Chapter 1898 - 1898. Copy

Creating copies of one existence wasn't exactly an easy matter, especially for laws as troublesome as Noah's ambition. He believed himself to be far more dangerous than the rulers, so he couldn't allow for two versions of him to exist at the same time.

Still, Noah couldn't even hold back from making the copies accurate since that would only give unclear results. His issue forced him to change the training area and request other materials to make sure that everything remained under his control.

Copying himself wasn't the main issue. Noah had access to the dark matter, which could become everything he needed it to be. Forcing his higher energy to replicate his existence ended up relatively easy since that fuel was a core part of his law. The problems came later when his creations gained his mind.

"So," A small humanoid figure surrounded by countless inscriptions announced, "I'm not Noah Noah. You are the real Noah, and you have created me to improve yourself."

Noah felt a headache growing inside his mind as he inspected the scene inside the orange inscriptions. Those formations featured a tiny version of him that leaked small trails of dark matter whenever it spoke or moved. Yet, it carried an almost identical version of his centers of power and existence.

'I hope these things work,' Noah thought while looking at the inscriptions and the two massive orange crystals that aimed their pointy tips at his tiny copy.

Noah had to bring the workshop to a new level to copy himself. He had to meditate for many years to develop a blueprint and invest many valuable materials to create tiny versions of his centers of power to build that small replica. He had even added chunks of his energies to make sure that everything was as perfect as possible, which led him to his current situation.

"You don't talk," The tiny version exclaimed while wearing a pensive expression. "Right, we don't talk much in these situations."

The tiny version started to inspect its surroundings. It showed cold smiles at the many defenses in place. It seemed to rejoice whenever it realized how much effort Noah had put in making sure that nothing left that room.

"Are we so scared of ourselves?" The tiny Noah asked.

"You already know the answer," Noah sighed. "There can't be two of us."

"I know," The tiny Noah replied in an excited tone. "Though you know that I won't die easily. I live, so I want power."

Noah couldn't find a proper answer. He knew himself better than anyone else in the world, so he understood his tiny version's feelings perfectly. That small replica carried his ambition, which naturally made it desire to be the original and reach the peak of the world.

"We must be desperate to do this," The tiny version laughed. "What is it now? Is the final battle approaching?"

Noah didn't answer. He didn't want to do anything that could trigger the tiny version's ambition, even if he knew how pointless his hopes were. After all, he was about to give it a lot of power.

"I know your desires," Noah eventually declared. "I know your dreams. I know you. You aren't stupid either. You are aware that your existence is only a flawed version of my power."

The tiny version showed a cold smile that didn't reveal any emotion. It was the first time that Noah saw something so deep and unclear, and a tinge of pride inevitably appeared inside his mind. However, his speech had to continue.

"I know that you won't give up on life easily," Noah added. "I'm not asking you to. It's not in our nature. Yet, when you are about to die, remember that causing fewer problems will only quicken my progress."

"Are you trying to appeal to my mercy?" The tiny version asked while wearing a frown. "Are you sure you made everything correctly? That doesn't sound like me."

"I'm appealing to your ambition," Noah explained, "My ambition. We strive to seize power to destroy the sky and venture toward the stars. We'll suffer and risk losing if you oppose the process too much."

"Why do you even bother to say this?" The tiny version scoffed. "You know us. We won't give up, even as a fake."

'I know,' Noah answered in his mind before stretching his hand forward.

An orange barrier materialized when his hand reached the inscriptions. Those protections forced him out of the insides of the prison, but Noah already knew that. He had requested those arrays for specific reasons, so he was aware of their functioning.

A dark aura started to seep out of Noah's palm while it remained attached to the orange barrier. The energy managed to pass, but his skin remained on the other side. That was another feature that he had requested. He needed to fill the insides of the formations with his ambition to trigger the transformation, so orange light had to make some exceptions.

"Are we really sure this is the right path?" Tiny Noah asked. "Are we so desperate to discover the road ahead?"

"Yes," Noah quickly answered as his ambition continued to fill the insides of the formations.

"It might work then," The tiny version replied. "Desperation is a great fuel. We had always been great at channeling it."

"Focus on your improvements for now," Noah reminded as the ambition seeping out of his palm intensified.

The tiny version was an exact copy of himself, but it had smaller centers of power. Advancing would be far easier for it, especially with Noah's ambition involved.

The process started immediately. Noah pressed on one of the lines in front of him, and resources appeared inside the prison. The ambition began to improve the items right away, but he made sure that his small copy seized its benefits.

The tiny version grew in power and size as the process continued. It never became as big as Noah, but its cultivation level eventually stepped into the ninth rank. Its smaller organs and ambition allowed it to become stronger faster than him, and Noah didn't hesitate to take note of the feelings experienced when watching the breakthrough.

Noah had replicated the conditions for a natural breakthrough. His methods weren't exactly perfect since that was only his first time creating a copy of himself, but he still learnt something important that he felt sure he would carry to the final experiment.

The ambition generated by the tiny version had developed the ethereal center of power. The potential that its law had accumulated made it gather enough fuel to turn its true meaning into a force that it could wield like never before. Yet, before it could enjoy it a bit, Noah activated the other formations and started to suppress his copy.

"Not yet!" The tiny figure roared. "You just gave me power in the ninth rank! I can fight!"

The tiny version ended up fighting back against the orange light converging toward it. Slashes, singularities, and various attacks that Noah knew far too well shot out of the being's figure and landed on the orange light that didn't slow down at all. The situation seemed desperate, but the copy didn't give up.

"You'd better use my life for something incredible," The tiny version eventually announced when the inscription had the best over it.

"Of course," Noah announced while watching the copy shattering into a wave of dark matter that vanished under the orange light radiated by the formations.

The first test had been a success. Noah had confirmed what fuel he had to use for the ethereal organ. Now he only had to repeat the process until he felt confident enough to complete his project.

****

Author's notes: Thank you, Jakob_Voogd, for the Spacecraft!