Evan had spent some time in the Soul Space reading through the information about both his clone and his own abilities. Among the many things he had learned, he discovered that he could actually share his clones' senses, sight, hearing, touch, and so on.
Everything had its limits, of course, but for what he needed, it was more than enough.
That said, there was one thing he really wanted to know: what would happen if his clone died? Could he summon it again, or would it be gone for good?
Bruce gave him the answer, and Evan wasn't exactly thrilled to hear it.
He could resummon the clone after some time, but it would come back weaker. That wasn't the real problem though, the issue was that he would take damage to his soul. And although he didn't know much about it, according to the system, soul damage was no small matter.
It was better to pull the clone back in desperate situations rather than risk losing it.
The clone slid down the manor walls and reached the backyard. It was well kept, flowers, trimmed grass, decorations, but none of that mattered.
There was only one thing on his mind, get beyond the walls.
The shadow moved in silence until it reached the high city walls. Without hesitation, it began to climb, and before long it had reached the top.
Now that it was here Evan slowed down the clone, to scan the area.
Small border town or not, surveillance was never neglected. Pairs of patrols made rounds along the entire perimeter, day and night, so he had to be careful. A single slip could blow his cover.
He needed to move fast, but with caution.
After scanning the area, he noticed the nearest patrol was still far off.
He didn't waste the chance. He jumped over and slid down the other side, and before long, he was outside the city.
'Well, that went smoother than expected,' he thought, letting out a sigh of relief.
He hadn't expected it to be this easy. The detection systems should've picked up something, but maybe they only caught threats trying to get in?
What Evan didn't know was that he hadn't gone entirely unnoticed.
Deep inside the manor, an elderly man sat motionless on the floor in a lotus position, eyes closed, like a statue. Anyone who saw him like that would think he was dead.
Then his brow twitched slightly, furrowing as if sensing something.
'Hm. What was that? Someone is trying to enter the city?' he thought, detecting a faint fluctuation of energy along the walls.
He extended his perception and scanned the area, but found nothing.
'Strange. Was I mistaken?' he wondered.
Outside, the clone was already moving toward the forest, completely unaware of how close it had come to being noticed.
Now that it was out, Evan decided to put it to the test. And what better way than sending it to fight?
Night wasn't the ideal time to hunt beasts, but as long as he stayed out of the forest and kept his senses sharp, the risk was manageable.
The clone covered about a kilometer before catching sight of the Gray Stone Forest's edge. The forest was relatively close to the city, an advantage, but also a risk.
On one hand, it made it easier to keep an eye on what was happening there. On the other, if the stronger beasts ever decided to attack, the city would have a hard time holding.
That much had surely been considered when the city was built, so the risks were kept in check as much as possible.
For Evan, it was nothing but an advantage, finding weak beasts out in open fields during the day was tough, but near the forest the odds were better, especially at this hour.
And sure enough, it didn't take long before he spotted something: a beetle the size of a rabbit, its shell gleaming, mandibles moving lazily as it nibbled at something on the ground.
Shadow's eyes lit up at the sight.
'Oh, a night beetle, that'll do,' Evan thought, already sweeping the area for anything else nearby. Nothing.
The beetle was alone and completely distracted, too focused on whatever it was chewing to notice anything around it.
It was the perfect moment to strike.
Evan gave the order and without hesitation, the clone moved forward like a living shadow, slow and silent, blending seamlessly into the darkness as it closed the distance.
The beetle didn't notice anything until the clone was almost on top of it. By the time it reacted, it was already too late.
The clone drove its hand forward and grabbed the beetle's head in a firm grip.
The beetle had no time to pull free. In the next instant, the clone's hand let out a bright violet force that wrapped around the beetle, which began writhing in agony.
System messages started flooding Evan's mind:
[Ding! Your clone has absorbed the life force of an Unawakened (Mid-stage) Night Beetle!]
[You gained 1 ESS]
[Ding! Your clone has absorbed the life force of an Unawakened (Mid-stage) Night Beetle!]
[You gained 1 ESS]
[Ding! Your clone has absorbed the life force of an Unawakened (Mid-stage) Night Beetle!]
[You gained 1 ESS]
This kept up for a while, until the beetle went still.
In the end he'd gained 7 ESS, about what he'd expected from an Unawakened beast. He checked his stats and saw his percentage had moved from 0% to 0.7%. Not a big jump, but better than nothing.
He then pulled up the clone's stats:
---
[Name: Shadow]
[Rank: F]
[ESS: 1,3 %]
[Title: Spawn]
[Bloodline: God of Death]
---
'Hm?'
Evan noticed the clone's ESS gain was slightly higher than his own.
'Maybe because it made the kill and only passed part of it on to me?' he thought, and at that moment, Bruce spoke up.
[The host is indeed correct.]
[Although the clone shares the ESS it gains with the host, since the kill was its own, it receives the majority.]
[The host receives only 1/3 of the total ESS gained from the prey.]
[This value will increase as synchronization with the clone grows.]
Evan wasn't disappointed. It made sense, honestly.
He couldn't just take everything, otherwise how would the clone ever level up? And a straight fifty-fifty split would've been too good to be true.
The fact that he could gain ESS this way at all was already a good thing; he couldn't expect more. That said, knowing he could actually receive a larger share in the future was also a source of joy for him.
Synchronization was an automatic process that he and the clone would go through over time.
According to the system, the goal wasn't just to give him access to clones with divine bloodlines, it was to allow him to gradually adapt to those bloodlines through his clones.
Evan asked why, but the system told him he'd find out on his own in due time, and that it couldn't say more on the subject for now.
Although still curious, he decided not to ask for more. After all, no matter how curious he was, his immediate priority lay elsewhere; everything else could wait.
His thoughts were suddenly cut short by a sharp sense of danger, not his own, but coming through the clone's senses.
Sure enough, he immediately heard a faint rustle nearby and sensed something approaching.
"Shit."