E-class is the Weakest? My Clones are All God-level! Chapter 41: A reward has been offered!

Chapter 41: The Divine Craftsman's First Cry

In the cramped, darkened room of the crumbling two-story building, Zhou Huai let out a quiet breath, a satisfied smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Ouyezi finally did it.

Sowhere else in Donghai City, in a secret forge hidden deep underground —

Ouyezi, one of Zhou Huai's Clones, stood before a blazing furnace, his headband soaked through with sweat.

Before him, resting on the cooling forge stand, lay a newly completed sword.

Its appearance was nothing extravagant — a slender body, silver-grey in color, with tiny cloud-like engravings running along the length of the blade. But from within it, a clean, cold current of energy continuously radiated outward, causing the surrounding air to tremble faintly.

【Cloud Condensation Sword — Epic Grade】

Attack: 480–560

Special Attribute: Each attack has a 15% chance to trigger "Condensation" — slowing the target for 1.5 seconds.

Flavor Text: Forged by a craftsman who has just touched the boundary of true artistry. This blade contains a will not yet fully released.

Ouyezi stared at the floating stat window, his calloused hands still trembling slightly from exhaustion.

He had failed seventeen tis.

Seventeen.

Each failure reduced precious materials to useless slag. Each failure saw him grit his teeth, pick up the hamr, and begin again from nothing.

The first attempt — refinent ratio too low, the blade shattered during tempering.

The fifth — wrong furnace temperature, the tal degraded.

The twelfth — the engraving pattern shifted by a fraction of a milliter, blocking the flow of energy within the blade, turning every ounce of effort into ash.

The seventeenth —

Ouyezi rembered it clearly. As the hamr fell on the final strike, he had been certain it would fail again. His hands were shaking. His eyes were stinging from the smoke.

But the energy current inside the tal... suddenly resonated.

As though the blade itself had agreed to accept the form he wished to give it.

"Ding! Congratulations, Blacksmith Clone 'Ouyezi' has completed his first Epic-grade work!"

He stood still for a long mont.

Then he simply sat down on the stone floor, back against the forge stand, tilting his head up to stare at the rough-hewn ceiling above him.

And laughed.

Back at Zhou Huai's end, the System notification had just appeared —

"Ding! Congratulations, Host! Your Clone 'Ouyezi' has successfully forged an Epic-grade equipnt, completing the challenge mission — Divine Craftsman's First Cry!"

"Mission Reward: Profession Orb Draw Chance X1, already issued!"

Zhou Huai didn't hesitate. He imdiately opened the draw interface.

An optical ring spun in place, blue and gold light weaving together.

Then it stopped.

【Profession Orb — Shadow Scout · A-Rank】

Description: The holder can achieve complete concealnt within darkness. Movent speed increased by 40% during nightti. Learnable skills: Night Sight, Soundless Step.

Zhou Huai stared at the orb pulsing with deep violet light in the interface, turning the idea over in his mind.

Which Clone would get the most out of this...

Nearby, Molly was still fast asleep in her corner, disheveled hair fanned across her folded arms. On her dust-streaked face was a rare expression of peace — the peace of soone too exhausted to be afraid anymore.

Zhou Huai glanced at her briefly, then returned his attention to the System screen.

Outside, the heavy footsteps of Radiant Alliance search parties still echoed sowhere in the dark. Their scouts were combing through every alley, every ruined building.

One million great xia currency.

Zhou Huai shook his head slightly, unable to suppress a quiet sense of amusent.

What a waste of money. That reward is nothing but wind in the end.

He rose and stepped toward the window, gazing down at the darkened street below.

Yasuo was sowhere out there in the labyrinth of collapsed buildings, silent as a ghost, continuing to hunt isolated mutated beasts.

Experience accumulating slowly but steadily.

Level 14 now. Still far from enough to confront the Radiant Alliance openly, but...

There was still plenty of ti.

In a dark alley near the edge of the Old City District, three exhausted Radiant Alliance mbers slumped against a crumbling brick wall, eyes bloodshot from a sleepless night.

"Nothing." The squad leader exhaled, tossing his area map onto the ground. "The guy moves like a ghost. Not a single trace."

"Maybe he already slipped out?" the second mber offered tentatively.

"Slipped out how? We've sealed every exit—"

"Quiet!"

The third mber suddenly snapped upright, hand shooting out to point forward.

At the far end of the alley, in the thick darkness that lingered just before dawn finally broke —

A pair of eyes was looking back at them.

Calm. Cold. Completely without fear.

All three scrambled to their feet, weapons drawn —

But the darkness had already swallowed those eyes whole.

Only a cold draft remained, sweeping through the alley, carrying with it the faintest trace of sothing sharp and electric.

Yasuo was already gone.

By the ti the sun officially crested the horizon over Donghai City, word had already begun spreading through the Professionist information networks —

[Donghai City Forum — Trending]

"Radiant Alliance searched through the night — Yasuo still not found!"

"Is this the first ti in history the Radiant Alliance has been made to look this helpless?"

"A million-currency bounty and nobody's collected — what exactly is this guy doing out there?"

Comnts flooded in, overflowing with curiosity, admiration, and no small amount of unease.

And at the bottom of one post, an anonymous account had left a single short line:

"Just wait. The best part hasn't even started yet."

Zhou Huai closed the forum and smiled faintly.

Beside him, Molly had just woken up, hair a tangled ss, eyes still hazy with sleep.

"Boss... what ti is it...?"

"Early morning." Zhou Huai replied simply. "Go back to sleep. Tonight is going to be busy."

Molly looked at him — at that utterly calm, unbothered expression on his face — and for so reason she couldn't quite explain, let out a small breath of relief.

Then lay back down and went right back to sleep.