Conceiving the First Clone

The process of Liu Li recognizing its master required quite a bit of blood. The wounds Lin Yuan carved into his wrists healed too quickly, forcing him to cut them over and over again to maintain a steady supply.

After a while, the mass of dark golden liquid finally stopped absorbing blood. It then pulsed rhythmically a few times, and a faint golden light flickered across its surface.

Lin Yuan clearly felt a consciousness reaching out to him, conveying goodwill along with a sense of dependency and intimacy.

"Is the master recognition successful?"

Lin Yuan projected a strand of his own consciousness back. The moment it connected, he felt a mental link established with the Liu Li in his hand.

Liu Li transmitted its usage methods directly into Lin Yuan's mind.

With a thought from Lin Yuan, the mass of dark golden liquid in his hand transformed into various shapes: a sphere, a shield, and even a miniature dark golden figure identical to himself...

As long as a thought flashed through his mind, Liu Li would immediately follow the command.

Lin Yuan then tested the form-fitting battle armor mode. The dark golden liquid slowly covered his entire body, feeling as if it had become a part of his skin—tightly fitted and completely natural, with no strange sensations at all.

Afterward, Lin Yuan put on the E8 Grade Battle Suit gifted by his teacher, Marquis Yuankun, over the top. With two layers of armor protecting him, he moved around the training room briefly. His mobility remained as fluid as before, so he set his mind at ease.

Currently, Liu Li was only at the Universe Level 1, which was quite weak, but the cost of cultivation in the early stages was relatively low.

Lin Yuan connected his consciousness to the Virtual Universe and directly purchased materials to raise Liu Li to the Domain Lord level. Even though he bought top-tier materials, it only cost him a dozen Hunyuan Units.

The materials consumed to advance to the World Lord level were manageable, but the cost would skyrocket when trying to break through to the Immortal level.

If he wanted to cultivate an Immortal level Liu Li with a core of over nine hundred facets, it might cost hundreds or even thousands of billions of Hunyuan Units.

Even a decent five-hundred-facet Immortal level Liu Li would cost hundreds of millions of Hunyuan Units.

For now, Lin Yuan did not need to venture out for training. His plan was to have Liu Li reach the World Lord level before he joined the core layer of the Great Axe Arena and began his true training.

Having handled all matters regarding Liu Li, Lin Yuan calmed his mind. Next was the most important task—gestating his first clone.

Lin Yuan was currently at the Universe Level, and he could use both the Planet Level and Universe Level clone slots.

The light orb containing the innate secret technique "Clone" was still stored in the System Space.

"Claim!" Lin Yuan thought to himself.

"Swish!"

A fist-sized orb of light appeared before Lin Yuan, then instantly transformed into a streak of light that merged into his consciousness.

"Boom—!"

Images of the evolution of the universe surged into Lin Yuan's consciousness, from birth to destruction, containing incomparably profound laws that he could neither understand nor remember in the slightest.

By the time he came to his senses, the images in his mind had vanished. He tried hard to recall what had just happened, but he couldn't remember a thing.

Lin Yuan opened his eyes, his consciousness returning to normal.

"Huh? Seven days have already passed?"

To Lin Yuan, it felt as if everything had happened just a second ago; he hadn't expected that seven days had already gone by since he regained consciousness.

At this moment, Lin Yuan could clearly feel an extra Clone Space within his body, with a Protonucleus floating inside. His soul was already contained within it; this nucleus was now the source of Lin Yuan's existence.

Since Lin Yuan was not a natural Protonucleus Organism, there was no internal world opened up inside the nucleus yet; that would only happen after reaching the World Lord level.

"I really have become a Protonucleus Organism." Lin Yuan felt a surge of excitement.

Now, even if Lin Yuan's body were severed or torn apart, as long as his nucleus and soul remained intact, he would not die.

After obtaining the Clone Space gifted by the system, a piece of information automatically entered Lin Yuan's mind:

The System Space was not fundamentally different from a normal internal world, but it could mask the nucleus. Even if others had the ability to probe him, the result would be consistent with Lin Yuan's original life form.

After advancing to the World Lord level, the System Space would merge with his internal world, and the masking effect would remain unchanged.

Lin Yuan was pleasantly surprised; this way, he wouldn't expose his possession of a clone even if probed by powerful beings.

Originally, Lin Yuan had been wondering how to explain the origin of his clone after entering Chaos City and being scanned. After all, he hadn't possessed a life form with the clone talent, and claiming he had received an innate secret technique from the Primal Universe at the Universe Level was too outrageous.

Now, he didn't need to worry. Once he became powerful enough in the future, it wouldn't matter if he exposed it.

"Swish!"

With a thought, Lin Yuan's consciousness appeared directly inside his Clone Space. Only Lin Yuan's nucleus remained in the training room.

"The Clone Space is indeed no different from an internal world; I can actually enter it!"

Looking around, the space here was vast, estimated to be ten thousand kilometers in diameter.

Lin Yuan took the box containing the skin of the Storm Ruins Spirit out of his World Ring. As he opened the box, a gentle breeze blew out.

Looking into the box, a crystal-clear golden skin lay flat inside, marked with four strange secret patterns containing the fluctuations of origin laws.

"Let's begin."

Lin Yuan took out the Thousand Mountain Axe and carefully cut a small piece from the skin. Only this tiny bit of material containing genetic matter was needed to gestate a clone.

"Talent—Clone, Gestate!"

With a thought from Lin Yuan, the small piece of golden skin in his hand instantly vaporized, leaving behind only a drop of golden liquid.

At the same time, waves of energy gathered from the Clone Space, wrapping around the golden droplet and gradually condensing it. A moment later, it transformed into a golden sphere.

"Success, the gestation has begun!" Lin Yuan was filled with anticipation.

At this moment, information from the Clone Space automatically flowed into the consciousness of Lin Yuan.

"It will take 182 years to gestate! It will barely be finished before the Peak Warrior Tournament!"

Lin Yuan felt quite satisfied; this way, before the Peak Warrior Tournament began, he would still have a few years to familiarize himself with and adapt to his first clone, and he could begin to comprehend the Law of Space Origin.

After giving it some thought, Lin Yuan took the Zerg Mother Nest out of his World Ring and placed it in a corner of the Clone Space, also moving some items from his previous Space Ring into the Clone Space.

With everything arranged properly, Lin Yuan felt a surge of excitement and left the Clone Space with a sense of satisfaction. His main body returned to the cultivation room, but he did not rest, immediately beginning his cultivation.

Lin Yuan's drive to cultivate was even stronger now.

His comprehension of the Law of Space Origin was not deep enough to practice the fourth level of the Burning Universe Flame Wild Axe, but his comprehension of the Law of Fire Origin could not be allowed to lag behind.

The fourth level of the Thousand Mountain Secret Code did not have such high requirements for the Law of Space Origin, so it could still be practiced.

In high spirits, Lin Yuan immersed himself in his cultivation.