As Clone 1 slowly faded away, Clone 2—who was on the same floor—was far from that location. He was in an isolated area on the 17th floor. Just him and a Ligerfang.
A massive and extremely threatening tiger.
The Ligerfang was one of the few monsters Clone 2 disliked fighting because it was very fast—just as fast as he was. Since Clone 2 relied heavily on his speed in battle, he didn't enjoy facing fast opponents.
'And now that my knife is broken, things just got harder.'
He had been on the 17th floor much longer than Clone 1 and had already fought Ligerfangs and Minotaurs many times before. He knew that poison didn't have much effect on Minotaurs, but it worked well against Ligerfangs.
Unfortunately, he ran into this Ligerfang right after his knife broke.
Now he was empty-handed.
'Can I kill this monster with my bare hands? Since it's as fast as I am, I probably can't run away.'
Clone 2 smiled to himself. 'Well, even if I die, I'll come back anyway. I've got nothing to lose.'
Filled with confidence, he faced the Ligerfang. The tiger was larger and more muscular than a normal one. Its claws were bigger too—extremely menacing. The Ligerfang was practically drooling with rage.
'It's smarter than the other monsters as well. It's waiting for me to make the first move.'
Keeping a confident smile on his face, Clone 2 kicked off the ground, using all his strength to propel himself forward. In an instant, he closed the distance and twisted his body to strike with a kick.
Contrary to what he expected, the monster failed to react. Its head was struck, and it was sent flying to the side, crashing into the dungeon wall. The monster whimpered in pain like a kitten.
Clone 2's eyes widened in surprise.
"Hm? It seems using my own hands and feet is even better than using a knife."
He had suddenly discovered something that pleased him greatly—punching and kicking. Hitting his enemies with raw force.
He could feel the bones in the Ligerfang's face breaking when his foot connected. That sensation thrilled him.
His golden eyes gleamed as he dashed toward the Ligerfang.
Before the tiger could stand up, he began to punch.
Punch! Punch! Punch! Punch! Punch! Punch! Punch! Punch! Punch!
He was like a maniac. His body gradually became covered in blood, but he didn't care.
When the Ligerfang's body vanished and left behind a mid-level magic stone on the ground, Clone 2 sighed in disappointment.
"What a shame. I wanted to keep punching it. The feeling is so good. I guess I'll go find some more monsters."
####
POV: Zane
When Clone 1 was destroyed, I felt extremely irritated because I'm very close to reaching Level 10. I clicked my tongue and tried summoning him again to see if the cooldown was still the same.
And yes, the cooldown is still 30 minutes.
'At least 30 minutes isn't that long. Time passes quickly inside the dungeon.'
Then I opened the shop to exchange the stones I had for points so I could buy a new weapon.
After trading in all the stones I had acquired, I managed to accumulate 340 points in the shop. Since a knife like my old one costs only 100 points, I can easily buy a new one.
But like I said, I want to buy a sword this time.
"Are there any swords that cost 100 points in the shop?"
After browsing for a while, I found a few options. They all had attack power similar to the "Black Mamba" knife, but their durability was slightly higher.
In addition, most of the swords I found had some kind of magical ability attached to them, rather than a poisoning ability.
I found one that produced fire, one that generated wind, and so on.
The most interesting sword was named "Darkness," and it used the power of shadows or something like that.
However, it doesn't cost 100 points—it costs 200.
"If I buy it, I won't have any points left to purchase a basic magic skill."
I really want to buy one.
"What should I do? … Should I just buy a new knife?"
To be honest, that knife is more than enough to explore the middle floors, even if the poison isn't very effective against larger and stronger monsters. After thinking for a while, I decided to buy another "Black Mamba."
Yes.
100 points were deducted.
"But what about Clone 2? Will he receive the knife as soon as I equip it?"
Since no system message appeared to inform me about that, I concluded that it doesn't work that way. Because of that, I had to destroy and resummon Clone 2 just to "give" him my knife.
As soon as he appeared in front of me, he said,
"I was having a lot of fun." He seemed upset that I had interrupted his enjoyment.
"I don't care whether you were having fun or not. You can go back and continue hunting now that you have your knife again."
"Yes, thank you for that." Clone 2 thanked me and then disappeared shortly after.
That guy is making me uneasy. I feel like he might do something incredibly reckless at any moment.
####
Pov: Third-Person
The weather outside the dungeon was rainy, so there weren't many people on the streets.
Looking through the rain-streaked window, Loki asked, "Were you able to find them?"
The man standing behind her replied, "We were only able to find one of them, but they weren't exploring the dungeon together. I tried to make contact, but I didn't get a response."
"Hmmm… Were you able to find out which Familia they belong to?"
"No, I wasn't." The man lowered his head apologetically. "I'm sorry about that. I'll continue trying to contact them."
"Yes, yes. Good work."
After the man left the room, Loki thought to herself:
'I can't get what Alana said out of my mind for some reason. I want to contact them.'
####
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/Zhangye
Next Chapters: Chapter 17 - Finn? / Chapter 18 - Loki wants to meet you. New abilities. / Chapter 19 - Encounter with Loki. / Chapter 20 - Why don't you join our Familia? / Chapter 21 - I want to take Freya to my bed. / Chapter 22 - Bell. / Chapter 23 - Twin brothers meet Loki.