Su Zhan gave the order, and the Clones quickly got busy.
At the same time, the supervisor—
"Um?"
The supervisor, who was gambling, turned around out of habit and found that the three positioning stones belonging to his subordinates were quietly broken, which made him frown.
Although each positioning stone looked almost the same, he knew these three very well… They were a group led by Lao Gao, a trio who liked to cause trouble and kill people.
Like other small organizations and factions, they liked to join forces for sneak attacks and murders.
Sometimes they attacked people under his own command, sometimes they secretly killed others under the supervisor's command. At first, he hadn't bothered to interfere—after all, deaths were common in the mine.
But these three never knew restraint. In just three days, they had killed more than twenty people.
By now, other supervisors were unhappy. If the workforce shrank too quickly, the higher-ups would start asking questions.
Still, the three were clever enough to realize the trouble they were in and came to him on their own—offering spirit stones, women, and treating him to good food and wine. So he told them it was fine to kill people, but not too openly—set up your own mining area and also pay visits to others, spreading the trouble around.
Fortunately, they were obedient enough, and things stayed peaceful.
He never expected…
All three had now lost their lives!
"All three dead at once. Not even one escaped. They must have run into something fierce."
He knew the combat strength of the trio. Even against a small team, they could hold their own—especially Lao Gao, who was far stronger than the average miner. If anyone could have escaped, it would have been him.
Yet all three were slaughtered together. That meant their opponent was no pushover—probably superior both in numbers and in strength.
"Shame about the spirit stones, wine, and good food."
The supervisor muttered, showing no real grief, then turned back to continue gambling.
In his eyes, their only worth had been the bribes they brought him.
⸻
Coincidentally—or not—
Since the three were killed, a pit that had been deserted for nearly half a month suddenly had visitors almost every day.
The next day, two people came.
They were more direct than the man in gray—attacking Su Zhan the moment they saw him giving "orders."
The result: six Clones appeared instantly.
On the third day, one man came, looked at Su Zhan for three seconds, and silently left.
On the fourth day, in the morning, came the largest number yet—four people!
Unsurprisingly, they cursed Su Zhan as they approached.
Also unsurprisingly, the six Clones surrounded and killed them on the spot. In their terror and despair, they lost their lives quickly.
The swift end to the battle was thanks to Su Zhan's primary spiritual dagger—flashing between the six Clones, pouring aura into it to harvest every last enemy.
This time, Su Zhan learned a trick.
He deliberately left one alive to reveal the hiding place of their spirit stones. Terrified after watching his companions die to the six shadowy Clones, the survivor gave up the location.
After retrieving the bag with hundreds of spirit stones, Su Zhan waved his hand.
"No, no, you promised you wouldn't—"
Before the man could finish, one Clone snapped his neck.
"I promised not to kill you myself," Su Zhan said lightly, "but I never said my Clones wouldn't. I keep my word, don't I, Clones?"
The Clone tilted its head, as if trying to understand. With its current level of intelligence, it clearly couldn't.
Su Zhan had no mercy for these people.
If not for his hidden trump cards, he would probably be the one lying dead right now.
"One hundred and five!"
"Adding the 220 I gathered in the past two days—that's enough for the fifth stage!"
Without hesitation, Su Zhan extended his right hand and began absorbing the spirit stones like mad.
50.
51.
52.
53.
With the last three dissolving into the pitch-black mark —
"Come!"
Before Su Zhan, black smoke rose from thin air, quickly forming into human shapes.
But the number surprised him.
"Four… four?!"
Su Zhan's eyes lit up, joy overflowing.
The appearance of four new shadow Clones meant not only an expanded team and a huge jump in overall combat strength, but also a direct 80% boost in daily mining output. More importantly, in future stages, the number of Clones would increase even further!
"This rising number feels wonderful."
"But I wonder if there are any new abilities?"
Compared to sheer numbers, Su Zhan was more eager for new functions—every time he unlocked one, it was a qualitative leap in power.
He closed his eyes, letting his consciousness dive in.
"Change."
"The dark mist capacity increased to ten."
"The black cube… seems bigger?"
Entering the black cube—yes, the space had grown from just 1 cubic meter to 2 cubic meters!
"No other changes."
"It seems the fifth stage greatly boosts existing abilities—larger capacity, stronger functions—but adds no new skills. If I'm right, the Clones' intelligence has also improved slightly."
In other words, at this "cooldown" stage, quantity rises, functions grow stronger, but no new features are unlocked.
The fifth stage was just like the third—more Clones, smarter Clones, but no fresh abilities.
"That fits the pattern. Each new ability needs a gap in between… a cooldown. Only then can something truly new appear."
From repeated upgrades, Su Zhan had pieced together the rule: unlocking new functions wasn't easy, and the black mark always demanded equivalent exchange—better powers required far more spirit stones and higher stages.