Vol. 2 Chapter 6: Shadow Clone

Chapter 6: Shadow Clone

After glancing at his post again, Lu Li found several pointless replies, mostly people seeking attention or sympathy. One person, in particular, complained about his miserable life, trying to guilt Lu Li into supporting him. When Lu Li didn't respond for a while, the tone changed to accuse him of lacking compassion and humanity, attempting to manipulate Lu Li morally. After a moment of silence, Lu Li replied, "If your life is that miserable, why not just die? Why keep living?"

Then he closed the post and indulged once more in the serene safety of the Quiet Meditation Technique. After two or three attempts, Lu Li realized the technique was no longer effective. Frowning, he wondered if the skill had a cooldown period.

Checking Moonshadow's post, he found many new replies, mostly filled with nonsense or insults. But among them were frantic messages from Moonshadow Yifeng:

"Did you try it? Did it work?"

"Did it increase your soul by 0.02 and mental power by 0.04?"

"The initial effect might enhance the soul, but it's likely only effective the first time."

"Don't try using it again too soon. Based on my calculations, you should rest for at least three hours before attempting extraction again. Continuous use within a short period could result in being trapped in the quiet state or encountering unknown entities..."

"In that state, each use may temporarily reduce your sanity and expose you to harmful influences. So wait at least three hours before using it again."

"Why aren't you replying? You didn't use it again, did you?"

...

Seeing the long string of responses, Lu Li replied, "No, I didn't," then immediately received a reply from Moonshadow Yifeng: "Add me as a friend for private chat. I want to understand the detailed data of your use of this skill. That's all I need."

"If possible, I can meet you in person. With my help, we can perfect this skill."

Lu Li responded without emotion, "Not safe. I'll wait three hours and then send the sensory data and results here." After that, he closed the post and resumed planning his skills. Until he got his energy module, everything was just theoretical.

He checked his exchange post again, ignoring the abusive messages. He found a few legitimate offers for trade and conversed with potential partners. However, he rejected those insisting on face-to-face trades or upfront payments, suspecting scams. Even if they weren't scammers, in-person meetings were too risky.

The forum had chat software functionalities like private messaging, friends, and personal space. It also offered secure transaction assistance for a fee. Scammers often claimed to avoid these fees, leading to in-person trades with dire consequences ranging from losing modules to disappearing entirely.

Eventually, Lu Li found a player with an energy module · Magic willing to trade. After some negotiation, he proposed splitting the transaction fee, himself covering 30 points while the other covered 20. They agreed, and Lu Li secured the energy module · Magic.

Three hours later, Lu Li performed the Quiet Meditation again, this time increasing his mental power by 0.3 units without further soul enhancement. He posted the data and his meditation experience on Moonshadow's thread and resumed planning his skills.

When classes ended, Lu Li grabbed his drafted designs and skipped the remaining classes, heading to a small grove behind the school to test his skills. Following his plan, he connected the modules, setting the parameters, and activated his skill.

A unit of shadow magic was successfully extracted, merged with the mind module, controlled by his will, and granted to the shadow, solidifying its form and adding the basic intelligence template. A black shadow appeared on the ground, roughly human-shaped but with many voids. Lu Li immediately felt that a significant portion of his shadow's mass was unusable.

He had two control options: using mental power to forcefully control the shadow, which rapidly depleted his mental energy, or issuing commands to the shadow's basic intelligence.

"Walk two steps forward!" Lu Li commanded. The shadow twitched and collapsed. He then forcefully took over its control, making it wobble upright. Soon, he felt exhausted, a wave of nausea hit, and the shadow vanished. Checking his panel, Lu Li saw that the brief direct control had consumed 0.2 units of mental energy, and the remaining shadow magic was depleted in over a minute.

Lu Li stood in the shadows for over an hour, recovering his shadow magic and mental energy. He activated the skill again, and the humanoid shadow reappeared. After demonstrating basic movements, the shadow could follow simple commands but struggled with anything complex. Each use required an hour-long cooldown.

"Given my current modules and limited magic, this skill can't advance much further. Fortunately, the basic intelligence retains memory, so I don't need to reteach commands each time." Lu Li sighed, checking the shop for modules to improve the skill. Despite its current limitations, the skill had potential, likely due to the fixed module's stability. The shadow wasn't afraid of sunlight and only increased magic consumption when exposed to strong light.

As Lu Li improved his meditation technique and increased his mental power, his magic capacity would also grow. Eventually, he could summon three similar shadows, though they were of limited use.

Suddenly, Lu Li's gaze locked onto an intriguing module...

(End of the chapter)