SSS SKILL: DUPLICATE

Edgar slashed the sword at the blue crystal.

Click! The crystal is cut diagonally, the upper part slides, then it bursts into blue shimmering lights that spread like shockwaves.

When the shimmering blue lights touched Edgar, his body is suddenly covered by the blue lights.

The shockwave is rapidly spreading to the whole broken world.

Tivac washes his face from the lake, then looks at himself on the lake. He grins as he imagines a better future within his grasp.

"They are asking why I, a branch leader, am scouting this broken world. Hell! Isn't it obvious? Of course I have to see for myself how much the wealth of this broken world is to estimate how much I will receive. Come on! Bring out the magic pointer and let's continue the search for the blue crystal. I hope they could invent a better pointer. The best one could only search an eight-kilometer circumference," said Tivac as he wipes his face while looking at his face on the clear lake. The other two did not hear what their leader said. They look petrified as they look at the incoming blue shockwave.

"L-leader, look!" the member with a mohawk is pointing his trembling finger.

"Hmm?" Tivac turned his head to look. He is also petrified, then he reacted.

"NOOOOO! Who the hell is it? Who destroyed the crystal? Who the hell is that dumb idiot?!!" Tivac's face looks very fierce. He is gritting his teeth and gripping his fists hard.

"FUCK YOUUU! The mining did not even start!" shouted Tivac. His eyes are bloodshot. The good future he imagined is crumbling as he sees the blue light moving closer.

Woosh! The blue lights hit them, then covered their bodies.

Tivac and the two other hyperbeings are looking at the direction of the source of the shockwave with killing intent.

"Whoever you are, I will find you, and I will kill you," said Tivac while gnashing his teeth.

After a while, all hyperbeings in the broken world are covered by blue lights, and then they teleport out of the broken world.

They all appeared quite a distance from each other, near the cave where the entrance to the broken world is located.

Edgar appeared near a tall tree. He rolled on the ground and hid in a nearby bush, then immediately used his skill.

LIFE DETECTION

The skill only requires a little aura, so he won't be noticed if hyperbeings are not focused but someone is closely paying attention.

Edgar detected the map and the hyperbeings, then he quickly applied magic.

CLOAKING

Something transparent clad his body. It's a magic skill that hides his energy as long as he does not use mana or aura. He quickly walked out and followed an escape route that he had planned. There are few 3rd-level aura masters among the thirty Poison Guild members. It's not the right time to fight against the Poison Guild.

A man covered with an aura that looks like a half-beast, half-man Taurus is rapidly running forward.

There is a mound in front.

A magic circle appears beneath his feet, and then an earth pillar lifts him to the air.

He put more aura on his feet, then he jumped forward. He stretched his right arm, and then an earthen hammer formed. He raised the earthen hammer over his head and clad it with an aura. He smashed it into his target.

TAURUS IMPACT

Bang! The bush and the ground near it are destroyed. There is a crater on the ground.

The man let go of his Taurus form. He is Tivac, the unfortunate leader who discovered the broken world. He is looking at the crater. No one was hit by his hammer, and his target is gone.

The other guild members quickly move toward Tivac.

The scouts, who are third-level aura masters, reached Tivac first. Their expression is full of anger.

"What the hell happened?! We were called from headquarters to help you scout the broken world, but what the fuck is this? Our days of hard work are wasted! Shit, I did not even pick one medicinal plant!" a scout furiously shouted.

"Tivac, you must give a proper explanation!" shouted another scout.

The guild members catch up and then frantically ask what is going on.

"Leader, why did you suddenly attack? Why is the broken world cleared?"

"Leader, who destroyed the crystal?!?"

The guild members keep asking questions. They look angry and flustered. They don't know how to explain it to their headquarters.

Tivac raised his hand, and then the guild members turned silent.

"There is someone else in the broken world. He or she probably came in first. We have guards at the entrance of the cave. They are fine. There is no force entry, so I think someone came in first. That person is crazy! We killed anyone weak that discovered the broken world first, but that was in the past because we don't want to repeat what just happened.

We made sure to spread the word and we abide by our promise, but that person still destroyed the crystal! If he or she wants resources, that person can negotiate with us, but that did not happen. That person definitely doesn't want us to take advantage of the broken world! That person treats us as an enemy!"

The scouts from headquarters look at each other. Are they really just unlucky, or is it because of Tivac's negligence? The headquarters will decide on that. They just need to report what happened.

The faces of branch members look fierce.

"How can a damn ant dare do this to our guild?!?"

"Let's find the ant and find the ant's family as well. Turning them into slaves won't be enough to pay for our losses!"

The members keep cursing and clamoring for what to do when they capture Edgar. They thought he is an ant, but he is a grown-up dragon that will annihilate them later.

"Spread out! He or she shouldn't have moved far away! Communicate with other teams. We must at least capture that shit!" said Tivac. His eyes are bloodshot. He wants to tear that hyperbeing into pieces. He looks at the scout who came from the headquarters. Their eyes do not look good as they look at him.

"Fuck! I'm screwed! Whoever is that hyperbeing, FUCK YOU!" cursed by Tivac in his mind.

Edgar is already quite a distance from the hyperbeings. When he is sure that he wouldn't be detected by them, he used his skill again.

LIFE DETECTION

He detected that some poison guild members are moving in the direction where he escaped, and a Tier 3 beast is moving in his direction. He changed his route.

Edgar kept running and using life detection until he reached the outer area of the inner zone. Edgar is panting. He observes his surroundings. There are tall trees around him, big mushrooms, and medicinal plants. He detected it when he used life detection. The tall trees look like the top of broccoli. Every world's burst does not just bring magic beasts to Earth. The area where the world's burst happened affects the surrounding area. Trees and plants mutate. There are even carnivorous plants. The world's burst also increased the aura and mana on Earth.

Edgar took a deep breath and exhaled. He picked up the medicinal plants, then left quickly. A place like that is probably guarded by a powerful beast. It probably left to hunt.

It will be sundown soon, so Edgar climbed a tall tree and sit on a branch. He looks at the lush forest. He can see giant mushrooms, huge trees, and giant magic beasts. In just ten years, the environment has changed too much.

He took out the medicinal plants from his storage space, then covered them with mana. They are floating in front of him. He opened his right palm. A white magic circle formed over his right palm, and he pulled the medicinal plants over the magic circle. The magic circle shines, and then the body parts of medicinal plants separate. The magic circle turned blue, and the body parts of medicinal plants are covered with water.

Some body parts are in one big blob of water, and then the magic circle turns orange. The blobs of water gently boil, the medicinal plants within them dissolve, and the color of the blobs changes. The inner circle of the magic circle turned a darker orange color. Some blobs of water moved into the inner circle, and then their boils became stronger. Edgar keeps combining the blobs at different intervals and heating them until they form one big blob of emerald water. The magic circle turned white, impurities separated, and then the blob of water turned into a shining emerald.

Edgar took out a bamboo container from his storage space and let it float, then opened the cap with magic. He cut the bamboo earlier while moving out of the inner zone. A small blob separated from the shining emerald and went to Edgar's mouth. He shook his head after feeling that there was no effect on his body. The rest of the shining emerald liquid went to the bamboo, then he closed the cap and put it back in the storage space.

Potion-making has advanced by leaps and bounds in the virtual world. It no longer needs tools to make potions.

"As I thought, potions are not also effective for hyperbeings that have golden cores. Our cells have been changed to higher levels like in peak 3rd level aura masters. Even after researching for decades, we weren't able to research potions effective for peak 3rd level aura masters. Is that the limit of the mortal body that the universe allows? Is that also a price for having godly aptitude?" murmured Edgar.

"Although potions are no longer useful to me, they will be very useful for my family and the force that I want to build on Earth," thought Edgar.

Evening comes, and there is a beautiful full moon in the sky. Edgar is resting, but he is still alert. He already used life detection earlier. There is no strong beast within twenty kilometers. He cannot sustain cloaking magic for a long time. It will be more dangerous if he runs out of mana when danger arrives. The close eyes of Edgar suddenly opened. He sensed danger and a strong beast. He released his aura, then immediately jumped away.

Crunch! The branch where he is sitting is cut.

Grrrr! A big panther is in a nearby tree. It quickly runs and jumps on branches.

Edgar took out his earthen sword from the storage space.

Mana flows to the golden rune in his sea of consciousness, then the rune shines.

DUPLICATE ACTIVATE

The panther kicked a tree and jumped to Edgar in the air. It slashed its claws, which are clad with wind element.

WIND SLASH

Edgar jumped up with a somersault.

He charges down from the air and slashes his sword at the Panther, but the beast reacted quickly.

Wind surrounded the body of the beast, then it rotates its body in mid-air while swinging its claw at Edgar.

Edgar noticed the action of the beast. He moves his knee closer to his body, then he steps on earth in the air. 

The beast attacked with wind slash, but Edgar jumped as he rotates in the air. He steps on earth again and accelerated again toward a tree.

His body rotates in mid-air a few times.

Flop! He landed on a branch of a tree.

"That was close. A speed-type Tier 3 beast is really dangerous," Edgar thought, then he analyzed his duplicate skill.

"The magic runes for the skill being duplicated will automatically form, but it uses my mana. Activating the skill does not use too much mana, but forming rune skills requires mana. It won't continuously form. After forming some parts of the rune skill, it stops, but it won't burst. My mana maintains the incomplete rune. It is going to burst if I don't supply it with mana.

It will form the runes that the duplicate skill was able to analyze when the magic skill was used by the being. The being must keep using the skill until my skill completely duplicated it. I still don't know how long an incomplete rune can be maintained before it burst. It should be impossible to stay within my sea of consciousness for a long time even if I supply it with mana," thought Edgar.

The panther landed on a branch when it rotated its body in mid-air.

It opened its mouth, then threads of wind elements gathered in its mouth and formed an energy ball.

The panther attacked with the energy ball.

Bang! The top of the tree exploded. Branches, wood chips, and leaves are blown away.

Flop! Edgar landed on another branch.

The panther follows Edgar, then attacks again with a wind slash.

Edgar keeps avoiding, and the Panther keeps attacking. The panther is flexibly jumping between trees. It is getting more cunning in its attacks.

"According to the speed of runes being formed, it will still take five minutes to complete the rune. The speed of the panther is a big problem. It is getting more difficult to dodge. I might get severely injured before completing the runes. It's not worth it," Edgar thought, then he keeps jumping down on branches.

Flop! Edgar landed on the ground.

Bang! The ground cracked as he dashes.

The panther is jumping on trees and keeps attacking.

Edgar swiftly dodges the attacks.

Bang! Bang! The wind slash missed Edgar, and they keep hitting the ground, leaving blade marks.

The panther still wants to follow Edgar, but it suddenly stops on its tracks.

"Meow," the sound of a cub, is heard by it. It hesitated a bit, then went back to its anxious cub.

"I did not pay attention to the details when I used life detection. I only paid attention to the level of energy of beasts. There is actually a panther cub," Edgar thought while sighing.

After running for a while, he chose a safe place to rest. He climbed a tall tree and sat on a branch. He looks in a particular direction and smiles.

"Tomorrow, I will be home."