A familiar dizzying sensation swept over him again, much gentler than the first time.
When Lin Mo opened his eyes, he found himself back in the stone chamber of Water Curtain Cave.
Thirty-six clones lay sprawled across the floor in all directions, maintaining the positions they had been in when they logged off the previous night, as if time had truly frozen here.
"Phew—"
Lin Mo sat up, and the first thing he did was check his status panel:
[Name: Lin Mo] [Level: 3 (40/300)] [Class: Lord (Legendary)] [Essence Blood: 200/200 (Full)] [Status: Healthy]
"My essence blood is full again!" Lin Mo's eyes lit up.
Not only had his essence blood been restored, even the bloodstained Leather Armor he had stripped from the bandits
was now as clean as new, as if the system had refreshed it.
"During offline periods, time in the Game World remains relatively still, but essence blood automatically refills while offline..."
Lin Mo stroked his chin in thought, then slapped his thigh in frustration:
"Damn! What a huge loss! If I'd known, I should have used up my essence blood before logging off and passed out at twenty points!"
He had wasted a full hundred points of essence blood—enough to create ten clones!
Lin Mo's mouth twitched in pain. It felt as if he had lost eight million.
"Next time, I'll remember. Before logging off, I'll create clones like crazy and drain myself dry!"
He took a deep breath, suppressed his frustration, and began thinking about more important matters.
Since he had already decided to find unclaimed land and establish a territory, he had to take action now.
He glanced at the clones still "sleeping" on the ground and moved his mind.
The sleeping clones all jolted at once before opening their eyes one after another.
"Ah... That was a good sleep." Lin San stretched, only to smack his head against the stone wall. "Ow!"
"Main body, what are we doing now?" Lin Yi asked, rubbing his eyes.
Lin Mo stood up and patted the hay from his body. "Meeting."
Three minutes later, thirty-six identical men sat in a circle.
Lin Mo looked at the dense mass of "himselves" before him and nodded in satisfaction:
"Our top priority is to find a suitable place to establish a territory.
Black Stone Village and Black Wind Stronghold are both unsuitable. We need to find another place."
He quickly issued his orders:
"Lin Yi, select twenty-nine clones in the best condition and divide them into six groups, five people per group.
Centering on Water Curtain Cave, search out in a fan-shaped pattern in six directions. Search radius... twenty li."
"The terrain must be easy to defend and difficult to attack, with a water source and arable land. It must also be at least five li from any existing power."
"Yes!" Lin Yi accepted the order and began calling out names.
Lin Er, Lin San, Lin Xi, Lin Wu, Lin Liu... One clone after another was called out of formation.
"Take all your weapons, and stock up on enough dry rations and water." Lin Mo instructed them:
"If you discover anything unusual during your exploration, report it immediately through the Consciousness Link.
"If you encounter danger, don't force a fight. Hide if you can, and run if you can."
"Rest assured, my lord!" the clones shouted in unison.
Soon, thirty clones had assembled, five to a group, with waterskins and ration bags hanging from their waists.
They carried all sorts of weapons, from the bandit blades they had seized to homemade Poison Blood Wooden Spears.
"Set out!"
The six groups filed out through the Water Curtain Cave and disappeared into the mountain forest shrouded in morning mist.
Only Lin Mo and six clones remained inside the cave.
"All right, now it's my turn to work." Lin Mo looked at his status panel: 200/200 essence blood.
"Since I wasted one opportunity, I can't miss it again this time."
He walked to a relatively spacious part of the cave and sat down cross-legged.
"Create ten clones."
That familiar sensation of being drained came over him.
[Essence Blood -10] [Essence Blood -10]...
Ripples like waves spread through the air one after another.
Ten naked bodies appeared in the center of the cave, one after another.
"Fuck! Again?!"
"This time you didn't even give us a piece of cloth?!"
"Main body, you've gone too far!"
The New Clones erupted in an uproar, and the scene became extremely chaotic for a while.
Lin Mo's face was pale as he waved his hands.
"Quiet! Handle the clothing problem yourselves!
"Lin Thirty-One, take the others to find some materials—leaves, vines, woven grass... Anything will do!
"In short, before nightfall, I don't want to see anyone walking around naked anymore!"
"Yes..." Lin Thirty-One answered with a bitter expression.
He led four other stationed clones and the ten newly born, completely naked companions to gather materials near Water Curtain Cave.
The scene became extremely... primitive.
The ten New Clones moved through the forest.
Some picked large banana leaves, some cut flexible vines, and others gathered long, thin grass stems.
"I feel like we've gone back to the Stone Age." One New Clone complained as he tried threading several large leaves together with vines to make a crude apron.
"People in the Stone Age at least had animal hides." Another clone grumbled. "We don't even have animal hides!"
Inside Water Curtain Cave, Lin Mo found a relatively flat rock and sat down, closing his eyes.
Through the Consciousness Link, he could clearly sense the vision and feelings of every clone.
It was a strange sensation.
It was like operating dozens of surveillance cameras at once, with every feed transmitting in real time.
He felt dizzy at first, but after adapting, he instead felt as if he had the entire situation under control.
"The eastern group has entered dense forest. The trees are too thick. It's unsuitable for building a city."
"The western group found a stream. The water is clear, but the terrain on both banks is too flat, with nothing to defend."
"The southern group encountered a beast and went around it."
"The northern group..."
Elsewhere, the clones' weaving work proceeded with considerable difficulty.
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