Chapter 2 Progress

===========Suu pov==========

"Well this is going better than I thought it would." I hummed to myself as I watched the scene play out on the magical projection before me.

"Still though...their overall progression is far slower then we originally predicted that it would be." One of my clones, C14, mused in thought as they continued. "I mean isn't this the seventeenth reset already?"

"Yeah, yeah you are right there, maybe we should increase the world speed..." C18 sighed out loud in boredom as she rocked back and forth behind me.

I was currently inside my Domain Of Horrors skill, inside of the observation part of it anyway, and I clearly wasn't alone. In fact, all around me there were several dozen clones of myself, all of which were either monitoring a different part of my little experiment or debating what to do next. Honestly I had to slap myself in the face for not thinking of this before now, I felt rather stupid if I was being honest with myself. I mean seriously, I can massively increase my overall workflow by using clones for this kind of thing, all of them also have most of my memories so I don't have to explain anything to them.

(It really does help to have someone to talk to, especially someone that knows what exactly it is that I want but isn't afraid to set me straight if I'm being stupid about something.) That was also true, even though they were all technically me they were different enough that they could sometimes catch things that I myself ended up missing.

"Anyway, what should we do now?" I asked and immediately got several responses.

"It's clear that even though they are just soulless illusions they can still function and adapt to some extent without any outside intervention." C16 responded with a shrug. "Wasn't that the whole purpose of this experiment to begin with?"

C14 spoke up after hearing that. "True but we should at least see how this all ends up before we properly proceed with our more ambitious ideas."

"It will be fine, don't be such a bitch."

"What the hell did you just say!"

"""God damn it...""" several clones muttered as C16 and 14 started arguing

In all honesty my experiment was going well in my opinion, even with the somewhat slow progress they were growing, my illusionary test subjects had been gradually adapting and getting better and better with every reset that passed. In fact at first the town had barely lasted a few weeks before the Necromancer grew strong enough to over run them, now? Now they weren't only lasting longer but were also pushing him back on some fronts, they still died miserably at the end of course but that was fine for now.

In the end this whole process was just for me to find out if my illusions would simply stick to the script that I had set for them or go off of the rails and do their own thing, after all if they couldn't fend for themselves then this plan of mine would be completely futile. Despite my relatively low expectations at the start of all of this crap it seemed that things were going far better than I originally thought that they would, and sure, they were a little slow on the uptake but that could be easily fixed with some more thorough programming and outside intervention on my part.

Either way though I still had a lot of experimentation and testing to get done, and it wouldn't hurt to keep checking in on this experiment just in case. Anyway, I had a lot of work to do no matter what I decided on, not that I wasn't busy all the damn time anyway but whatever.

"I think that's enough for now." I yawned as I swept my hand causing all of the clones to disappear before my eyes.

(They are definitely useful that's for sure but still, they are rather annoying to say the least.) I grumbled internally at that.

Despite that fact however they still had their advantages. "But either way though, they did have a point." I muttered as I began to think on the subject. "What to do next I wonder..."

"Even with my clones it'll take far too long to get everything I need done and out of the way."

The problem that I was currently facing was related to not only all of the stuff I had to do but also my responsibilities to the abyss and its residence, after all there was still quite a lot of crap I had to sort out over there. The main issue was that I couldn't keep my clones active twenty four seven, well, I could but eventually I'd run out of power to fuel both them and myself, that was a major issue when you considered how hectic things could end up getting all of a sudden in this damn world.

(Raphael?) I called out with my mind and almost instantly got a response.

[Yes?]

Hearing the rather familiar voice I smiled somewhat. (I need your help with something.)

[What is it you require?] She asked but I stopped myself before I explained.

(Before I explain what I have in mind you should know that I need you to keep this a secret from dad.)

[Why is that?] She sounded somewhat confused by the secrecy.

(This is for a gift I have planned and so please don't go telling him about it.) If word got out what I was doing the whole thing would be ruined before I even had a chance to finish it. (In fact it's not just a gift for him but everyone in both Tempest and the Abyss, honestly I just want to give them something back for everything they have done for me.)

Raphael seemed to almost hesitate for a moment before answering. [...Very well.]

(Thank you.)

[Thanks are not needed.] I just smiled at that little attention to shrug off my appreciation.

(Great, now let me fill you in on my plans.) And so I began to explain.

It took a while to convey everything I wanted to say, after all there was a lot to put into words but my audience of one simply listened without interrupting even once. (And so that's about it, I still have a lot to figure out but once it's all done it should be quite the sight Indeed.) I hummed with a slight shrug after getting it all off of my chest. (Although I'll require your assistance in making sure that everything functions as I hope it all will.)

[I understand.]

I wasn't really expecting such a simple answer if I'm being honest. (So...do you think it could work?)

[There are several holes in your plan, however with your current abilities it should not be impossible to get it completed.]

"Well that's good at least." I sighed while rubbing the back of my head.

Before I could say any more however something connected to me telepathically. 'Excuse me Mistress.'

'What is it Fuyuko?' I asked my personal maid.

'You wanted me to remind you about the discussion you're supposed to have, the one about the plans to get a fully functional warp gate to the abyss up and running.'

(I had almost forgotten about that...) I had made plans for this, mostly because of the fact that abyssal creatures constantly opening up portals was starting to cause some problems.

'Okay, tell dad I'll be there in a bit.'

'Understood my lady.'