Xu Ai and Her First Clone

"I woke up and somehow transmigrated?"

Xu Ai wordlessly rubbed her aching, slightly dizzy head as fragments of more than a decade's worth of memories flooded her mind.

It might have been an instant, or it might have been minutes or hours, but at last Xu Ai finished absorbing all the memories.

"The Grand Nirvana... Base Cities... Hong and Thor... So this is Swallowed Star..."

Xu Ai was speechless. A lot of people said Swallowed Star didn't rank in the top ten among all novels in terms of power scaling.

But in reality, just judging by the world it described, the Primal Universe was absurdly vast.

A medium Universe Country—one Star Domain—contained a thousand or more galaxies. A High-level Universe Country—one Star Sector—contained an average of ten thousand Star Domains, and the Human Race had 1,008 Universe Countries...

That didn't even include the Universe Secret Realms under the Human Race's control. Some of those secret realms were no smaller than a High-level Universe Country.

Besides the Human Race, the core region of the Primal Universe also held three peak races: the Monster Race, the Automaton Race, and the Zerg. Each of their territories was no smaller than the Human Race's, and together the four races occupied most of the Primal Universe's core region.

And that was only the core region of the Primal Universe. Beyond it lay an even larger, more expansive space, not counting the countless secret realms!

With space so vast, time was naturally just as immense. In the later stages, it was measured in trillions of eras. One era was...

Not to mention that beyond the Primal Universe lay the boundless Universe Ocean, and farther still were the Three Thousand Dimensional Universe Ocean and the Origin World, formed from the mysterious Origin Continent!

And there was more than just one or two Origin Worlds...

Compared to Marvel's grandiose but empty Multiverse, Xu Ai felt that the Primal Universe in Swallowed Star was bigger...

"I wonder if I can get this cheat of mine to do anything..."

Xu Ai had a thought, and a panel appeared before her.

The system was so quiet, it hadn't even made a sound to let her know it existed. If her memories hadn't come with information about it, Xu Ai wouldn't have noticed it at all.

"The functions are pretty simple. There's just one Clone..."

There was one clone for every level. Although Xu Ai was only an intermediate-level student at the moment, the system still classified her as being at the Apprentice Level.

Following the instructions in her memories, Xu Ai deftly opened the clone function. A series of character templates appeared before her.

Heavenly Emperor Ye, Abandon Heavenly Emperor, Heavenly Emperor Huang, and others appeared one after another.

Most of them were grayed out, though, which meant Xu Ai couldn't create the corresponding clones.

There was nothing she could do about it. The cheat's restrictions wouldn't let Xu Ai choose a clone whose strength exceeded her own.

And since this was Swallowed Star, any clone Xu Ai created had to abide by the rules of its world. For instance, if she chose Abandon Heavenly Emperor, then based on his settings, he would probably be a Special Lifeform...

A Special Lifeform would have to be at least Star Level, so Xu Ai naturally couldn't choose him...

"There's a recommended option, too?"

The system had recommended it. Maybe it considered this the most suitable clone for Xu Ai at present?

Thinking this, Xu Ai opened the recommendations, and a breathtakingly beautiful, peerless fairy appeared before her eyes.

Beneath the template, the other person's identity was written in plain, unmistakable characters—Empress Ruthless!

"Th-this... I can choose her, too? Why...?"

Xu Ai opened her mouth to ask, then promptly shut it again.

Empress Ruthless didn't have any special constitution. She was just an ordinary person. The only thing that set her apart was her astonishing, world-shaking comprehension!

There was no denying that she was an excellent fit for Xu Ai's choice.

Empress Ruthless was the most extraordinarily gifted Great Emperor in history, the first person ever to transform into a Chaos Body through acquired cultivation, the most talented woman since time immemorial, and the greatest ruthless person of all time.

Every description used "the most" or "the first," without even an "almost" in sight.

Seriously, compared to Heavenly Emperor Ye and Heavenly Emperor Huang, who had special constitutions, Empress Ruthless's rise was simply too absurd...

"Then she's the one!"

Xu Ai thought over Empress Ruthless's settings for a while, then chose her without hesitation!

Next, the system brought up the option to set her identity and background. Xu Ai considered it. Empress Ruthless was at the same level as her, but in reality, the system had simply forced Xu Ai into the Apprentice Level. She was only an intermediate-level student herself.

"That means there's a lot I can do with this..."

Xu Ai's eyes lit up. She'd set Empress Ruthless to the peak of the Apprentice Level to start with. That was only reasonable; there was no reason to make her start from scratch.

She selected Martial Artist and Spirit Reader, too. It was perfectly natural for the most extraordinarily gifted genius in history to be proficient in both Martial Artist and Spirit Reader combat techniques!

Next came the Xu Family's Guest War God. Xu Ai was a member of the Xu Family, so she naturally had to consider her family, too.

The rest was basic information, such as age and gender.

Her gender would obviously be female. What else could she be, male? If she actually made her male, Xu Ai would probably be put off...

As for age...

Xu Ai thought about it. With Empress Ruthless's bearing, she should be around twenty to twenty-five. Any younger and she'd seem too immature; any older and she'd seem too mature.

"Let's split the difference. Twenty-three."

After filling in some more information, all that remained were things like skills and life experiences.

Xu Ai figured the skills didn't matter, but the life experiences should go smoothly. She added things like a smooth-sailing life and no romantic history, then chose randomize.

A progress bar appeared in Xu Ai's mind and began to fill bit by bit. The image of Empress Ruthless on the template grew more and more lifelike.

When the progress bar was complete, Xu Ai's vision blurred, and she found herself looking through two sets of eyes.

"What a strange feeling. Can I use both bodies at once?"

Inside the Xu Family's Guest War God villa, a woman with an otherworldly air and beauty like a celestial being sat cross-legged in the Martial Arts Hall, gazing calmly at her surroundings.

No, it wasn't that she was using both bodies at once. After the system created the clone, Empress Ruthless's soul power and Xu Ai's soul power had merged, vastly increasing their combined soul power and allowing Xu Ai to perfectly control both bodies at the same time!

Before Xu Ai could do anything else, Empress Ruthless's beautiful eyes swept lightly across her surroundings.

"Wait, this..."

Xu Ai—no, Empress Ruthless—had a sudden moment of inspiration. She tilted her head slightly, closed her eyes, and her body began to circulate the Five Hearts Towards Heaven cultivation method on its own.

Nothing around her changed, but inside her body and Consciousness Sea, Genetic Origin Energy and Spirit Force surged wildly, flowing toward the Dantian in her abdomen and the Consciousness Sea in her head.

The energy already present in those two places spun violently like whirlpools, drawing in the Genetic Origin Energy and Spirit Force that had just arrived. Both whirlpools grew larger and larger.

At a certain point, once all the energy had gathered within the two whirlpools, they gradually began to contract. When they had shrunk to a certain point, they condensed into two self-rotating spheres.

Then the two spheres began to expand and contract on their own, expanding and contracting...

After countless cycles of tempering, they contracted to their absolute limits, turning into two imperceptible specks. In that instant, the Dantian and Consciousness Sea shook violently, and two miniature planets appeared, one illusory and one real.

Empress Ruthless slowly opened her eyes. Her expression was calm, but that was fine—Xu Ai had shown her surprise for her!

A bewildered look...

"Wait... I'm already at the Planetary Level?"

This... Empress Ruthless's comprehension was way too insane! She'd only just appeared, and she'd already figured out on her own how to break through to the Planetary Level!?

After steadying herself, Empress Ruthless prepared to activate her Genetic Origin Energy and see what her special ability was.

Before she could even close her eyes, she glanced at her surroundings and inexplicably felt as if she'd grasped something again. Then, following that feeling...

The air around her suddenly seemed to grow still, as though even time itself had frozen. The second hand on the clock on the wall stopped moving.

Uh, wh-what...

One layer of Water Domain...

Xu Ai was speechless, too. If not for the challenge of accumulating energy, she seriously suspected that, if Empress Ruthless let her guard down for even a moment, she might break through several levels in one go!

At least until the Undying level, Xu Ai didn't think Empress Ruthless would encounter a bottleneck!

"As expected of the most extraordinarily gifted and talented woman of all time. Her comprehension is just absurd..."

Empress Ruthless blinked.

Two layers of Water Domain...

She'd only just appeared! Could she slow down a little!?

With comprehension that seemed destined to place her at the very top, Xu Ai was sure that even if she reached Planetary Level—no, even if she reached Universe Supreme Being—no, even if she surpassed God King and reached the level of a Hunyuan Lord, the final clone on the system's recommendation list would still be her! And she'd definitely be at the very top!