Over the past two months, including the Rank 1 Water herb, Lucien also found a Metal Herb. It was a Rank 0 Herb that was not guarded.
The high level soil he had accumulated was also around 200 square meters. Lucien didn't compress any of it since he had an empty spot following him consuming the Rank 2 Darkness Herb during his breakthrough, but once he found the Rank 0 Metal Herb, he made sure to make a spot for it. He currently had 10 square meters of peak level soil that was constantly on time acceleration.
Even though there were three types of Herbs, the Crimson World was not showing any signs of getting stronger, it was just a bit livelier with all the Particles floating around.
Another two months passed with Lucien exploring the Mountain Range and he had enough points for another Clone and the Manual. He decided it was finally time for the Soul Devour to be given attention, his interest in the qualitative change that would happen once he was at Rank 3 with it was at its peak.
The cocoon produces by this clone was incredibly strange, it was ethereal. At times it appeared to exist in reality and at other times it seemed as it was not part of this world.
The hand that broke through it didn't seem as if it was breaking a shell of an egg, but breaking the fabric of reality to appear in this world. Even if all this seemed incredibly strange and eerie, the clone that climbed out of the mirage looked completely normal, the only difference was it's hair. One half was white while the other half was black.
Lucien was completely aware that the clone would require Soul Energy to break through so he couldn't station it somewhere and let it cultivate. He was already overreaching by kidnapping so many people to train the Devil Armor, if he had to get a supply for this clone to practice, it might incur trouble with some royals.
After all Lucien knew that by royals Henry didn't mean just him and his brother. It included his wives and concubines, and they supported some families. If Lucien got in trouble with them, he didn't mind erasing the families, but since he couldn't kill their backers, the problems would still be there.
Thinking thus far, he remembered that family. The one that held the spear manual DawnStar, his maternal family.
'I should deal with them some of these days.'
Even sending the clone to wipe them out crossed his mind, but then decided against it. He never properly investigated them and didn't even know the depth of their power.
Lucien then decided to send the clone to the Holy Empire. They currently didn't have a heir, so the royal family was doing their best to fix that, and didn't have time to deal with many small problems. While all the other officials were patting each other for bringing down that aloof Saint Daughter.
Compared to his knowledge about the Barbarian Empire, the Holy Empire was like an open book to him and thus he was confident that the clone could slaughter and absorb the Soul Energy of some villages on the borders.
He gave the clone a gray robe that matched his hair quite well and send it off. Since this clone was his third, Lucien felt like he was split in four and could do four things at the same time. Since it was pretty much like controlling the clone himself, he was sure that chances for mishaps were pretty low. The thing that gave him this confidence was that the clone also had a 5 kilometer Soul Domain.
Over the past two month in which he was grinding for the Soul Devour Clone, Lucien only found one Herb. It was a Rank 1 Wind Herb that was guarded by a peak Rank 1 Beast. Once Lucien dispatched it and took the Herb, he immediately left the area.
He made sure to plant it in peak grade soil and speed up its time. By now Lucien had 380 square meters of high grade soil, if converted, he would get almost 350 000 Existence Points.
But Lucien didn't plan on doing that kind of thing. He was not sure if the world was not becoming stronger because the lack of variety or because the lack of quantity. Even after the Wind Herb nothing changed.
The only thing that made him confident that his efforts were not in vain was All Existence. The moment he brought a Herb inside it was announced, the detection was instant. It made it seem enthusiastic about the changes.
Time didn't wait for anyone, and Lucien knew it the best, another two months passed and it was already half a year since he left for the Mountain Range.
Looking at the previous clones, excluding the Soul Devour one that was a special case, each of them was geared to enhance a main stat if they found the way to breakthrough. The Darkness Clone was for his Soul, the Lightning Clone was for his Agility, and he left the Blood Path for his Vitality. The only thing left was Strength, so Lucien didn't hesitate to create a Ghoul Clone.
The cocoon was a bit disgusting this time, it was like a heart which had a steady beat. Lucien had never imagined he would see a life sized heart beating. It had a really fleshly and meaty texture.
The hand that broke through, had a silvery hue to it. From a passerby perspective, it seemed as if the first thing this being did after it was born was to rip apart a heart.
Once the full clone appeared in his view, it looked a bit different than himself. It seemed that All Existence couldn't suppress their external changes since they were separate bodies. Its skin had a slight silvery color that seemed pleasing and not weird at all. Combined with the red eyes, the clone was incredibly attractive.
Giving it a silver robe, Lucien through over his plan about this clone.
He first planned to send it to the Holy Empire and let it enter the Mountain Range from that side and hunt for his resources, but then he realized that the clone might fall if he put it in the Mountain Range by itself. After all it had a peak Rank 2 Soul and peak Rank 2 Strength, everything else was just trash. It didn't have any survival skills. It would tank well, but running away was nearly impossible.
So he just send it to the headquarters of the organization Elena had set up. He planned to get all the resources needed for his breakthrough from her, while also watching the movements of those mischievous Rank 3 Practitioners that had the guts to covet something that belonged to him.
Thinking that he covered the basic things he needed, after the clone left to its destination, Lucien waved his hand and a blob of blood appeared.
He needed about two months to get 9 liters of peak Rank 2 Blood and he killed that peak Rank 1 monster that was quite a bit larger, it was nearing 100 meters. He didn't manage to get Existence Points from it since eating a 100 meter monster would take too long, he had to leave to make sure he didn't clash with Rank 2 monsters, but he didn't leave before gathering the blood and condensing it. It didn't take much time as he didn't have to drink it.
That monster by itself brought Lucien 4 month worth of Blood, in total he got 45 liters of peak Rank 2 Blood. Since the evolution process itself was going to take some time, Lucien decided to start giving some time in the nights to evolving his Blood. He was eager to experience it.