The Genius of Cloning in the Academy City

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I was walking inside a tranquil building where all the walls were painted white.

The hallway was quiet, devoid of a single soul. Apart from me, the only things providing a bit of dynamism to this monotonous place were the disorderly arranged walls and pillars.

As I was walking around, suddenly, the floor let out a cracking sound and collapsed.

“Ah!”

A figure clad in black tights sprang up from the floor!

I fell back in surprise.

-Why aahh!

The chainsaw in the figure’s hand roared loudly.

Terrified, I crawled on the floor as it approached me.

“Ahh…! Don’t come near!”

The tights-wearing figure grabbed me and lifted me up, shoving the chainsaw close to my head.

The loud whirring of the chain got closer! It’s coming! No! Don’t! It hurts! Aaaahhh!

“AAAHHH!”

I woke up drenched in cold sweat. But when I opened my eyes, for some reason, I was floating in mid-air.

“Yuck?”

-Thud!

“Ughhh…!”

As I opened my eyes, the hard floor of the dorm greeted me with intense pain. It hurt so much that I lay there for a while before finally getting up. I was definitely lying on the upper bunk, so why did I fall?

-Aaahhh! Second Clone! Sorry…

I glared at the Second Clone peeking its head out from the upper bunk. Apparently, it kicked me down in surprise when I woke up from the dream. It’s miraculous that nothing is broken after falling from that height.

I held back the urge to scream out due to the pain. Cute girls don’t curse, after all.

“Eww, but what’s this?”

It seemed something was dripping from my nose. It was too dark to see clearly.

As I grunted and grabbed the bed leg to stand up, I heard a rustling sound. A vague shape rose from the lower bunk in the dim light and turned on the lamp.

“Ah…? What’s that noise… Rugilinn? You’re already up?”

Daphne rubbed her sleepy eyes and got up from under the blanket.

As she stretched, her fluffy white onesie couldn’t hide her curvy figure. I’d felt it before, but it seems my roommate has a bigger chest than I do.

“Hmm? What’s this…?”

As the room got brighter, I finally realized what was dripping from my nose. Daphne finally turned towards me and screamed with a shocked expression.

“Eek! Rugilinn! Blood! From your nose!”

She quickly got up, grabbed tissues, and wiped my nose while healing me.

As she shone warm light a few times, the bleeding soon stopped. Looking down at my clothes, I saw my pajama top and pants were completely soaked in blood. Guess I need to wash them.

“Rugilinn! What happened to you? Was it that injury from yesterday…?”

“It’s not that. I fell from the bed.”

As I pointed to the upper bunk, she looked up and then turned back to me with a puzzled expression.

“You fell from here? But there’s a safety rail… Oh, there’s another Rugilinn! Is that the clone you mentioned yesterday?”

“Oh, that’s my clone! It’s like a puppet without consciousness. It just hugs and likes me. Second Clone! Say hi!”

As the Second Clone waved its hand with a blank expression, Daphne awkwardly smiled and waved back.

“Such a fascinating Unique Ability… I’ve never seen a power like this, even though I have my own too.”

Just then, I remembered something I needed to verify…

“Right? Oh, by the way, Daphne. Is there anything strange written on my arm?”

I rolled up my left sleeve and showed it to her.

Daphne tilted her head as she examined it with her big eyes.

“Well, I don’t see anything unusual. Is there something uncomfortable here too?”

“Not really. I guess I just got bitten by a bug!”

It seems like others can’t see it after all.

“Well, that’s a relief. But if your condition gets even a little worse, please tell me. You must go to the Health Room! And…”

She kept nagging me with words of concern, perhaps because she was worried.

“Well, thanks for worrying. Still, if Daphne fixes it…”

“No! That’s not okay! You need to see a doctor and get medicine from a pharmacist! I appreciate the high opinion, but I’m still a student.”

Hearing her say that reminded me of a familiar slogan. So that saying exists in this world too.

Looking out the window, I could see the dim dawn sky. The clock showed it was 6 AM. I had lost sleep over that nightmare for nothing.

“Did I wake you up too early?”

“What? Ah! Don’t worry about that. I usually wake up at this hour.”

Since I was already awake, I decided to act like a model student girl. As I washed up and prepared, Daphne had already finished her full get-up.

Wow, she’s really diligent.

“Then, shall we go for breakfast? The notice said the dormitory dining hall has a buffet for breakfast.”

“What? A buffet? Let’s gooo!!!”

“Wait! Shoes! I haven’t put my shoes on yet!”

I excitedly headed down to the first floor.

-Hold on! What about me? What about me!

-Sorry, Second Clone! I have some experiments to do. If you’re hungry, eat the instant noodles inside!

I relayed a few things to my Second Clone.

It decided to stay inside without regenerating. Just then, the First Clone and Fifth Clone were also created. They had their own business to attend to.

When I went downstairs and looked at the menu board, it was a typical English breakfast. Sausages, toast, hash browns, bacon, baked beans! What a splendid lineup.

Just thinking about the beautiful result of what the English have contributed to the culinary world made my mouth water.

Since it was morning, there were many students in the First Year Dormitory dining hall. I anticipated what food I would find.

However, where there should have been food, there was nothing.

“Huh…? Bacon… Toast…? Where?”

“It seems that’s the breakfast. But it’s different from the menu…”

The shelf where the buffet trays should have been was completely empty, almost as if someone had cleared it intentionally. At one end, I spotted a soup warmer sitting forlornly.

When I opened the pot lid, I faced the non-tasting curse created by the English.

“What is this…?”

“It says porridge.”

I scooped up the grayish mush with a ladle, then sat down and picked up a spoon. It tasted more bland than eating rice in water. It reminded me of the human food powder I had eaten in the research laboratory.

It seemed the first semester’s morning would start off in a gloomy manner.

***

Struggling to forget the awful breakfast, I settled into a classroom chair. I skimmed through the schedule, but since it was the first day of the semester, there would only be orientation.

First of all, the freshman briefing that had been interrupted by yesterday’s incident was held in one of the classrooms.

Oddly enough, the second and third-year seniors casually introduced themselves and then stood in line at the front and back of the classroom. What’s this? Showing off?

One teaching assistant blabbed on and on.

“Freshmen! Yesterday’s incident was truly unfortunate. Right? But why are you here?

Did you come just to make money? To get a diploma? No. You came here to train to fight monsters. Right?”

One student raised their hand with a puzzled expression.

“Excuse me, but it doesn’t make much sense for monsters to suddenly pop up. My friend got hurt because of that…”

“No, let’s clarify one thing here, dear freshman. Who forced you to come here?”

“Huh?”

“Who threatened you with a knife to come here? No, right? You came here voluntarily.

If you whine about this little thing now, how will you deal with being a Hunter later? Will you be able to fight monsters?”

The student fell silent. In truth, the seniors in front were glaring at that friend fiercely.

What the heck? What kind of place is this?

“Why is that teaching assistant saying such weird things…?”

Daphne whispered to me from the side.

As I scanned the front, I noticed a girl with impressive purple hair. It was Irene, the one who had knocked Kranos out yesterday.

She had also been defiant towards the Student Council President, but today, she was nervously nibbling her nails. Did something happen?

“Therefore, freshmen. We must recognize reality and take a cold-hearted approach! We must mentally prepare ourselves solidly—”

“Hey, just explain what we need and wrap it up. Who do you think you are, dragging this out, teaching assistant?”

A blue-haired male student sitting in front interrupted the teaching assistant. It was Lucian.

The fierce gazes of the senior students turned towards Lucian. Despite the unspoken pressure, he maintained a relaxed demeanor.

Lucian casually crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair, raising his right hand triumphantly, showing off a glowing yellow magic circle.

“Such a sick…”

“Ahaha. That’s true. Let’s proceed quickly…!”

As one of the seniors behind stepped forward, the teaching assistant, who had been checking the atmosphere, jumped in. The teaching assistant stopped spouting nonsense and conducted the briefing in a rapid fire manner.

After the briefing ended, we moved to the next location.

“Is the Atmosphere at Awakener Academy always like this? It feels weird…”

“Well, as far as I know, I’ve never heard of such a place…”

Of course, there isn’t. The backdrop of the first part of the game, Aegis or Vesperia Prime, has the usual light novel academy vibe.

There aren’t any people talking about strange mental fortitude or gangs standing around.

Still, I was glad someone finally interrupted those absurd ramblings.

I didn’t like Lucian. He was a stereotypically cool light novel protagonist character.

But I decided to make an exception today.

“So, we just need to install this app and sign up for courses, right?”

When I entered the link, I saw an application with a blue star-shaped school logo that read [Norstarpick].

“Yes. Besides the basic classes, it also has a school-specific messenger and several additional features. Oh?”

Daphne showed her smartphone screen.

“We’ve been invited to a group chat. This must be what they mentioned in the briefing.”

“Is it real?”

Checking again, I found I had also been invited to the group chat. Managing people in group chats seems to be the same everywhere.

A notification popped up in the chat room full of students.

-Hey, attention First Year Freshmen. The 2nd and 3rd-year seniors are spreading this

-<Rules for Freshmen>

1. To maintain school order, you must always respond with ‘Yes’ to the seniors’ words.

2. For the sake of fellowship, you must attend any events called by the seniors.

3. For military discipline, first-year freshmen are banned from walking into the dorms.

4. You’re here as a reserve hunter. Female freshmen are banned from wearing makeup.

5. Don’t walk around carelessly with weapons without the seniors’ permission.

…

“This is…rules?”

There were all sorts of ridiculous contents written as rules!

“Rugilinn…? What on earth is this…”

“Hahahaha…”

I learned that when something is too absurd, laughter slips out. The content of the first notice I encountered at the academy was truly fantastical.

I never expected to see such bizarre rules in a school with a Gothic architecture built in a Western style where colorful beautiful girls attend. Was this perhaps K-University?

-Wow, this is fantastic. Hahahaha…

-Ughhh!

-Is this perhaps an army?

The cries and screams of the other Violets echoed through my mind.

With a mix of feelings, I attended orientations throughout the morning and afternoon.

“Nice to meet you, everyone! As I introduced during the entrance ceremony, I am Victor Hamilton, a former A-class hunter, and I will be in charge of the first-year lectures!…I successfully conquered 15 gates and…what I sacrificed for that…so we must harden our resolve like iron…”

For an entire hour, he just bragged about himself while preaching the victory of will in [Gate Tactics] class.

“These days, students lack discipline. What do you think you can achieve with such a weak mindset? Huh? Am I wrong? With such a frail mind, how can you expect to do anything? The problems facing this academy city right now are…there are underground organizations! Those guys are the ones rotting this society!”

A fervent activist launching into a long speech about ideology and society. For reference, this person is in charge of the subject [Introduction to Two-Dimensional Biology].

“Alright. Students. You see the screen, right? The assignment is written here; submit it and write an essay on the video. That’s it.”

The [Introduction to Basic Tactics] professor who left just five minutes after entering. He had “I don’t want to do this” written on his forehead. Well, at least that guy wrapped it up quickly.

All the following classes were generally similar.

“Today, the professor in charge has gone out on assignment, so the class is postponed to next week! Please check the Norstarpick notice!”

“Um… Also… What’s important is… Ah…”

“The instructor is disappointed in you freshmen.”

After finishing the orientation, I screamed in despair.

“No! This isn’t the academy I imagined!!!”