard.'
I went to a market, bought a bunch of ingredients, then headed to a secluded area and stored everything in my inventory. After that, I returned to my original body and dismissed the clone. 'I don't want anyone following me home or anything like that.'
Even without the mask and with Ottar not knowing his face—it's better to be careful.
At home, I pulled the ingredients out of my inventory and got ready to cook something.
While I cooked, I kept getting experience gain notifications. Since Chen wasn't in the dungeon at the moment, the experience gain slowed down a bit.
Once the food was ready, I ate, and then got contacted by one of my clones.
[ Master, I found a strange monster. ]
'Hm? Who is this?'
[ Clone 6. ]
'Ah, you're one of the ones I summoned recently. What kind of monster did you find? Is it one of those talking monsters or something like that?' Maybe he ran into an Xenos. But since he's on the upper floors, I highly doubt it.
[ It looks like a chicken, but it's really fast—I can't catch it. ]
'A chicken? Wha—'
Then I remembered the monster called "Jack Bird." A monster that only exists for money-hunters.
'No need to chase that one. I don't need money right now. Besides, I can't even sell items at the moment.'
That's a problem I need to solve.
####
I started thinking about some solutions. The simplest one is to join a Familia. That way, I could sell my magic stones and items, and also gain some protection.
If I had to choose, the Loki Familia would be the best option.
But I don't want to tie myself to any Familia. I want to create my own Familia and have full control—I don't want anyone having power over me. That wouldn't be fun.
The second way to deal with it is by selling the magic stones and items to a shop or someone else at a much lower price.
I'm sure a lot of people would buy it.
"Items can be bought by blacksmiths who use them. That's true." I grabbed a cup of tea and sat down on the couch.
[ You have leveled up to 10! ]
[ +10 Points ]
[ All stats +3 ]
"Oh? Already at level 10? I've got more than 100 points saved up. I'll wait until I reach 200 points and then upgrade the clone skill's rank. After that, I'll spend a few points on skills."
Back to the topic of magic stones and items.
I've got a third plan that might work… or maybe not.
The third plan is to have one of my clones join a Familia. A weaker clone, one I'd only use to earn money. "But… can clones even receive a falna?"
If they can, then this plan might work.
However, if they can't get a falna, the god will discover that he's not a human, just a clone.
"Is it worth the risk?"
If I pick a relatively weak Familia, it should be fine.
"The only one that comes to mind is the Hestia Familia."
A risky plan.
I'll think more about it once I upgrade the clone skill's rank again and get a few more skills.
So I spent a few more days at home, occasionally taking control of one of my clones just to have some fun.
And finally, I managed to save up the 200 points needed to rank up the skill again.
[ Would you like to rank up the skill "Clones" to Rank C? ]
"Of course."
When I ranked up the skill, I was flooded with notifications and began to feel my body fill with energy.
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Read more chapters on my patr eon: patr eon.com/ZhangYe
Next chapters: Chapter 19 - Characters I know. / Chapter 20 - Questions without answers. / Chapter 21 - Imposters?