"Great master of the dream valley! We have intruded into your territory on accident. Please let us go!"

  Anos found it quite interesting they thought he was the master of this valley? Well. When he thought about it, he planned on making this his own private territory. He could already see a future of hiding in this valley and using clones to explore the world.

  Anos had adapted fast to talking with his clone. The sensation was a bit weird.

  "Do you guys have a map?"

  The leader of this group took out a leather map and shakily handed it to Anos.

  Anos waved his hands and the map started to change. It was as if someone had stamped it. But that wasn't it, Anos also performed a bit of theatrics in this action.

  A beam of light surrounded the map as it floated.

  He then grabbed the map and handed it back to the leader.

  "What... did you do?"

  "I marked your map."

  Anos had put a icon next to the area where his cave should be.

  "Marked the map?"

  Anos started to lie as easily as he breathed.

  "There is a monster even stronger then I at this location. It is said it has been slumbering for thousands of years. It resides in a cave. I warn you, no matter what happens. You must never disturb this beast!"

  Anos then started to make up fairy tales about this valley.

  He told of various mythical creatures and dangers. By the end of it. The faces of the entire caravan were pale. Just what sort of world had they entered!?

  "Please! Let us leave!"

  Anos started to laugh.

  He was wondering how useful these mortals could be.

  Anos then performed an actual illusion spell he had created. He was still standing in front of them. But they couldn't see him at all! It was as if he was invisible.

  "Lord! Don't leave us here!"

  Thanks to Anos's magical tales of this dream valley. They didn't even think about further exploring. Inwardly, Anos was wondering a few things.

  He wondered how long they would survive? He also wondered if human corpses could become essentially blood clones? Although that would probably be similar to one of the inheritances in the secret realms pillars.

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Necromancy!

  Anos didn't feel like having to feel the sensation of rotting when controlling a body. He instead chose to use his own five elements blood clones.

  Anos had been cultivating the entire time he was talking to them. He used one body to explore the forest and another to cultivate. The flow of spiritual energy for some reason could be shared between his avatar and himself.

  So he was perfectly using his time.

  Right now he had two clones in his sea of incarnations. One of them had a body which was the blood clone. The other was idle and wasn't doing anything.

  Anos felt this was his current limit.

  A few years later...

  Anos was now 30 years old.

  He was now at the eighth level of qi condensation. His avatar was at the seventh level. He now had two blood clones at the sixth level of qi condensation.

  His sea of consciousness only had the avatar and spiritual energy. His sea of incarnations was split in two. Each one controlled one of the blood clones.

  Anos would cultivate as the two blood clones explored the outside world. But despite them tirelessly searching. They hadn't found any traces of the relic at all.

  Anos had originally named the first clone 'Solis'. This was the name his parents gave him in this world. But now he needed to plan for MANY clones.

  So Anos thought about it.

  He decided to make his own 'organization'.

  In chess. You win when you put the king into checkmate.

  Anos considered himself the 'king' of these clones. He would be the 'player' controlling the pieces. So essentially, these pieces were simple NPCS! Anos was familiar with chess, but not videogames. So he didn't know the term of non-player characters.

  So he named his organization 'The Actors'.

  Each person in this organization would be his chess piece.

  Due to their bodies being made from the blood of a cultivator and pure spiritual energy. Their affinity and 'talent' of cultivation. While the spiritual roots were the same. It was incomparable to Anos's own!

  It only took a few hours for the second clone to reach sixth level of qi condensation. But then it once again hit a barrier. This confirmed Anos's guess. It would seem that his clones couldn't surpass him in cultivation.

  Chess was actually a game Anos was familiar with. In his previous world. He had played a little bit when he was still a mortal.

  Pawns naturally have positions. Anos decided to name the clones based on their position on the board. He only had two right now. He would give them an actual name and then a codename.

  For example.

  His first clone he called 'Solis'. But its codename was 'A2'.

  His second clone was called 'Light'. But its codename was 'B2'.

  Anos thought the name of the organization was a bit cheeky. He also planned not to reveal his power to make clones. He could use his transfiguration to shape their bodies and make them completely unique.

  These clones were his pawns.

  But Anos wasn't planning on being the only one in this organization. If he could find strong enough people who were worthy. He could give them a higher position.

  A knight? A bishop? A rook? The queen?

  Everything was possible.

  These years. Anos had filled not only his sea of consciousness with spiritual energy. But both dimensions of his sea of incarnations was full as well.

  Now Anos was attempting to do something others would consider impossible at his level. He wanted to condense the spiritual energy into liquid. Then into a solid.

  He wanted to essentially create spirit stones.

  Unfortunately, Anos wasn't some god. He failed despite trying for months. He was still at the eighth level of qi condensation. He hoped to reach the perfection of qi condensation at the tenth level before he turned 60.

  Just to be safe.

  His goal was to reach it before 50 years old. But the more he thought about it. The more unsure he became. Why? He didn't want to risk death!

  Because of his fear, he got an interesting idea.

  "Some geniuses would push beyond the tenth stage of qi condensation to lay a more solid foundation. From this perspective. It can be said that the tenth level is just the minimum requirement for entry."

  "If I can reach just the 11th level of qi condensation. I can try as many attempts as I want with my avatar. Then when I am 100% sure. That is when I will breakthrough!"