Two weeks after my copy left with Stella, they found a group of twenty survivors. He observed them for ten days, and when he confirmed they would be useful and wouldn’t cause trouble, he brought them to our survivors’ camp. Another two weeks passed, and my copy finally found a big city and a relatively big group of survivors. Surprisingly, they even had their own camp, even though they only had fifty survivors.

They were in the middle of a battle against a horde of harpies, even though they had the upper body of a woman and lower body of a bird, those creatures looked very bizarre. Their heads were particularly unnerving, their fangs were rather big, and their faces had traces of animals like rats. And as if that wasn’t enough, they only used their full power against women; they merely tried to knock down men and bring them unconscious to their world, in order to use them to procreate… it seems all harpies were females, and they used males of different species to procreate and to increase their numbers. I bet many men would help them in that regard, but they were too ugly, so they only could kidnap them.

Even though my copy couldn’t use my skills, he helped them and prevented casualties. Stella did a remarkable job using her electric attacks to slow down the harpies. I honestly felt weird recalling those memories… appearing and helping them in the middle of a battle and preventing their demise. Such an unnerving feeling…

Anyway, the survivors thanked my copy. But that camp was weird, only one-third of the survivors looked strong, the others… were just a bunch of airhead women who “comforted” the fighters after the battles. That being said, after the battle, those women approached my copy with their ulterior motives. My copy didn’t show any skill, but it was obvious Stella was under his control. Thanks to that, the fighters looked at my copy, annoyed. It seemed they didn’t treat the women as slaves, but they also didn’t a new and stronger survivor in their group.

In any case, my copy clearly showed his disgust to those women, so they didn’t try to approach him again. That was fine; it seemed they were famous singers, dancers, and actresses before the monsters appeared, but none of them were as beautiful as Claire, so my copy wasn’t interested in them… but why my copy compared them to Claire?

Anyway, my copy stayed with them for a few days and helped them to fight against the harpies. There was a dungeon nearby, but they were only interested in protecting themselves and their base. That was why my copy just silently helped and observed them, but soon he noticed something was off, the fighters were always looking at him as if they were appraising his skills.

After a few days, the obvious happened. The fighters backstabbed my copy at the end of one of the Harpies’ attacks. But my copy was already expecting that and registered that location and put the memory stone inside the backpack.

‘It seems my presence was making the women ignore the fighters… they weren’t bad enough to force them to become their lovers, but they were pathetic enough to get jealous of my power. So utterly pathetic…’

None of them would be of any use, but I had to help Stella and make those who backstabbed me pay. So, I used the memory stone without any delay. As if Stella was waiting for me, she was flying in circles around the camp. Meanwhile, the fighters were trying to hit her with magic and long-ranged weapons. I was too tired and angry to dialogue, so I just attacked their heads with my ice arrows. Thanks to the core of the frozen world, my weakest ice arrows quickly pierced their heads. When they noticed what was going on, five of them already had died, and the women began to scream. I ignored them and continued with the killing.

You have obtained 4563 Evolution Coins.

You have obtained 7411 Evolution Coins.

You have obtained 9863 Evolution Coins.

You have obtained 4126 Evolution Coins.

…

They tried to counter-attack, but I just teleported to behind them and killed one after the other. Thirty seconds after that, twenty bodies were lying on the floor. The other survivors trembled and waited for the worst, but after I collected the fighter's items and weapons, I just teleported to Stella’s back and made her fly to the west. Those forty women didn’t do anything against me, but they would be useless, those who rely only on others were just a waste of time.

“Ah! I could have forced them to become my minions… my mind is too hazy… I need to sleep.”

I searched for the dungeon, and I found it rather quickly, after all, a few harpies were trying to escape.

Harpy (Wind) – HP: 1600 MP: 6400 STA: 1600

Physical limit Lv 25, Mental limit Lv 35, Sensorial limit Lv 10.

Skills: Wind Blade Lv 07, Sand Storm Lv 07, Steel Claws Lv 07.

“More copies, huh… it seemed the true harpies are looking down on humans. But that works better for me, I guess.”

The dungeon was also another cave in the middle of the city. However, there was no ice or anything like it near the dungeon. It seemed whoever was creating those harpies, was just targeting earth for its mana. And it didn’t intend to come.

According to my copy’s memories, the harpies leave the dungeon every day three hours before sunset to attack. It seemed they had better things to do at night, like making good use of their male hostages… I wondered if even those harpies, which were just copies, could also procreate. In any case, I didn’t have to enter the dungeon, I could sleep for twenty hours before the next attack, and I really need it.

Since the harpies killed the nearby monsters every day, I could sleep near the dungeon without problems. If anything happens, I was sure Stella would wake me up. So, I just laid a few blankets on the floor and slept like a rock. I intend to sleep for precisely twenty hours and prepare myself to face the harpies, but I only slept fifteen because I felt those forty women approaching. I looked at them, annoyed, but at least they didn’t come to pick a fight; they didn’t have weapons… but that itself was a problem, who did they intend to fight against the monsters without weapons?

“Excuse me… can we talk for a minute?” A black-haired woman stepped forward, while the others were too scared even to maintain eye-contact.

That black-haired woman had blue eyes, and it seemed someone that I saw in a movie a long time ago. She probably was over forty, but she looked young even without makeup, just like Naomi.

“No, get lost.”

“Can you please reconsider? We have a good proposal for you.” The black-haired woman insisted.

“… Then I will hear you guys, but if you say some bullshit, I will make my arrows pierce your head in the next moment.”

The woman gulped after looking in my eyes and understanding that I wasn’t kidding. If she says that she and others would treat me like they treat those guys, I would definitely kill her. I didn’t have time to waste with such people.

“All right… we noticed that you are very strong,” The women hesitated. “After yesterday's incident, we noticed that we can't rely on others anymore. We have to get stronger to protect ourselves.”

“Wow, it took five months for you to notice that? With such a fast way of thinking, how didn’t you guys single-handedly defeated the dragon?”

“… So, we would like to borrow your strength,” The women ignored my sarcasm. “If you help us, I’m sure we can make up for the lost time. If you protect us while we obtain the strength, later, we can become your soldiers.”

For someone who spent the last five months being protected, she really seemed resolute.

Survivor – HP: 280 MP: 280 STA: 280

Physical limit Lv 12, Mental limit Lv 12, Sensorial limit Lv 01.

Skills: Stone Arrow Lv 02, Increase Movement Speed Lv 02, Iron Skin Lv 01.

Evolution Orbs: 123/1520

Evolution Coins: 214

I analyzed her and the other status, and I concluded that they weren’t plotting anything. At least they broke their limits more than twenty times; if they didn’t have broken their limits at least ten times after five months, they would definitely be a lost cause…

“Don’t you think it is already too late for that? Besides, why the change of heart? I bet that you already saw plenty of people dying before, and that didn’t make you change your attitude.”

Yes, you are right.” The black-haired woman said with her head down. “I know this is a cheap excuse, but we thought that eventually, the government would solve everything, that’s why we left our lives in the hands of those men. Eventually, we discovered that it wouldn’t happen, but it was already too late for us. Our group was too big, and only a handful of survivors still had their weapons and could use the statue… and we weren’t part of that group.”

“Nice excuse, the dead can’t defend themselves, after all.”

That woman acknowledged my words, and because of it, she didn’t say anything after that. In any case, I didn’t need soldiers, and I didn’t want to babysit anyone. Besides, so many women nearby would only make me remember Claire. However, my job was still to look for useful survivors, if they prove their worth and that they are determined to grow stronger, I could take them to our survivor’s camp.

“All right, I will help you guys, but first, you have to prove that you are worthy of my time. And you guys will also have to pay me.”

“… How can we do those things?” The black-haired woman asked.

“You guys will have to defeat the next wave of harpies, I won’t say that you guys won’t get wounded, but I will make sure no one of you will die. For that, each one of you will have to pay me two thousand evolution coins every day.”

“That… will certainly be difficult without weapons.” The black-haired woman dropped her head.”

“You guys can use the weapons I got from your ex-friends. But I doubt any of you will be able to handle it… it will be better if you guys use some rapid-fire crossbows.”

The women nodded and then excitedly shared the news with her friends, although some of them frowned that I wouldn’t protect them from wounds. In any case, I would have to create a few copies of my crossbow, but it was fine, it was only a loan, and I would receive much more from them. The payment of two days would be more than enough to pay for those weapons.

‘Come to think of it… I can already revive Martin… and I didn’t look at the statue in their base. I guess I will revive him, for the time being, I don’t need more skills or weapons.’

That was an excellent opportunity, Martin would be able to get stronger, and by bringing him to our survivors’ camp, Claire would probably forgive me.

‘I wonder what he will do after he discovers that he died and five months passed… he will probably freak out. But he will be happy by knowing that Claire is still alive… but I should keep secret about what I did to her…’

Since it would take a few hours to go to that statue and return, I decided to teleport there and create those crossbows myself. To avoid problems and surprises, I left Stella there with them.

‘Let’s see… forty-one copies of my crossbow.’

The last one I would give to Martin, he would need it. Finally, all my debts would disappear, although this debt was a bit pricey, it was a good investment. I could create many weapons and beasts with one million evolutions coins, but none of those had the potential a human has. Besides, humans could obtain skills just by breaking a limit ten times. With luck, Martin would receive a powerful skill like teleport.

In any case, I began to feel nervous; I was about to do an almost unbelievable thing. But it would only benefit me in the long run, so I chose the option and selected Martin.

You revived a human; this human will follow all your commands.

‘Holy shit… this is dangerous… although it is expensive if someone defeats a powerful person and resurrect that same person… a lot of problems may happen.’

Soon after that, a sphere of light appeared right in front of me, just like had appeared the sphere of light suddenly vanished. And in that place, I saw Martin, his body and clothes were back to normal, but his weapon was nowhere to be seen, Claire had it. After a few seconds, Martin woke up scared; it seemed that he had a nightmare. But in his case, the nightmare had been real; he had been tortured by those criminals, after all

“Wow, Ethan?” Martin asked startled. “What are you doing here? No, wait… what is this place? I was at my aunt’s home and…”

Martin trembled, his last moments crossed through his mind, and he recalled the pain, fear, and hatred he felt. And he looked at me as if I had done something unbelievable.

“Yes, I revived you. Now we are even.”