The Genius of Cloning in the Academy City-Chapter 73: Violet Dreams of Becoming a Magical Girl! (1)

Before my possession, when I took on a temporary job, I heard a saying: a person’s life is like building a structure.

A building’s materials, size, and shape are determined by its purpose, the surrounding environment, and conditions.

In arid regions, houses are built with flat roofs.

Conversely, buildings in tropical areas with heavy rainfall have steep roofs.

The surrounding environment also influences the types of construction materials available.

When building beams, fences, or walls, what you use depends on the local circumstances. You wouldn’t construct a bamboo house in the Arctic.

Similarly, a person’s life follows the same principle.

The materials for building the “self” differ depending on whom one meets and where one exists in society, and this affects the scale of the life built.

Of course, designing the structure and deciding how to use it is up to the individual.

So, what kind of structure are we Violets destined to become?

“…Lower your arms! You were the one who asked to learn various weapon techniques! Raise them up!”

“Ugh!”

I have no clue!

If we compare ourselves to buildings, Violets are like rapidly constructed structures, gathering all sorts of random materials from the surroundings.

While we have a rough idea of the final appearance, the requirements keep piling up, and we continue to gather diverse resources.

“Oh, you’re suggesting group combat practice this time? I don’t mind, but are you ready?”

“Yes! Let’s start right away!”

Wouldn’t mixing everything lead to a poorly constructed building?

Not necessarily.

To build something strong, you often need to mix various materials.

Look at reinforced concrete.

By combining materials with different properties, it becomes an excellent construction material.

Likewise, I plan to learn every technique I can to grow stronger.

This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

“What’s this? You want me to spar with you? Fine. What? You’re okay with live ammunition? Are you out of your mind?”

“Just kidding! I’m kidding!”

As October began, I attempted various training exercises.

At school, I was learning weapon techniques from Instructor Frederick.

“A shield isn’t a bad choice. Popular opinion might dismiss it as ornamental or limited, but that’s just the claim of so-called experts who focus only on its defensive aspects.”

The training was conducted without using magic.

Frederick moved the circular shield attached to his prosthetic left arm with flawless precision.

The sword I swung was effortlessly deflected.

“Don’t block any attack head-on. Deflect it. That’s a basic principle, whether it’s against a person or a beast.”

Back at the dorm, the Violet clones waiting in standby moved in perfect unison like a synchronized exercise.

They all focused on the visual and muscular feedback transmitted from the field clones, swinging their weapons.

“Yes, like that! Just like now! You can also use it to counterattack. You’re sharp today.”

At the same time, in a private training ground, an armed Violet squad applied their newly learned shield techniques in real-time to fend off incoming spear blades.

-Clang!

“Argh!”

Irene charged forward with a gust of wind.

By channeling magic into the shield and timing her enhanced body’s movements carefully, she defended.

Blocked!

“Whoa!”

Or not.

I failed. Cancel that!

A group of ten Violets charged in.

The violet-haired girl among us fought like a lion.

She claimed to be holding back, but her attacks were still as fierce as a storm and as overwhelming as a tidal wave.

To deal with such a strong opponent, we needed to move as one.

When defending, we retreated in sync. When attacking, we thrust our swords together.

Of the ten strikes we launched, one landed on her body.

The blade was immediately repelled by her magical barrier, but for a fleeting moment, I saw Irene flinch slightly.

“Got it!”

While celebrating, we were all knocked down by a wide sweep of her spear.

“Violet? Are you really okay? Even if you’re just a clone…”

“Keep going!”

In the central region, inside an abandoned factory, Violet No. 102 was locked in a life-or-death duel with a taller girl.

“You said not to hold back, so I won’t. Got it? Sigh… I must be crazy for agreeing to this…”

“Thanks for granting my wish, Kalia. Here I come!”

While Kalia hesitated, I circulated magic through my body, coiled like a spring, and leapt forward.

At the same time, flames erupted around Kalia’s body.

I mimicked Irene’s earlier sweeping spear technique, aiming for Kalia’s waist.

The spear slashed through empty air, shattering the ground where she stood into flying debris.

Kalia leapt up, kicked off a nearby wall, and closed the distance between us.

I quickly switched weapons to a sword and counterattacked.

She used the surrounding pillars and structures as footholds, moving with acrobatic brilliance like a breakdancer.

“What kind of bouncing ball is she? I can’t see!”

“Focus on defense and look for an opening to counter!”

I confronted her wild swordplay head-on.

After exchanging several strikes, an opening appeared.

As her sword clashed with mine, I twisted my wrist slightly, altering its trajectory.

Kalia’s sword, gripped in her right hand, was knocked off course.

Seizing the moment, I drew a hammer with my other hand and swung it.

“Victory!”

Suddenly, a dark gun barrel was pointed at me.

I had forgotten about the magnum revolver in her left hand.

“Aagh!”

-Bang! Bang! Bang!

Thrown off balance by the small explosions, I was kicked along with my shield by Kalia.

I had overlooked her primary weapons: a one-handed sword and a gun.

That was my mistake.

Looking at the battered shield, I realized that if I hadn’t immediately pulled another shield from my inventory to block, it could have ended there.

The rubber bullets bouncing on the ground were still ablaze.

As I quickly rose to prepare for a counterattack, Kalia, her face pale, threw away her weapon and ran toward me.

“…Are you okay?”

“Why are you coming over? Aren’t we still sparring?”

“I’m sorry. It’s become a habit to use my unique ability, and I shouldn’t have added flames to the bullets. Are you sure you’re fine?”

“No problem. Let’s keep going! You know I don’t mind taking a few bullets.”

“…No, this won’t work. I can’t use the gun anymore. Even when I try to hold back, it turns out like this.”

Kalia, sensing something off, holstered her revolver and prepared to fight again.

After that, Kalia earnestly participated in my sparring sessions, though her attacks seemed less intense than before, possibly due to the earlier incident.

It seemed it would take more time to have sparring sessions with friends that felt like real combat.

We kept experimenting, learning various things, and diligently focused on training.

Still, it felt like something was missing. What could I have overlooked?

While pondering this, I was walking through the school grounds when I saw a male student with blue hair.

That face, like a light novel protagonist—it was Lucian! I didn’t expect to see that 4-star mage again after so long.

Since we were in different departments and the campus was vast, we rarely crossed paths. Despite being one of the playable characters in the main storyline, we were complete strangers for now.

As I walked past him, he glanced at me, flinched, and stepped back.

“You’re the one…”

“…?”

“The red-eyed girl who defeated a fourth-year senior… Violet, right? You must be here to challenge me!”

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb. Why else would you be standing before me? If you’re thinking of dueling, I’ll accept.”

“No, you’re the one blocking my way right now.”

What was wrong with this guy?

Seeing my dumbfounded expression, Lucian scoffed and raised his gloved right hand. Several small glowing magic circles appeared.

Was he always like this?

He wasn’t this intense in the main storyline.

I flinched and stepped aside.

This was getting annoying.

“What’s this? Don’t tell me you’re planning to run away?”

“No, look, the disciplinary committee’s right behind you!”

“What?”

The moment he turned around, I quickly channeled mana into my legs.

“There’s no one there—ugh! Violet! You coward!”

I dashed away from the scene as fast as I could. What kind of lunatic was he?

「Was Lucian always like this?」

「This is five years before the main story. Maybe he had this personality when he was younger!」

Fortunately, he didn’t chase after me. What a bizarre guy, picking fights out of nowhere.

「Many mage characters were already portrayed as eccentric.」

As we whispered about him through the Violet Network, one Violet suddenly remembered something.

「Ah, right. Mages.」

「What about them?」

「I just realized what we haven’t learned yet. It’s magic!」

「…!」

Magic.

That’s right. I had been so focused on training that I forgot all about it.

To destroy the academy, I needed close combat skills, firepower, and magic.

I was diligently honing my close combat skills and working hard to secure firepower.

「By the way, that thing made from fertilizer—did it work out?」

「It wasn’t just successful. It’s incredible! I nearly got caught in the workshop, though.」

To access military-grade firearms and other threatening weapons, I had to rely on the black market or leverage my shallow knowledge of game lore. While progress was being made, it would take time.

The only thing left was magic.

The problem was, who could teach me?

I decided to seek out Daphne first. Her strength lay in her powerful unique ability, and among the people I knew, she was the only one capable of using magic.

“You want me to teach you magic? Well, the magic professor… is a bit eccentric. Sure, I’ll help you however I can!”

Daphne readily agreed with a bright smile.

And so, after school—

“They say magic, according to theory, works like this… Do you understand? Let’s try moving your mana now.”

“No, I didn’t understand a word of that! This isn’t working!”

Daphne was smart, but I wasn’t.

So, I had to rely on other Violets, each taking a sentence to analyze the material until I barely grasped the meaning.

After a long struggle, I couldn’t even start to get the basics of magic, let alone use it.

Honestly, even if I learned it, there was a problem.

An awakened individual’s abilities stem from their personal imagery.

As far as I knew, Daphne excelled only at support magic.

Considering her gentle nature, her proficiency in offensive magic likely only reached a basic level for self-defense.

I wondered if there was anyone else around me who could teach magic.

There was one person.

「You mean that senior of ours?」

「Let’s try asking the instructor to contact them…」