Harper opened his eyes in his fridge once more. He was livid. Irate. Absolutely burning with fury.

They make demands of him and then kill him? Oh no no no, that simply would not do. He wasn't just going to get any old skill. He was going to get the perfect skill. And then… then he would kill them all. Only once they begged and pleaded for him to stop would he consider letting them join him.

“Clone.”

Clone(Rank 1) RP: 1/10 > 2/10

Afterwards, he gave it a simple order.

"Pick up a rock. Let's get going." Harper joined the clone in also picking up a rock. He then wandered off to the right of his fridge. He needed to find skills, and he hadn’t seen any to the front of his fridge.

And I need to get strong enough to absolutely decimate that camp of holier-than-thou jackasses.

He considered bringing a torch, then remembered the calidums. No way in hell was he getting attacked by those again. He’d felt like he was going to boil in his skin.

And then I actually was. And by my own clone, no less. Hm. That’s another target on my shit list. I’m gonna call that one Brooke, cause no way in hell am I gonna brook that level of disrespect.

“Eyes peeled for glows.” Harper was on the defensive. After having died not once, but twice to betrayal, he couldn’t trust even himself.

The canopy was louder than usual. He could hear chittering, whooping, chirping, and even howling. He really hoped this jungle didn’t have canines that could climb trees.

The clone tapped him on the side. He whirled around with rock raised and took a quickstep backwards. He wasn’t letting another clone take him down.

The clone was stone-faced. It pointed off into the distance on the right. Harper looked over. A glow.

He grinned. This time the glow was red. He didn’t know what that meant, but it excited him. Rather than sprint however, he chose to take his time.

He grabbed mud off the ground and covered himself in it. He then mimed for the clone to lower itself and follow him. He crouched and snuck forward.

The red glow was still quite a ways from him, as well as in an elevated area of the jungle. That meant anything in the area had the high ground. He needed to be cautious. If it was fruit, excellent. If it was an animal, not so much.

Unfortunately, that question was soon answered for him. The red glow began moving and crested the point of the hill where he could no longer see it. The jungle faded back to darkness, and he saw he’d nearly run into a calidum. He rolled his eyes in annoyance and walked around it.

The treeline was once again reducing in number as he climbed. Starlight was bleeding through in streams, but he avoided each stream like the plague. The cacophony of sounds coming from the canopy had not reduced in the slightest. If anything, it was louder.

He licked his lips. Dry. He was starting to feel thirsty. That wasn’t good. An animal would be good for sustenance, not so much for hydration. Especially if the blood was burning hot like the last time he tried to drink it.

Finally, he crested the hill, and he had to take a moment to let his eyes adjust. Not only was the starlight everywhere now, it seemed there was bioluminescent moss on just about every tree. It was also all bright red in glow.

Oh no, that’s not sinister at all. Feel like I’m about to get jumped by Dracula. Now where is that damn glowing red animal?

Harper resummoned his clone. While he waited for the process, he scanned the area. And then he saw the pool. It was bright red in color, though whether that was due to the light everywhere or the liquid’s actual color, he had no idea.

Clone(Rank 1) RP: 2/10 > 3/10

He got even lower to the ground, which was thankfully just dirt now. Was the mud-filled jungle in a valley? He shook his head. Not important.

He bear crawled his way forward, being careful not to touch any of the moss or so much as crack a branch. He’d evaded notice from any animals thus far. He wanted to keep it that way. Not to mention, the trees were far enough apart there was no longer a canopy. If an animal wanted to pounce on him, there was little he could do.

Still, it truly was beautiful in the area. The sinister red glow was much better than the dim monotone of the jungle below. And, upon arriving at the pool of liquid, he saw that it was not red, rather it was reflecting the light surrounding it. On top of that, it was open to the sky almost entirely, reflecting the glow of the stars themselves.

Moths had even taken to gathering around and on the surface of the pool. They weren’t glowing thankfully, though they were red. Harper assumed that meant they were native to the area. Maybe they were edible? Questions for later.

For the time being, Harper looked over to his clone and spoke barely above a whisper. “Hold your hand in that pool for fifteen seconds, then show it to me.” He needed to be certain the pool wasn’t acidic or anything.

The clone did as it was told, holding his hand in the liquid then showing it to Harper. Nothing seemed to be amiss, but in the red lighting surrounding them, it was hard to tell if the clone’s hand was irritated.

Fuck it, I’m just gonna have to risk it being acid. I need a damn drink.

Harper leaned over to take a drink, then paused. Bubbles broke the water’s surface. The moths flew away. Silence. He threw himself backwards.

Out of the pool burst what could only be described as a crocodile. Or an alligator. It didn’t matter, nor did the fact that it wasn’t glowing. What mattered was it was at least twelve feet of angry and was coming straight for him.

He scrambled to a standing position and ran. “Clone, attack!” He didn’t look back, instead running for the nearest tree.

He climbed into the tree, careful not to touch the moss. The sound of his clone wrestling the crocogator broke the silence of the glade. Then they hit into a tree, his clone landing back first into some moss. It withered into a husk, then faded to dust. The crocogator sped towards the tree he was in.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, it probably couldn’t climb—

It sped up the side of the tree almost as fast as it moved on land. Harper let out a yelp and threw himself to the ground. He landed with a roll, then sprinted as hard as he could. He didn’t dare glance back.

Harper was gasping for air as his legs screamed for him to stop. “How the hell do I keep finding myself running away from everything?! Fuuuuuuuuuuck!”

A snarl. A loud sound of flesh tackling against flesh.

Harper stopped dead in his tracks. He’d been so focused on sprinting, he nearly ran straight into a rock covered in blood moss, as he decided to call it. But more importantly, what was that sound? He spun around.

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There was the animal he was truly after. It was a polar bear sized wolf glowing bright red and presently tearing the crocogator to shreds. Thankfully, it was too preoccupied with its meal to give him the time of day.

Oh shit oh shit oh shit, I have to kill that thing? There ain’t no fucking way.

He closed his eyes tight and spoke barely above a whisper. “Clone.”

Clone(Rank 1) 3/10 > 4/10

He stayed low to the ground as the sounds of flesh being torn and eaten filled the glade. While it did that, he grabbed a rock from the ground. He didn’t expect to win, but damn if he wasn’t going to try.

And by try, he meant he was going to send as many clones at it as he could. He had maybe four more in him. If he could just get to the water, that number might double.

The clone separated itself from him. He leaned close to its ear. “Alright, listen up. You’re going to circle around to its left side. You’re to throw rocks at it from a distance and draw its attention. From there, run away as fast as you fucking can. Ready?” He lightly pushed his clone on the back, then snuck his way towards the pool of water.

It wasn’t too far from him, which let him know just how close he’d been to biting it earlier. It was far enough it would likely take more than one clone, but at least there was another tree between him and the pool. He could hide on the other side of it, where hopefully there wasn’t any moss. The side he could see was covered in it.

He watched as the clone threw a rock at the giant wolf. The wolf perked its head up. Another rock hit it square in the ear. What he didn’t anticipate was for the wolf to reach the clone in a single pounce. It just barely dodged the attack, though it did lose an arm when the wolf clawed it off. The clone then turned tail and sprinted, putting Harper to shame.

He took that as his cue to move double time for the tree. Unfortunately, it was covered in moss on all sides.

What the hell, I thought moss only partially covered trees? What is up with this devil moss?

He laid down near the tree, doing his best to minimize his profile without touching it. He then tried to summon a clone, and nearly cursed out loud when it worked. That could only mean the other clone was already dead in seconds.

Clone(Rank 1) RP: 4/10 > 5/10

Indeed, he could hear the giant wolf sniffing the air. His adrenaline spiked when it started padding around, the heavy thumps of its steps echoing in the silent glade.

Come on, come on you stupid clone, hurry up and separate!

When the clone did finally separate, he didn’t hesitate in telling it to sprint away from the pool of water. He then realized just how close the wolf already was. He heard a snarl that must have literally been on the other side of the tree followed by rapid stomps chasing down his clone.

He took the opportunity to sneak himself over to the water and took a massive gulp. It tasted disgusting and probably gave him a parasite of some kind, but he didn’t care. It was cool and refreshed him after days of going without water. It might as well have been finely aged wine to him.

Between gulps of water he took the time to summon another clone. Good thing too, a howl pierced the air, followed by rapid padding.

Clone(Rank 1) RP: 5/10 > 6/10

Oh fuck, it’s coming right at me!

Indeed, when the clone separated from him, it was immediately tackled by the wolf as they both soared overhead. Ice ran through his veins as he saw the true scope of what he was fighting, though only briefly.

The wolf was light brown in color and pulsating with a red glow that seemed to permeate into its skin. It had to be at least fifteen feet from tip to tail and was rippling with bulging muscles even through its thick fur. Any one of its limbs were half the size of Harper’s entire body.

He slunk under the water as his clone was once again ripped apart. Every time another clone faded to dust he could hear the wolf get angrier as it snarled. He did his best to pay it no mind and simply focused on surviving.

Unfortunately, it seemed the crocogator wasn’t the only inhabitant of the pool. Harper tried his best not to react as he felt multiple leeches attach to his nude form. He didn’t have very long.

Of course this fucking blood glade has leeches. Why wouldn’t it?

That wasn’t the worst part for him. The moths had come back. When some of them landed on him, the world immediately started to spin. The water and moss all went from red to purple to blue and continued to oscillate between those colors. He whirled his head around, scaring off any more of the moths.

He then summoned a clone. Only this time, it felt like he was the clone as the original gave him orders. He felt himself run out of the pool when ordered. He felt as the wolf, which now had three heads, attacked him. He felt as it ripped apart his body and he even felt himself fade to dust. It was oddly peaceful.

Clone(Rank 1) RP: 6/10 > 7/10

His consciousness returned to his own body and he could feel that he didn’t have long. The leeches were all ballooning with his blood and the wolf was getting both angrier and bigger. It was the size of a hippo now. Why did he know how big a hippo was?

Another clone. This time he blissfully stayed in his own form. He told this clone to grab a rock and hit the wolf. The clone left the pool, grabbed a rock, and was ripped apart by the three-headed wolf. Wait, it had three heads now? What a sneaky wolf! Harper sank further into the water. More leeches latched on. He was getting woozier by the second.

Clone(Rank 1) RP: 7/10 > 8/10

He opened his mouth to summon another clone, but when he spoke the words floated into the air. That wasn’t good. The wolf was going to see the words! He had to hide them. He told the clone to hide the words. It followed his orders to the letter, which was presently growing in size. It stood in front of the words with arms and legs outstretched like a starfish.

Clone(Rank 1) RP: 8/10 > 9/10

Hey, that reminds me of the starfish guy! What was his name again? Malo? Eeeeeevillllll.

The clone was bisected by razor sharp claws that left a glowing red gouge in the air. That could be bad for the space-time continuum. He should send a clone to deal with it.

Another clone came from the pool, even faster than the last one. This one threw itself into the rip in space, causing it to fade from existence. Good. The universe was safe. Unfortunately, the clone landed right in the jaws of the center wolf.

Wow, that’s big. It must be Cerberus! No wonder it has three heads!

Clone(Rank 1) RP: 9/10 > 10/10

Rank Up

Clone(Rank 1 > Rank 2) RP: 0/10

Rank 2? As in, 2 clones? Good idea system, let’s do it! And you know what, I’ll join the fight! Three heads, three Harpers! Let’s do it!

Harper summoned the two clones and ran out of the pool of water. They practically burst forth from his body. “Clones, attack! Let’s send this doggy back to hell where he belongs!”

Clone(Rank 2) RP: 0/10 > 2/10

Cerberus was visibly exhausted. He’d eaten enough clones to last him a lifetime, but Harper just kept sending more of them! He hadn’t even moved from the mouth of the pool anymore, which made sense considering the food was coming to him. And now there were three Harpers. That wouldn’t end well for him.

Indeed, Harper, Harper, and Harper all tackled Cerberus, throwing themselves each on one of the heads. They each punched, kicked, and bit at Cerberus with everything they had. Each of Cerberus’ heads thrashed around wildly, but the Harpers wouldn’t let go.

Cerberus clawed and tore at the two clones on either head, leaving only the true, central Harper attacking its middle head. He thrashed even more wildly when he realized Harper wasn’t relenting.

The two heads bit and attacked Harper, but he paid them no mind. They ripped his legs off, but he continued fighting with his arms and mouth.

“CLONES!” 2 more clones exploded from Harper’s back and rejoined the fight against Cerberus. They came at him from underneath this time, biting and clawing at his throat. Indeed, Harper could see as the clones grew giant claws and used them to rip apart his throat.

Clone(Rank 2) RP: 2/10 > 4/10

Then, the coup de grace. The clones ran underneath Cerberus’ enormous hulking form and disemboweled him. His guts spilled everywhere and he collapsed to the ground, unable to hold himself up any longer. The lights and colors of his aura had exploded at this point, filling the glade with a red glow. All of the moss had started to encroach on their position. They could hardly move for fear of touching the moss and dying instantly.

Harper dove directly into Cerberus’ insides, digging around for the source of the glow. Then, he found it. The still-beating heart of the beast. He grabbed it and ate it whole. And immediately he was filled with a burning fire. He was going to die. He knew it, but he couldn’t help himself. He started eating more of Cerberus. All of Cerberus would be his to devour.

He ate and ate of the glowing red meat until the glow faded, leaving him in darkness.

Skill Earned

Primal Fury(Rank 0)