The Genius of Cloning in the Academy City

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Central District, an empty warehouse near the Brotherhood, also known as ‘Violet Barracks’.

Numerous Violets were seated in their respective places. Some Violets placed laptops and notebooks on their desks, jotting down something. Other Violets set up a large whiteboard and were drawing maps.

Currently, we were monitoring information being relayed in real-time by other units in the Underground Facility of Polaris far away.

Given the facility’s size and complexity, we established a makeshift command center for efficient exploration. It looked shabby, but everyone was fulfilling their roles well. In the middle of the command center, Unit 1 was seated cross-legged in an old armchair, giving various instructions.

“Alright, everyone, move calmly. We’re just doing a quick survey, so don’t do anything too flashy.”

Unit 67, who was scribbling a route on the blackboard, grumbled as he watched Unit 1 gesturing dramatically as if conducting an orchestra.

“Tch… if someone saw this, they’d think you were the leader. Sure, you’re number one, but we’re all equal!”

Unit 1 paused for a moment and then stuck out his tongue at Unit 67, as if teasing.

“Yeah, I’m not the leader. I’m the monarch of a constitutional monarchy! Just like the British royal family! I’m the first!”

“Ugh!”

As Unit 1 swelled with pride, Unit 2, who was setting up paper cups and drinks on the table, casually threw in a remark.

“British royalty, my foot. Don’t forget you don’t have even the authority of the Emperor of Japan.”

Unit 1, feeling a bit flushed, shouted back.

“It’s not like that! I also have the rights as a ‘Citizen Violet’…”

“Alright, alright! Focus, we’re working here. Save the fighting for later.”

Watching the brief quarrel, we shrugged. Under everyone’s pressure, the arguing clones closed their mouths and refocused on their tasks.

“We don’t need a king for democracy.”

Unit 67 grumbled. Hearing that, Unit 28 shot back at him.

“Shut it. We don’t need a king, but we do need traffic cops.”

Truth be told, everyone was right. It was true that Unit 1 was first, but that didn’t confer any significant authority.

After the entrance ceremony, we had realized our existence through the first Violet meeting. We operated via a parallel connected consciousness structure. It was fair to say that the concept of an absolute controller didn’t exist.

However, I did exist as the symbol of the ‘first Violet.’ I had been alive since the possession and was a being that died and was resurrected during the entrance ceremony, with “1” written on my left arm. ‘Clone Unit 1’ corresponds to the first Violet.

While not everyone was completely sure, they reasoned that since the clones were numbered in the order they were created, wouldn’t number one be the first? Everyone accepted this.

The symbolism and impression from the number one were not trivial. But symbolism is just that; Unit 1 doesn’t hold special authority. Therefore, my authority, as Unit 1, is nothing but a meaningless symbolism.

Neither you nor I think of ourselves as more than Violets, so this symbolism has faded long ago.

Let’s consider these three elements—memory, consciousness and self, control over clones—as political power or sovereignty.

The previous Violets were absolute monarchs monopolizing political power. Other clones merely moved as commanded, and even if they had consciousness and self, they ultimately were submissive to the main body.

But when the absolute monarch was crushed under an outdoor unit and resurrected while marked as number one, everything changed.

Everyone gained their self and began sharing each other’s memories. Moreover, they could individually control their own bodies and had an equal ability to manipulate Ether, such as generating and reverse-generating clones.

The once-main body, the first Violet, became Unit 1 at that moment. It was like when a kingdom’s ruler stepped down for some reason, becoming a citizen of a democratic republic. They have the right to vote, but nothing more.

Every Violet is a direct democrat who can freely elect and restrain each other.

The Violets advanced to quite a deep location. The corridors twisted like a maze. So far, we hadn’t seen a single person, not even a bug.

“Hey, did you guys find anything?”

“Plenty! Let’s check the action cam footage later.”

Each of us had a small action cam attached to our heads while scouting the Underground Facility. The sight and information from the clones deployed in the field were streamed in real-time via the Violet Network, but since there could be information that might be missed, we bought one each for review purposes.

Of course, it cost a lot of money to purchase electronic equipment for exploration.

“I know it’s necessary, but it’s a waste of money.”

“We don’t have a choice. Replicating electronics ruins their performance.”

Unfortunately, our unique abilities were ineffective against objects with a certain level of complexity. We ended up with things that either wouldn’t work at all or just gave us continuous vibrations.

Unit 12, who was on guard near the entrance of the barracks, was fiddling with the ten-shot used crossbow he had purchased recently. His fingers slid across the matte black fiberglass body.

“This one replicated well. The semiconductor’s the problem, I guess? Or the battery.”

“Yeah, Ether interferes with or blocks electromagnetic waves, doesn’t it?”

We could only guess what the cause was, but as long as we could get past it with money, it wasn’t an urgent issue. Time would solve this problem.

As we turned around a corridor, the surroundings became increasingly complicated. The number of pipes attached to the walls and ceilings increased, as did the lights. The metal structures supporting the ceiling also grew in number. In the corridors where people passed by, warning signs like [No Smoking] or [Fire Hazard] were visible.

Occasionally, while passing through the corridors, we could find warehouses or unused rooms.

“People! Hide!”

Unit 27, who had gone deepest into the facility, turned a corner and quickly retreated upon seeing people bustling about just across the corridor. The atmosphere had changed in the space, with just a few meters between us. Unit 27 bent the end of an endoscopic camera and cautiously poked it out just beyond the wall. We all held our breath, forgetting to breathe, as we observed the scene displayed on the smartphone screen.

The first area we saw was spacious with a high ceiling. It looked to be at least 4-5 meters tall, covered with metal panels in an arched shape. Below that, aluminum platforms were arranged haphazardly, and steel staircases led downwards. It seemed like a makeshift workspace, with several people in white lab coats bustling around above and below.

White lab coats?

Our heads briefly ached. Unit 1 calmed everyone down for a moment.

“Okay, everyone, take a deep breath. This isn’t the Laplacian Laboratory. Calm down, got it? Ugh…”

Slowly regaining our composure, we resumed observing.

In the brightly lit, spacious area, large and small machines were strewn about. Various wires of different thicknesses were neatly laid out on the floor, connected to the machines.

There were also several large transparent boards covered in complicated equations written in white marker. On some boards, there were large sheets with various shapes and colors of magic circles that were impossible to understand.

Nearby, researchers were observing multiple monitors. It showed graphs and various figures changing in real-time, but it wasn’t clear what they indicated. On one side, a researcher was inserting electrodes into a small piece of grayish tissue contained in a transparent glass container.

“They must be working this late.”

“Do they get overtime pay?”

But above all, one thing was particularly impressive.

As the camera slightly turned to the left, we could see a pipe extending in a curve from one end of the facility to the other.

“Is that a sewage treatment facility?”

“It looks more complicated than that. And it doesn’t smell.”

It was a large metal pipe that reached up to an adult male’s chest. The end of the seemingly endless pipe resembled a giant bow. The way the pipe’s end disappeared beyond the tunnel suggested that its actual size might be even bigger than it appeared.

“Look! I found that pipe too.”

Just then, Unit 49, wandering through the Underground Facility, discovered the same pipe. It was a long tunnel where the pipe extended endlessly.

“It looks similar to the one from earlier. They must be connected.”

“It’s not just a simple pipe.”

The Violets at the central command center measured the positions of each Violet in the Underground Facility. Since the map wasn’t complete yet, they couldn’t know the specific orientation or size of the facility. However, Unit 27 and Unit 49 realized they were located opposite each other.

The problematic pipe stretched quite far.

“Don’t we have GPS? Can’t we base calculations on that?”

“We can’t get a signal from your side. I guess it’s because we’re underground.”

As we looked around, a neatly dressed gentleman wearing a cloak appeared in Unit 49’s view. He had ash-gray hair tied back in a ponytail. Behind him was a familiar young man with a similar hair color.

“It’s the Chairman!”

“And the Student Council President is here too.”

This was the second time seeing the Chairman in person.

As the two of them walked down the stairs, the researchers working below hurriedly assembled in a line. After a while, an older researcher came out to greet them. The Chairman said something, raised his right hand, and lightly gestured. Only then did the standing researchers scatter back to their original places.

Only the older researcher remained, continuing to talk with the Chairman. From the looks of it, he seemed to be the head of this place.

“It looks like they’re having a conversation, but I can’t hear them from this distance.”

“Did you swap out the hearing device? Hurry and get it out!”

Unit 49 pulled out a long black device from his inventory. It looked similar to the endoscope used earlier, but with a dish-shaped antenna attached to the end of the microphone. Considering that a standard hearing device is typically held like a pistol, this looked unusual.

“I heard it’s a hunting aid. It’s pricey, so be careful with it.”

“Got it. Stop nagging me… I can hear them.”

Unit 49 put on a headset. Amid the noisy mechanical sounds, the voices of the two men became audible. The Violets at the command center typing furiously on laptops were quickly trying to note down the conversation.

A deep male voice resonated in my ear, followed by the slightly older voice.

“…Thank you for the budget increase. Chairman. Thanks to you, the plan is progressing as planned.”

“No need for thanks, Doctor Sturgis. Your theory of Ether wavelength-synchronization proposed in your youth has contributed significantly to this great endeavor. No, if it wasn’t for that, we wouldn’t even have gotten started. The Board is ready to accommodate any requests you may have.”

Doctor, that researcher must be someone important.

The background noise interrupted their conversation frequently, making it difficult to hear clearly.

“Haha, you flatter me. It’s only natural that I should assist you when the legendary mage of Magnavis calls for me. I merely did as instructed… This task of correlating magic, Ether physics, and two-dimensional biology would not have been possible without your guidance…”

“…Doctor, no need to be so humble. An excellent individual deserves an excellent treatment… If there’s anything else you find lacking, please let me know.”

“If that’s the case, I’m sorry… To ensure the project’s completion on schedule… We need more research personnel…”

“There’s no need to report on such matters in detail. I’ll leave it to your discretion…”

The Chairman’s and the Doctor’s trivial conversation ended quickly. The smartphone screen showed the Doctor returning to his place. It seemed no substantial results were obtained from this.

The Chairman and the Student Council President slowly toured the facility.

“This looks like it’s the end.”

“No! Keep the device on! Can’t you hear their voices?”

Seeing the Chairman and the Student Council President standing together felt like they were siblings. I knew the Chairman was quite old, yet he appeared youthful. There was a setting that powerful Awakened Ones could delay aging.

“…Croscelle, did you see well? The plan is progressing smoothly. What do you think it looks like…”

“Chairman, I have nothing more to add. At this rate, the project should be completed soon…”

“By the way, I heard there’s a small issue these days. Among the students who enrolled this time…”

“That seems to be a mistake made by the administration and enrollment office. How could they allow the daughter of the spear to enroll… It’s too late to chase her out now, but soon…”

“Croscelle.”

The Chairman cut off the Student Council President. It was a short statement, but I could sense his fury through the headset.

As I watched the scene transmitted by the camera, the Chairman glared while the Student Council President quietly bowed his head.

“…Do you understand how many resources the organization consumes doing internal scrutiny? It has taken considerable effort over the past few years to block out the assorted voices leaking outside.

Let alone the expenses incurred to prevent that foolish girl’s impromptu actions…”

“…I apologize.”

“Do you think this is an issue that can be resolved with mere apologies?
Croscelle, Croscelle! You’ve always done this… In the name of loyalty, you’ve acted on tasks that weren’t even assigned to you. Just like during this entrance ceremony… Why did you do that?”

“To prevent low-level beings unsuitable to the conditions of the plan from coming in…”

“…Child. I granted you the authority to pick the diamonds from the rough. I did not grant you the authority to break the diamonds. It’s not that I’m saying there shouldn’t be fatalities. There have been excessive deaths this time too… There had to be other ways.”

“I will take care.”

“…I understand your thoughts. But next time, do not mix personal feelings with work. I trust you…”

Afterward, they continued to speak, but their voices were drowned out by the noise. After a while, I could see them going back up the stairs. Were there other exits?

Even after the Chairman and Student Council President had left, we patrolled the research facility for several hours but couldn’t obtain any clear information.

We regenerated the clones and collected the recorded materials.

Before dawn, we held a brief discussion.

“It’s not enough just to see and hear.”

“Then what should we do? Should we sneak away a document or something?”

Unit 1, who had been resting his chin on his hand, suddenly lifted his head.

“I have a good idea.”

“What is it?”

Before Unit 1 could speak, an idea pierced through the minds of all the Violets through the network.

Everyone’s eyes widened simultaneously like lamps lighting up.

Sometimes, this is inconvenient.

It’s that before I present a spoken or thought opinion, all my other selves can easily catch on. It lacks dramatic flair.

Still, this response wasn’t bad. Everyone was shocked, their thoughts momentarily frozen.

I smiled satisfactorily as I watched their reactions. I was confident it was a truly wicked smile.

In front of the crowd that had fallen into silence, I, Unit 1, declared.

“Let’s kidnap a researcher.”