A baby.

I mean…of all the things I had envisioned would happen, I had to admit that I had been taken by surprise.

All I wanted was a student to whom I would impart my knowledge in the immediate future…Not one that I would have to raise on my own.

There was one thing that I wasn’t quite sure of… The half of the soul that had been inserted into the spell should still have Kyle’s entire memories in it. Did it mean that the baby could have the same memories or that they had been erased since the spell didn’t work as advertised?

Perhaps using a tier 9 being as an ingredient was a bit overkill. Such a strong ingredient could have made the spell malfunction. I wasn’t ready to believe that an infant self was the advertised clone the spell introduction talked about even if that infant was a younger version of the clone.

Finally, the orb of light disappeared to reveal the baby.

Its curious eyes looked innocent enough which erased the idea that it had Kyle’s memories.

Most importantly, the baby appeared to be floating on its own using some kind of power that I suspected even itself didn’t know about.

The baby looked at Kyle for a while before its eyes started fixing me. It seemed…It could see me without being in contact with the copper ring.

It was at that moment that the baby did something weird.

It suddenly inhaled all the mana contained in the five kilometers around us.

And then…It sneezed.

The cute but devastating act shocked us to the core as the sneeze came accompanied by a torrential fire no less than what the departed red dragon could spew when it was alive.

We watched the fire gain on us, entranced by it. I wondered if we would survive this time.

Fortunately, a god sent Darkness Transmutation arrived in time to save us. The Shadow had probably foreseen this course of events and decided to help.

The sneeze was followed by a coughing fit from the baby.

Just like the Shadow had said, it was a disaster. How were we supposed to take care of such a ticking time bomb?

I decided to conduct my own investigation. Those missing memories had to be somewhere inside the baby Kyle mind.

I initiated a Soul Search Spell and delved into the baby’s memories.

I found myself in a fiery dreamscape and what I saw inside almost rendered me mad.

There was the shadow of a gigantic dragon fighting against a red-haired man that looked like Kyle.

It seemed that the Cloning spell didn’t have any problems initially. It was the powerful dragon soul that hadn’t been completely refined that decided to interfere.

Had I not investigated I would have never known that the dragon intended to erase the new Kyle and take his place…And we would never find out since the dragon would make it look like the spell malfunctioned by making itself look like a newborn baby with no memories…But its plan backfired when the new Kyle awakened after having absorbed a good chunk of the dragon’s origin soul thanks to the cloning spell. The red-haired Kyle then started fighting a battle of attrition with the dragon. They were both evenly matched and couldn’t decide on a winner until I arrived.

“It took you long enough.” Said the clone.

“NOOOOO, I was so close.” The dragon said as I sent it to oblivion.

I looked at the red-haired Kyle and said, “Take control of your body. We’ll talk outside.”

I ended the soul search and then found myself back in soul form.

Kyle was silently and vigilantly watching the baby from the side.

A childish voice was then heard; “What’s going on? Why am I in a child’s body? Bran! What is the meaning of this? You promised you would clone me, but you never said anything about being an infant…wait is this that dragon’s doing?”

I shrugged and said: “I’m sorry, I can’t help you. I didn’t know the consequences of using a powerful sacrifice. The dragon intervened and put you in that position.”

The child looked embarrassed and then said: “Before anything else is said, can you conjure me some clothes first?”

I waved my staff and fitting clothes appeared on baby Kyle. I said: “I guess you’ll have to wait nineteen years before you look like the current Kyle. In the meantime, we should choose a name for you. How does Kelly sound?”

Kyle chimed in: “It should be Little Kay. You know…K for Kyle or Kelly.”

The baby then said: “I’m not supposed to be this little…and I like Kelly. Henceforth, I will be known as Kelly Brightmoon.”

Kyle then said: “How about we nickname you Little Kay?”

“You want to taste my fire then?” A vicious look appeared on Kelly.

Kyle started backing up saying: “Hehe…It was my alter ego’s idea.”