Pandora needed only one day to cross the border. Hence, before the day ended, they had found their quarries.
Down on the ground, they saw four orcs riding in the direction of Giggragh Village. The murderers from the four border settlements must have gathered before they headed to their hideout.
"Stay up here, I will disable them first," Jack told Hans.
He then jumped out of Pandora. His gold dragon wings spread from his back.
The four orcs down there were just elite grades below level 50. It took Jack no time to bind them with runic ropes. Pandora brought Hans to the ground then.
Jack threw one of the orcs before Hans. "Tell that human what you told me just now," Jack said. He had questioned the orcs before Pandora landed.
"I… I'm the one who killed the young noble in Thenitsa…" The orc admitted.
Hans unsheathed his glaive upon hearing it. He was about to hit the orc with that weapon, but he stopped.
"What's wrong? I thought you want revenge?" Jack asked.
Hans sighed. "Enough lives have been lost today… Put him in Thenitsa's jail. I will make sure he won't escape for life. He will suffer more that way."
Jack smiled. He clasped Hans' shoulder. "You are a good man, Lord Orline," Jack said.
Jack tied the four orcs onto Pandora. These four orcs were heavy but the nightmare could still haul them. While doing it, Jack reported the result to John.
"We have foiled Master's plan. He won't find us vulnerable when he invades us," Jack said.
"It turns out that despite this disruption he orchestrated, we are not his target," John replied.
"What do you mean?"
"The Liguritudum force has just crossed the border and invaded the Republic of Palgrost."
*
After bringing Hans back to Thenitsa, Jack took the zone portal back to Thereath.
He had a short meeting with Hans and Lance before he left. Hans promised to work together with Lance to convince the people of Thenitsa and the other border settlements that the issue with the orcs was resolved.
Lance was rather surprised to find Hans being much calmer compared to when he left. He also couldn't believe that Hans brought back his son's murderer alive. Lance threw the four orcs into jail and said that his people would interrogate them for any intel they had.
Out of the conversation with those natives, Jack was notified that his auxiliary skill, Diplomacy, had leveled up. It was now Basic Master.
In Thereath, Jack didn't go to the castle immediately, he went to the mage academy instead. He had been planning to fuse his spells after completing the training inside the Space-time Chamber, but the emergency at the border had kept him busy.
Now, he made the time before going to deal with the next emergency.
Arriving at the mage academy, he proceeded to the room with the magic furnace after greeting old Janus. He used magic stones to activate the magic furnace.
He selected the option for spell fusion and fused Lightning Strike with Lightning Mine. The resulting spell was Lightning Pursuit. He continued and fused Body Double with Magic Clone. The two spells became Double Clone.
*
Lightning Pursuit, level 20/20 (Active spell, range, requires magic weapons)
Mark five 10-meter radius areas. Lightning will strike one random enemy within the marked areas every 3 seconds, dealing 600% lightning damage.
30% chance to inflict Paralyze.
Range: 100 meters
Duration: 30 seconds
Cooldown: 20 minutes
Mana: 250
*
Double Clone, level 20/20 (Active spell), star: 5
Creates two identical clones of the caster.
If the caster dies during the spell activation, one of the clones will become the caster.
Duration: 30 minutes
Cooldown: 2 hours 30 minutes
Mana: 400
*
Both spells were max-leveled once fused. This was because Lightning Strike and Body Double were already max-leveled before they were fused.
For lightning pursuit, Peniel explained that level one only let Jack mark one area, and each lightning strike dealt 400% lightning damage instead of 600%. Every level up increased the damage by 10% and every five levels added an area to be marked.
As for Double Clone, the level-up increased the spell's duration while the star upgrades decreased its cooldown. At level 1, Double Clone lasted only ten minutes. Every level-up increased its duration by one minute. The spell's original cooldown was three hours. Each star decreased the cooldown by six minutes.
He didn't have the time to experiment with the Lightning Pursuit spell. He would need to go to a place where he couldn't hurt a bystander or damage a building. If this room was damaged by his spell, Janus might not let him use the room again next time. The Double Clone, however, was harmless.
He cast the spell and two identical copies appeared next to him.
"Hm… Fascinating," He remarked.
If it was other players who cast this spell, they would find it disorienting to suddenly have three simultaneous sensations at the same time. Jack had a similar experience when he cast Body Double, but that spell only gave him additional points of view since the copies were just mirages.
This Double Clone spell gave him real bodies. He not only saw through these copies' eyes, but also heard, smelled, tasted, and felt from them. If not for his Hundred Synchronous Thoughts, he would need some time to adjust to these multi-senses.
One of his copies cast the Illumination spell. He then had the other copy cast the same spell. He failed. A notification informed him that the spell was on cooldown.
"So, the cooldown is shared," Jack said.
"Yep," Peniel confirmed.
He then had his clone use Flame Strike. The clone executed the skill without a problem.
"Yes! These clones can use my other classes' skills!" Jack exclaimed excitedly.
"I guess the spell truly creates identical copies," Peniel remarked.
Jack then had his clones fired a ranged attack at him. His cloak automatically defended the attack. He waited five seconds and he fired back at the clone. The clone was hit.
"My clones got the buff from equipment but only my real body can use the equipment's ability," Jack uttered.
He experimented for a little while more before ending the spell and said, "Okay, let's head to the palace. The others are waiting."
He said goodbye to old Janus on the way out. It was already nighttime when he came out of the mage academy. He headed directly to the palace but he didn't enter the throne room. He went instead to the war room, which was a large meeting room that also had a projection device.
The reason was that John had invited several other players to discuss the situation of Liguritudum's invasion, and Thaergood wasn't that keen on letting so many players inside the throne room.
When Jack entered the war room, it was bustling with people, both natives and players.
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