Mike took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

"Think clearly," he said to himself. "Don't get carried away."

He focused, following the instructions in his mind.

"Activate Dual Existence."

The shadow beneath his feet trembled. It slowly pulled itself away from the floor, growing taller, thicker, until a human shape formed in front of him.

A few seconds later, another Mike was standing there.

Same face. Same clothes. Same presence.

The clone looked around, then turned toward him. "So this is how it works."

Mike swallowed. "You can talk?"

"Yes," the clone replied. "I share your memories up to this moment, but I can think on my own."

Mike let out a short laugh. "This is really broken."

The clone nodded. "With this ability, we can do much more—training, scouting, even fighting at the same time."

"Wait, let me test something," Mike said, lying down on the bed.

"Oh, I know what you're testing," the clone replied, also looking curious and wondering if it would work.

Mike logged into the Origin World.

But the moment he did, the shadow self was pulled in and sucked into Mike's body.

I guess we can't be in two different worlds at the same time, the shadow thought as he appeared inside the inn, standing beside Mike.

"It didn't work," the clone said.

Mike nodded, looking at him. "I thought I could stay in the Origin World while you remained in the real world. Guess that was too much to expect."

"Well, the skill does say Parallel Mind, so it should work," the clone said. "But it didn't."

Both of them thought about it for a moment, then gave up. There were still many things about the Origin World they didn't understand.

"Maybe when you log in, your full consciousness is transferred," the clone said slowly. "Not even a small part is left behind. And Parallel Mind probably still needs a base consciousness to split from. That might be why."

Mike nodded. "That makes sense."

"By the way," Mike added, "I can't keep calling you 'clone.' Let's decide on a name."

The clone nodded.

"Just call me Shadow," he said. "After all, I'm made from your shadow."

"Okay then. From now on, you're Shadow," Mike nodded. Then he added, "I'll go and check the dungeons available in Lionheart City."

"So you'll attend the Grand Auction while I go and clear those dungeons?" Shadow asked.

Mike nodded. "Yes. Since you can use all my skills, you'll also have control over the undead. You can easily hunt even Rank 4 dungeons. A Rank 3 boss was already too weak against the undead army."

Shadow smiled faintly. "Got it. Leave the grinding to me."

"Hm, not just grinding—we're aiming for ice affinity," Mike said. "The new sword we got, Eternal Winter, needs it."

"Alright, but why don't we complete the Rank 1 promotion quests first?" Shadow suggested. "If we complete it our power will skyrocket and then we might even be able to hunt in Rank 5 Dungeon. Then we could hunt a dragon ourselves."

Mike nodded. "We have the whole night and half a day. Let's make it count."

He headed to the Adventurers' Association and began skimming through the dungeon listings. Soon, he found his target: a Rank 4 dungeon — Abyssal Frost Cave.

"We can't give you the location, and you're not allowed to enter it," the receptionist said suddenly.

"Why not?" Mike asked.

"You're currently a B-rank adventurer. You need to be A-rank to access dungeons above Rank 3," she explained.

Mike nodded in understanding. "Then give me the hardest Rank 1 quests available. I need to rank up fast."

"You need to complete ten Rank A quests to be promoted," she said.

Mike groaned but nodded. "Fine. Just give me the ten fastest ones. If there are monster extermination quests, show me all of them."

The receptionist nodded and began pulling up the list.

Soon, he received the full list. Most of the quests involved exterminating newly formed monster nests that had appeared near major cities.

"Okay, I'm taking all of them," Mike said, pointing at eight monster nest quests. The remaining two were special commissions: farming weapons from a dungeon, specifically one Epic lightning-element sword type and one Epic water-element sword type weapon for a noble house.

"All of them will be registered under your name," the receptionist said, looking at him seriously. "But if you don't complete them within ten days, you'll face penalties. The monster nest quests can be rushed, but the weapon commissions cannot."

"It's okay. I can do it," Mike replied confidently.

She sighed, then registered all the quests under him.

"Alright then. Good luck," she said.

Mike smiled and left the counter. Outside, he called his shadow.

"Take half of these quests and finish them as fast as you can," Mike said, handing over the details.

Shadow nodded and left immediately, moving so fast his figure blurred.

Meanwhile, Mike stayed in the city and visited several magic item shops, looking for suitable weapons. The commissions only specified elemental affinity and a sword weapon type, so he bought a water-element rapier and a lightning-element greatsword.

"They both are sword type and their elements also match," Mike muttered.

Using Midas Touch, he upgraded both weapons to Epic rank without trouble.

After that, he headed out to handle the monster extermination quests himself.

His first destination was a city near the coast—Blue Wave City. Reports said that a group of Dread Snare Squids had appeared, disrupting fishing routes and trapping sailors with their sticky tentacles and making them their luch or dinner.

Mike arrived at the city and summoned several Death Lords. Under his command, they charged into the nest.

The battle was short.

Within minutes, the entire group of squids was wiped out.

Mike reported the cleared nest to the local guild branch.

"That's three done already," he thought. "I wonder how many Shadow has finished by now."

Without wasting time, Mike rushed toward the next location.

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