Prince of The Abyss

Knowledge shards are awarded when killing something, either a monster, a human, or who knows what else. Plants, eggs, and all those types of weird things can give shards. Of course, it’s a little different when it comes to them.

But humans, especially in books, always give shards, whether they have powers or not.

They just don’t give a lot, since their class and rank are automatically the lowest; they are Reader Fragments, which is a little weird, knowing that these people he has killed, who barely knew how to wield the blade, were the same rank he was in Frozen Crown.

I mean, he had killed a Breaker at the same rank and class as them, yet they can’t even kill him.

Either way, his ego was getting in the way; after all, he was only able to do it because of the situation he was in, and even some luck. Not skill. His path was the reason he was able to kill the Queen, because her shadow betrayed her. And let’s not even start with the fact that Praise was helping him

But that isn’t the point; even if these people he killed were weak, they would still give him shards, their deaths would still be announced.

So then had they not died?

That was just not possible

For a Reader Fragment to survive some of the finishers he had done, they would have to have an extremely powerful healer, and even then, he doubted it was possible. You don’t just get a blade to pierce your head and survive.

So then what the heck?

Why had he not gained any shards after killing? And it wasn’t like this was a one-time thing; if he looked back on all his previous fights, he only got shards when he killed the boy, so then what was up with the rest, and what was special about the boy?

...

Expect he had something like this happen before.

Back in Frozen Crown, at the beginning, he had killed a fisherman, and while he didn’t realize it at the time, he hadn’t gained any shards for it; only when he met the King card did he realize that the one he had killed was only a body, a clone of the original. That had been why he hadn’t gained anything.

Yet, back in the book, he had challenged with his team, hadn’t he gained shards for the clones he had killed?

So then what was different? Well, if he had to say. It was because the clones of the priest were their own people, clones but their own people. While the clones of the Fisherman were bodies of his, he lived through them; he used the bodies, they were a part of him, so of course he didn’t get shards for it, since he hadn’t killed the main body.

So then...

Were the people he fought just clones... but if so, who was creating them? I mean, it was probably not allowed to do so, so then who would really go against the rules for profit... I mean, of course, the Crimson Ledger, but then why, when fighting someone from another faction, had he not gained any shards either... was it that all the factions were doing it?

”Or maybe the Crimson Ledger just sold these clones without the others knowing.” The Abyss said, with confidence.

And while he didn’t like saying that it was right, it was a very plausible theory, after all, the Crimson Ledger would sell their fighters for money, so what’s stopping them from selling some clones? In his eyes, it was something they would definitely do.

But there was a bigger question that he just didn’t understand, no matter how hard he tried to.

For the clones not to give him shards, they have to be like the fisherman’s instead of how the priest did them.

So, did that mean that the Crimson Ledger had people being cloned and living through their cloned bodies?

But where would they get people to do this kind of thing, and more importantly, after their clone dies, does the original body leave? After all, could the Crimson Ledger just build another one and put it into battle again? Yeah, they could, but at the same time, people would notice, after all, someone died and came back. That wasn’t possible.

So they wouldn’t do such a thing. Not when this whole thing is so risky.

So then what happens to the body?...

If he had to say, the house would probably change how he looks, and do it again, after all, wouldn’t it be useless to just make a clone and then kill the original when the clone dies? Just put the original body inside.

But then another question emerged: if the clone gets to a high level and dies, does the original body get all the experiences and strength the clone had?

Really, he hated clones.

Yet at the same time, this was a very good way to bring the Crimson Ledger to the ground, to get the kicked out, and if he proved that all the other factions were also using their clones, he could get all the factions out, and maybe even the arena to shut down, but how?

He can’t just say that he didn’t get any shards, after all, the people here weren’t part of the Codex; they had no idea what a rank is, what Knowledge shards were.

He would just make a Fool of himself.

So then he was going to have to find another way to bring the truth out.

...

...

...

The night came, and it was time for the guards to close the door of the dungeon. Even if they were allowed out of their cells if they wanted, they were not allowed outside the dungeon at night.

And the guards assigned had very good vision, just in case someone tried to sneak out in the shadows, they were people with the Will of the shadows, so there wasn’t anyone who could get past them.

...

Closing the dungeon door, the guards were enveloped in shadows, as there wasn’t any light around them. But at least his work was done for today.

...

And his work wasn’t the only thing that was over.

His life also.

...

As the head of the guards fell to the guards, Aether sheathed his blade.

He had gained shards... which was relieving since if the guards were also clones, it would have gotten a lot more complicated and confusing.

He had been a little scared to try this plan after learning what power the guards had, but he had still decided to go through with it.

As the Vessel of the Abyss, he was very hard to detect in the shadows, and with Fallen Eden himself helping him hide, it was going to be almost impossible to distinguish him from the shadows. He was like a Lost. Well, he doubted any of the guards even knew what the Lost were.

But still.

Now that it was night, people had left, leaving only the fighters and the guards inside. Meaning... the rooms of the factions were empty.

Of course, he was going to take this chance to investigate the Crimson Ledger; he would be stupid if he didn’t.

And it was funny, since if it hadn’t been for their attempt to kill him inside their place, he wouldn’t have known how to get there, but since they had, he knew exactly where to go to reach their place.

So they had sealed their own fate, all because their ego had gotten too high.

...

There was only shadows, in the hallways, really, he couldn’t see anything with his eyes... well without using Eden of course, he was really happy he had gained this ability, since it allowed him to see everything so clearly, he could see the guards, and everything around him, the torches, every turn he had to take, and even when the floor was a little uneven.

If it wasn’t for it, he probably wouldn’t have made it to the Crimson Ledger’s room.

And since that place was also corrupted by darkness, he wouldn’t have been able to see anything inside either.

’Now... let’s see.’

He had to find something important, something that would help him.

Except that there wasn’t anything going on in this place, well, at least nothing that would help him prove that they were making clones of people. The only interesting thing he had found was contracts, where they had sold some of their fighters, which would be helpful, but he first had to prove that the fighters they sold were clones.

So it just put him back at the start.

’I guess I will have to find another way.’

Yet, as he was about to leave, he noticed something, a shadow, nothing interesting, he had seen many Lost around this place... just that it looked to somehow be behind the wall, instead of being in the room with him.

Aether squinted his eyes and approached the shadow, but was met by a wall.

...

Which was then that he noticed that a small part of the wall stuck out, and when he put it back into place.

Something opened.