It not been a day after Quinn's newfound cocerns regarding the military academy had surfaced that he had already postulated a brilliant answer in the form of a marvelous and mind-boggling invention to most: a clone of himself; complete with a construct of his mind, integrated with the Shadow, it would perform all necessary activities while mimicking Quinn's behaviour perfectly and save his life in the military academy.
To achieve this, Quinn isolated himself from the physical realm and took the first few steps in the Shadow Space, working on the manifestation of Arcane Energy such that it acts as a code for an artificial intelligence that can mimic all of his aspects flawlessly. What better way to do this by first making a copy of his brain and allow it to function solely via Arcane Energy using an incredibly convinient item from the System's Store?
———
[Victor's Crucible of Cloning]
Item Rank: SS-
Type: Miscellaneous
Effect: Materialises a perfect copy of any desired non-Transcendental item from the Physical Realm once.
[Value on Shop: 2,650,000 G]
———
"I'd say a copy of my brain and a clone of myself are worth much more than that," Quinn kept working with the Arcane Energy as his words fell on deaf ears, not getting another lecture by Void. But, most certainly, such assets are worth every G even if a single unit in the base value were equal to 10 G; especially if the clone could wield even half the power Quinn can.
Working with Arcane Energy so that it flawlessly integrated with the cloned brain was like weaving a tapestry of ungodly complexity. Even with Quinn's mental capacity, it was a nerve-racking and incredibly delicate process that demanded utmost attention—and yet: the needless comment from Quinn.
Handling such a complex and consuming Primordial Energy, Quinn's understanding not only of Arcane Energy but of every other type of energy had developed significantly. Unironically, this brought with it the most welcome rewards from the Shadow Heart as well:
[Your comprehension of the nature of Energy has increased vastly, and with it, so has your mastery:
+500 Energy; +30% Efficiency, +20% Malleability of Energy]
———
After what felt like a few weeks had passed within the Shadow Space—after a few setbacks and with unrelenting will-power—Quinn had finally succeeded in integrating the programme built using Arcane Energy with the cloned brain. Now, only the easiest task remained—that is—creating a material body for the artificial central processing unit of a brain. Regarding this, Quinn had thought of such clonning his entire body with the Item; but, that proved to be not possible due to the restrictions on the same Item.
This, however, was not a concern at all. Using the Origin and Demise Energy in synergy, Quinn could, in theory—and, in actuality, as confirmed by Void—tap into the realm of Creation itself. But, this would only provide for a vessel for the brain; it would not be any different from a normal Ability User's body.
To make it so that the vessel could have some power, Quinn would need to use his Authory over Darkness and the Shadow to bestow power upon it.
Using the same Authorities, he would need to create [Skills] that would allow for him to bolster the clonned version of himself such that it can wield the same powers as himself: Shadow and Darkness, Skills, and some Energies to a partial extent. And, to do all of this, he needed a core; a Heart for the clone, if you will.
And, thus, the seemingly easy task turned into a minor inconvinience and a headache...
———
A few more days into the creation of another self, Quinn had finally done it. He had created a vessel for the brain, materialised a core for said vessel that contained most of its power—including some control over the Darkness and Shadow Elements as opposed to Authority, and some over the Primordial Energies that Quinn possesses—all the while Quinn sacrifices some of his powers by sealing them.
He made some fail-safes for the vessel is the core were to be damaged and whatnot. And, in case of Quinn unsealing his powers—that is: retrieving them—the vessel would be completely operable with, however, the lack of any powers that Quinn had originally granted it.
Quinn was looking at his creation with pride when the latter suddenly spoke: "The fuck you lookin' at?"
'Well, he's certainly my clone,' he joked before placing his hand on top of his clone's head, "You need to control yourself though; after all, I don't want any trouble at the military academy. Hmm... let's think."
The clone remained silent now as Quinn began to ponder about the tasks that the clone will be handling. "Yup. You'll be attending the military academy on Earth as I would've—without causing a ruckus, of course—and, from within, try to gather as much information about the upcoming war—battlefronts, weapons, mechs, warheads, persons in power and the planets that they occupy, etcetera.
"Since you already have access to my memories as if you've lived through them, you'd better not ruin any relationships I've got with the people that I know and care for; I don't really care for the higher-ups in the military though—go ham on them unless it might affect my future stay in the military. Oh, and this goes without saying, but protect Luna's life with your own."
A moment of silence followed before the clone spoke again: "Being on the receiving end of my rotten and indifferent personality sure is something. What happens to me after I complete this task?"
As for the question raised by the clone, Quinn did not really have an answer for that; originally, he wanted to create the clone solely for the purpose of having a substitute at the military academy that would replace his presence there, but now, however, he thought that if the clone could specialise in a certain area, it would be of great help to his cause—whatever that might be.
He could not grant the clone powers paralleling his own; however, he could equip said clone with good gear—preferably somewhere near Divine-tier—which would help him immensely in a fight. The thought of actually needing someone to help him fight against an entity seemed pretty absurd since Quinn was already near-invincible; but, at war, the thought of having a group of decently strong and well-equipped people fend off the enemy together while Quinn messes around was rather appealing.
"Why don't you try and answer that question for yourself?"