The ability he had always feared… 'Cloning'. He didn't know if this was a good thing or not. Did this clone have its own personality? Or was it like an undead that followed his wishes?
Aldred sighed. The only way to find out was to try. Hopefully nothing would go wrong with this experiment.
"Blood Cloning!" Aldred shouted to the surprise of Mary and the others.
A mist of blood came out of his pores. It condensed in the air and then morphed into a clone. His face, his stature, and his posture was exactly the same.
The others were surprised that there was another Aldred.
"A clone?"
His clone glanced at Mary and pounced on her, playing with her breast.
"Hey! That's my woman."
"But I am you."
"That makes sense! But still!"
The clone disappeared, and Aldred felt experience and memory entering his mind. From that, he assumed what the clone experienced would enter him when they disappear.
Not only that, because the clone wasn't assigned to a particular task, it just do what the real Aldred would normally do…
He tried this and set a particular task for the clone to do before summoning one.
Another clone appeared and it drank the hot water.
"Why are you telling your clone to drink the hot water?" Mary asked.
"I just want to try some things," Aldred said. The boy willed the clone to disappear and it did instantly.
The experience entered his mind.
"When the clones disappear. Its memories and experience enter my mind. This can be useful in many ways."
"Like how?" Mareona asked.
"I can summon my clones. Go to girls' public bathroom and see all their naked bodies before telling the clones to disappear."
Mareona struck his head. "Stop joking."
Aldred smiled as he rubbed his head in pain. "In all seriousness, I can use the clones for very much anything. They have the same brain as me, so they would do what I would exactly do if I were in their situation.
"But they do think on their own right?"
"Yes, but as I said, they have the same brain as mine. So I can send them to dangerous territory and when they died, I can know exactly what they saw, felt, and thought during the operation."
"What about their power?"
"They have the same power as mine. But sadly, I can only summon two clone at one time. I believe that can increase if I evolve more."
Mary, Mareona, Sophia, and Mira were shocked to their core. One Aldred was already a prodigy that had never been seen before in this world. Defeating countless Gold Ranks in one move, and defeating powerful monsters in a single strike was just one of his capabilities.
Now there would be two others Aldred? Not to mention he could have more clones in the future…
"Aldred, are you perhaps a God in your past life?" Mira asked.
"I don't think my past life is that amazing." Aldred scratched his cheek as he recalled his past life. "Anyway, let's sleep. It's already late at night."
"He's right. We should rest to regain our energy." Mira hugged Aldred and she put her head on the towel.
Sophia, Mary, and Mareona hugged around him. Aldred could only smile with four beautiful women hugging him and their beautiful pink boobs pressing against him.
Life was bliss.
The next day.
People started coming out of the hole in the gate that Aldred made. They look haggard with tattered clothes and bloody wounds.
Their chest went up and down, struggling to breathe. Some started to consume their pills to improve their breathing while others could only look in envy.
"Hey. You guys want to trade a hot bath for treasures again?" Aldred asked smugly as he pulled out his head from the tent.
The newcomers looked at him and told him to wait so they can discuss with each other.
After a while, they gritted their teeth and accepted his offer. They were now in the middle part of the mountain which was much colder and harsher than the lower part.
A couple of treasures to stay alive seemed cheap.
That wasn't how the adventurers saw it. They risked their life for treasures, so none of them were willing to trade treasures for a warm bath.
Only the rich traded with Aldred. They gave him treasures and he gave them warm baths.
Some ran out of treasures and decided to give him gold coins instead.
"Do you really not have any treasures in you?" he asked.
"Y—yes. Gold coins are all I have."
Aldred accepted and pulled out his card to receive the gold. To be honest, he wanted to reject the offer, but the amount was too extravagant.
In total, Aldred now had 25,527,500 gold coins on his adventure card.
More than twenty-five million! And this was in gold coins! A Gold Rank's normal salary was 5 to 10 gold coins per month, so it could take them more than 200 hundred years to earn this much money.
The adventurers that heard this transaction felt their eyes bulge and almost pop from shock. That huge amount of money would set them all for generations. It wasn't copper or silver, but gold.
But what they were more shocked about was the fact that Aldred earned all of this just by selling hot bath.
A freaking hot bath netted him more than 25 million gold and a large pile of treasures.
The adventurers wanted to cry. Maybe they should start a hot bath business in the future.
Aldred saw an opportunity. The people that came here were rich, powerful, and influential. This meant that they must bring more treasures with them.
He didn't care about the treasures before, but now that he had All Devouring Sticks, he had to feed it treasures for it to grow.
And so he summoned his clone and stood in front of them as they enjoyed their hot bath.
The rich men were shocked to see two Aldred at once.
Bartrem and the soldiers were shocked as well. How the hell did Aldred become two? One was enough for this world to handle, now there were two?
"Ladies and gentlemen. I have an interesting offer for all of you," Aldred smiled. "As you can see. The one beside me is my clone, and it has the same power as mine."
The clone pulled out a sword and executed the ultimate skill 'Sky Splitting Strike' which impressed the audience.
The clone also morphed into a Phantom Claw, Giant Velobra, Cute Loli, hot woman, and Gargant Eagle
They looked with widened eyes when the clone showed more of its capabilities such as raining fire javelins, fire arrows, and fire bullets into the distance. It showed master in blood manipulation, water manipulation, and fire manipulation, then it showed mastery in the sword art.
After the show, they all clapped in amazement. Hell, even Bartrem and his soldiers were impressed even though they had seen him show off his power before.
Maverick was trembling in excitement. Aldred kept on surprising him with new power. This made him want the boy to become his allies even more.
"Now that you are all amazed, I want to tell all of you that I would like to auction myself. Specifically, I would like to auction my clone, but not forever. The duration is only for a week."
They were disappointed when they heard there was a duration.
Aldred snorted. "You think you're making a loss? Look at you. What have you lost when climbing this high?"
He narrowed his eyes. "Almost everything. You risked your life, your subordinates' life, and your friends' life. For every challenge you passed, you almost died. Look at your subordinates now. How many of them are left?"
"Not many, and we're only at the middle part of the mountain. The higher you climb the harder the challenge will become. It wouldn't be a surprise if you lose your life. But all of you know my power and know what I can do, so is hiring my clone for a week still a loss for you?"
The rich men discussed among themselves the pros and cons of Aldred's offer. After half an hour, they asked Aldred how much was the cost.
The boy smiled. "I want everything that you currently have."
