As soon as Frieren contacted me, I explained to her what had happened. I hadn't told her that I had talked to Ais and the others. Unfortunately, she doesn't retain those memories.
[So… should I talk to her and join the Loki Familia?]
'That's right. Or do you want me to take control of your body and do it myself?'
[No, that's not necessary. It'll be fine.]
I took control of Frieren's eyes a few minutes later and saw her following Tiona through the streets of Orario. I took the opportunity to analyze the situation. Everything seems the same. Nothing has changed.
Are they really after me?
I thought the city would be more mobilized for this.
Well… I guess I'm not as important as I thought.
'None of my clones have reported anything strange either. They're still hunting on the 24th floor without being bothered by anyone.'
I stopped controlling Frieren's eyes and was about to return to Clone 16, but then I remembered something. 'I leveled up again, didn't I? I completely forgot I should rank up the Clone skill.'
I'll need to spend 800 points. Almost all my points.
Points: 814
"I'll be left with 14 points. Not much I can do with that. Well, it's fine. I think ranking up the skill one more time will be enough to greatly increase my strength."
So, that's what I did.
I spent 800 points to rank up the skill.
After so long, I'm finally going to receive new abilities related to my clones!
[The skill "Clones" is now Rank A]
[You can now create up to 64 clones]
[The skill "Shared Status" has been enhanced]
[The skill "Self-Destruct" has been enhanced]
[The skill "Senses" has been enhanced]
[You have acquired the skill "Skill Selection"]
[You have acquired the skill "Discount"]
[You have acquired the skill "Instant Siege"]
[You have acquired the skill "Shadow"]
"Holy crap… That's a lot of new skills."
There were so many that I even felt lazy to check them all. First, let's take a look at the enhancements for Shared Status, Self-Destruct, and Senses.
The Shared Status skill got a significant boost. Now, I receive 10% of all my clones' combined stats. And since I can now create 64 clones, my stats will increase a lot!
Unfortunately, the system set a limit that will only be lifted when I evolve again.
The Self-Destruct skill also got a good upgrade, though I've never used it before. Now, the explosion will be 100% bigger and more powerful. Isn't that great?
Given my current situation, this will be very useful.
'I can launch a kamikaze attack whenever I want. I just need to use a freshly created clone.'
And in my opinion, Senses received the best improvement. Before, I could control the eyes, hearing, and senses of the clones. But now… I can control their entire bodies.
Yes, it's practically the same as the NeuroLink skill. The only difference is that my consciousness remains in my original body. It's like I'm remotely controlling a clone.
'This is good.'
Now for the new skills.
Skill Selection lets me choose which skills each clone has. Just like the ability that lets me choose their equipment and clothing, now I can select their skills.
Instead of letting Tatsumaki have all the abilities I have, I can limit her to just Gravity Magic, for example. But honestly, that's not really beneficial.
This would only be useful if I wanted to recreate characters with distinct skill sets, but I don't want that. I want all my clones to have every skill I have and to be just as strong as me. Using this feature is out of the question for now.
The second skill, EX Discount, is awesome. It gives me discounts. Yes, I can now buy skills from the shop at a lower price. I didn't expect to receive a skill like this.
That's great.
Instant Siege is similar to the Joint Attack skill, which lets me summon all my clones for a combined assault. The difference is that this new skill summons the clones directly around the enemy.
In other words, with this skill, it's impossible for the enemy to escape.
I can set up a siege in one second with this.
'That's a good skill.'
Now the last one: Shadow.
It's simple: I can create one special clone that's basically a shadow. Just one clone. It can travel through shadows, hide within them, and perform stealth attacks. This skill is really strong.
I can hide this clone in someone's shadow and launch a surprise attack.
Or… I could set up an interesting combo.
"Just imagine…"
I create a shadow clone, hide it inside a Familia, and then trigger Self-Destruct. The damage would be huge.
"I'm starting to have some interesting plans."
I'll put these plans into motion. The target will depend on which Familia comes after me and attacks first.
Or rather… attacks my clones.
'I'm looking forward to it.'
So, I returned to Clone 16's body to summon the new clones.
32 new clones.
####
As soon as I returned to Clone 16's body, I immediately summoned the new clones. But of course, I found a suitable place first. Once I summoned them, they appeared with the same appearance as my original body.
An elf.
So, I had to change that.
I generated a random appearance for them. I gave them long black hair and black eyes. A simple look. I didn't change their body structure much. I just made them a bit taller and gave them slightly more muscle mass.
It was a quick job since the changes weren't many.
"Giving each one a unique appearance would take way too long. That's definitely out of the question."
After changing their appearance, I equipped all the clones with the magic swords I bought from the Hephaestus Familia shop.
But I didn't give them armor.
"Yeah, this is good. It kind of looks like that Toy Story scene where a bunch of Buzz Lightyears show up. It's weird."
They lined up in front of me like soldiers.
"All right. What I want from you is simple: work in groups and kill as many monsters as you can. Level up and prepare for war! The enemy is coming!"
I don't know exactly when the enemy will appear, but I need to motivate them.
"Yes!" all the clones shouted in unison.
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patr eon.com/ZhangYe
Next chapters: Chapter 68 - Well done, Frieren. / Chapter 69 - 25th floor. / Chapter 70 - It finally started. The war.