I dispelled my clone and immediately summoned him again. He appeared in front of me wearing the same armor and holding the same sword as I was. The only difference was that he had leveled up once more and become even stronger.
"Start hunting. Kill as many monsters as you can, and don't die."
Hearing my command, the clone made a serious expression and started running off in search of new enemies.
I smiled as I watched him go and prepared myself for battle as well.
Then, just like my clone, I began walking around looking for enemies—but I was suddenly caught off guard when something jumped at me.
Startled, I turned around and saw a large brown creature lunging at me, baring its teeth.
"What the hell!?" I exclaimed in surprise.
I swung my sword instinctively and managed to hit the monster with the side of my blade—not killing it. The creature was sent flying and crashed to the ground several meters away.
Is my strength really that high?
The monster that attacked me was a brown lizard with suction cups that helped it stick to the dungeon walls and ceiling.
"That bastard ambushed me... I'm going to have to be more careful and start watching the walls and ceiling from now on."
I dashed toward the lizard and it couldn't do much. I managed to slice off its head, killing it and earning 10 experience points. At the same time, more notifications popped up.
[ EXP +10 ]
[ EXP +10 ]
[ EXP +10 ]
"He's going all in!" I cheered as I saw my experience rapidly increasing.
Level: 5 (EXP: 50/500)
"We still need to kill 45 more monsters, but I don't think it'll take that long."
####
I was wrong. It took longer than I expected.
Even with two people killing monsters, it was still a slow process. After hours of fighting, we still needed to kill around 10 more monsters, and I was already reaching my limit.
"My clone has twice my stamina. Looks like he doesn't get tired."
Well, he doesn't feel hunger or thirst, so maybe he doesn't feel fatigue either. That would make sense.
I stopped to take a drink of water.
"But since we're almost there, I can't stop now."
[ EXP +10 ]
[ EXP +10 ]
"Only 8 left." I sighed and stored the water bottle back in my inventory. Then I started running off to find more monsters. On the way, I even passed a group of adventurers who looked at me in shock.
But I ignored them.
Then, after nearly half an hour more, my clone killed the last monster we needed.
[ EXP +10 ]
[ You have reached Level 6! ]
[ Points +5 ]
[ All stats +1 ]
"HELL YES!" I shouted.
When I turned around, I noticed a group of adventurers behind me. They looked frightened. The man who seemed to be the leader considered asking something but didn't say a word and walked away.
What the hell? Why are people looking at me like I'm some kind of alien?
SCREW IT! I don't care!
I can level up my skill now!
I left my clone farming experience and stopped hunting so I could upgrade my skill. As soon as I opened the skill shop and saw the green button indicating I could level up my main skill, my heart began to race.
Then, I leveled it up.
[ The skill "Clones" is now Rank F ]
After reading the message, I immediately opened my status to take a look.
####
Name: Zane
Level: 6 (EXP: 30/600)
Rank: F
Clones: 1/2
Strength: 11
Endurance: 10
Agility: 10
Dexterity: 10
Magic: 10
Points: 4
"That's it? I thought I'd be able to make way more clones now, but I can only summon two!"
Two is still better than one, but I was hoping for at least five clones after ranking up the skill.
What a letdown.
Well, at least now I can summon another one.
At my command, another clone was created. He wasn't as strong as the first one—since the first had leveled up several times—but he came with half of my current stats!
He's stronger than the first one was when I first summoned him.
"Does that mean he'll become stronger than the first clone?"
Since his base stats are much higher, when he reaches the same level as the first, he'll be way stronger!
In other words, the stronger I become, the more potential my clones will have.
"But calling them Clone 1 and Clone 2 isn't very cool. Can I rename them?"
A system message popped up in front of me.
[ Do you wish to rename this clone? ]
"Yes. His name will be Zen. Kinda like my own name. And change the name of the first clone to Chen—a name I've seen a lot in Chinese web novels."
[ "Clone 2" has been renamed to "Zen" ]
[ "Clone 1" has been renamed to "Chen" ]
I smiled after reading the messages.
"Now that that's settled—go hunt, Zen!"
"Yes, Master!" the clone replied.
Of course, he has my voice, so it felt kind of weird hearing that.
"You can talk?"
"Yes, Master."
"Please stop calling me Master. It gives me chills. And can you change your voice, please? This won't work."
"That is currently impossible."
"Tsk!" I clicked my tongue. "Fine. Just don't talk too much when you're near me. I can't deal with it. Now go hunt and kill as many monsters as you can. Level up quickly."
"Yes!"
Zen obeyed and ran off.
I let out a sigh and checked how many points I'd need to level up the skill again. I could use the points to buy other skills or improve my status, but I'm really interested in the Clone skill.
I want to see how far it can go.
When the time comes to invest in other abilities, I'll do it.
####
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