The Genius of Cloning in the Academy City

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The next morning, after a brief nap, I reviewed the plan that Unit 1 had mentioned.

– I have no idea what kind of research those guys are doing, but it seems really suspicious. –

– Yeah. After reviewing the recorded audio, it seems like they intentionally caused that chaos during the entrance ceremony. Do those kinds of guys really set up a large facility underground at the school? –

There’s no doubt these guys are behind the ruins of the school we’ll see five years later in the main story.

– Are they trying to summon a demon or something? –

– Fool. There are no demons in Crimson Scholar. –

– What about high-level monsters from another dimension or superior sovereigns? They’re similar, right? –

– They can’t come here because of the ether concentration problem. It’s not because they lack human souls! –

The genre of this game is fantasy mixed with some science fiction concepts. Since there’s no occult atmosphere, there must be a more scientific and plausible reason.

That was what we were looking for.

– Let’s sneak a glance at a paper. Or maybe a computer… –

– Rejected. If a usable item disappears, they’ll suspect an internal intruder. Security will tighten.

And there’s a more important issue. Does anyone here know the science or academia of this world? Can you interpret the materials? We only know the ‘setting.’ Don’t get confused. –

Unit 2’s criticism was valid.

Let’s assume that mixing lead and copper in a furnace produces some extraordinary metal. Knowing that knowledge and actually creating it specifically are two different things. Even if we understand the paper using collective intelligence, we still wouldn’t grasp the detailed processes of what the project intends to do.

– Capturing someone to find out what they’re doing is indeed a sure method. It’s quick and efficient. –

After all, the human brain is the best storage device, and its soft and fragile parts make it an optimal target for exploitation.

– So, who are we going to kidnap? –

– For starters, that doctor is definitely off-limits. –

Everyone agreed on this point. Anyone could tell that he’s a key figure just by observing his one-on-one meetings with the chairman. If something happens to someone like him, the board of directors and, in the worst-case scenario, the four major clans connected to the chairman could get involved.

Then it would all be over. I wouldn’t have to worry about dying, but I’d have to give up a comfortable life. I might even have to get a ticket for an airship out of Rustroom.

It would be like trying to assassinate Oppenheimer to sabotage the Manhattan Project. Whether this mysterious plan would stop was another matter.

– Can’t we just burn down the research lab? We have enough oil ready. –

– Are you suggesting we break things without even knowing what they are? –

– It’s an underground facility. If we set it on fire, everyone inside will suffocate. –

– Rejected. There might be other ventilation systems or fire suppression systems we don’t know about inside. And what if there are innocent people? They might just be graduate students working as instructed. –

– Hmm, you’re right. –

Eventually, we came back to the idea of kidnapping.

In hindsight, there was no need to struggle to unlock the complex lock right in front of us. It would be quicker to wait until someone opens it and then threaten them.

– Let’s capture someone easy. –

– If a previously active employee suddenly goes missing, they’ll find it suspicious. –

– Don’t worry. The law enforcement in the academy city isn’t great. As long as our presence isn’t exposed, they’d think it was a mugging or a gang attack. Even in the worst-case scenario, there’s an organization that can come up with excuses… –

In our minds, the soldiers in black combat uniforms we saw in the research lab came to mind.

– Obsidian Legion? –

– I’d say impersonating those guys is a bit risky. If we’re unlucky, other clans or the academy city authorities might get involved. –

– Right. Let’s just disguise ourselves as robbers or gang members. –

After discussion, we reached a consensus.

– Now all that’s left is to find a suitable target. Field personnel, please put in some effort. Try to capture someone easy. –

– Got it. But in return, get me masks, handcuffs, and electric shock weapons. Sleeping pills would be good too. –

– Wait a minute. Let’s say we catch a researcher. Where would we keep them? –

– There are plenty of unused abandoned buildings nearby, right? Or we could buy a beast pen and keep them there. –

– That sounds good! –

Everyone clapped their hands in satisfaction at the conclusion.

The discussion wrapped up smoothly. Everyone stood up and headed to their respective tasks. Lastly, after Unit 1 switched with Unit 2, they went to get some rest.

Only the clones on duty remained at the temporary command center.

– What’s the situation on the dungeon side? –

– It’s going well; the number of casualties has definitely decreased to an astonishing level. It’s not easy to apply magic to arrows, but it’s enough to pierce through those things for now. –

Saying this, Unit 67 turned their head. In front of him were a mountain of Scrags corpses stacked up and the Violets working among them.

The result of the bolt shots of the Violets, protected by the dustproof spell, during the earlier skirmish.

– There are really a lot of them. These things reproduced asexually, right? –

– No matter how many you kill, they keep crawling out. –

The more I looked at them, the more fascinating it became. Not just us, but hundreds of hunters entered Novaastia every day, smashing them in, turning them into etherium raw materials.

Yet those monsters continued to pour out as if they were being manufactured. The size of the dungeon was comparable to a fair-sized city, but I couldn’t see anything edible in this barren landscape.

The Violets in the dungeon removed the bolts lodged deep within the corpses with apparent annoyance.

Due to the nature of the cloning ability, if a clone gets more than 4-5 meters away, it disappears. Thus, the only options were to recycle consumables as much as possible or purchase them in bulk and stock them in the inventory.

– Despite that, their power is certainly impressive. –

After time and effort, we found something somewhat usable on the corner shelf of a second-hand weapon shop. It was constructed in a way that each pull of the lever loaded one bolt from the magazine attached to the body.

Maybe it was old, but it had quite a few inconveniences.

– We need to get a projectile weapon of at least three stars soon. –

– Stop chatting and properly gather the bolts! Everyone knows they’re expensive. –

Interestingly, while swords or simple self-defense firearms could be obtained as long as you had money, large caliber firearms and high-performance bullets capable of penetrating the ether protection of monsters or Awakened Ones required complicated procedures.

Thanks to our student IDs, the process was somewhat simplified, but there were still plenty of documents to fill out, and the costs were insane.

For the time being, we’d just be dealing with these piddling low-level monsters, so this level of weaponry was sufficient.

I took a moment to examine the weapon.

[Unknown Hunter’s Old W&W Repeating Crossbow ☆☆]

A product from W&W, a company renowned for crafting bows and crossbows.

This is a simple structure 10-shot crossbow, reloaded by pulling a lever.

It’s been used for a long time, making the part that pulls the bowstring stiff.

No one knows how this blood-stained weapon ended up in a rundown secondhand shop.

…

As I read the brief story displayed in the status window, my expression involuntarily wrinkled. It was all too clear what had happened to the original owner.

While I was busy working, a Violet on guard outside detected unusual movements. The clone urgently sent a warning.

– It’s a monster! Battle readiness! –

Everyone took out one weapon each and aimed at it. Something human-sized and wobbling was approaching us.

It was larger than a Scrag, but it wasn’t a Pelinot. A Growler? It was smaller than that. It was a monster I had never seen before.

“Ughhh…”

I could soon identify its nature.

Eyes filled only with whites, a body covered in large and small wounds, skin pale to the point of bluish, it was a ghoul.

It spotted us and stumbled toward us.

– Should we shoot? –

– It’s just a low-ranked mob. Arrows would be a waste. –

A Violet with a spear approached it. One shot to the thigh, one shot to the belly, and one shot to the chest.

The creature collapsed without having a chance to resist. Its black blood soaked the ground.

“Oh dear, how pitiful. I wonder what clan it belonged to?”

We cautiously examined the corpse.

“Looking at the attire, there are no signs or patches indicating clan affiliation… Is it alone? I guess it got too careless with only low-level monsters around.”

“From the look of its equipment, it only had a knife and a water bottle. Oh, there’s also a chocolate bar wrapper in its pocket. Looks like this one’s a noob.”

People entering the dungeon in such a shabby state are mostly beginners or broke.

In addition to the wounds we caused, there were large and small injuries concentrated on the neck, back, and head.

The cause of death could be guessed.

It probably took a few easy Scrags down and got surrounded by a crowd that rushed in through the alley. It was a pattern that we were also familiar with.

“Given that it turned into a ghoul, it seems it didn’t die completely. It must have escaped somehow.”

“And ended up like this. Talk about bad luck.”

Ether distorts physical laws. Naturally, the power of ether applies to living beings as well.

The larger the creature, and the higher its intelligence, the level and scope of mutations exceed imagination.

The positive outcomes of mutations are Awakened Ones.

There are a few negative examples, one of which is human monsters, ghouls.

If a corpse dies in a dungeon with a high ether concentration, it usually becomes a corpse; however, there’s also a significant chance it becomes a mutated monster with a damaged brain without actually dying.

I don’t know the principle. I just accept it because that’s how the setting goes.

“Unit 45, go to the entrance first. If you show the corpse to the dungeon staff, they’ll take care of it.”

Unit 45, who exited the dungeon, handed over the nameless Hunter’s corpse to the nearby staff.

A little while later, we received word that the identity had been confirmed through the checkpoint records. The staff explained that a car would come to take it away shortly.

“Such reckless people do exist sometimes. Thanks to the student, we found the corpse.”

“I guess there are many who haven’t been found.”

The staff shrugged.

“Right. Just here, I’ve seen people hire people to search the dungeons to find their children or parents, not just for a day or two…”

We could see the Hunter’s corpse being placed into a body bag. The staff took the body bag and set it down on the ground with a squared-off barrier. There were two bags that had arrived earlier. They looked familiar.

I could count on one hand how many times I had seen that tent empty while roaming this dungeon.

– I don’t know who they are, but they had bad luck. –

– Are we in a position to worry about others, Unit 45? Now come back. –

Thinking about it, I’m the lucky one. There’s no way I would end up like that. That’s how I survived yesterday and today.

I’ll survive tomorrow too.