Consciousness felt as though it were sunk in warm, sticky honey, floating up and down.
Until a familiar voice came through the consciousness link, carrying a hint of cautiousness:
"Lord? Lord? The hour has come, you should wake up."
Lin Mo forced his eyelids open.
The faint morning light pierced through the carved window lattice of the north courtyard bedroom, casting mottled light and shadow on the floor.
The air still retained the lingering sweet fragrance of last night, mixed with a woman's body scent and a certain indescribable ambiguous aura.
He lay on the bed, his whole body feeling as though it had been dismantled and reassembled.
Sore, weak, exhausted.
Especially his lower back.
Even with his current level ten, six-times-normal physique, he found it somewhat hard to endure during the hours-long "millstone battle."
In the early stages of a startup, one really has to work hard... Lin Mo rubbed his sore and swollen temples, smiling bitterly and self-deprecatingly.
Lin Mo gently withdrew his numb arm, moving as tenderly as possible to avoid waking them up.
Putting on a robe scattered on the floor, he walked out of the bedroom barefoot and came to the first-floor hall.
Lin Mo took a deep breath of the cold air, suppressed the fatigue in his body, and brought up the status bar:
[Name: Lin Mo] [Level: 10 (11,900/1,000)] [Occupation: Lord (Legendary)] [Status: Mildly Fatigued] [Blood Value: 210/550]
"210 points..." Lin Mo quickly calculated mentally, "I can still make 19 clones."
Although his body felt hollowed out and every cell was clamoring to "go back to sleep," reason told him that waste was shameful.
Especially in this early stage of startup, every bit of resource and every drop of blood value was precious.
"Lin Er, prepare nineteen sets of coarse cloth clothes and send them to the front hall." He called through the consciousness link.
Soon, the figure of Lin Er appeared at the hall entrance, holding a stack of neat coarse cloth clothes: "Lord, the clothes you requested."
"Leave them there." Lin Mo pointed to the open space in the center of the hall: "Get ready, I'm going to start making clones."
Lin Er's eyes lit up: "Yes!"
He quickly placed the clothes aside, then retreated to the doorway like a dutiful guard.
Lin Mo sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.
His mind guided the process.
The familiar feeling of detachment came, stronger than any previous time—perhaps due to his already weak body.
[Blood Value - 10]
Ripples appeared in the air.
The first naked figure slowly condensed into shape.
"Uh..." As soon as the new clone opened his eyes, Lin Er had already tossed a set of clothes over: "Put them on yourself! Be quick!"
The second one, the third one...
When the nineteenth clone walked out from the ripples and hurriedly put on his clothes, Lin Mo's blood value jumped to the last line:
[Blood Value: 20/550]
"Ugh—!"
It was as if the last string had snapped.
Boundless darkness and weakness completely swallowed him, and his body slumped forward.
"Lord!" Lin Er was quick-eyed and nimble, lunging forward in a single bound to support him. Then, the clones joined forces to carry Lin Mo over and settle him on the study's soft couch.
At this moment, Lin Mo's eyes were tightly closed, his face was as pale as paper, and his breathing was weak but steady, falling into a deep coma once again.
Lin Er and the nineteen newly manufactured clones quietly stood guard beside him.
Time flowed in silence.
Just then—
The cold and grand system prompt sounded deep in the consciousness of all players:
[The third day of internal testing (game time) is about to end]
[Player consciousness is about to be pulled back]
[During the traction process, the game world time is relatively static]
[Current surviving player statistics:]
[Yesterday's survivors: 7,993]
[Today's deaths: 512]
[Current survivors: 7,481]
[Cumulative successful class transfers: 36]
[In thirty seconds, all players' consciousness will return to the real world]
[Real world time: 8:00 AM]
[Next entry time: 12:00 midnight in the real world]
A string of data flashed past, but immediately after, the system tone suddenly heightened, carrying a solemn meaning:
[Special Announcement]
[Given that the first batch of internal test players' adaptation progress has exceeded expectations, and 'Lord' class players have successfully established stable strongholds]
[To accelerate the world evolution process and improve game rules]
[The Destiny system has decided to expand the scope of internal testing]
[Tomorrow's game time (tonight in the real world), a second batch totaling 100,000 internal test players will be pulled in]
[First batch of players, please prepare; the world pattern is about to change]
[Countdown: 30, 29, 28...]
Lin Mo, who was in a state of soul detachment, listened to the system announcement echoing in his mind, his face turning solemn.
The second batch of players... 100,000 people!
This number was ten times that of the first batch!
The influx of 100,000 people would inevitably make the real world even more complex and chaotic.
[3, 2, 1]
[Return]
Golden light swept across the hall, enveloping Lin Mo.
The next second.
Inside the study, all the clones including Lin Er, like frozen sculptures, solidified in the dawn of this time-frozen game world.
Only the eternal morning light outside the window quietly spilled onto the floor.
Real world, exactly eight o'clock in the morning.
Lin Mo let out an "uh," waking up from his dormitory bed.
The familiar smell of instant noodles, socks, and dust rushed into his nasal cavity again.
The Destiny Mark on the back of his hand quickly faded.
Lin Mo brought up the status bar at the first instance:
[Name: Lin Mo] [Race: Human Race] [Level: 10 (11,900/1,000)] [Occupation: Lord (Legendary)] [Status: Healthy] [Health: 550/550] [Blood Value: 550/550 (Full)] [Attributes: Strength 60, Agility 60, Physique 62, Spirit 62, Charm 56] [Talent: Infinite Clone (Unique)] [Occupation Skills: Lord's Majesty, Territory Construction, Troop Recruitment, Resource Command, Lord's Eye, Law Analysis]
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