Chapter 3 - Planning

  Arlin ate a quick meal and returned to his office. Now it was more important than ever to think clearly about what came next — everything depended on the decisions he made now.

  The butler had already returned with a bag. Looking inside, Arlin found several magical crystals — precious items that he desperately needed.

  He currently had only seven clones. But if he used all these crystals, the number would double to fourteen.

  "The number will double..." he thought.

  Sitting in his chair, he watched his clones continue to browse through the books on the shelves. Information constantly flowed into his consciousness — he could ignore it if he wished, but he could recall any detail of what the clones had read if needed.

  After thinking a bit more, he decided to activate three additional crystals, keeping four in reserve.

  "Now we need a meeting. Thinking together will be faster and better."

  He stood and left the office.

  "The conference hall... though it's not exactly a real one."

  He descended the corridors. Soon, following his memories of this body's past, he found a large room with a round table in the center — a place where teachers had once gathered when his father was director. Now the room was empty and somewhat dusty due to the lack of servants.

  Arlin approached the window at the end of the room, which offered a view of the distant city.

  As he stood there, a black shadow flickered from behind the door. One by one, more shadows emerged from the walls, materializing in the air. Finally, all seven clones took their full forms and sat around the table, surrounding him from all sides.

  Looking out at the city beyond the window, Arlin spoke.

  "So then, we have a clear goal: obtain magical crystals. What ideas do you have?"

  He knew that group thinking worked more efficiently than his own solitary contemplation. Though all his clones were copies of himself, they could still offer slightly different perspectives when discussing problems together.

  "Master, as the butler said, the best approach would be to find a magical crystal mine," suggested the first clone.

  "Yes, we could first gather information about nearby deposits, then use our intangibility to slip inside," added the second.

  "But even if we get the crystals, how do we carry them out?" asked the third.

  "Wouldn't your storage ring solve that problem?" suggested the fourth.

  "Is that the only way?" questioned the fifth clone with doubt.

  "Our intangibility also renders objects on our bodies intangible," explained the sixth.

  "Which means it all depends on your decision, Master!" concluded the seventh.

  "But wait — couldn't you simply transfer your consciousness into one of us and use the crystals directly?" offered the first clone again.

  "That's an option, but crystals are needed not only for creating more clones. They're also necessary for increasing the mana reserves in our master body," reminded the second.

  "True!" agreed the third.

  As Arlin listened to this exchange, he began analyzing what had been said, drawing his own conclusions.

  "Many good suggestions, if we can find a mine. Let's think about other options."

  "We could steal from others... well, from bad people," suggested one of the clones, then paused.

  "Bad people... ha-ha," laughed another.

  "Ha-ha, bad people... that's a pretty relative term," added a third.

  Seeing the discussion going off track, Arlin showed his displeasure with his expression. Immediately, all the clones stopped joking and returned to the matter at hand.

  "Receive payment in crystals for taking new students?" suggested one.

  "Good idea, but it's impossible right now," objected another.

  "Yes, we have too few staff and too little knowledge to attract students," agreed a third.

  "What if we used false marketing?" proposed a fourth.

  "That would attract unwanted problems," cautioned the fifth.

  "Wouldn't alchemy be the best option right now?" suddenly suggested one of the clones.

  Everyone fell silent. It was actually a good idea.

  "Yes! Using alchemy, we could first cover some expenses. And we'd still get at least some magical crystals," Arlin noted.

  "Master, what should we do?" asked the clones.

  "It's a good idea, but I've reviewed almost all the books in the office. There's not much material, and most of it is just general information or basic magic," Arlin mused aloud.

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  This helped him think clearly. For a moment, silence filled the room. Finally, he continued.

  "It seems there are more important things than magical crystals right now."

  He stood and walked to the window.

  "Information. We need information to act effectively."

  "Seven of you will go to the city of Etherium. There are many people there, many opportunities, and aristocratic families with magical academies. If you can, acquire some clothing so you don't stand out. And conduct experiments with your abilities."

  As he spoke, seven new clones began passing through the floor and disappearing. The remaining three sat and listened.

  "From our current position, the academy is ideally located. There's no one around us, so we can create many things in secret."

  The academy stood on a small hill, one side of which was quite steep. But around it stretched large, flat territories.

  "It would be good to create a hidden space beneath the academy or nearby..."

  He thought for a moment longer, then looked at the remaining clones.

  "We need to find magic for creating hidden spaces, or in the worst case, use tools. You need to use your intangibility to dig deep beneath the academy and search for underground caves or something similar. If we're lucky, you might even find a vein of magical crystals."

  With that, he left the conference hall and returned to his office.

  Arlin had converted his bedroom directly into a small corner of the director's office, hidden behind one of the bookshelves. As he lay down to rest, the three remaining clones began executing his orders.

  They started searching directly beneath the academy. Becoming intangible, they penetrated the earth through the floor. But due to the limitations of their ability, they soon returned to the surface.

  Arlin had already tested how long they could remain intangible. Near him, it could last indefinitely. But the farther away they went, the shorter the effect lasted. At greater distances, he hadn't yet experimented.

  For now, he simply needed to sleep to sort through the chaos in his mind.

  In the sunset rays, the city looked majestic and radiated a medieval atmosphere.

  At the main gates of the city, a long queue had formed. Countless people with their belongings, wagons, horses, and occasionally magical creatures waited their turn to enter.

  This was the first line of defense for the city, as wars were relatively frequent occurrences here.

  Meanwhile, the shadows had passed through a small forest from the direction of the academy and gradually approached the city. It wasn't very far, but the shadows had often used their intangibility during the journey, significantly shortening the distance.

  Along the way, they also noticed something interesting: at a certain distance from Arlin, they could remain intangible for approximately five seconds without any changes. That was more than enough to slip through the city.

  They didn't communicate aloud — only mentally. Finally, they drew close enough to see the high walls and the guards protecting the city.

  They needed to enter without making any noise.

  They watched the guards carefully. Some time passed, and it appeared the guards weren't particularly attentive. Perhaps because of the high walls, or simply because nothing significant had happened recently.

  Taking advantage of the moment, the shadows one by one ran toward the wall and passed through it.

  But what happened next was a mistake.

  The shadows had penetrated directly into the guards' quarters. Some of the guards were resting, others were talking loudly, and a few were playing gambling games.

  The appearance of the shadows suddenly shattered the atmosphere. The room fell into complete silence.

  "Damn, we messed up!" the clones mentally cursed in unison.

  A second later, the guards jumped to their feet and grabbed their weapons.

  "Scatter!" the clones commanded themselves.

  They began to flee rather than fight. Fortunately, their intangibility allowed them to escape. The guards, who had already begun pursuit, could only see the clones vanish into the walls and floor.

  The situation was chaotic and strange. The guards fell into even greater chaos and noise.

  All this commotion concerned the head of the guards, who descended from his quarters.

  "What happened?! What's wrong with you?!" he barked in a loud, gruff voice.

  Everyone fell silent. The authority of the head was strong — this was Pam, an officially recognized 1st-rank knight.

  "Sir Pam, something strange just happened!" exclaimed one of his subordinates.

  "What situation?" asked Pam, seeing the panic among his men.

  The guard before him swallowed and looked around at his comrades.

  "Just now, when we were resting, creatures completely shrouded in shadow passed directly through the wall and fled quickly..."

  Pam listened, simultaneously assessing his men's reactions. Their fear seemed genuine. He approached the wall the guard had indicated.

  The wall was undamaged in any way. There were no signs of penetration at all.

  Looking back at the guards and seeing the fear on their faces, Pam considered the matter and left the barracks.

  The situation was unusual. If everything was true, then some kind of entities had penetrated the city. This was dangerous, especially since it had happened during his watch.

  He quickly headed toward a small house near the wall. Something flickered in the distance at the corner of his vision, causing him to pause for a moment and look carefully in that direction.

  "It seems there really is something there..."

  His pace quickened, and he hurried toward the captain.

  Meanwhile, the clones that had managed to hide, thanks to their sense of each other and their intangibility, finally regrouped and penetrated through another section of the wall, finally fully entering the city.

  This time they were luckier. They found themselves in a relatively empty area with no guards nearby and an ordinary house close by.

  A large city opened before the clones' eyes.

  The further they advanced, the more buildings they saw. In the center stood a fairly large structure — not quite a castle, but something resembling a royal building.

  The streets had many people, but they didn't notice the clones or paid them no attention.

  Beneath the sunset rays, countless people walked back and forth carrying belongings, leading children, hauling goods and carts.

  Most were dressed in simple peasant clothing. Occasionally, one could see a carriage passing by in luxurious trim.

  Everyone who saw them stepped aside and dared do nothing.

  Sometimes small groups of people with different professions could be spotted — mages, warriors, archers, and others.

  It seemed this world also had adventurers, though the clones had no memories of whether there was an adventurer's guild here.

  In any case, they needed to act. First — acquire disguises, then — gather information.

  This would give Arlin a foundation for further action.

  But the main goal remained finding a way to obtain magical crystals.

  The clones discussed their plan mentally, divided themselves, and quickly, using intangibility, descended into the earth and began exploring the city from below.

  Meanwhile, the sun on the horizon began to set, making the city darker. The shadows within it became even more inconspicuous.

  --------

  "Here's what happened, Captain. According to the guards, these creatures appeared quickly and fled quickly. But the main issue is — they passed directly through the city wall. That's a serious problem."

  Pam stood before Captain Maro's desk, explaining what had transpired.

  Captain Maro, though not stronger than Pam, held higher rank due to his aristocratic background.

  Sitting at his wooden desk in silver armor, he polished his mirror-clean sword, occasionally gazing at his ordinary face through the blade and adjusting his light-colored hair.

  But hearing Pam's words, he decided not to ignore such strangeness.

  He sheathed his sword and looked up at Pam.

  "Let's go and see. We can't leave such oddity without attention. Also, send some of the men who saw these creatures to patrol the surroundings. Let's see if they appear again."

  With that, he stood from his place, brushed the dust from his armor, and left, gesturing for Pam to follow.