Chương 223

Rudra opened his skill window to check the new skill description. [Endless Learning (Lv. 4)] [Passive] [A Sage constantly evolves through understanding. Every time you successfully learn a new skill, decipher an ancient text, analyze a monster's biology, or master a new recipe/blueprint, your stats permanently increase based on the rarity of the knowledge. - Epic Knowledge: +1 to random stats, +1 [Wisdom]. - Unique Knowledge: +3 to all stats, +5 [Wisdom]. - Legendary Knowledge: +15 to all stats, +10 [Wisdom]. - Mythic Knowledge: +30 to all stats, +20 [Wisdom]. *You can only gain bonus stats from this skill up to 40 times per month.] The small gains from Epic and Unique books were slashed, but the system had officially added Mythic-tier knowledge to the list. His monthly cap had also been raised from 30 to 40. He could live with that. The heavy stone wall suddenly groaned. Because Rudra had perfectly read and understood the ancient language, the mechanism reacted.

The heavy stone blocks slid out of the way on their own, grinding loudly against the floor. Inside the small chamber behind the wall, a simple stone pedestal rose from the floor. Sitting on top of the pedestal were two skill fragments. Rudra walked in and picked them up. [You have obtained [Forgotten Skill Fragment] x2.] [You have cleared the Twelfth Trial.] [You have exceeded the limits of the trial by directly translating the ancient language!] [All Stats +20] [The Champion's Rite] [Progress: 12 / 15 Temples Cleared]"Let's go, Kratos," Rudra said, tossing the fragments into his inventory.

"We're done here." They walked back out of the dusty cavern. Chief Thalassa was waiting by the boat, looking surprised.

"You are back already? Did you give up on the puzzle?"

"I just translated the text," Rudra explained, stepping onto the sandy beach.

"The door mechanism reacted to the language." Thalassa stared at him in quiet disbelief. Neria just smiled softly from the back of the boat.

"Give me a minute before we leave," Rudra said, sitting down heavily on a dry patch of sand near the water. He opened his inventory and pulled out the skill fragments. He placed them in a neat pile on the sand. There were exactly twenty-five of them. He had enough. It was time to fix his biggest problem. Grinding his staff mastery in combat was simple enough, but trying to level up his cooking passives, his alchemy, and his other Sage skills was taking up way too much of his time.

He couldn't be in two places at once. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. He needed an extra set of hands. And he knew that Asterion, the God who was creating these fragments, always made sure that synthesizing these fragments gave him a skill that was perfectly suited for his current situation. He then mentally combined the skill fragments by calling out "Synthesize" The 25 fragments melted together. They turned into a swirling ball of pure white light.

It pulsed once, twice, and then shattered into a shower of golden sparks. A single, pristine skill book fell into Rudra's lap which he immediately learnt [You have learnt a Legendary-tier knowledge, All Stats +15 and Wisdom +10!] [Echo Clone (Lv. 1)] [Rating: Legendary] [A lost technique developed by the ancient Zen Race, who hoped to master their crafts quickly by working in tandem with themselves. - You can physically manifest an exact, flesh-and-blood duplicate of yourself. - The clone possesses exactly 10% of the user's maximum Health, Mana, and core Stats. - The clone can independently cast spells and use skills, paying the cost from its own personal mana pool. - Only 1 clone can be created at a time. - Any Skill EXP (Experience) gained by the clone through combat or production is transferred directly to the main user in real-time. - Stats gained by the clone wouldn't be transferred to the User - If the clone is destroyed instead of dispelled, then User will experience an Recoil Damage of (Level * 10) and enter a [Disoriented] state - Resources consumed to create the clone: 5000 Mana - Resource consumed to keep the clone active: 1, 000 Mana per minute, drained continuously from the clone's mana pool. Cooldown: 1 Hour after the clone is destroyed or dismissed.] Rudra stared at the text.

With his legendary class passives, his base mana pool was nearing 800, 000. That meant the clone would spawn with nearly 80, 000 mana of its own. Even the top-ranked magicians who dumped every single point into Intelligence didn't have that much mana. The clone could easily sustain its own upkeep cost for over an hour without doing a single thing.

"Let's test it out," Rudra said. He pointed at the sand. [Echo Clone]. A pillar of mana shot out and gathered in front of him. It swirled and hardened, taking on color and texture. Within three seconds, a perfect duplicate of Rudra stood on the beach in a black trench coat. Kratos jumped up from the boat, letting out a confused growl. A weird wave of dizziness hit Rudra. Controlling two bodies at the exact same time felt completely wrong at first.

It was like he had suddenly sprouted an extra set of arms and legs, but he could manipulate them just as easily as his own.

"How the hell did the S. A. Group manage to map this feeling to a human brain?" both Rudra and the clone said at the exact same time.

"Maybe the rumor that Chairman Lim Cheolho is an alien is actually true," Rudra mumbled to himself, slowly adapting to the split perspective.

"It would definitely explain the overwhelming influence this game has on Earth." He opened his inventory, pulled out a wooden cutting board, a sharp knife, and a pile of green island kelp. He tossed them to the clone, who caught them easily.

"Try cooking a dish. Go all out," Rudra said. The clone didn't argue. It picked up the knife and started chopping the kelp with rapid, practiced movements. It mixed the kelp with coarse sea salt, pouring its intent into the bowl while simultaneously using [Breath of the Hearth] and [Emphatic Cuisine]. A small prompt popped up in Rudra's vision. [Your clone has successfully created [Fresh Kelp Salad]!] [Rating: Epic] [An Epic-rated dish was produced. All stats have permanently risen by +4 and your reputation throughout the continent has risen by +80.] The clone looked at the bowl, then looked at its own hands.

"Looks like the stat penalty hurts," the clone said.

"Even using [Emphatic Cuisine], I can't hit Unique. My Dexterity is just too low at ten percent to consistently make top-tier food. The Cooking Saint questline is going to have to be finished by the main body." Rudra sat back on the sand and sighed. It was a slight setback, but the flat stat boost from the Epic-rated dish definitely improved his mood. He just had to wait until his base Dexterity grew high enough that 10% was enough for the clone to cook Unique meals.

Chief Thalassa stared at the two Rudras, heavily rubbing his scarred face.

"I do not understand magic from the mainland."

"Can you let him cook for your people?" Rudra asked. The Chief agreed without a pause. The clone gave Rudra a quick nod, then turned and walked toward the center of the island. A moment later, the cured Divine Orca breached the water and happily followed the clone along the coastline. Rudra stood up, dusted the sand off his coat, and climbed into the boat. He looked at the Chief.

"Where to next?" Thalassa grabbed the oars, his scarred face turning incredibly serious.

"The thirteenth island. The Blind Leviathan. This is where my trial ended."