A Hiatus and One Last Chapter.

Hey everyone, as you have noticed I haven't updated in more than a month. I am incredibly sorry for that, but I've been unable to write anything more for Clone Warrior, this is an issue that has plagued me a lot in stories that I write, one moment I am fine with writing the next it just becomes impossible.

For that reason, this story will be put on indefinite hiatus, and I thank you all for the support you've given me and I urge you to cancel your subscription.

As a last thank you gift, I have this chapter that I made but hadn't released.

Anyway, it has been nice having you on this journey and adios.

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Interlocking Grid was a skill for shield walls and the like, granting a multiplicative effect to shield strength against attacks and charges when in touch with at least five other holders of the skill. The skill seemed to have been thrown into the trash bin of skill books, and Alex guessed that convincing five people to get this skill was just asking for too much. It was awfully fitting for him, gave him a defense that only went up the more shields he put into the Grid, and perhaps gave his whole team a sense of cohesion.

Though the downside of the skill was obvious, as movement would be restricted or even impossible once in a Grid, and it would be utterly shredded in a situation where they are flanked. That wasn’t a major worry for Alex, since he could still have six clones act as a shield wall, taking hits and holding the enemy, while the rest of the clones would be hounding the enemy with attacks and just generally focusing their attention fully on the offensive.

It was an instant pick for him, and without preamble he inserted the skill into his book.

The next was a skill called Supertonic Breathing, and it enhanced breathing? Odd skill, but apparently it was very useful for endurance and underwater combat. For him though, it was too small in scope for what he wanted out of his clones. Underwater combat seemed like a cool thing, but right now he had never set his sight on a body of water larger than a few men and he knew not how to swim.

He will how to, it will just take him time and effort, it is just water after all right? Maybe he could pay a visit to the central lake or the coasts him and his mother once this whole thing blows over, whether it be Alex fleeing with his mother or standing triumphant over the bodies of the monsters.

Anyhow, the skill was thrown back into the pile for being irrelevant in this current situation.

Then came a beauty so divine that Alex shed a tear of happiness and joy at its description. Stressenestra was more beautiful than any girl or woman Alex had ever seen, it gave the ability to boost a skill in exchange for life expectancy. The implication was just too much, he instantly inserted it without a second thought and summoned a clone.

“Activate it.” Alex said with rapt attention as the clone delved deep into their own inner world to activate the skill. Skills activation were something to get used to, it was as if a part of the metaphorical limb had been sat on for centuries and was numb to a degree you didn’t even realize it was there. With time the sensation in the metaphorical limb would eventually bleed out and the skill would become easier and easier to employ, until it become an instinct, activating before you could even have to think of it.

“It is saying which skill it should select.” The clone muttered.

“Physical Conditioning, choose that, it should have a measurable effect.” Alex said and backed off from the clone, giving him space if anything went wrong.

The moment when the clone activated the skill was obvious, the clone’s face immediately bulged from the veins and the eyes were almost completely red from the red blood vessels. The clone’s muscles expanded considerably and the bones beneath creaked ominously. For Alex, he was even more amazed, because he could feel the heartbeat of the clone while he was several steps away from him, it was so strong it vibrated the ground beneath enough to be noticeable.

“I FEEL so STRONG!” The voice of the clone was deeper than usual, and from the frantic snapping motions of the eyes, the clone was probably experiencing a surge in…power? It felt like one of those drugs fueled homeless after taking three sniffs of the flower. That worried him, since those drugged persons were not the most stable and rational, and this clone replicated their demeanor.

“Alright, hold on there tiger, can you switch the focus onto something else?” Alex winced when the clone curiously held up a metal container, sniffing it like a dog. The metal screech resounded across the tower as the clone pulled the metal lock and got it warped with just their bare hands.

Alex sighed and cancelled the clone. It seemed that using Stressenestra on Physical Conditioning was asking for trouble and could only be used on expendable – wording Alex, wording – on clones with a wish to benefit the greater whole.

Summoning another clone and making it activate the skill on Swordsmanship was a sight. The clone instantly went into a battle stance and kicked up a ceremonial sword from the ground into his hands. The movement was so fluid Alex only realized moments later how hard it was to kick a sword from the ground and into his hands.

“So how does it feel?” Alex said and gave the clone distance again, who knew what kind new drug was coursing through this one’s veins. It definitely wasn’t confidence and power, since this one just stayed in his stance with absolutely no movement.

“I am the sword, and the sword is I.” The clone muttered and swiped the air where a fly was buzzing by. Alex wearily walked to the clone and picked up the corpse of the fly, finding it still alive but with its wings detached. That was story-like swordsmanship skill, myths were abound of Gifted who could cut a single grey hair from a head filled with millions of other strands of hair. If he had a guess, this clone with Swordsmanship boosted was kind of stepping into that territory.

The clone suddenly stumbled out from his stance and collapsed into the ground, clasping his throat and puking his stomach’s content. The clone’s brown hair whitened rapidly, his skin became loose upon his skeleton and his irises had those milky white border around them. It was odd looking at a sort of elderly version of himself, without him having fully grown out of his pudgy kid face.

Alex bit his lip and cancelled the clone. In hindsight, perhaps it was folly to insert the skill so fast, since he knew that no skill with such a great synergy with his battle style would be that easy to use. Stressenestra had side effects not noted down in the description, which made Alex fairly angry with whoever made the description – a hunch told him that he was the source of such information but he didn’t believe it.

It seemed that the skill amplified the skill chosen and the skill’s influence on the user. Enhancing Physical Condition resulted in a noticeable increase in strength, with the cost being the clone reverting to an almost barbaric and animalistic behavior. Swordsmanship was the same, with the clone being solemn and being the personification of edge – Edgy. That, or he honestly believed he was the sword and the sword was him, Alex couldn’t tell without inflicting himself with the skill.

If he was stark about it, the skill was great, the only minor inconvenience it had was manageable. He just needed to experiment on his different skills and see what kind of personality disorder came out so his clones could be made aware and sculpt their strategy around it.

There was one possibility he was contemplating and will never ever even think about using it, and that was using Stressenestra and Last Hurraw to multiply his clone capacity. It was a dumb idea, considering he really didn’t want to be an old man in a coma.

Oh, old man in a coma. Yes, he won’t ever use that combination unless it is life and death, and even so he would hesitate.

The last three books weren’t anything exceptional, nothing was exceptional after Stressenestra, but among those three one stood out to him to be the best. Monochrome was a type of tracking skill that turned the world white and black, and highlighted a person’s presence (or an object), be it footprints or scents, in a random color.

It was an okay-ish skill, something to fill in the gaps in his arsenal.

“Alex.” Agony’s voice came from outside and Alex saw the man was carrying a bag clanking with metal armor and weapons. “Resummon me, I want to see the new skills you’ve picked.”

“I must warn you, Stressenestra has a great effect on behavior, I would not use it if I were you, it could be permanent.” Alex said to the resummoned Agony, who’s eyes turned grey and were staring at the surroundings. For an instance, his face looked exotic with the grey eyes on an otherwise average face, and the almost stern facial expression that Agony ported made him modestly handsome.

Alex coughed into his hand and swished the useless thoughts away, there was no need for handsomeness in war.

“Good.” Agony’s eyes turned back to brown and he turned to Alex. “Where now?”

“Let us check out mom, see if she needs any help. Then I will send you guys off to fight off whatever you can, or if the situation is dire enough, to secure a way out.” Alex rummaged through the bag containing the armor. He summoned nine clones and bade them to armor up and hide their faces with clothes or shreds of linen.

“I haven’t seen the lizard that had initially breached the wall, it is safe to assume it had been slain.” Agony remarked, marking off a section of the map where the tail of a lizard was.

“By who?” Alex then thought of the hundreds of adventures and nobles that were definitely in the city fighting. He just forgets they even existed considering that they didn’t show up for the dungeon extermination. They would have helped, his hunch told him, if the army hadn’t already taken the task of exterminating the dungeon. “Excuse me, that was a dumb question.”

Kind of a stupid order of things now that he thought about it. Adventurers were masters of dungeon extermination, far more experienced in it than the army which fought men more than monsters. Something was fishy and rotten in this aspect; human greed stank from this whole strategy.

“We only have three giants left, the bear, the scorpion and Sabertooth.” Agony then pointed to a section of the map where the three kings of the forests had breached. “Forgive me, we must also include the void lion.”

“You think we can take them on?” Alex muttered. “My- Our dad tried to kill Sabertooth, yet he couldn’t. Can we?”

“It is the only logical next step. Regular monsters no longer pose a threat to us if we are careful. The only enemy that would put a dent in the monster’s offensive would be their leaders.”

“Then you must be prepared to die.”

“I will die, just depends on when. It will be an unpleasant experience to say the least, but I’m willing to do it if it means greater safety to our mother.” Agony said with steel.

Alex closed his eyes and breathed in, and out. Greater men than I, damn it.

“Alright. You must promise me that you will abandon such a mission if it turns out to be impossible. The city and its residents might be worth saving, but our mother is paramount.”

“I promise.”

Alex nodded and went about closing the bell tower from all sides, to keep his treasures secured. He boarded up the windows, stuffed the holes in the brickwork with planks, and with the help of a clone, closed the door from the inside with a steel bar.