Technological advancement begins with devouring.

Chapter 89 Possession, Clone (2nd Update)

"If we can't choose the best one, then we'll have to settle for a less desirable one and create a more ordinary clone..."

Jiang Chen sighed, exited the virtual universe, and found a slave from the 'Black Mongols'.

After acquiring the wealth of the Realm Within a Realm, not only did Luo Feng purchase a large number of slaves, but Jiang Chen also replenished his own slave population.

They come in all sizes, from stellar to cosmic.

However, considering the difficulty and risks of possession, Jiang Chen decided to choose a Black Mongol Spiritual Master of the 'First-Order Stellar' level.

Given the vast difference in strength, a first-tier Stellar Realm cultivator has no chance of resisting Jiang Chen.

"Master." The Black Mongol, whom Jiang Chen named 'Number Ten', bowed respectfully.

This is the 'leader' of the Black Mongol slaves under Jiang Chen's command, a Black Mongol spiritualist at the ninth level of the universe.

The Black Mongol tribe can reach the planetary level upon adulthood. Although they are not at the fourth-class bloodline, they are still considered to be at the fifth-class bloodline.

Moreover, since the entire race was enslaved and the Black Mongol tribe was taken over, there was no need to worry about retaliation.

"I need a first-level stellar mentalist to give their life for me, to be possessed by me, and to be refined into an avatar."

As soon as Jiang Chen spoke, Number Ten's pupils contracted sharply.

Jiang Chen glanced at 'Number Ten' and continued, "I have over a thousand Stellar First-Tier Spiritual Masters under my command. Go and select one who is willing to sacrifice themselves. Whoever is willing, I will grant them one reasonable request. Remember, it must be voluntary; no coercion is allowed."

Jiang Chen is an egoist, but not a purely evil person.

When possible, Jiang Chen is still willing to show some kindness to those around him.

Jiang Chen wouldn't take advantage of his subordinates just because they couldn't disobey his orders. Instead, he would use a suitable reward and punishment mechanism to motivate them.

"Seize the body?"

Number Ten stared wide-eyed. He didn't understand what a 'clone' was, but he knew very well the meaning of the words 'possession'.

The clansman targeted by Jiang Chen is absolutely doomed to die; not even his soul will be left behind.

However, he could not disobey Jiang Chen's orders.

After hesitating for a moment, 'Number Ten' asked, "Master, are there any other requests? You said you could fulfill one of his requests, but is there a specific scope?"

Jiang Chen pondered for a moment and then said, "One trillion cosmic coins. I can agree to anything that can be done within that price range."

Money isn't everything.

But in the universe, there are very few things that money can't do.

One trillion cosmic coins, or one Primal Chaos Unit, is an unimaginable number for the vast majority of life forms.

Even Number Ten was shocked by Jiang Chen's extravagant spending.

However, he quickly adjusted his mindset and contacted other slaves.

A moment later, "Number Ten" arrived before Jiang Chen with a Black Mongol slave.

"Number Ten" pointed to a rather thin slave beside him and introduced him: "Master, this is 'Coldnesson,' who voluntarily gave his life for you."

'Coldnesson' appeared somewhat frightened, but still mustered his strength and said, 'Master, I am willing to give my life for you...'

Jiang Chen nodded, looked at 'Coldnesson', and asked, "Coldnesson, what is your wish?"

Jiang Chen pays for the slaves' desires, and the slaves in turn voluntarily give their lives to become Jiang Chen's alter ego.

In Jiang Chen's view, this was a deal.

Since it was a transaction, Jiang Chen had no intention of reneging on the deal.

“Master, I heard that you are willing to spend one trillion cosmic coins?” 'Coldnesson' asked cautiously.

Jiang Chen nodded and said, "You can just state your requirements."

“I hope that my master can provide a place for my people to live, so that the ‘Black Mongols’ will no longer be persecuted by slave traders.” ‘Coldnesson’s’ eyes were filled with a mixture of fear and hope, and his expression was very complicated.

“Okay.” Jiang Chen thought for a moment and said, “I can buy a batch of life-bearing planets and a batch of Black Mongol slaves, free them from their slave status, and let them live and reproduce on the life-bearing planets under my name. If any geniuses or powerful individuals emerge from among these Black Mongol slaves and voluntarily go to rescue other Black Mongol slaves, I will not interfere.”

Jiang Chen had no intention of rescuing the entire Black Mongol tribe.

This entire race was enslaved, multiplied generation after generation, and then sold by slave traders; their numbers were simply too vast.

In the 1008 universe kingdoms of the human race, almost every universe kingdom has a large number of Black Mongol slaves, so numerous that they are impossible to count.

However, Jiang Chen could still manage to buy a batch of inhabited planets and another batch of Black Mongol slaves, freeing them from slavery and allowing them to reproduce and live in peace.

After a moment's thought, Jiang Chen said, "Let 'Number Ten' handle this matter. I will allocate one trillion cosmic coins to him in cash. As for how much of it is used to purchase life-bearing planets and how much is used to save the slaves of the Black Mongol Clan, I will not interfere."

“Thank you, Master.” 'Coldnesson' said repeatedly, “I also have a daughter on 'Planet Domia,' who is almost an adult. Once she comes of age, she will also be captured by the planet's lord and have a biochip implanted in her…”

“If your daughter and family are still alive, I will try my best to save them,” Jiang Chen interrupted 'Coldnesson' directly. “But if they are already dead, or their whereabouts cannot be traced, then there is nothing I can do.”

'Coldnesson' was aware of this as well, and quickly said, 'Thank you for your kindness, Master! I am already very grateful that you are willing to investigate, and I dare not ask for more!'

“Go. You have a day to say goodbye to your friends. Come back to me after a day. ‘Number Ten,’ I’ll give you an account, and you’ll be in charge of everything afterward. Remember, you can liberate your people, but you must buy them at the normal price, not by any other means. If you offend any powerful figures, I will no longer provide protection for your people.”

Jiang Chen waved his hand, signaling the two to step back.

"Yes, Master!"

The two bowed and then took their leave.

A few minutes later, a spaceship left Earth, carrying 'Number Ten' into space.

A day later, 'Coldnesson' returned to Jiang Chen's residence.

"Owner."

After a day of adjustment, the fear on 'Coldnesson's' face had disappeared, replaced by an expression of happiness and regret.

"You seem to be in a good mood?" Jiang Chen asked curiously.

'Coldnesson' nodded and said, "Thank you, Master. Lord Ten has found my daughter and brought her out of 'Domya Planet'. From now on, my daughter will not be someone else's slave like me."

There was still some regret in his words.

My daughter has gained her freedom, which is a good thing.

Unfortunately, he couldn't watch his daughter grow up.

However, if it could bring back his daughter and the freedom of more of his people, 'Coldnesson' would be willing to pay the price with his life.

“I’ve done what I promised you, now it’s your turn to fulfill your promise,” Jiang Chen said.

Fear resurfaced in 'Coldnesson's' eyes.

Although I had prepared myself mentally, the fear of death was not so easy to suppress.

However, 'Coldnesson' had no intention of backing down, and asked in a trembling voice, "Master, what should I do?"

"Just don't resist, leave the rest to me." As Jiang Chen spoke, his mental power had already penetrated into 'Coldnesson's' soul.

Jiang Chen's mental power has already surpassed the stellar level; he is only one 'qualitative change' away from entering the cosmic level.

Suppressing a first-tier stellar mentalist is a piece of cake.

In an instant, 'Coldnesson's' consciousness sank into the illusion, losing itself and weakening continuously.

Illusion is not a necessary condition for possession; it is merely used to weaken 'Codnison's' soul and reduce the possibility of accidents.

A scanning machine was pointed at 'Coldnesson', displaying his psychic and soul-related stats.

As the value representing 'soul activity' continued to decrease, and after reaching a certain limit, Jiang Chen quickly activated the ability of [Three Souls Transformation].

A soul-rending pain nearly made Jiang Chen scream out in agony.

Despite the pain, he quickly separated a fragment of his soul, which, driven by immense spiritual power, rushed into the depths of 'Codnison's' consciousness.

"Damn, the skill description didn't mention splitting the soul, this hurts so much!"

A thought flashed through Jiang Chen's mind. He quickly took control of the soul fragments and launched a possession attack, attempting to replace 'Coldnesson's' soul.

With his life threatened, 'Coldnesson's' soul instinctively began to resist, trying to expel the 'foreign object' that had invaded his consciousness.

This was not 'Coldnesson's' subjective thought; its consciousness had already fallen into an illusion and was unable to break free.

But instincts that come from the depths of the soul are beyond conscious control.

Fortunately, under the ravages of the illusion, 'Codnison's' soul had weakened to the extreme.

Coupled with the huge gap in strength, this instinctive resistance couldn't even make a ripple and was quickly suppressed by Jiang Chen.

A moment later, 'Coldnesson' opened his eyes.

His soul had completely vanished, replaced by a fragment of Jiang Chen's soul.

"The fragments of the soul that split off are roughly equivalent to a quarter of the complete soul. However, after the possession is complete, both my main body and the clone's soul can quickly recover and grow into complete, independent souls..."

Jiang Chen felt the changes after the possession was completed.

The consciousness of the main body and the clones is interconnected, but the 'souls' that control the bodies are independent of each other.

Of course, the process of creating a clone can only be considered truly complete after both the original body and the clone's soul have been restored to their complete forms.

"The main body is recovering faster, probably in a few days. The clone's soul fragments are severely damaged; to restore it to a complete soul, it will need at least several months of recuperation. Using some soul-nourishing treasures could speed things up a bit, but it would still take some time..."

Jiang Chen carefully sensed the changes in the souls of the two bodies for a while and quickly made a judgment: "It's time to buy some treasures to repair the souls."

There are quite a few treasures in the universe that can restore the soul.

Although most soul-type treasures are very precious, those that are only effective against stellar-level enemies are not particularly valuable.

Just as he was about to continue experiencing the effects of the 'clone', Jiang Chen suddenly seemed to notice something and frowned.

"Why do I have this feeling that if this clone dies, the slot it occupies will become available, and I can possess a new clone? And there are no restrictions on race or anything like that?"

Jiang Chen felt a sense of confusion as he sensed the information surfacing in his mind.

After possessing 'Koldnisen', the number of clones available for [Three Souls Transfer] became 1/3, and two more clones could be possessed.

But Jiang Chen had a feeling that if the clone 'Coldnesson' died, the 'slot' it occupied would be freed up.

Unlike the Golden Horned Beast, which, once a clone of a certain race is conceived, can only conceive a new clone of that race even if the clone dies, and cannot change it.

However, the creation of a clone through the "Three Souls Transference" technique requires a process of "possession".

If one were to possess a unique life form in a universe and create an avatar, and that avatar subsequently perished, without a second life form of the same race, one would never be able to obtain another avatar of that race.

In this respect, the Golden Horned Beast, or other avatars in the universe, actually have some advantages.

Of course, the ability to freely change the 'slots' of clones is good news for Jiang Chen.

You can fill all three clone slots first, and then switch to a more powerful clone later when you have a better chance to obtain one.

The information, which came directly from the depths of his consciousness from the [Three Souls Transformation] specialty itself, seemed to possess a mysterious power that made Jiang Chen instinctively trust this information completely without the slightest doubt.

If Jiang Chen noticed this, he would find that this 'characteristic' is common to the 'innate secret techniques' of many powerful beings.

None of the special skills I acquired before reached the level of 'innate secret arts'.

However, the [Three Souls Transformation] specialty is, in some respects, no less than, and even surpasses, the unique innate secret techniques of many races.

After briefly testing the ability to create clones, Jiang Chen discovered that although the clones and the original body shared the same consciousness, there were still some differences between them.

The biggest difference is that the 'slot' for the clone can be changed at will, while the original body cannot.

Jiang Chen is not yet clear on how the so-called 'indestructible clones and immortal main body' will manifest.

But at least one thing is certain: the race of the main body cannot be changed as easily as that of a clone.

Another major difference is that Jiang Chen's biggest cheat, the system, can only be activated by his own body.

The clone cannot open the system or access the system library.

"There's no need to worry about that..."

Jiang Chen couldn't help but give a helpless smile.

Originally, Jiang Chen was somewhat conflicted about whether to have his clone create the [Space Furnace] to make money or to enter the system library to accelerate the efficiency of acquiring knowledge.

Since the clone cannot use the system, there is no need to hesitate about which option to choose.