Chapter 269: Trust

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Karl, formerly known as One Hundred-One, looked like Kara. Both in physical appearance and aura.

Sylvan immediately complained, “And I’m the one who lacked originality?! He literally copy-pasted Kara’s appearance, removed the chest, chopped the hair, and bam—transformation complete!”

Sora smiled at his brother’s remark but didn’t comment.

He actually quite liked Karl’s appearance.

“I like it,” he said, then added to Karl, “But if you really want to honor her, you’ll need to smile a little more.”

Karl remained expressionless, but feeling all eyes on him, he calmly remarked, “Our other brothers are waiting.”

Sora’s smile widened as his brother tried to change topics, and he nodded.

He focused and accelerated the "production" of his alter egos. The next four on the list—Shade, Triple Two, Triple Seven, and Thousand—appeared quickly.

Shade kept his name, but made slight modifications to his appearance, growing his hair longer and keeping his original ethnicity.

Triple Two, the 'master of fire,' chose the name Ash, leaving his brothers speechless.

His appearance was as flamboyant as his personality. His new body was that of a young red-haired man in his twenties, with blue eyes.

Triple Seven came next. He took the name Harun and changed his appearance to that of a Saharan Bedouin. His skin was darker, and his gear changed from head to toe.

The last was Thousand. Inspired by Onyx’s appearance, he chose a warrior’s body. He was muscular and massive. His short beard and short hair contrasted with the others, but he seemed to love his new look.

Sora looked at the three of them. “Ash, Harun, and Sig. With you three, we are complete.”

Seeing the eager expressions on the nine alter egos before him, Sora understood their unspoken request. He summoned nine hundred million [Soul Pearls] from his [Soul Palace] and distributed them to the nine players.

While they absorbed the soul power and regained their true strength, he reactivated the 'sound' of his other brothers stored in the [Soul Palace] and addressed all of them.

“Brothers in the Soul Palace and brothers outside... Now that I’ve reached the hundred-million limit, every time I absorb more alter egos, the excess is converted into [Soul Pearls] and stored in the [Soul Palace]… Every additional hundred million could be used to create another overpowered alter ego, but that’s not what we’ll do for now.”

“As agreed, we’ll invest the soul power we collect into future skill fusion and development.”

Then, focusing on the nine in front of him, he continued, “For the week we have left before protection ends, those of you who still have weak points will keep collecting as much Soul Power as possible and push your powers to the limit. The rest will join me in challenging all the World Bosses in our kingdom. Once everyone’s ready, we’ll launch the assault. Is that acceptable to everyone?” Sora laid out the plan before asking a question.

Harun, previously known as Triple Seven, raised his hand.

“I’m on the verge of discovering a method to push everyone to EX rank in terms of bloodline, and maybe even beyond. I’ve also made progress on other uses of our Blood Essence. Could you let me experiment with Thousand—wait, is it Sig now? What he went through in Uruk might be the key to the mystery I’m trying to solve.” Harun shared his intentions with the group and asked for Sora’s permission.

Sora hesitated for a few seconds. “You two are among the strongest here… But alright. Who here feels they still have work to do before they're ready to fight against the World Bosses and the other races?”

Sylvan raised his hand, followed by Absoluty, then Ghost and Ash.

Sora frowned. “Absoluty, you're even stronger than Sig and Harun. Why are you raising your hand?”

Absoluty hesitated before answering. Then he glanced toward Karl, the sword specialist.

Sora understood the meaning of the gesture. “You want to reach Karl’s level?”

When he saw his brother lower his head in embarrassment, Sora laughed. “You’re right to want to surpass him. But if you want to be the best, why not try to surpass me?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt waves of hostility coming from Karl, Onyx, Absoluty, and Ash.

Harun, in front of him, burst out laughing at the same time as several alter egos watching from the [Soul Palace].

“Hahaha, Sora, that’s bold coming from someone who just absorbed a thousand of his brothers. If you start showing off, we’ll have to give you a proper beating,” Harun said, half-joking, half-threatening.

But Sora’s smile didn’t fade. This competitive atmosphere had pushed him and his alter egos to never rest on their laurels.

“Sora, I think Harun is close to a major discovery. You saw it in his memories and mine—bloodline level can completely change the game after SSS rank. If he needs Sig for that, let him. Same goes for Absoluty. Let him grind Soul Power and get his skills to 3★ if that’s what he wants. It’ll come in handy sooner or later,” said Newtons’ voice inside Sora’s head.

Sora appreciated Newtons’ advice and nodded.

Addressing Absoluty and Harun, he said, “Very well. Do as you please, but I expect good news from your progress.”

He turned to the others. “Karl and Shade, you’ll come with me to fight the World Bosses. Onyx, you’ll stay with Absoluty, Ghost, Ash, and Sylvan to train.”

Onyx was shocked. “What?! But I didn’t raise my hand! I want to fight too!”

Sora shook his head. “You’ve got an outstanding and unique skill set. Howevers, if your opponents are too weak, [Outbid], which forces you to hit with full power to stack, will be useless. If they’re too strong, do you think they’ll let you build it up? Without Eighty to help stack [Outbid], you were dead meat earlier. You need to become stronger, faster, or immune to attacks if you want to make the most of your kit. Find a solution. Quickly.”

Onyx remembered his qualifiers, and how close he was to getting eliminated. If not for Eighty choosing to swap targets for his skill, he wouldn't be among the victors. Understanding that Sora was right, he didn’t say another word and let out a sigh.

Karl and Shade positioned themselves on either side of Sora, while the other seven stood around Harun.

“Let’s go back to the real world…” Seeing the puzzled looks on his brothers’ faces, he corrected himself, “Well, the world outside this box.”

With no one objecting, he sent everyone back outside. As they reappeared near Tian Long, Newtons’ voice echoed in his mind.

“You’re not going to tell her about the [Box outside of the Box]? She suspects you’re hiding something special, especially after our disappearance. Don’t you trust her?” Newtons asked.

Sora hesitated.

After a few seconds of watching Tian Long from a distance, he shared his doubts and thoughts with his brother. “I’m not really sure what to think… I trust her in this world, but who’s to say she’ll still be our ally in the real one? What if her species despises ours? And even if I took a leap of faith and trusted her completely, what’s the point of bringing her there? Wouldn’t that just be an unnecessary risk?”

Newtons replied quickly, “What are you rambling about? Out of everyone we know, she probably has the most answers to the questions we’ve been asking ourselves since the beginning. In the [Box], she could become a real gold mine of information.”

Sora shook his head. “What if it’s the opposite? What if contracts hold no value there and she turns against us? Wouldn’t freeing her from the system just sign our death sentence? You’ve seen what her throne is capable of.”

Newtons wasn’t convinced. “You’re being ridiculous. Last time, you doubted Nathan when he said he came back from the dead, and now you’re doubting your closest ally. Where’s the Sora who trusted Kara and Salim on day one?”

“I wasn’t exactly weak back then, but I needed help… and to feel surrounded. I didn’t really have the luxury of choosing who to trust, and I was counting heavily on my immortality to get me through the worst,” Sora admitted. “But I got lucky with Kara and Salim. You could even say I hit the jackpot.”

He paused, then continued in a harsher tone: “But now, it’s different. My friends are dead because of me. And I’ve learned that people like Rachel exist. People who, given the right reason, would betray their own parents to become gods. I don’t want to take that kind of risk anymore.”

After a few seconds, he added, “With you all by my side, I have nothing to fear. If I need help, I’ll call on my brothers.”

Sora heard his brother Newtons sigh.

“Sora… I don’t know what will happen to us once this war is over, but… Are you sure you’re not relying on us too much? We’ll move heaven and earth to lead you to victory, but you’ve felt it, haven’t you? Our personalities are getting more developed and different. There’s no guarantee a traitor won’t emerge among us someday. No guarantee we’ll all remain your allies forever.”

“You need other friends besides us you can rely on. Don’t bet everything on us! Just because Salim and Kara are gone doesn’t mean you should shut yourself off from others.”

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