Priorities

/Before we start, I would like to say that I made some slight alterations to the timeline. So, when the IS were shown to the world, the protag was 6 years old. But according to the original timeline, by the time Canon starts, he would be 16 and not 17 like I wanted him to be. So I just changed that 7, as for the time skip that happened right after, I changed it into just one year instead of two. The main reason why I made this mistake was that I made the protag birthday to be on the first of January. Meaning that chronologically, since he was born in 2000, the canon would start in 2017. The original protagonist's birthday is on September 27. Making our protag around 9 months older than the original. So at the start of 2017, the main Seiichi would be 17 while Ichika would be 16. And because I am a fucking idiot I ended up messing the numbers up./

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After the "touching" moment I had with Kona, I started my plans, my long-term plans. The objective is simple: To get energy by any means necessary, as long as they don't conflict with my morals.

I needed a base and a supplier of equipment. The supplier I can live without, but not the base. My first option was to look for a warehouse in a discreet location, the problem is that a child might have some difficulties in acquiring one legally, even if I say I am buying it for someone else. Very few people would believe that. But I managed to acquire one through illegal means, for people who only care about money, it doesn't matter who is buying.

Where did the money come from? I stole it duh. From the bad guys of course. How? I played them by using a series of small-term "deals" using the knowledge I hacked from other gangs, and after gaining a little bit of credibility I decided to make a bigger deal.

When I was on site with the supposed "merchandise" another gang attacked us for it. Why? because I released the information. During the chaos, I stole the money and helped the attacking gang in secret so that they could escape.

How did I escape? That's a story that I will have to, unfortunately, carry with me to my tom...

{You jumped into the sewers}

-...

Now, the situation is simple: The attacking gang is trying to defend themselves saying that they were both played while the gang who had their merchandise and money stolen is obviously livid saying they are shameless and that they broke the pact and yada yada yada.

Then I used the money to rent a warehouse in a more abandoned section of the city and after a few months of preparation, my very own base of operations was complete.

As for the two gangs? For them, I already vanished. It will take a very long time for them to find me, if ever, they don't even know who I am.

This entire plan took 6 months to complete, from the initial need of a base to it finally being complete. Efficient no?

Of course, the base is still rudimentary, but I have already found someone who sells used parts and machinery. In a few months, I will gain his trust and start to get some of the more "advanced" stuff. I will also sell some of the stuff I make to gain some money back.

The plan ended up being more successful than I imagined, as after 4 years(12 years old) I still didn't run into any major problems. Every week, I would have my clones come back to me one at a time and fuse back with me. One thing that I learned through training was that I could have my clones make more clones, but it couldn't pass my current limit, although this would create the problem where my clones would start to lag behind me because since I never made new clones, the ones that were working were merely copies of the ones I made months ago. Still with me?

I could also manipulate blood in a sense. No, let's be real, it's close to nothing. The most I can do is make the blood leave my body on its own. I can't move the blood if it's more than 5 cm away from me, and even then, I can only control my own blood.

{This is just a side effect of your clone ability. Perhaps it can become a useful side-ability. If you train it enough, you might be able to control your blood flow, which is a very useful ability for humans in general. But not that of others. Never, in fact.}

So I made a plan that my clones would all be "recycled" every 6 months, and so here I am after several years.

The academy is already operational and it had its first batch of graduated IS pilots. It was quite the event, not gonna lie.

As for the main cast? I have already found the location of several of them, but I didn't really spy on them since there is nothing to watch anyway.

I will just spend my days researching and training my abilities the best I can until the start of cannon. I have also started to "search" for the fabled time cristal, only to end in failure as most of this knowledge is classified. If I wanted to know more about this sort of thing I would have to get my hands dirty.

After all, in the entire world, how come there is just one mine of this type of cristal? There must be more out there. I just have to know where to look. There is also the question that has bugged me recently: If there is a time cristal, are there other types of strange materials out there?

My base currently has 14 clones working on it constantly, 3 of them are working out on a separated section of the warehouse while the rest are either working on a schematic or studying. During the past four years, my knowledge has already surpassed famed researchers in certain areas. Not all of them, but I will reach them eventually.

Did you ask why I have 14 and not 12? Yes, I can count… After 6 years of constant training (started when I was 6), my body has reached a level where I can sustain 2 extra clones above my age limit, and this number is only bound to increase as I reach physical maturity.

So much to do, so much to do… If only I had more clones…

{...}

The heat of summer went away and the cold of winter came back. This tug of war was repeated a few more times and I was now 17 years old.

These past few years were hard…

{EVERY FREAKING TIME! STOP NAGGING FOR ONCE AND GET TO WORK! NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR YOU SAYING "Aahh, it's so harrrd having 24 clones working their ass off while I eat watermelons by the beach!" YOU ASSHOLE!}

That hurt on an emotional level

{It should have hurt on a physical one as well!}

My bad, my bad, let's stop arguing and let's be friends again, kay?

{...}

Moshi-Moshi?

{What?! Do you want me to say "Humph!" like a tsundere or something? I heard what you said, but I have known you for 17 years already. If you say something, prove it to me first.}

Shesh…

After the monthly rant of my kind and beautiful goddess partner, I went to my good old room.

I picked my heavily altered laptop and turned it on.

-Now now, where will Ichika(MC-original) go to his school entrance examination?

Clicking on a special app that I made for fast sharing of data between me and my clones, I quickly found out where.

-Bla Bla Bla… I see it now, it seems that his examination location "glitched" and now he is assigned to the IS section. Just like in the novel. Now, let's "glitch" mine too, from one corner of the city to another… that's not suspicious at all…

I got it in less than half a minute without using my brainpower. My brain is now many times more potent than a normal human, the reason for this is not only because of my physic, it's more because of my power.

Every time I use it, its effects change my brain slightly, over time my brain will be capable of maintaining its effects 24/7. Although that's still very far away.

Now, we wait until then…

wait…

CAN I EVEN PILOT AN IS?!

{Finally! Finally, you asked yourself this question! I mean, for someone who "always thinks everything through", you can be really dense sometimes...}

Looks like the rant wasn't quite over...