[EDRIC WINDWALKER]
Age: 16 years, 7 months, and 9 days
[TASKS]
* Next task unlocks in: 20 minutes
* Next task unlocks in: 19 days
[TECHNIQUES]
* Legendary Knight Training: 251 / 1,500,000
* Legendary Mage Training: 35 / 1,500,000
[TALENTS]
* Knight Talent: Legendary (0 / 2,400,000)
* Mage Talent: Average (0 / 100,000)
[SKILLS]
* Energy Absorption (Red)
* Magnetic Pull (Golden)
* Beast’s Senses (Golden)
* Poison Resistance (Golden)
* Crystal Skin (Silver)
* Bloodline Sensing (Silver)
* Telekinesis (Silver)
* Steel Hair Manipulation (Silver)
* Extreme Yang (Silver)
* See-Through (Silver)
* Flesh Control (White)
[CHEAT ABILITY]
* Low Level – 1,000 XP per day
Available XP: 434,914
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Edric’s eyes gleamed as he stared at the interface floating before him. "Only 20 minutes left!" he muttered, barely able to contain his excitement.
"If the next task is related to having children again … and if it counts my clone’s children as my own—" his heartbeat quickened at the thought. "That would be incredible! I might be able to complete it instantly! Or at the very least, clear it in record time."
His anticipation made the minutes drag, but eventually—
Ding!
[New Task Available]
Edric glanced at the task description, and a wave of frustration and disbelief washed over him.
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[Task: Ancestor of a State]
Progress: 2,813 / 100,000
Objective: Conceive 100,000 children within 1,000 days.
Rewards:
* 1 Mythic Chest
* 2 Legendary Chests
* 1,000,000 XP
* A Mythic-rank weapon
Failure Penalty: Lose 2,000,000 XP
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Edric's eyes widened. "One hundred thousand?! Are you serious? What happened to ten thousand?!" He clenched his fists, his mind racing.
"Could it be... the system thought 10,000 was too easy for me, so it just threw in an extra zero?"
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. His gaze flickered to the progress bar—2,813 children already. That meant his clones' offspring were being counted, just as he had hoped. That was a relief.
Still, he had 97,000 more to go. And he only had 1,000 days.
"It wouldn’t be easy. It wouldn’t be easy at all."
But the reward of the Mythic Chest alone made it worth it for him. The 2,000,000 XP penalty, on the other hand, was terrifying. That was nearly six years’ worth of system XP. He couldn’t afford to fail.
Edric exhaled sharply. The more he thought about it, the more absurd the task felt. "A hundred thousand children?" It was an incomprehensible number. He’d probably become a record holder in whatever twisted history book kept track of such things.
But there was no use dwelling on the scale of it. He had already made his decision.
"I need that Mythic Chest as soon as possible. I have to find a way to do this faster than the deadline!"
His clone in Windwalker City was already ensuring the birth of a hundred children per day. But there was a problem—an upper limit.
When the plan was first announced by the Marquis Alaric Windwalker, tens of thousands of women volunteered. But over time, many had withdrawn, leaving less than 10,000 on the waiting list.
That meant, at best, the total number wouldn’t exceed 10,000 children in a short time unless more people volunteered.
Edric frowned.
He needed a new strategy. And he needed it fast.
Marquis Windwalker was not a benevolent leader but wasn’t outright cruel either. If no one volunteered, he wouldn’t force them.
That was the real problem.
Once his clone ran out of willing participants, the entire operation would come to a screeching halt.
"How the hell am I supposed to have 97,000 children in less than three years?!" Edric groaned, rubbing his temples as a headache settled in.
There was only one solution he could think of—magic.
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He sighed heavily. If he could find a spell that allowed him to create permanent clones, he could drastically increase his efficiency. With enough clones, completing this absurd task quickly would actually become possible.
But that was easier said than done.
For the past month, he had been searching, asking, and offering absurd amounts of money—yet he had found nothing. Magic books were rare. Even if one did appear, no one would sell it.
His best hope now was the big auction in a few days. But even there, there were no guarantees.
Edric had been preparing for this auction for a long time. He had 25 million silver coins set aside for it. Most of it came from the Darkwind Family, but a fair portion was from something else—bandit dens he had looted over the past few weeks.
As far as Edric was concerned, stealing from bandits wasn’t just justified—it was a public service.
Still, if the auction didn’t have what he needed… he would be back to square one.
There was another option, of course—improving his existing clone spell or creating a brand-new one.
But that was a nightmare.
Edric scowled. "My talent for magic is unbelievably low. There's no way I can invent or improve spells on my own."
The books he already had were useless in this regard. None of them contained spells for making multiple clones or even permanent ones.
He did have a spell for creating avatars, but…
It was worthless for his current situation. He had already tested it—avatars couldn’t have children. Unlike clones, they weren’t made of actual flesh but mere projections.
It had its uses, but not for this task.
Edric let out another deep sigh. If he couldn’t produce 97,000 children in less than three years, it wouldn’t just mean losing out on the Mythic Chest, Legendary Chests, and a million XP, and a Mythic Weapon—he would also be punished with a loss of 2,000,000 XP.
That was six years' worth of system XP— a price too steep to pay.
If only he could stumble upon a cloning technique that allowed him to create multiple permanent clones… but he knew better than to count on luck.
Magic books didn’t just appear out of nowhere.
This isn’t a novel. It’s reality.
If this were some cheap web novel, he would have miraculously discovered a hidden spellbook in some forgotten corner, conveniently solving all his problems in an instant.
But this was his life.
And nothing came that easy.
Edric leaned back, exhaling sharply as he ran through the possibilities.
...
After spending days thinking it over, he identified two main ways he could get his hands on magic books—or, at the very least, magical items that might help him.
The First Method—Buying Them
The most straightforward option was simply purchasing them. Whether through private sellers, marketplaces, or high-stakes auctions, there had to be people out there willing to sell.
So far, he hadn’t had any luck. But in all fairness—no major auctions had been held yet.
And he hadn’t yet found a market that even dealt in magic books.
But that didn’t mean they didn’t exist.
If he searched hard enough, sooner or later, he would find the right people. And when he did—he would be ready.
If he couldn’t buy them, then there was only one other way.
Steal them.
So far, Edric had access to three treasuries:
* His mother, Countess Lyria’s treasury – Contained a few silver-level spellbooks.
* Marquis Alaric Windwalker’s treasury – Had the largest collection, including a golden-level book.
* Marquis Rhaegor Darkwind’s treasury – Only had two books, neither of which contained spells.
The lack of books in Marquis Darkwind’s treasury wasn’t because his family had no inheritance, but because he had sold most of them to the mage Renata.
If both the Darkwind and Windwalker families had magic books, it was possible that other noble families did as well.
Of course, it could also be that the reason these two families had magic books in the first place was due to an ancestor who had been a mage.
Edric wasn’t an expert on noble ancestry, so he couldn’t be sure. But it was entirely possible that the Windwalkers weren’t the only ones who had inherited magic books from a powerful ancestor. If other noble families had similar inheritances, then…
Stealing from them would be easy.
As a Golden-ranked Mage and Knight, he could sneak in and out without leaving a trace.
That said, while stealing was an option, there existed a safer plan.
Rather than outright taking the books, he would simply read and learn them on the spot. This way, he could take whatever knowledge he needed without raising suspicion.
After all, if multiple noble families suddenly found their magic books missing, they would immediately suspect foul play.
...
Edric had already identified his first targets—the nobles of the Windwalker family.
Besides his mother, Countess Lyria, and Marquis Alaric Windwalker, there were other nobles in the Windwalker lineage, including Viscount families and Baron families.
These Viscounts and Barons were side branches of the Windwalker family, but they still carried the same bloodline.
If the Silver Mage ancestor had left books for the main family, there was a good chance he had left something for them as well.
His next targets were the Counts, Viscounts, and Barons of the Darkwind family.
There was less of a chance that they had inherited anything from the Silver Mage ancestor, since the Darkwind noble titles had been created long after that ancestor’s death.
But there was still a possibility.
And Edric intended to find out.
Once Edric was done searching the Darkwind and Windwalker family estates, his next targets were clear:
* The Highpeak family
* The Sunfire family
* And lastly, the Stonefist family
Of these, the Stonefists were the most dangerous. Their leader, Duke Stonefist, was a Golden Knight. If Edric wasn’t careful, he could be caught.
After investigating the neighboring noble families, if he still failed to find anything useful, he would have to expand his search even further.
That would take time.
Which meant that his days of relaxing were over.
From now on, he had to move quickly. Every moment counted.
There were still a few days left until the auction, but he couldn’t afford to just sit around waiting.
He would leave today.
His first stop? The Windwalker family estate.
...
Finding a quiet place, Edric activated his Double-Boosted Flight Spell and shot into the sky.
Whoosh!
The wind howled around him as he streaked through the air.
Before becoming a Golden Mage, he hadn’t been able to use Silver-level boost spells like ‘Boost’ or ‘Double Boost.’ But now?
His high-grade Golden Mana did most of the work for him.
Boost. Double. Triple. Sharpen. Penetrate. Blunt. Weaken. Widen. Concentrate. Spread.
These weren’t full spells, but Spell Modifiers.
By themselves, these modifiers were useless, but when cast before another spell, they could significantly alter its effect.
For example, ‘Double’ on its own did nothing.
But if cast before Fireball—
It would create two Fireballs instead of one.
Of course, the mana cost would also double.
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Five Days Later
Sitting in his room, Edric turned on his magic laptop and entered the virtual video conference app.
The auction had begun.