Chapter 18: A True Autocracy
...….
When the morning came once again, Lucifer woke from his brief slumber and the first thing he did was check what he had gained from his tireless clones.
'Why would clones need sleep? They are just farming slaves after all. This isn't rocket science.'
Nevertheless, with the opening of a blue translucent screen, a series of pleasant surprises greeted the 6th Young Master.
BLING!
__________
{[Infinite Clone System]}
[Host: Lucifer]
[Race: Human]
[Lifespan: 18/265]
[Cultivation: 100% Marrow Tempering Stage (Body Refinement Realm)] - [3rd Stage Fire Body]
[Battle Power: 5th Stage Qi Condensation Realm]
—---
{[Clones:]}
[Qi Condensation Realm Clones: 72]
[Clone Essence needed to summon the highest Realm Clone: 100]
[Clone Essence Bank: 95,500]
—---
{[Physique(s) and various external power augmenters:]}
[Cultivation Talent: Early-Mortal Rank]
[Spiritual Roots: ???] (Rank: ???)
__________
Upon reviewing his system interface, Lucifer was immediately hit with a mind-boggling realization.
"I'm rich…"
That was all he said before immediately dumping half of his wealth into buying more clones.
In an instant, more than 500 clones materialized before him, all having strength at the 5th Stage of Qi Condensation!
The room was nearly bursting with all the bodies present in such a tight space, but that didn't stop Lucifer from buying 200 more—he needed some to concoct pills, after all.
Speaking of the slave work done by his Alchemy slaves, over the last 24 hours, they had managed to concoct a total of 1,200 Pills of the Low Common Rank!
Furthermore, more than half of those pills were of low quality instead of the lowest quality!
There were even a few that made it out of the low-quality bracket, successfully becoming mid-quality pills!
Now, although this was promising progress and all, Lucifer was far from satisfied with such an outcome. He had the 200 newly summoned clones on standby, ready for the exact moment when Lu Lu obtained the Alchemy Furnaces, and planned to use these clones in rotation.
Even though they were clones, they still had a limit as to how much energy they could expend before being depleted and for this reason alone, Lucifer was forced to give them… breaks…
He truly loathed that word, but it had to be said.
But what he despised even more was the fact that a lot of his clones were left doing absolutely nothing, while the others were hard at work!
He was building a true Autocracy and couldn't have some work while the rest slacked! Where was the equality in that!?
So, like the benevolent man he was, he sent a message to Lu Lu, instructing her to acquire another hundred or so Low-Common Rank Furnaces.
With her mysterious status, such a feat should be as easy as putting on a little helpless maiden act.
Lucifer would, of course, play along, knowing that he would be the true beneficiary while she remained under the assumption that she had gained something.
When, in reality, there was only ever going to be one true winner…
_____
Knock! Knock!
A sudden knock echoed from the other side of the 6th Young Master's wooden door as a young, jittery maid fidgeted with her storage ring like a criminal.
Using his embryonic divine sense to get a glimpse of this scene, Lucifer couldn't help but marvel at the superb acting.
Despite his thoughts, he got off the bed, walked to the door, opened it, traded a bunch of blah blah with the vixen, and then promptly kicked her out before shutting the door in her face.
Once the whole charade was over, he returned to his seat, eager to see just how many Alchemy Furnaces the bitch had managed to 'borrow'.
'1…2…5…9…56…132…'
By the end of his counting, Lucifer couldn't help but be slightly shocked by the astounding number—185 furnaces!
Such an amount was way more than what he had asked for, and it was definitely more than what one could find in the Alchemy section of the mansion.
"This maid is definitely something else…"
Though he hadn't yet cracked the code concerning her identity, he already had a few solid leads inside his mind.
But it wasn't like knowing the truth of the matter would change anything for his current weak self, so he pushed the subject to the back of his mind and instead focused on assigning tasks to the clones.
Following just as he had planned, Lucifer randomly pointed at 185 Clones among the 700, instructing each to take a Pill Cauldron. As for the remaining ones, they were tasked with exterminating all beasts in the Great Mormonga Forest.
FWIP! FWIP!
The 700 or so clones vanished from their spots, already knowing what they had to do.
While they went about their fair and just slaving, Lucifer looked inside the storage ring containing his most recently refined pills. After making sure that none of those lookalikes had stolen what was his, he sat down in a meditative position.
His cultivation (pill-gobbling) session began not long after.
Putting all of his efforts into advancing his lackluster cultivation to further heights, he pushed everything in the direction that led to greater benefits.
And in case it wasn't mentioned before, he refined more than just the Affirmation Marrow Pills, he also concocted pills of specific Elements.
Although these weren't as effective as visiting a Spiritual Pool for the real stuff, it was still sufficient to say that it could hold him over until he amassed more wealth.
With this in mind, he devoured the Lightning Chaser pills, Fire Merger pills, Water Flower pills, Wind Flow pills, and many others, refusing to give his throat a break as he swallowed one giant thing after another…
...…