The Genius of Cloning in the Academy City

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The young field mouse opened its eyes. A strange scenery surrounded the mouse.

Suddenly thrown into the vast world, the mouse wriggled its little nose in anxiety.

‘Where am I?’

From its short perspective, the expanse was beyond comprehension.

Lemon, trembling in fear, squeaked briefly while glancing around. The world always came overwhelmingly large to this little creature.

And with its poor vision, it was simply an unfathomable and endless space. It felt like a sailor drifting alone in a vast ocean.

The dark and blurry view began to brighten in an instant. Lemon tilted its head. Was the world always like this?

Lemon was perplexed by the new information pouring into its eyes. Light and data from an unfamiliar realm flooded in like a tide.

All the little being could do was stare blankly at the world, mouth agape.

Growing brighter and larger… Was the world made of such vibrant colors?

Everything felt strange.

‘The world is bright!’

Only then did Lemon first recognize ‘color.’ The unfamiliar always comes with fear.

The little mouse’s heart swelled with fear upon facing the new world.

‘My eyes are strange!’

Its white fur stood on end from tension, and its ears drooped uselessly. Lemon trembled in terror, hugging its own tail.

At that moment, Lemon realized that someone was lifting it. A warm touch enveloped her gently.

Looking up, she saw the delighted expressions of her commanders.

“It’s real! You were here!”

“Lemon is alive!”

After a moment of relief, Lemon cautiously asked where this place was.

Violet replied.

“I’ll show you from now on!”

Then, she pointed at her shoulders. With a mix of expectation and fear, the mouse climbed onto her shoulder.

In that instant, a new world unfolded before Lemon’s eyes.

“Wow!”

The young field mouse felt a thrill at the scenery of the network she was seeing for the first time. Busy Violets moved about on the vast plazas that stretched out wide.

Around them, bizarre yet mystical buildings and structures of various sizes stood in abundance.

In the sky, dozens of gigantic French fries and sausages floated dreamily like in a dream.

After taking in the streets, Violet brought Lemon to a magnificent museum where many weapons and sculptures were on display.

“This is the War Memorial.”

“War Memorial!”

From her owner’s shoulder, Lemon gazed at the exhibits with sparkling eyes.

On the large wall, the Violets were depicted fighting against swarming monsters, while on the opposite side, a proud commander was illustrated defeating the forces of the wicked Grand Mage.

“The commander is amazing!”

Before she knew it, Lemon had moved to the ground littered with heaps of food.

The feast of memories and consciousness sprawled out grandly from the depths of the earth to the ends of the sky, endless no matter how long one could eat.

“It’s delicious!”

The place shifted. The flow of time was unmeasurable in this space that changed without pause.

The vast prairie transformed into snowy mountains, and the snowy mountains morphed into a lively port bustling with many ships.

In the Violet network, the little being felt her consciousness expanding immensely all over her body.

Suddenly, a girl with white hair appeared before Lemon.

She was cute with large round ears and a long tail. A dreamy scene just out of reach.

If only she could stretch her front paw a little more, if only she could wait just a bit longer…

How much time had passed, when Violet asked.

“Do you want to stay here forever?”

Just as Lemon was about to answer that she wanted to, her mouth suddenly shut.

She hesitated as images of other mice and animals of different sizes came to mind.

‘My friends would love to see this too…’

After some deliberation with her small brain, Lemon finally made her decision.

“I want to tell my other friends about this place!”

Violet smiled warmly.

“Got it, let’s go back!”

For reasons unknown, she felt quite sad.

However, Lemon now had a duty to fulfill.

She had to share this amazing scenery, this happiness, with her other friends.

As the time to leave approached, Lemon slowly closed her black eyes.

Thus, as if waking from a dream, the mouse sprang up. Around her, the intricately drawn magic circles were shimmering.

“Click!”

“Success!”

A familiar girl reached out with a bright smile, surrounded by a familiar scent.

Two bespectacled men were quietly conversing.

“It seems our predictions were correct. Regeneration has occurred.”

“It falls within our calculated range, but I never expected the network’s capabilities to reach this far…”

The two men were engrossed in some serious research. But that didn’t concern the mouse.

Behind them, the commanders were jumping with joy.

If the commanders were happy, then she was happy too.

And so, Lemon stretched out her two front paws, shouting with a voice full of joy.

“I’m back! Click!”

Professor Albert and Doctor Yurik’s faces slightly shook.

“The mouse can talk…?”

**

There had been many events since returning from Circliff, but to put it simply, this was it.

“Lemon has been revived!”

“Hooray!”

The hero mouse who played a key role in defeating the wicked Nimosis Protocol finally returned to reality.

While searching the network, we were able to spot the white mouse wandering in the Violet Plaza.

During the tour, we attempted several times, and with Professor Albert’s help, we succeeded quickly.

“No, that was unnecessary. Just in case, I had set auxiliary magic formulas to stabilize the original corpse’s coordinates, but it wasn’t necessary. I was merely assisting the stabilization work; ultimately, it was your unique abilities that did everything.”

Hmm, so that means…? That would imply our Violets have grown even more.

But there was another issue to consider now. The expressions of the two who witnessed the miraculous revival of the animal friend were oddly serious.

Why weren’t they happy?

“A mouse can talk. I suspected changes would happen, but…”

“Click! I can talk!”

“Hahaha… what is this? The more I look at it, the more fascinating it becomes.”

I tilted my head. It felt strange that the very parties who connected my animal subordinates to the network were so astonished.

“Is that really such a shocking thing?”

Yurik replied firmly to my mutter.

“Of course! Mice cannot talk like humans! Their vocal cords, their oral structures are different! Yet, this is… neither telepathy nor anything, it’s real physical sound…”

Professor Albert chimed in with excitement.

“Is that not all? This fellow, although feeble, has activated magical power within its body! Look at these detectors. We’re measuring a level beyond that of a regular organism. It should have mutated or even died long ago.”

“Oh.”

As I was perplexed, it dawned on me that I had done something truly amazing.

“I propose a hypothesis. It’s an extension of the theory the professor previously posited; within the network lies the biological blueprint of a human called ‘Violet.’ That’s why clone generation is possible. When we initially cloned this mouse, part of that blueprint must have been mixed in, enabling such drastic changes.”

“Not quite, otherwise a creature that is half-beast and half-human would have appeared before us. What we see now could merely be a mutation induced by magical power. A few elements might require dissection to determine for sure…”

“Don’t dissect!”

“I’m just joking. We’re not a bunch of crazed researchers like Bernike, right? We’ll only investigate up to where it doesn’t cause any harm…”

As the professor clicked his tongue, he adjusted his glasses and muttered.

“Anyway, Violet, let’s conclude this. Your mouse is no longer just a field mouse. It’s something entirely different that merely resembles a mouse!”

“If it’s not a mouse, then what is it?”

Yurik, who was stroking his chin serious, opened his mouth.

“Academically, we refer to a mutated living being that can use magical power, other than humans, as… monsters.”

“Click! I am not a monster!”

I sympathized with Lemon’s protest. Calling her a monster was too brutal a term for our gentle, righteous mouse.

“Not politically correct from a Violet perspective!”

“Right! Lemon is a being superior to a monster!”

Suddenly, curiosity sparked within me. Would other animals one day be able to talk like Lemon?

“Boss! Make me like Lemon too!”

“Me too! Me too!”

The animal network was already getting riled up. This was becoming troublesome.

**

Apart from the brave V-mouse’s revival and return, the Violet squad had mountains of tasks piled up.

Fortunately, most issues were tidied up neatly on-site. They had obliterated the enemies and captured some as prisoners.

However, the most troublesome were these people.

“Oh my… All of those guys…!”

As we captured a few of them, we had to contend with what to do with the senators while other Violets gathered various junk and corpses.

I had stationed Enrique and my escort unit underground connected to the building during the combat, but now that we had subdued the enemy, I had a headache pondering over these gentlemen.

I decided to leave their fates to their own autonomous decisions.

“First, external communication has been restored, and the barrier has been lifted. Hey, do you gentlefolk know anyone? You can just head out on your own.”

Right at that moment, as the barrier was lifted, a convoy appeared from across the road. The mark of Restraid was clearly visible.

“…Could it be that you gentlemen know Restraid?”

Senator Remar promptly answered.

“Indeed, we came here at the invitation of Restraid. It’s confidential, so I can’t talk about it, but… would you like to accompany us? I’d like to talk to my clan about your exploits…”

I shook my head firmly. We had to flee this place as soon as possible; what nonsense was he talking about?

Moreover, we still had no clue regarding the identity of the attackers who ambushed the senators. It seemed I was getting involved in troublesome politics; this was as far as I could help.

“No. Just send the money my way first. Got it?”

My tone toward Senator Remar seemed to have irritated one of the senators, who shot back.

“Hey! We are senators! How dare you a mere mercenary that could have crawled out of who knows where…”

“What of it?”

I subtly lifted my mace. The senator hastily turned his head and began clearing his throat, pretending as if nothing had happened.

“There are trivial fellows like them here.”

I shook off the ones trying to voice complaints against us and tried to leave with Enrique.

After all, who knew when the reinforcements from those Luminec could arrive?

At that moment, Remar’s expression suddenly turned serious as if he had realized something while surveying our surroundings.

He suddenly grabbed us again with a serious look.

“Could it be that you are that organization? The one…”

“Hello!”

We vanished into an alley between buildings like a ghost in an instant.

“Let’s go! Into the urban space!”

I rummaged through the memories of the interrogator. The bizarre place called urban space was discreetly hidden all over the city, separate from reality.

It could be used as long as some complicated conditions were met.

“Is it the junction corridor?”

“Yeah, that’s what they call it! It’s a kind of shortcut!”

Joined by Kalia and Enrique, the Violets crisscrossed through alleys and walls. They knocked three times on the dead-end wall, turned left four times, and jumped in the air…

In an instant, they fell into the urban space.

“Where did you learn this?”

“I figured it out roughly!”

“Ugh!”

Kalia and I landed perfectly. On the other hand, Enrique fell flat on her backside.

After helping her up and looking around, a bizarre space with rusty pipes and concrete walls unfolded before us.

The identity of this space was a dimensional gap located between the academy city and the dungeon. The official name given by those Luminecs was Initiated Geometric-Subconscious Junction Corridor.

We simply called it the junction corridor.

The junction corridor was a dynamic space that changed constantly and could not be fully understood, but one thing was clear.

“It’s a shortcut!”

The Blocking Enforcement Agency’s gateway utilized this space. Although crude and unstable, with knowledge, we would manage to use this place somehow.

“Let’s head home and rest for now!”

“…Ah, we should. My clothes are stained with blood. How about you, Enrique?”

Enrique nodded. She looked mentally drained. Certainly, the most exhausted was Kalia. She was muttering and fussing with her jacket.

She had no major injuries, but there were quite a few scratches and marks on her face and body.

“Follow me! We can get out of here while heading toward the cliff!”

Thus, everything seemed to have come to a surface conclusion. After reviving Lemon, we checked the loot.

In truth, there was still a mountain of tasks left to address.

“What should we do about Luminec?”

Even though we destroyed their elite special forces here, the organization itself was still intact.

Who knew when they would try something bad again to take Enrique away?

“We’ve got to smash them!”

Before the semester ended and vacation began, I needed to take decisive action.

**

As midnight approached, I began interrogating the prisoners we had sequestered in this space.

“Now, it would be wise to answer our questions honestly. Got it?”

The prisoners were of two types. One was members of Luminec’s agents, and the other were terrorists who opened fire indiscriminately while searching for the senators.

Although we were called terrorists too, these fellows were truly vile.

They would throw explosives just by opening the door while searching a room, and shoot without caring about their surroundings.

“That’s a violation of the Geneva Convention!”

Yet, in the end, we had indeed triumphed with swords and spears. This was proof of the superiority of clone democracy.

“I’ll ask one last time. Answer! Water Splash!”

“Ugh…”

Surprisingly, even under our rough interrogation, they remained tight-lipped till the end. Their behavior made me suspect even more. What on earth was their identity that warranted this?

“Reminds me of that Lera fellow. She endured even to electrical torture!”

“Gasp! Could these fellows be professionals?”

It was quite troubling. We were masters of combat, not experts in torturing. Faced with an unforeseen wall, frustration surged up within me. If only we had a witch-like psycho to find some sort of solution.

“Wait! There’s a better method, right? Let’s use that!”

“Oh! Right!”

Thanks to Unit 7200’s suggestion, we remembered something we had forgotten. The interrogator was a unique ability holder; we could democratize it into a Violet.

In that case, couldn’t we utilize the ability of that fellow too?

“Alright…”

I grabbed the head of the terrorist in front of me, and he scoffed mockingly.

“Meaningless act. Hmph, what other tricks do you plan to pull…”

“…”

Recalling Unit 7200’s method of using her ability, I tried to execute it. I rummaged through my memories, accepting the senses and experiences of the woman who was once an interrogator.

Slowly channeling magical power, I penetrated the consciousness of the subject.

Realizing the urgency, the terrorist suddenly yelled.

“W-Wait! What is this? There’s something in my head—!”

The Luminec agent tied next to him surprisingly raised their head and exclaimed in horror.

“You freak! What are you doing?!”

“I’m interrogating!”

Following the guidance of the memories, I maneuvered the magical power gently. Slowly, as I infiltrated and unlatched the locks…

An unexpected pressure surged suddenly at that moment. It was as if the magical power aimed at the subject’s head burst forth from my right hand.

“Huh? Huh! This isn’t good!”

The terrorist’s head began to swell violently. I was flustered and didn’t know what to do.

“Gyaaaaaah!”

In an instant, the soldier’s head exploded. Covered in gore, we were aghast at the unexpected side effect, searching through the network’s interior.

Wondering if we absorbed anything.

“There’s no new Violet!”

“Gasp! Why?”

Was it because I was already adept at using the ability, that the prisoner had died?

“It could be that a security spell was cast. Then the failure probability would drastically increase.”

I see, it seems even unique abilities aren’t perfect. In the end, it returned as a failure, and all that was left was the hazy fragments of the terrorist’s memories.

“Viral Colonel… a naval… soldier?”

“It seems to be someone from a faction with many grievances against the Congress.”

A soldier, how pathetic it was that they were shooting in the city instead of fighting against the monsters.

The Violets sighed as they gathered the scattered fragments of consciousness.

They were too fuzzy to identify anything even under close scrutiny.

“This won’t do. Let’s practice using our abilities!”

I slowly approached the remaining prisoners. The terrorists gazed in terror between me and the bloody corpse.

“At this point, I’ll need to practice a bit. Sorry.”

“N-No! Don’t come near!”

-Bang!

One after another, heads exploded.