56 Duplication

Waking the next morning, Jim found the others weren't up yet.

Shadow Emperor Infinite Duplication was Jim's chosen benchmark technique from the Flowing Cloud Sect's collection. The names of them were all rather impressive, but so were their requirements. Jim couldn't bring himself to think he was strong in the cultivation world until he could use all of them easily.

Of course, this was ridiculous. Even the top members in the sect's history couldn't use the techniques at the highest floor of the library. All of them were collected from ancient ruins and required such an extreme level of control and such a massive amount of qi that nobody could fulfill it.

They were not actually held at the top floor because of their power, it was their impossibility. Numerous times in the sect's history disciples would obsess over being the first to master these ancient techniques, only to waste decades or centuries in frustration.

Jim's system and skills had allowed his mana and qi to continue growing without limits. Eventually, Jim had broken through what was normally possible for the Magic and Spirit stats to reach, so the system just stopped displaying either.

'Alright, let's try it out again.' Jim began circulating Shadow Emperor Infinite Duplication, the now familiar inky black mass began growing in front of himself. Growing to the height of his neck, it suddenly began draining far more Qi. The mass slowly reached the same height as himself. 'I'm so close...' Jim began withdrawing the Qi he had stored before going to sleep.

Finally, the mass began condensing. The Qi flow suddenly ended the instant before Jim was completely drained. Feeling terrible, he watched the mass finish forming. The color filled out, hair grew, it became a complete replica of himself.

Jim could feel a mental connection with this duplicate, sight, smell, touch, everything was completely shared. The duplicate didn't have its own mind, it felt like an extension of himself, a new limb. The duplicate could use all of his skills, magic, and cultivation techniques, but it shared his mana and qi reserves. After some testing, Jim found he could pull the duplicate into himself, it became something like a permanently active parallel processing instance, and could be expelled from the body to act independently.

Celes: "Master? Why are there two of you?"

Turning around, Jim found Celes and Libta standing behind himself.

Jim: "It's one of my abilities. When everyone is ready we'll go see your father."

Celes: "Ah, yes..."

Heading outside, Jim saw that his mother, Astrill and Xia were not up yet, he began attempting something he had pondered about for some time. Pulling out pieces of stone from his mining a while back, Jim began carving them into small birds. 'Puppeteer.'

Normally, a bird requires light weight to fly, but Jim had noticed that his puppets were able to bend their arms without joints. He figured this supernatural effect may allow heavy objects to fly. It was a success.

Carving more and more, Jim ended up with 50 birds. He then sent them to patrol the skies. 'This can work as an early detection system.' Spending some time, he managed to get the puppets to communicate and work together. Birds would scout, Stone Men would fight. 'I don't have something for ranged combat...would be so much easier if my puppets could use magic.'

Tinkering with the birds, he was able to increase their stats to the 200-300 range. 'I can't raise them as far as the stone men, is it the size? The material quality? This needs more testing.'

Everyone had woken up by now, Jim needed to put things in order before leaving.

Jim: "Zana, I'll give you administrator rights for the utilities."

Zana: "Um...what?"

Jim: "It will allow you to manage the farm box and storage box, try it out."

With confusion written on her face, Zana followed Jim's instructions on how to use the boxes he had placed before. Confusion turned to shock upon successfully using the objects. 'I don't really know any of the foxes. Torka is a good kid, so I'll take a gamble on his mother being upright.'

Jim: "I'll return in a few days, keep a record of anything you may need for me to look at. I'll have the King send some people to teach the local language. Remember, nobody here knows the Silver Fox Traits, don't tell anyone about it."

Zana: "Yes!"

Jim: "I'll provide the minimum required for living. If you want luxuries, you'll have to settle it yourselves."

With the foxes sending them off, Jim stored his companions and headed back to Amgula's castle. *Knock Knock*

Gaius: "Yes?"

Jim: "It's Jim."

Gaius: "Come in."

Jim: "I'm about to head home, the people have settled in up north. Could you send someone to teach them Borisa language?"

Gaius: "That shouldn't be a problem."

Jim: "I've set up some strange things there, keep greedy guys from trying to exploit it, alright?"

Gaius: "The area is now marked as managed by a Brave, not many fools would make trouble in such a place."

Jim: "Alright, if any questions arise save them for the next time I come. I'm off."

Gaius nodded. "Next time."

Leaving Gaius' chambers, Jim let Celes out of companion storage.

Jim: "Don't let anything bad happen to those people, okay? And keep up on your practice."

Celes: "Yes, Master!"

Jim: "Alright, I'm going."

Celes: "Mm, goodbye..."

Back in the condo, Jim let everyone out of storage.

Jane: "Changing locations so fast is making my head spin."

Libta came over and patted Jane's head.

Xia: "Um...may I stay and learn from you?"

Jim: "Hm?"

Xia: "Now that the boy has a safe place, my duty is over. But I don't really have much calling me in Bahn Tai. This may be shameless, but I would like to stay.

Jim: "Hmm..."

'She doesn't really have much of a link with us now that Torka has left. But honestly, she isn't a troublemaker, and I have a good impression of her.'

Jim: "Alright, but you'll need to abide by the rules, got it?"

Xia: "Yes!"

[Taming Complete, Hornless Xia Is Now Host's Subordinate]

[Subordinate Xia's An Ta Bladework Skill Obtained]

[Subordinate Xia's Lesser Qi Gathering Skill Obtained]