The Genius of Cloning in the Academy City-Chapter 80: Polaris—Violet Expanded Her Business

Violet swiftly left Circle Cliff along with the intermediaries.

Fortunately, no one was chasing them yet.

After driving for a long time, they stopped to have lunch.

With some time to relax, the intermediaries belatedly introduced themselves.

The official title of these people was <Rapid Workforce Company>.

From the name alone, it sounded more like a group of construction workers than brokers.

The Rapid Workforce Company consisted of four members.

First was a plain-looking middle-aged man in a casual suit.

“Name’s Leslie. I’m the boss here. Nice to meet you.”

“Boss? Not the president?”

“Given our modest size, people just laugh if I call myself the president or chairman.”

He chuckled dryly.

Next, a brown-haired woman dressed like a bartender introduced herself.

“I’m Ina. I handle contact and accounting in the company.”

A slightly petite man wearing a t-shirt and a headset also spoke up.

“I’m Mark. I specialize in information gathering. I also know my way around computers.”

Finally, a burly man in a vest hesitated before responding.

“I’m Cassian. I handle various support tasks…and security. Boss, I’m not getting fired, right? Right?”

“Fired? Relax. Don’t be so paranoid.”

From his words, it seemed he was a former C-rank hunter who had his pride wounded after being beaten by Solvers.

“So, what should we call you, Solver?”

Hearing the boss’s question, we paused to think.

Come to think of it, we hadn’t introduced ourselves.

What would be an appropriate title?

「Leader? No, that sounds too grand. Commander is weird too.」

「That guy’s the boss, right? Let’s go with something higher—let’s say president.」

“I’m Ariel! Just call me the president.”

“Understood, President!”

After finishing our introductions, we resumed our journey toward the central district.

By the afternoon, several suspicious cars began tailing us.

Motorbikes wielding blades also appeared.

“Shoot!”

-Peew! Rat-a-tat-tat!-

“Aaaargh!”

Naturally, we destroyed them every time.

Bringing some cars from the gang’s lair turned out to be a wise decision.

The motorbikes chasing us were peppered with bullets and bolts from the escort vehicles, crashing into the roadside.

The intermediaries watching this were impressed.

“Wow…”

“That was a smart move…”

Once we reached the central district, no one followed us anymore.

The next morning, I headed to the place where they were settling in.

The Rapid Workforce members had set up relatively close to our base.

I had intentionally ordered them to stay near Violet’s barracks.

“Get me some perception-blocking equipment quickly. Preferably masks.”

“Understood! We’ll secure it as soon as we settle in.”

Though they didn’t know it, I couldn’t fully trust them yet, so I planned to monitor them 24/7.

Even now, Violet clones were already stationed around their location for surveillance.

For now, I’d test their connections and information-gathering capabilities by assigning them a few tasks.

“Can you handle stolen goods?”

“We can!”

They replied immediately.

I asked about something else.

“You said you deal in information too? Do you also do background checks?”

“That’s basic work for us. We don’t do it ourselves, though. We gather intel by asking around our network. Who do you want us to find?”

This guy, was he bluffing?

Claiming to handle everything was suspicious.

I sent some personal details to his smartphone.

“Two students? That’s not hard. Siblings with names starting with M—unusual. Their surname is Perian, and you’ve provided plenty of information. Shouldn’t take long. Anything else?” R𝓪ΝȰʙƐ𝒮

I sent more files.

“This is…?”

“Details on the Polaris Academy’s student council, school administration, and board of directors. Investigate everyone listed here. Focus on the student council president, vice president, and treasurer. Also, gather information on all the administration staff. Where do they live, what’s their family situation, who are they dating, and where do they frequently go? Find out about their reputations, rumors, and financial circumstances too.”

“I see. You want us to find potential leverage, right? Let’s take a look… The board of directors includes…”

Leslie’s expression hardened as he examined the list.

“Notis Valefor? That war hero? The former head of Magna Nabis? This could be…”

He waved his hands in protest, so I quickly added some explanations.

“You don’t have to dig too deep. If it’s too risky, you can leave him out. I just want you to find things that aren’t publicly known within your capabilities. Is that doable?”

“I’ll give it a try. I don’t know your ultimate goal, President, but…never mind. I’m not interested. However, since this involves the Four Great Clans, we’ll need to act discreetly, which will take some time.”

“Can you get it done within a month?”

“Two weeks—no, one week. I’ll get it done.”

I nodded lightly.

There was a limit to the information Violets could gather by scouring the internet, books, or asking around.

Even infiltrating required knowledge of the layout and key details.

Specialists would be faster and more efficient for this kind of work.

Of course, I still didn’t trust them completely.

Monitoring them closely would be necessary.

Some additional thoughts popped into my mind.

“Right, find two—no, three more people for me!”

“Who are they?”

“Osprey Rodriguez, the leader of the local vigilante group.”

He was also Kalia’s uncle.

The Brotherhood was still searching for their leader, but there was no trace of him.

No one knew if he was dead or alive.

Kalia acted indifferent outwardly, but she reacted strongly whenever there was any mention of her uncle.

She had once been kidnapped by Laplaxia, and though she wanted to act personally, those around her had persuaded her otherwise.

“And the other two are siblings. Their names are Saiges and Sophiel.”

“Do you know their surname? What about their appearance?”

“I don’t know their surname! They have black hair. I heard they’re affiliated with the Department of Inspection, but I need to confirm if they still work there and their roles.”

I also needed to gather intel on the current state of the inspectors.

Leslie thought for a moment before responding cautiously.

“The Department of Inspection? That’s quite a closed organization. It’ll take time to access their records, but I’ll give it a shot.”

“Good, then get to work!”

“Yes, President. You can count on us!”

With Leslie’s farewell, I left.

It felt strange being treated so respectfully by an older man while in the body of a young girl.

Still, in this world, Awakened individuals often held the upper hand. And these people had directly or indirectly witnessed my power, so I had an overwhelming advantage.

I needed to get used to the title of “President” quickly.

—

The Violets had plenty of work to do besides managing the newly hired team.

First, they had to organize the loot.

Currently, the Violets were inspecting the weapons seized from the workshop where bombs were being made.

「It’s a shame we couldn’t recover more. Maybe we shouldn’t have used so many Molotovs!」

「Most of it got damaged or broken during the fight with the Solvers.」

Surprisingly, the gang members had quite a stash of decent weaponry.

Most of the arsenal consisted of [P-15 Automatic Rifle ☆], [Type 5 Automatic Rifle ☆], and [M-12 Submachine Gun ☆], all low-grade, one-star weapons.

They practically screamed, “I’m cheap!” just by looking at them.

The gang boss had a slightly better weapon, a two-star [Burnt Beast Hunting Rifle ☆☆], but it was damaged during the battle.

The overall maintenance of the weapons was poor, so we decided to sell or discard most of them, keeping only a few for replication.

However, there was a gem among the haul.

Currently in my hands was a bulky combination of metal and wood.

The name of this massive and beautiful weapon was [SBS-4 Riot Suppression Shotgun ☆☆☆], boasting three shining stars beside its name.

I pulled the charging handle to eject the shell from the chamber.

A yellow, thick brass casing gleamed in the light.

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「Four-gauge? What does that mean?」

「It means it’s super powerful. Look at the shell—it’s thicker than our fingers!」

We lacked a proper projectile weapon for close combat, so I planned to test this out later.

I couldn’t help but wonder what it would do to beasts—or people.

But the real treasure was something else.

「A sniper rifle!」

「It’s not just a sniper rifle—it’s a battle rifle. It can go full auto.」

In front of the Violets lay three futuristic, gray rifles.

Various types of accessories were attached, such as scopes, tripods, vertical grips, laser sights, and elongated silencers.

The name of this item was the FSR-15 Assault Rifle, and out of the six the gang had, we barely managed to salvage three.

It was a 4-star weapon. Four stars!

Carrying it for a long time without reinforcement made my arms ache.

The bullets were longer than the length of our hands, similar in size to the rounds of a medium machine gun I saw during my military service before reincarnation.

-Bang!

To test its power, I set up a mannequin outside the workshop and fired.

The sound was quieter than expected.

Every component moved as smoothly as flowing water.

The recoil was gentle.

However, the noise and power were two separate matters.

The mannequin’s upper body shattered with a deafening crash.

「Ahhh! How did we even beat those gang members?」

「No wonder they could pierce through walls so easily.」

It was chilling.

If something like this hit me directly, I’d turn into a Violet donut.

I tried cloning it once, and the result was similar to when I cloned the Blade of Blazing Flames.

「So even 4-star weapons degrade when cloned.」

「What a waste!」

The [FSR-15 Assault Rifle ☆☆☆☆] turned into a [Shoddy FSR-15 Assault Rifle ☆☆]. Outwardly, it looked identical, but there must have been differences.

「Should I try shooting it?」

I went outside and aimed at a distant mound of dirt.

I loaded a round into the chamber and pulled the charging handle.

Unlike the original, the operational parts had become stiff, and the handling felt significantly worse.

The trigger pull was dreadful.

The scope no longer functioned properly.

-Bang!

Black smoke rose from the muzzle and chamber.

The bullet missed its target.

「Ow! My shoulder hurts!」

Just like when I cloned the Blade of Blazing Flames, equipment above a certain grade experienced a noticeable drop in performance when duplicated.

Even the displayed grade in the status window dropped by two stars.

The Blade of Blazing Flames lost its flame attack ability, and the assault rifle became a crude counterfeit.

「Bullets and explosives also don’t clone well. What could be the issue?」

「Is it because highly complex chemicals don’t work? Then why do swords or guns clone successfully? I don’t get it.」

When I cloned homemade explosives, a similar phenomenon occurred. I could make them, but out of ten, eight or nine would fail to detonate. The remaining one had significantly reduced power.

「I guess our ability is still lacking.」

Just in case, I tried to recall the knowledge from the original work, but I couldn’t get a clear answer.

In the main story, the Boundless Witch also used clones of swords and spears like I did. However, it wasn’t clear if she could skillfully clone firearms.

The setting described Witch Violet as preferring melee weapons due to personal taste.

She enjoyed using explosives, but it was unclear whether she procured them externally or cloned them.

「In the end, it’s something time will resolve. Let’s not stress about it too much.」

「Let’s finish up quickly and take a break!」

The Violets diligently created inventories and sorted the ammunition and weapons.

Other equipment retrieved from the Fixers’ corpses was also visible.

Unfortunately, all of them were 3-star weapons.

Perhaps that hammer staff could be somewhat useful.

「We should test the weapons we acquired in a dungeon.」

「Good idea! While we’re at it, let’s deal with the multidimensional storage bag too. We should decide who to give it to.」

After this week’s tasks were done, I planned to take one of my friends to the Novastia Dungeon.

Leaving the multidimensional storage bag unused felt wasteful, so it seemed best to give it to someone trustworthy.

Thus, I spent time training, working, and managing minor investigations and tasks.

“Books just don’t hold my attention these days…”

While resting in the dormitory, Daphne sighed and placed her books on the table.

After hearing the truth about the academy from me, her enthusiasm for academics seemed to have evaporated.

It was understandable.

If the academy was conducting shady human experiments on its students, why would studying even matter?

The books Daphne was holding weren’t even related to her major.

They were guides on transferring or enrolling elsewhere.

“Violet, you said you’d explain your plans later, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll have a big meeting and explain everything then.”

If Irene interpreted my declaration of destroying the school as “exposing the conspiracies of madmen and normalizing the school,” Daphne saw it as “teaching the bad guys a harsh lesson.” Her interpretation was closer to my actual intent.

“No matter what you do, I trust you, Violet. But please, don’t do anything too dangerous. Okay?”

“Okay!”

I decided not to mention the dangerous stunts I pulled recently.

If she found out about the war against dozens of gang members, she’d scold me for being reckless.

Suddenly, as I glanced at the transfer-related documents Daphne was reading, a question popped into my mind.

For Polaris’s few survivors, including Irene—how did they manage to transfer to another school after the academy fell?

This was a crucial issue.

If I took down all the villains but ended up stuck at home, unable to attend school, that would suck.

I was actually enjoying school life for the first time in a while.

「Think about how it works in reality. If a school closes down for some reason, the Ministry of Education usually arranges for special transfers to nearby schools. Maybe Polaris had a similar process?」

「Oh, right. How did I not think of this earlier? Let’s check it out.」

The Violets searched for information, and it didn’t take long to find an answer.

「It’s true. There’s a regulation for this.」

<…In the event a school loses its functionality and is closed for specific reasons, students are to be granted transfer admission within the limits of enrollment capacity.>

Got it!

Though in this case, it would be handled by an agency within the Academy City rather than the Ministry of Education.

There were even several actual cases.

「Atlas Specialized Academy: During a field trip, a gate incident caused numerous fatalities among staff and students. School closure was decided, and surviving students were transferred… It’s written like that.」

「Midline Academy: During a magic experiment, the school building burned down. The board declared bankruptcy… In this case, the entire school burned, and the board collapsed, leading to special transfers.」

「Oh, this is it.」

We read the cases and smiled with satisfaction. We now had another reason to obliterate this academy.

「Wait, even with special transfers, they don’t accept everyone unconditionally! They check grades.」

「What?!」

The Violets investigated further.

「Usually, they just transfer students to nearby schools. But to get into a good school, you need high grades.」

「Ugh! I hate studying.」

A good idea struck me.

The Violets simultaneously shared their thoughts.

「Then let’s cheat!」

「Let’s steal the exam papers!」

The October diagnostic test was only a few days away.

Should we sneak in somewhere?

We chuckled lightly.