BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

Erik returned to the underground shelter as the sun reached its zenith. His clone was there already waiting for him.

Despite the dangers it must have faced during its morning hunt, the clone's expression was bright.

"Welcome back, Master."

"Good to see you made it back safely," Erik said, noting the traces of dried blood on his clone's clothing. "How did it go?"

"I killed a few creatures, Master, nothing much," the clone said. "There was nothing as powerful as a Chromatic Stalker. Even at my current level of strength, I could handle them without too many problems. But the area is vast and crawling with thaids. I had to be selective about which ones to engage."

The clone had many powers, including invisibility. In theory, it shouldn't have been hard to kill thaids if they were to his same level. The problem was the stronger ones, or if they were in huge numbers.

"You killed some?"

The clone nodded. "Three of them. They were the weakest ones I could find. They were still stronger than Mannard's thaids, though, but with a little bit of planning, they fell under my capabilities."

Erik nodded. Being stronger than a thaid made killing them straightforward, and the number of thaids one could face at the same time increased as the difference in might did. The same was true, but reversed in the opposite case. Both Erik and the clone could face thaids at their same level, but at best they could 1v1 them or kill huge numbers using tactics.

Erik's ranged powers and massive mana gave him fewer problems than the clones, who had to be careful what they did and used.

That meant Erik was pleasantly surprised about the clone having killed three thaids.

"Tell me what you saw on the other side of the forest." Erik wanted to know what was there that could threaten the shelter.

"How do these thaids compare to Mannard's, in your opinion?" He added, and then sat down on one of the wooden beds as he waited for the clone's report.

"They're terrifying, Master. It's not just because most of the thaids here have two or three brain crystal powers, or because they also have a ton of neural links, it's because they are also smart. Their threat level makes them twice to thrice as dangerous as a Hevadrin. Even the weak thaids I killed this morning would have been considered apex predators back there."

Erik was not so pleased to hear that, but the clone still accomplished a very complicated task.

"Yet you handled them."

"Yes. I forced them to rely only on their physical strength, which was less than mine. That gave me the advantage I needed to win. Though the strategy was a bit complicated, it worked. I believe we can survive here, Master. And if enough clones made it through with Amber and the others, they might have survived as well."

Those words made Erik feel well. However, Erik wanted to know more.

"Did you find anything we should stay away from on the northeastern side?"

The clone paused. "Indeed…"

"Like the Chromatic Stalker I found the other day?" Erik asked.

"Worse." The clone's eyes darkened. "It looks like wyverns roam the northeastern side. I'm actually not sure what they are. They looked like Wyverns but didn't look that big from the distance. I can't also tell if they were as powerful as those on Mannard."

"Weird," Erik said. "Wyverns outside a mountain range is peculiar. Maybe they really are not wyverns."

"Yeah…" Wyverns were some of the creatures humans had no information about since whoever met them usually got devoured. That meant humanity, Erik included, wasn't sure of the reasons that made wyverns stay near mountain ranges.

"Maybe there is a reason they stay on mountains on the Mannard continent, and here they don't need it."

"I'm worried something more powerful drove them away from their usual habitat... Or maybe the blackguards."

This made sense. Stronger creatures often force weaker ones to leave their normal homes. Seeing these wyvern-like creatures in unexpected places could mean there were even more dangerous monsters in the area that had driven them away. The problem was that whatever was able to push wyverns away from their territories must not have been a weak being.

"That's why we need to clear paths," Erik said. "As soon as the others find us, defending this place would be easier. Focus on what you can handle, avoid what you can't, and gradually secure the area."

The clone straightened. "Then today we should continue hunting."

"No. Didn't you forget what I told you? You need to focus on making neural links," Erik said.

"Remember that you Chimaeric Demons get more mana as the number of neural links increases, and that each mana pool is dedicated to a brain crystal power. You MUST make new neural links. It will make survival here easier."

"You should do the same, then, Master," the clone said. "Your powers would benefit a lot from additional neural links, just as ours do."

"I will, don't worry. I have many new powers, and even the older ones still need to get past the 54 neural links mark, so I have plenty of stuff to do."

Erik paused, and so did the clone.

"What about you, master? Did you find anything you had to kill?"

Erik nodded.

"I did. I killed a herd of very large thaids." He paused. "They weren't much, but their strength level was almost on par with mine, meaning I had to kill them from a distance. Luckily, they had lower dexterity and intelligence compared to me, and didn't even notice my attack until it was too late."

"That's good to hear, Master. Were you able to absorb any brain crystal powers from these creatures? Given their strength level, they must have had some intriguing abilities."

Erik smiled. "Yes. They are called Eclipse Field and Shadow Rend. Both B-ranked powers with interesting applications."

He described the abilities - how Eclipse Field could create zones of darkness that confused, blinded and slowed enemies, while Shadow Rend manifested as a deadly energy tail capable of cleaving through multiple targets.

Erik wasn't particularly interested in either power for himself. Shadow Rend required the user to partially transform into a thaid to manifest a tail and then coat it in this shadow energy or whatever it was. It was a mid-range attack, but Erik didn't need it since he had an elemental brain crystal power.

Eclipse Field was an interesting ability, but not that needed since Erik could turn invisible, mess with others' emotions, and the like.

These powers would be much more useful for his clones than for himself, since they had fewer abilities to work with. Erik decided he would give these powers to the Chimaeric Demons. Of course, since he got two brain crystals and blood samples, he would get them too. However, he would merge them into something useful as soon as he found something appropriate.

"Are you thinking of giving them to the Chimaeric Demons?"

"Already done," Erik said. "I gave them both powers."

"What about Essence Flow?" the clone asked. "The power you got from that barrier master during the Law Gate battle? Since we are going to hunt alone, there is no point for you to keep it. Just give it to the clones. Tomorrow you can make a new batch, and as soon as they matured, with that ability we should be able to travel through Mur without problems."

Erik liked this suggestion. Essence Flow was a special power that let users increase their mana and stamina regen with each other. If all the clones had this ability, what was great was that, in theory, the effects stacked. That meant that the clones could make stronger attacks without risking to end up without mana, and the same was for Erik, with the difference that he would be able to unleash a fuck ton more mana.

This would be super helpful for staying alive in Mur, where they needed to carefully manage their mana and stamina.

With Essence Flow, they could recover energy faster during fights, maintain their powers longer, and have enough reserves to escape if they couldn't handle the threat.

"True," Erik said. "I will do it as soon as I can. Now go train; I will do the same…"

The clone bowed. "I'll start immediately."

The clone lay down on his bed. He knew it made sense—there was no point in Erik keeping the power to himself when sharing it with the clones would be more useful, especially since they were alone here, and making more clones was of paramount importance.

He thought back to the Law Gate battle, where he'd gained Essence Flow from the dead barrier master Vindicator.

Back then, it allowed Bill to last longer, and there was just one person using essence flow. It also increased the combat ability of all those blackguards. The increase in survivability and combat efficiency had been incredible. Erik couldn't even fathom what would happen if he had thousands of clones with the ability.

<I can't delay this anymore.>

Making new clones was going to take a long time. The eggs needed time to hatch, and then the clones needed some more time to grow up.

<System… Do it.>

[On my way…]