The clone came back two hours later with a split lip.
Jelani looked at his own face bleeding and felt a phantom sting on his mouth that he was fairly sure wasn't real. "What happened?"
The clone's mouth moved. No sound came out. It looked at him blankly.
{It can't speak,} the system said. {Not in this tier. You'll need to read what it observed through the system interface. Open the clone log under the system category.}
He opened it. A text log had populated, recording everything the clone had observed in sequence.
Entered city via east gate — no challenge, guards did not identify as unusual.
Spirit Sect disciples: 4 identified in market district, rank insignia indicates outer disciple, estimated Level 3-4 Body Refinement.
1 disciple identified as participant in the incident — scar on left jaw, confirmed.Disciple with scar currently stationed near the grain merchant stalls.
Spirit Sect compound: located in northern quarter, moderate gate security.
Reason for injury: secondary disciple attempted to grab clone's arm near market stall. Clone executed evasion. Disciple struck clone in response. Clone withdrew.
Jelani read the entry about the disciple with the scar twice. His jaw tightened.
{Don't do anything tonight,} the system said immediately.
"I wasn't going to."
{You had the look.}
"What look."
{The look where you are about to do something that gets you killed because you are angry. I have seen it twice already and you have only been alive again for four days.}
Jelani exhaled through his nose. He looked back at the clone, which was standing a few feet away looking at nothing, patient and blank as a reflection in still water.
"Four of them in the market," he said. "One of them is someone who was there."
{One. The others may or may not have been present. You don't know yet. Acting on incomplete information against four cultivators who collectively outrank you is not revenge. It is suicide.}
"I'm Level 5."
{They are Level 3 and Level 4, which means in a fair fight you might win one-on-one. It would not be a fair fight. It would be four on one in the middle of a city where the Spirit Sect has a compound and reinforcements, and you have one clone with a split lip.}
He was quiet for a moment.
"Fine," he said. "What do you suggest?"
{I suggest you go back to the city legitimately. Find work. Earn coin. Keep grinding levels. Use the clone strategically to gather more information so that when you do act, you know exactly what you're doing and don't miss.}
It was sensible advice. He hated sensible advice.
But he looked at the scar-disciple's entry in the log again and made himself think about it logically instead of emotionally. He needed to be stronger. He needed more information. He needed to know which of the four had been there, what their habits were, where they went alone.
"Alright," he said. "We go back to the city tomorrow. Properly."
He looked at the clone.
"Good work," he told it.
The clone said nothing.
{It cannot appreciate the compliment,} the system said.
"I know. It still felt right to say."
He sent the clone back into the system and lay down in the grass under a sky full of stars, and made himself breathe slowly and think about the future instead of the past.