Chapter 34
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Experiment
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What came to mind was the image of a cold, thoroughly rotting corpse. And the chilling energy that had forcibly animated it.
A presence that any living being would naturally recoil from. A deathly aura, perfectly suited to the term "death qi."
"Kuh?!"
The energy I called my duplication power drained out of me.
Unlike the white glow that usually appeared when I used Duplication, a somehow murky, dark light gathered here, taking on form.
And then.
"Grraaah..."
"...Ha... it actually worked."
A grotesque corpse appeared before me. A corpse that was walking on its own two feet, no less.
'So it doesn't need a medium after all?'
When duplicating living people, I needed something like hair as a medium. But even without any other medium, the undead had been created perfectly.
Did undead get treated a bit differently from living beings?
'Still... the consumption of duplication power.'
I'd succeeded in duplicating an undead, but far more of my duplication power was draining away in real-time than I'd anticipated.
More than when duplicating a living person—even more than when I'd duplicated Karen.
And one more thing that differed from my expectations.
"Grraaah..."
"...It's moving."
The undead I'd created was actually walking around and moving on its own—a surprising sight.
Karen and Laila, who were living beings, hadn't moved at all when duplicated. Was it because undead existed somewhere between living creatures and inanimate objects?
It was the first time I'd seen a duplicate of mine move on its own.
"Graah!"
"Ugh."
-Thwack!!
Like a starving wraith wandering aimlessly, the undead charged at me the moment it spotted me, baring its teeth.
I'd approached to observe it up close, but I urgently swung my fist, smashing its head.
"Tch... I made it, but it's just attacking indiscriminately?"
A squishy sensation brushed my fingertips as I grimaced and stared at the flailing undead.
Even though it was made from my duplication power, its immediate aggression toward me mirrored exactly the behavior of the undead that had attacked me in the sewers.
"This undead was commanded by the necromancer to target me... Since I duplicated it from back then, does that command linger?"
"Grraaah!!"
This was even more intriguing than I'd expected. I hadn't even imagined the undead would duplicate in a state where it could move like this.
I'd figured it would just replicate in its corpse state at best.
"Grraaah!"
"Get lost."
Tiring of the undead charging at me endlessly without fatigue, I decided I couldn't keep thinking straight with it duplicated, so I tried to cancel the Duplication.
-Halt!
"...Hm?"
"Grraaah..."
The undead approaching me froze, as if it understood my command to get lost, then slowly backed away.
"...Huh?"
Wait. No way...
"Come here."
"Graah!"
"Go over there."
"Grraaah..."
"Bite."
"Grrk!"
"Fuck, not me."
I ran a few tests. And each time I issued a command, the undead obeyed perfectly.
"Ugh."
For some reason, every time I gave a command, my duplication power drained even faster. Feeling dizzy, I hurriedly canceled the undead's Duplication.
The moment I did, as the duplicated undead dissolved like bubbles, I sensed a thread connecting me to it snap—something I hadn't noticed before.
'This is...'
I understood instinctively. Why duplicating the undead consumed more duplication power than expected. And how it had moved so properly.
'No way... what I just duplicated wasn't...'
The undead itself. I'd duplicated something more fundamental.
The energy the necromancer had used to control the undead.
I'd directly duplicated the death qi.
.
.
.
Undead react to the death qi of the sorcerer who raised them, offering blind loyalty to the one who brought them back.
That's why books say undead disintegrate immediately if their necromancer falls.
'Was that the black light that flickered faintly when I duplicated it earlier?'
This power I'd named duplication power.
It wasn't limited to taking the form of physical objects; it could even replicate intangible forces like death qi.
My duplication power had mimicked the flow of death qi, manifesting it exactly, and the undead raised by that flow obeyed my commands.
"What the hell is this..."
This was bewildering. Death qi was the energy granted by the evil god called "Crooked Life," worshipped by evil god followers.
Energy directly bestowed by a being called a god.
And I'd just... duplicated it.
"Well, come to think of it, the Black Sacred Relic was the same."
Calming myself a bit and thinking it over, it almost seemed natural.
The Black Sacred Relic I'd duplicated in the underground ruins before.
Gula, that red sword—it took the form of a blade, but it was undeniably a sacred artifact crafted directly by a god-like being. It embodied divine power.
If I could duplicate a sacred relic, why not energy granted by a god?
"Duplicating the energy directly, though..."
After a short rest to recover my duplication power, I tried directly duplicating the necromancer's death qi from memory this time.
But something was still missing; I couldn't duplicate and wield the energy itself.
All I could do was observe how my duplication power naturally mimicked the death qi's flow when attempting to duplicate an undead.
"Can I only make one undead at a time?"
After further tests while waiting for my power to recover, I realized my duplication power could only sustain one undead at once.
And even that didn't last long; I couldn't handle it as skillfully as that necromancer had.
"Useless in real combat... No, I shouldn't use it at all to begin with."
I'd discovered a new application for my Duplication ability, but that didn't mean I could fight like a necromancer mass-producing undead.
Necromancy in this world wasn't some branch of magic—it was power granted by an evil god.
Using it recklessly would get me branded an evil god follower and decapitated on the spot.
'Still...'
At least I needed to know what I was capable of.
I'd thought the same when escaping danger by duplicating 'corpses' in the sewers before. Understanding the cards I could play right now was more important than I'd realized.
That's why I'd come all the way to this deserted spot to test undead Duplication.
I didn't think I'd ever need it in real battles now, either. But who knows what might happen.
"Alright. That's enough of this for now."
I decided to stop experimenting with undead Duplication here.
It consumed so much power each time that I was pretty exhausted, and focusing only on this would leave me unable to finish the rest of my plans.
"Let's see... goblins..."
Since I'd come outside the city, I had a few more things to wrap up at once.
While waiting for my duplication power to recover, I moved my body to hunt down some goblins.
Goblins were everywhere anyway, and I'd just spotted a few, so probably around here... Bingo.
"Kerruk!!"
"Hm."
I spotted three goblins clutching crude spears whittled from tree branches.
Lucky me. One wouldn't be enough, so I'd planned to find several.
"Keruk! Keruk!"
Having no ability to gauge an opponent's strength, the goblins charged at me stupidly the moment they saw me.
I couldn't let them die, so I sheathed my sword and raised my fists.
"Never learned hand-to-hand."
Maybe ask Karen for lessons? Might need fists if I ever drop my sword.
-Whoosh!!
"Hup."
I easily sidestepped the thrusting wooden spear, grabbed the defenseless goblin's head, and slammed it into the ground.
-Boom!!
I wrenched the spears from the next two charging goblins by force and smashed them into the dirt the same way.
-Thud!!
"Keruk?!"
"Subduing without injury is harder than it looks."
Unfortunately, one goblin's head cracked open in the process, spilling blood as it died.
The remaining two, seeing their comrade fall, finally realized they'd bitten off more than they could chew and tried to flee. But I pulled rope from the subspatial pouch Karen gave me and bound them.
'Incredibly convenient.'
Impressed once again by the pouch's utility, I tied them up tight to prevent escape and looked down at the trembling goblins.
One of them. Approaching the one with a typical goblin appearance, I first observed it visually without touching.
"Stunted height. Filthy smell. Dull green skin. Green eyes. Crooked teeth..."
"Keruk?"
No different from the goblins I'd hunted countless times before.
Memorizing its physical traits, I took a deep breath, felt the duplication power welling inside me, and activated the ability.
"Duplicate."
"........."
Unlike with the undead, my duplication power showed no reaction at all.
'Doesn't work, huh?'
Goblins were the monster I'd hunted the most over my two years as an E-rank adventurer... Guess familiarity alone isn't enough.
Next, then...
"Hoo... really hate this."
I reached out with a look of utter disgust and started touching the goblin.
"Keruk?"
"Ugh... fuck."
Did I really have to go this far? Swallowing my rising nausea, I groped the goblin's body here and there to deepen my 'understanding' of it.
Rough skin from wild living, body temperature cooler than a human's... fuck. Why am I describing this in detail?
"Keruk..."
"You fucking... you too? No expression?"
As I fondled every inch of the goblin, the one being touched and the one beside it stared at me in horrified shock.
Like they were thinking, 'Is this human a goblin fucker or something?'
That's not it, fuck.
No. And why are you looking embarrassed? Piss off. You're male, even.
"Hoo... this should be enough."
Having maximized my understanding and touched every nook and cranny, I activated Duplication again.
"Duplicate."
This time, unlike before, my duplication power began to writhe in response.
But that was it—the Duplication still failed.
"Next up, then..."
Holding green body hair plucked from the goblin, I tried activating Duplication again.
"Duplicate."
-Fwaaah!!
This time, the ability manifested properly. A pale glow gathered, soon forming an exact copy of the bound goblin right before my eyes.
"Kerurruk?!"
"This one seems mindless too..."
Just like when I'd duplicated Karen, the copy showed no signs of intelligence.
Checking its body temperature, heartbeat, and such, I canceled the Duplication. Then I plucked more hair from the goblin and tried again.
The result: success. The more hair I used as medium, the higher the quality of the duplicate.
'But there's a limit, it seems.'
I tested increasing the hair amount, using blood, even slicing off skin tissue—but beyond a certain point, quality no longer improved no matter how much material I used.
Simply increasing the medium has its limits. In that case...
"Keruk?"
I eyed the other bound goblin. Docile, unaware of what awaited it.
"Hm..."
Would anyone seeing what I was about to do just call me a crazy psychopath with no rebuttal?
...Whatever. How many goblins have I hunted so far? Too late for a conscience now.
-Shing.
"Ke, keruk?"
I drew my sword in front of the goblin.
Didn't feel right using Karen's gift for this, so I raised my old junk sword instead.
And then...
-Slice! Slash!!
"Ke, keruk! Keruk keruk!!"
For a while, sounds of slicing echoed through the forest.
A metallic tang spread, and beasts drawn by the stench took one look at the scene and instinctively fled in terror.
And shortly after.
"Hoo... this should do it?"
I wiped the filthy fluids and chunks from my cheek, then looked at the other goblin, still meekly bound.
"Kerurrurruk!!! Keruk!!!"
Thinking it might suffer the same fate as its kin, it thrashed wildly, trying to break free.
But it was fine. I'd only planned to 'dissect' one.
"Duplicate."
Recalling the info I'd just gathered and suppressing my urge to vomit, I activated Duplication again.
Holding the amount of hair that had boosted quality the most.
-Fwaaaah!!!
A brighter glow than before gathered, forming a goblin identical to before.
And without hesitation, I swung my sword at the duplicate.
-Spurt!!
"Kerurruk!!"
The bound goblin fainted at the sight of its spitting image being butchered, but I ignored it and observed the copy.
"Even if it's not the exact same subject, deeper understanding of the species improves quality... That explains why Karen's duplicate got better too. My understanding of 'humans' increased from the sewer corpses back then? Hm. Then gender..."
.
.
.
A short while later.
"This the spot? Where goblins are supposed to be plentiful."
"Yeah! At our level now, we can take a few goblins no problem!"
Not yet D-rank and thus not officially registered as a party at the guild, three E-rank adventurers with aligned goals entered the forest to hunt goblins anyway.
Hunting the disgustingly prolific goblins was a main source of income for E-rankers.
"But... what's that smell?"
"What smell?"
"Like blood..."
"Blood in a forest? Happens every day."
"No, it's really pungent."
Frowning at the acrid stench wafting from the woods, they ventured in—and soon spotted something.
"U, uwaaa! What the hell is that!"
"Urghhh!!"
The goblins they'd come to hunt. Not just one, but several, thoroughly 'dismantled' and discarded in the forest.
A gruesome sight that would evoke pity even from goblin hunters.
Protagonist—Yuseong's illustration is complete, so here it is!!
(Cool version)
(Version in the same art style as the heroines)