EU: Chapter 031 | Remote Authority

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Year 19—39th Day of the 8th Moon!

At the end of the tunnel passing underneath the wall between Hexagons 33 and 34 was a metal door, like the ones used in a bank’s safe. It had a latch that was welded shut, similar to the office.

The leader of the group of six Humans was at Level 2. And hence, he could melt through the welding and open the door. There seemed to be another latch on the other side, which the leader welded shut.

It was a route meant for their exclusive use, ‘At their destination must be all the Healing Potions they have accumulated. Maybe they also have the World Tree Fruits stored there.’

Pinaka observed their route from afar, watching the door close shut. ‘The route seems like it goes towards the World Tree.’

He didn’t have the capability to break the door without causing a commotion. After observing the door futilely for a few more minutes, he arrived at Hexagon 4, climbed its walls, and stood its top.

Stretching before him was a flat piece of mortar floor, built at the same height as the walls. It was empty and in full view of the watchtowers. ‘This is our prison’s ceiling.’

‘A pity!’ He grumbled, having hoped the structure was built in any manner that allowed him some blind spot to train away from prying eyes. ‘Nothing’s easy.’

He then returned to the pillar, leaned on it and then focused on the container in his stomach. It had a tenth of a World Tree Fruit piece. Without hesitation, he began to digest it, ‘I need more stats. With better stats, I can train faster and quickly gain experience.’

He would be able to overcome lots of limitations through sheer power. And he had endured torture as a potion factory just to gain stats the fastest in the present situation.

[Name: Pinaka]

[Race: High Elf]

[Authority: Lifeform]

[Control Factor: 2]

[Weight Factor: 22]

[Volume Factor: 1]

[Range Factor: 8]

[Speed Factor: 2]

[Creation Factor: 1]

[Spell: Status Epidermis, Root Glove]

These were his present stats, moments before the World Tree Fruit piece was digested. Once the digestion began, there was a rush in his being as Pinaka felt invincible. His exhaustion vanished, no longer requiring sleep.

Physically, he felt like he could fight an Ogre. Psychologically, he felt he could walk through a sea of flames…with poise. The first piece of consumed was one-twentieth of a World Tree Fruit. That gave him 29 stats in total.

Of course, the various Factors weren’t equal. Pinaka couldn’t state for certain, but the requirements and accumulations necessary to increase each stat varied. Therefore, he couldn’t quantify it with a general assumption.

After all, there was no qualitative difference if the Weight Factor continued to increase. However, if Speed Factor were to increase to 343 units, a qualitative difference was achieved. A piece of wood he controlled could break the speed of sound.

Since a qualitative difference was attained at that point, the requirements to increase the Speed Factor would increase exponentially the closer its stats got to 300s.

‘At first glance, the power system seems simple. But the various way they interact with each other makes it incredibly complex.’ He thought and focused. Through his authority, as his body interacted with the World Tree Fruit piece, information and ideas popped in his mind.

It allowed Pinaka to better understand the power system. And through his authority, he could determine the Factor on which the power of the World Tree Fruit piece could be concentrated. ‘I would need to create things fast enough if I were to escape during a fight.’

‘So, Creation Factor is a necessity. Next would be range. If I can bring it to twenty, I can scale the walls with limited effort.’ As he thought of his situation, Pinaka finalised his distribution. The World Tree Fruit pieces was fully consumed and turned into his stats, at the end of which he muttered, “Status.”

[Name: Pinaka]

[Race: High Elf]

[Authority: Lifeform]

[Control Factor: 2]

[Weight Factor: 34]

[Volume Factor: 2]

[Range Factor: 20]

[Speed Factor: 4]

[Creation Factor: 2]

[Spell: Status Epidermis, Root Glove]

‘Increasing the Creation Factor by one unit consumed more of the fruit’s power than I expected.’ He thought, satisfied overall with his growth. He would be able to achieve the same level of growth daily.

And since he was consuming the World Tree Fruit piece daily, Pinaka could use it to treat his exhaustion. This way, he didn’t have to waste time with sleep and instead spend all his available time on training.

He returned to his spot at the potion factory as it was soon dawn. He watched the Elves file out after their morning checkup, beginning their farm work.

Once the prison was empty, Pinaka freed himself, walked to the topmost floor and began training there. Until the Elves returning at evening, no one would be coming here. Even the occasional soldiers would only pass by on the ground floor.

‘Since I understand their routine better now, I can select my training havens accordingly.’ Pinaka created a clone of his head, surprised to see a noticeable jump in quality. In one second, he could create the entire head, neck, and circulation system.

Since he did it in one full swing, the errors were marginally lower. But most of all, ‘The ideas and experiences gained from consuming the World Tree Fruit are assisting me.’

That was why the Elf designated as a Potion Factory was always one judged to be with the least talent. And once they had been used enough, the Elf was disposed without exceptions. Because as they consumed the World Tree Fruits daily, even if they had limited talent, they were bound to make massive breakthroughs.

The World Tree Fruit would grant them knowledge and experience, as if they were learning and training for months or even years at a stretch, all by consumption.

The World Tree Fruit was a relic. And contained in it was troves of knowledge unlike anything. And when an Elf consumed it, their Authority digested the fruit and allowed them to tap into a portion of that trove.

The higher the Elf’s Level, the greater their gains, since they could consume the World Tree Fruit better. ‘Just how much did the native Elves of Gangnea slack that even with so much benefits, they still lost the war?’

‘Maybe being alive for thousands of years turned them exceptionally lazy, whether in body or mind.’ He concluded and watched the clone open its mouth and utter softly, “…hi…”

‘It’s…working!’ Pinaka’s lips curled up until they reached his ears as he grinned maniacally, “Can you use my authority?”

“Let me…try.” The head said.

“Urgh!” Pinaka grunted, feeling as if his strength was getting drained all of a sudden. A second later, he muttered, “Status.”

[Name: Pinaka]

[Race: High Elf]

[Authority: Lifeform]

[Control Factor: 2 (1)]

[Weight Factor: 34 (33)]

[Volume Factor: 2 (1)]

[Range Factor: 20 (19)]

[Speed Factor: 4 (3)]

[Creation Factor: 2 (1)]

[Spell: Status Epidermis, Root Glove]

The one in brackets was his current stats. The remainder had been ‘lent’ to the clone, ‘I understand.’

Pinaka could create clones of himself without issues, without limitations. However, if he wanted his clone to wield an Authority, he would have to share his stats.

‘It seems I have complete control over the stat distribution.’ Pinaka thought as he was able to vary the stats held by the clone. The clone was just a clone, even if in the future it was an exact replica of himself.

“Let’s see is this can work.” He severed the arteries and veins connecting his body to the clone. At the moment, he was supplying it blood. However, since he could lend his stats, he watched the clone create the rest of the body from under the neck.

Soon, it was a one-on-one replica of himself. The clone wheezed in pain, struggling to breathe as its body wasn’t created perfectly. But it could wield his Authority, even when severed from him.

Remote Authority!

He had achieved it, which meant he could do a lot more now. ‘The number of clones that can wield my Authority are directly related to my Control Factor.’

He currently had a Control Factor of 2. Leaving aside one stat for himself, he could set aside one for his clone. If his Control Factor were to reach 4, he could maintain three clones of himself that could operate at the same time, wielding his authority.

“I am strong.” At the same time, both Pinaka and his clone uttered in confidence.

‘All I lack now is experience in battles.’ For that, he had to begin training seriously. The greatest advantage of his cloning power was the fact that it worked by borrowing his Authority.

Therefore, if, through training, it were to gain a stat, that stat would be added to Pinaka once he recovers his Authority from the clone.

That implied Pinaka could keep a clone as the potion factory and move about through the prison, planning his escape. ‘That seems like a great…’

He calmed down, realising the flaws with this plan. The clones only borrowed his Authority. They held his memories at the time he made them. They then had their own memories based on what they experienced after that.

These memories weren’t returned to Pinaka. Only the Authority was connected. Meaning, if a clone were to be a potion factory, the stats it gained from consuming the World Tree Fruit would be gained by Pinaka.

But he would lose out on the knowledge, experience, and inspiration gained from the World Tree Fruit, since it would be lost in the clone.

‘I can only communicate with my clone verbally.’ There wasn’t a mental link or anything that granted him control over his clones. The only remote connection between them was the sharing of the Authority.

‘I think I am getting greedy.’ Pinaka thought, bursting into laughter, ‘But I indeed have the capability to be greedy now.’

And with that, he began to train nonstop. He first intended to make a perfect clone. From there, he would try to create the smallest possible nervous system for the clone, from where it could use its Authority to build an entire body.

Upon reaching this point, he would be ready to escape, ‘And for that to happen, there’s still something I need to attempt.’

If he were to extract a Human’s nervous system and use his Authority over Lifeform to stimulate it, would he be able to harness the Human’s Authority over Fire?

‘It doesn’t seem impossible. No, I think it’s guaranteed to work.’ Pinaka groaned, ‘But I would need to train and experiment lots to figure out how to stimulate their nervous system.’

“Thankfully,” He stared at the new clone of his he made, “I can share the burden with my clone.”

“I will tell you…my insights…as I experiment.” The clone said, able to communicate significantly better now.

At lunchtime, Pinaka surfed through the office to better understand the operating cycle of the Human soldiers, their strength distribution, shift cycle, etc. He tried to understand as much as he could in the limited time.

Around evening, Pinaka barged into whichever farmland he could access when there were no prying eyes and turned the clones into manure for the fields. The Elf working on the farmland and the soldier keeping watch over it; the attention of both had to be away from the entrance, which is when Pinaka sneaked in, did his work, and bolted off.

During dinner time for the Elves, Pinaka had a second chance to look into the office. After that, he scouted the area outside the prison.

In the dead of the night, his most dreaded and most expectant time arrived, when the group of six robed humans arrived to feed him a World Tree Fruit. Just like his first day as the potion factory, Pinaka took a tenth of the World Tree Fruit for himself, using it to increase his stats.

He also gained more inspiration to further develop his clone-making capability. And during the day, he trained nonstop, falling into a routine.

There were 42 days in a month. Soon, the ninth moon rose in the sky, signalling the start of the ninth month.

Year 19—1st Day of the 9th Moon!

There was a commotion in the Elven Prison as the night sky turned bright all of a sudden, as if it was daytime.

The Warden had revealed himself!

Authors Notes: Gangnea Daily Article 31: The Race that has the easiest time reaching Level 3 is the Elven Race. It was why they remained the centre of Gangnea’s power since its inception, even with their limited numbers.

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