The cramped tunnels actually worked to his advantage. The radiants couldn’t surround him effectively in the narrow spaces, and they got in each other’s way when trying to attack. anwhile, his techniques worked perfectly in close quarters.
He fought continuously for more than half a day as the four suns slowly moved across the sky above ground and eventually began to set.
When night finally ca and the suns disappeared below the horizon, Vogue erged from the subway covered in dried blood but not tired in the slightest thanks to his Infinite Stamina.
[Radiants Eliminated: 9,847/10,000]
He was so close. Just one hundred and fifty-three more kills and he would reach Ultimate Evolution. But fighting in the dark underground without being able to see properly would slow him down significantly, and the radiants beca more dangerous at night when they weren’t weakened by sunlight.
He decided to rest and wait for morning, using the ti productively.
Vogue found a secure apartnt building that was mostly intact, cleared it of the few radiants inside, and settled into a room on the upper floor where he could see the street below.
As he sat there recovering his energy reserves, he began pondering sothing important. He still had the third Evolution Fruit stored in his inventory. Should he eat it now?
But then he rembered a crucial detail. Each person could only benefit from one Evolution Fruit. If you ate a second one, it would have no effect at all. The system had designed them that way specifically to prevent anyone from hoarding all the benefits.
That rule applied to him... but what about his clones?
A thought suddenly occurred to Vogue that made his eyes light up with excitent. The clones were technically separate bodies with their own physical forms, even though they shared his consciousness and abilities. What if he gave a clone the Evolution Fruit to eat instead of consuming it himself?
Would the system count the clone as a different person and allow the fruit to work? If so, he could potentially gain the benefits without wasting the fruit’s power.
It was worth testing.
Vogue reached up and, without hesitation, plucked out his right eye with his fingers. The pain would have been excruciating for anyone else, but for him it was just pressure and the odd sensation of sothing being removed.
He held the eyeball in his palm and watched with fascination as it imdiately began growing and transforming. The eye expanded and grew a brain around itself, then a skull ford to protect the brain, then a head took shape, then a neck, then shoulders and torso and arms and legs.
Within thirty seconds, a complete naked human body stood before him. A perfect clone.
Vogue imdiately pulled the third Evolution Fruit from his inventory—the one he’d been saving—and gave it to the newly created clone.
He deliberately chose not to use Clone Jump to transfer his consciousness into this body. Instead, he simply commanded the clone ntally to eat the fruit and stay still.
The clone followed orders without question, taking the fruit and biting into it. It chewed and swallowed chanically, consuming the entire thing within a minute.
Then Vogue sat back and waited to see what would happen.
For two long minutes, absolutely nothing occurred. The clone just stood there motionless, showing no signs of change or reaction whatsoever.
Vogue sighed with disappointnt. He had hoped the loophole would work, but apparently the system was smarter than that. It must recognize that clones were still part of the original person and wouldn’t allow—
Suddenly, the temperature in the entire room began rising drastically.
Heat erupted from everywhere at once, but there was no actual fire. It was like standing inside an oven that was rapidly heating up. The air itself beca hot enough that it hurt to breathe.
Vogue’s eyes lit up with excitent as he realized what was happening. It had worked! The clone was actually awakening a new ability right now!
The third Evolution Fruit had triggered the ten percent chance for awakening, and since the clone technically counted as a separate entity to the system, it was able to benefit from the fruit’s effects even though Vogue himself had already consud two.
This was incredible. He was about to gain a third dragon head, a third set of abilities to use in combat.
But at that exact mont, before the awakening could complete, a massive screech suddenly echoed throughout the entire street outside.
The sound was deafening, like tal scraping against tal.
Vogue’s expression changed imdiately from excitent to alarm.
He quickly moved to the broken window and looked down at the street below.
His pupils constricted in shock at what he saw.
A massive silver ape, easily three ters tall at the shoulder, had just landed in the middle of the street with a heavy thump that cracked the pavent. The creature was covered entirely in gleaming silver fur that looked almost tallic, reflecting the moonlight. Its muscles were absolutely enormous, bulging beneath its hide like it was made of pure condensed strength.
The ape glanced up at Vogue’s window with intelligent eyes that showed clear awareness and purpose. Then its gaze shifted and fixated directly on the clone that was undergoing evolution inside the room.
It could sense the power building. It could feel the awakening happening.
And it wanted to stop it or claim it for itself.
A system notification suddenly appeared before Vogue’s eyes, displaying information about this new threat.
[Na: Silver Ape]
[Title: Being Equal to Earth]
[Rank: Legendary Creature]
[Level: ???]
The question marks where the level should be ant this creature was so far above Vogue’s current strength that the system couldn’t even display an accurate asurent.
This was another legendary creature, just like the Thousand-Radiant Baby Ghost he had barely survived fighting.
And it was here, right now, while his clone was vulnerable and couldn’t move during the awakening process.
Vogue’s mind raced as he tried to figure out how he was going to survive the next few minutes.
User Comments
0 comments from readers