The wolves were faster than the goblins.
The island was a sprawling nine hundred square metres—the largest they'd encountered yet—covered in tall yellow grass that rippled in the wind. Roughly ninety Sharp-Toothed Wolves prowled the terrain, their grey fur bristling, their eyes tracking the approaching intruders with predatory focus.
(Sharp-Toothed Wolf)
Level: 5
Attributes: Strength 9 | Agility 9 | Intelligence 5 | Resilience 6
Skill: (Wolf's Roar) — Increases attack power for several seconds.
Level five. Their attributes were triple the goblins', and they had an actual combat skill. But by now, Essim and Aisha had cleared seven islands in the past hour, advancing to Level 3 each. More importantly, they'd learned how to fight together.
Essim stood at the island's edge, bow drawn, an explosive arrow nocked. Fifty metres away, the first wolf pack had noticed them.
"Ready?" he asked.
Aisha stood behind him, her staff planted, its tip already glowing with cold energy. "Ready."
The wolves charged.
Essim loosed his first arrow. It struck the lead wolf in the chest and detonated with a concussive blast, sending the animal tumbling and two of its packmates staggering. Before they recovered, he'd already nocked and fired again.
[Killed Sharp-Toothed Wolf: EXP +5]
The pack split, half breaking left, half right, trying to flank them. These weren't mindless goblins—the wolves had coordination. Essim shifted his aim, picking off the fastest runners, but three wolves surged through the gap.
Aisha stepped forward and raised her staff.
The air temperature plummeted. A howling wind erupted from the staff's tip, and in seconds, a vicious hailstorm materialised over a twenty-five-square-metre area. Ice shards rained down like shrapnel, pounding the charging wolves into the ground.
(Hailstorm)
Area: 25 square metres
Duration: 5 seconds
A powerful ice spell channelled through the staff's core.
[Killed Sharp-Toothed Wolf: EXP +4]
[Killed Sharp-Toothed Wolf: EXP +5]
It was brutal, efficient, and beautiful in a terrible way. Aisha's spell didn't come from a talent—it was the staff itself, amplified by her Intelligence stat of 21. She was learning to wield it with an instinct that surprised even her.
The battle lasted eight minutes. By the end, ninety wolves lay across the island, and Essim and Aisha stood amid the aftermath, breathing hard, their weapons still warm.
[Killed Sharp-Toothed Wolf: EXP +5]
They extracted materials methodically, filling their burlap sacks with pelts, fangs, and energy crystals. Each extraction took a few seconds—the corpse would glow briefly, disintegrate, and leave behind whatever the system deemed valuable.
It was on the last corpse that something different happened.
Instead of the usual faint white glow, the body shimmered with gold.
[Acquired: Silver Chest x1]
Essim's eyebrows rose. He held the chest—about thirty centimetres long, ornately decorated—and turned it over in his hands.
"What's in it?" Aisha asked, appearing at his side, her curiosity sharp and immediate.
Essim didn't open it. Instead, he checked his duplication cooldown. Four minutes remaining.
"We're not opening just one," he said, a slow grin forming. "We're opening five hundred."
Aisha stared at him. Then understanding dawned, and her expression mirrored his.
"Brother," she said, "we're going to be rich."
• • •
Four minutes later, the duplication cooldown ended.
[Silver Chest: Duplicate x500?]
"Yes."
Silver chests materialised from thin air, tumbling across the grass in a cascade of metal and light. Five hundred identical chests, each containing the same randomised loot. The siblings didn't waste time—they began opening them immediately.
The first chest yielded a litre of water, a pointed hat called the Witch's Hat, eight white stones used for equipment forging, and a weapon called the Spear of Harmony.
The second produced wheat seeds, a flower with alchemical properties, and something that made Essim pause mid-motion:
(Mid-Level Lair — Archer Wolves)
A lair structure. Summons 5 archer wolves per day.
"We can build troops with this?" Essim murmured, turning the item over. It resembled a small stone tablet, warm to the touch.
They kept opening. Chest after chest, the loot piled up. Weapons, construction blueprints, food resources, raw materials, forging stones. An hour of focused work yielded an inventory that would have taken most rulers weeks to accumulate.
Among the most valuable finds were Medium Storage Crates (150 storage slots each), Medium Bags (50 slots, far more practical for travel), combat turrets and defensive towers, and enough building materials to construct a small fortress.
In total: over two thousand items and materials from five hundred chests.
Essim sat back on the grass, surrounded by neatly organised storage crates, and looked at the island. It had grown considerably—the wolf territory now merged with the goblin island and their original patch of land. His domain was still modest, but it was real, and it was growing.
"Aisha," he said, "help me turn this island into something worth defending."
"Finally," she replied, cracking her knuckles with a grin. "I thought you'd never ask."
Together, they began to build. Aisha, with her sharp eye for design and her surprising knack for logistics, directed the placement of walls, towers, and structures while Essim handled the heavy lifting and resource management. Defence turrets were positioned at key points. A stone wall blueprint was activated, though the system informed them construction would take two hours.
An Archer Wolf lair was placed. A Main Hall began its six-hour construction cycle.
By the time they finished laying out the plan, the island was dotted with the soft glow of construction circles—promises of what was to come.
Essim checked the regional chat one more time. The death notifications had slowed. Humanity was adapting, as it always did.
But the chat also carried warnings: larger monsters on distant islands, territorial disputes between rulers, rumours of powerful talents that could reshape entire regions.
Essim closed the panel and looked at the sky. The golden light was beginning to dim—the first sunset of the Ascendant Realm.
"We need to get stronger," he said quietly. "Much stronger."
Aisha, sitting beside him on the grass, legs crossed, her staff resting across her knees, simply nodded.
"Then let's not waste any more time."
And with the sound of distant construction and the last light fading over the clouds, the siblings prepared for whatever tomorrow would bring.
DUPLICATE INTO INFINITY
Chapters 6–10
Revised Edition