Putting aside all the clone/split shenanigans I’d unfortunately gotten myself tangled in, I finally had the chance to step back and properly reflect on the situation. I took my time, carefully dissecting everything that had happened.

  During the invasion of the anomaly known as Tusko Vagar, I witnessed his first class change, then his second, and then his fourth. I noticed something: his fatigue kept piling up. At the time, I found it strange and simply assumed it was due to the power of an authority that allowed him to have multiple classes, which he could switch between seamlessly. Now that I truly understand what that authority does, I finally understand how it works.

  I was sure of that because I had proof of it.

  _____________________________

  [ ???'s Interface ]

  _____________________________

  Through the interface before me, I could discern two crucial details.

  First, the GP attributed to Tusko Vagar in his Knight class, his primary class, as I had correctly assessed mid-battle, was exactly what one would expect from a normal level 35 Highbreed Knight. Admittedly, it was slightly higher due to the title he bore, but still, nothing out of the ordinary.

  The second detail, however, was harder to ignore. Much like with the first lone invader, Christian, the absurdly high GP reward I had been promised did not come from harvesting him directly, but rather from the authorities he wielded. In Tusko Vagar’s case, those were Authority Gathering and Ethereal Echo, which together netted me a staggering 26,678 GP, a sum I wasted no time in acquiring and adding to my collection.

  Returning to the first detail, I had to admit, I found it strange. I had half-expected that, upon opening the harvesting section, I would be presented with all the classes I had witnessed him display during his invasion. Yet, to my surprise, there was nothing. Not even an option to harvest them for GP.

  Having experienced Ethereal Echo firsthand, I realized my initial assumption that I could harvest each of his many classes was flawed. He hadn’t been seamlessly shifting between multiple classes in the way I had imagined. Instead, he had likely housed multiple distinct entities within himself, much like I currently did. Each entity had its own set of classes, skills, abilities, HP, SP, and MP, all coexisting within the same body. This would explain the stacking fatigue percentage, representing the strain of managing so many entities at once.

  As I mulled over the bizarre nature of the lone invader’s former existence, I found myself engaged in an equally peculiar conversation with, well, myself. Or rather, with the other voices, Dungeon Masters, as we had agreed to call each other.

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  "So, how many 'hims' were there in the lone invader?" “I” inquired, amused by the absurdity of the situation.

  "Well, considering the number of times he shifted classes," 'I' responded, "it could’ve been quite the crowd in there. Each 'him' with its own set of stats, skills, abilities, maybe even thoughts, all crammed into a single body."

  "I" chuckled internally. "So you're saying he basically had a Tusko Convention going on inside him? Must've been quite the party."

  "Yeah, I wonder if they argued over who got control," another voice chimed in, "or fought over the mirror in the morning."

  As “I” bantered about the sheer absurdity of the lone invader’s internal dynamics, “I” couldn’t help but appreciate the irony of it all. Here we were, dissecting the complexities of another being’s existence, all while dealing with the exact same enigma within ourselves.

  "So, Dungeon Masters," I said, simultaneously speaking alongside three other voices. "Any theories on what we do next?"

  "Hm, I think we should—wait, who just asked that question? That was one too many voices. Identify yourselves."

  "Dungeon Master 00."

  "Dungeon Master 01."

  "Dungeon Master 02."

  "Dungeon Master 03."

  "Dungeon Master 04."

  "Wait, since when do we have a Dungeon Master 04."

  "We didn't even have a Dungeon Master 03 earlier."

  "When did you guys spawn out?!"

  "Welp, guys, I'm telling you this thing; it's spiraling out of control."

  In the midst of our collective musings, confusion emerged as the voices within my—or our—mind multiplied, each claiming a thought, a thought that, while each different, was also a thought that I shared. It was strangely similar to multitasking, but the tasks weren't done by yourself. It was both fascinating and frustrating at the same time.

  Annoyed by all the voices speaking simultaneously, I found myself barking, "Shut the fuck up, you all!?"

  "Yeah, shut the f—"

  "I said, shut the fuck up."

  "Okay, okay, I was about to."

  "I said, shut the fuck up!"

  "I heard that, dammit! I'm not dea—"

  "Just shut the fuck up already, dude."

  "Tch!"

  With the abrupt yet peaceful silence that followed, I took a moment to reflect on the bizarre situation I found myself in. Conversing with multiple iterations of my own consciousness was an experience both intriguing and disorienting. The thought occurred to me that perhaps I was going through something as maddening as what the lone invader might have gone through, if not more so.

  "Gentlemen, Dungeon Master 00 reporting here. I initially assumed that giving each a ‘unique’ denomination to go by will fix our current predicament, but all it did was snoot. It's about time we face reality as it is; there are too many of us."

  The chorus of voices flowed forth, each one chiming in agreement.

  "Since we agree, I'll continue by adding that it can't keep going like this. We can't let this escalate beyond this point, that this must be put to an end; do we agree?"

  "Yeah."

  "Absolutely."

  "Of course."

  "Since we again agree, then we know what is to be done; we already know who is the culprit. In case one of us somehow didn't follow, it's the authority: Ethereal Echo. We already know that all that's left for us to do is figure out how to put a stop to what it's doing to us. It'll take brain power, but I'm pretty sure that's not something we're short of."

  As I declared, that voice began chiming in, agreeing with what'd been said. In fact, it was taken with great optimism, with most of them ready to delve into the problem right away. But slowly, the chiming turned into noise, and the noise began to sound annoying. As it did get annoying, I began to realize that having us all work on the same problem wasn't a good idea.

  "Gentlemen, please, I need your attention again. I have something to add."

  It took me a few moments to finally get the silence I wanted, but I got it. "It has come to my attention that this isn't going to work. We're us. We're not born for teamwork, or at least not one that includes so many people; even these people in question are 'us.' So I propose that instead of having all of us go after our single current problem, we split up the task."

  There was a collective murmur of agreement, so I continued, "To split the task, I'll have to know how many of us there are exactly. So, let's start by introducing ourselves. I am Dungeon Master 00."

  "I'm Dungeon Master 01."

  "Dungeon Master 02."

  "Dungeon Master 03."

  "Dungeon Master 04."

  "So there are five of us?" I mused out.

  Then another voice spoke, "Actually, 6 if you count me."

  "Wait, who are—oh god! Another one. Fine, we're six, and you're Dungeon 05."

  "’Kay."

  "Is there another one who still hasn't introduced himself?" There was no answer, so "So six it is. I would've preferred it to be an uneven number like five or even seven, but fine; there are six of us."

  As I began to consider how we could split the tasks among ourselves, one of the Dungeon Masters voiced my exact thoughts. "Dungeon Master 02, checking in. Since we come to this can we at least establish a hierarchy or some sort of leadership to avoid further confusion?"

  "Dungeon Master 03—I mean, Dungeon Master 04, reporting. Agreed. We need a clear chain of command. But who takes the lead?"

  The moment these words were uttered, we were all back at it. At that moment, I began asking myself, am I really these people? And also at that moment, I got the answer to that question: yes. By the time I sobered up from this war to be the leader of this assembly of "me," several dozen insults had been thrown out randomly at the other Dungeon Masters.

  "Gentlemen, please, let's calm down. This isn't going anywhere. None of this is."

  Having come to pretty much the same realization, 'we,' as a weird collective, all calmed down.

  "Let's get back to what we left off. I've been thinking about how we could split tasks between each other. Dungeon Master 01, you're going to focus on our cloning/splitting problem."

  "Roger that...I guess."

  "Where your conviction Dungeon Master!"

  "ROGER THAT!"

  "That's better! You'll go with Dungeon Master 02. I know teamwork isn't our forte, but two brain powers here are better than one, considering the urgency of this problem. Together, dive deep into its nature, see if there's a way to counter its effects. Once done, report back with your findings."

  "Yessir!"

  "Dungeon Master 03, I want you to focus on our other acquired Authority: Authority Gathering. That name is promising. Look into it, find out what's there to find out, and just like Dungeon Master 01 and 02, report your findings for us all to hear."

  "Alright, will do that."

  "Dungeon Master 04, I want you to focus on what you, as a dungeon master, should focus on, making sure that any bastard that enters our domain regrets it. I'll leave the skimming of the acquirable spawn and spawn leveling up to you."

  "Leave this one to me."

  "Dungeon Master 05, just like with Dungeon Master 4, I want you to figure out a nice way to make this domain hell for any invader. I leave the domain management to you. After Tusko Vagar’s massacre, we definitely need to update our domain game."

  "It'll be done."

  "Alright, that's about it all."

  "Yeah, but what about you?"

  "What, what about me?"

  "What are you gonna do?"

  In that moment, it finally dawned on me that as I thought of how to put them to work, I'd forgotten about myself. "Well, I guess—" Then just as that one thought passed my mind, one of them voiced that very thought out in an accusatory way.

  "Wait, guys. Isn't this what's actually happening to us? All these missions given to each one of us... this is the start of a form of 'hierarchy?'"

  "Don't get this started, you little shit." It was there, as the pot was once again stirred up, that a voice chimed in.

  "Guys, I think you've forgotten about me. What should I do?"

  "Who the fu—Oh dear Goddess, another one! Someone put an end to this madness."