Sitting in an armchair, he looked around. An amazing scene appeared before him, reminiscent of something medieval. The room was medium-sized.

The chair on which he sat reminded him of a conference table in a company. However, it was made of solid oak, with curved legs, on which lay a stack of parchment and a pen for writing.

The walls were decorated with magnificent fabric curtains in deep colors, adding sophistication to the interior. Tall shelves lined the perimeter of the room, containing ancient scrolls, books and some strange objects.

Looking back behind him was a small fireplace, emanating warmth and light.

The soft light of the crystal chandeliers created a peaceful atmosphere.

"What is this place... hmm..."

As he uttered his thoughts aloud, a severe headache struck his head. Right after that, he inexplicably gained a multitude of images. These were the memories of a man named Arlin Shiningblade.

Arlin grew up in the shadow of his father, the director of a magical academy. Despite his modest magical abilities and ordinary appearance, he always felt the burden of his father's expectations. His father, who always spoke of his son as having undeniable potential, sought to empower him and boost his self-confidence.

However, his father's death was a turning point in Arlin's life. He became responsible for the academy, which needed renewal and uplifting. He was not ready for the role of director, but circumstances forced him to accept the challenge.

His long-held dream was to make his academy one of the most powerful and influential in the world of Eldoria, to meet his father's expectations. Regardless of his uncertainty, he strived to make the academy a place where every student, regardless of ability, could realize their potential. He dreamed of a world where magic served unity rather than division, as his father had taught him.

And now it seems he died due to an accident with of malfunctioning magic.

"Damn..."

Grabbing his head, the new Arlin could not help cursing. His head ached so badly he could barely keep his consciousness in place.

Fortunately, after some time the pain began to subside. Breathing heavily and holding himself up with his hands, he stared in shock at the environment. It turns out he had fallen into another world and taken over the body of some new academy director.

"I just wanted to supposedly fix that restless bug in the game, even after trying for three days in a row I couldn't...then I fell asleep...and now I'm in a world of magic....Wait...magic!..."

With a tremor in his voice and some excitement, he raised his hand and then began to mumble something under his breath.

It was a strange language, if you could even call it a language, which it seems he had mastered using the memories in his head.

When he started uttering these strange words, it seemed like something in the air began to manifest and gradually concentrate in his hand. This sight made him widen his eyes, as his memories and what was happening clearly matched each other.

However, this mysterious energy suddenly exploded with a bang and dispersed, leaving Arlin in shock.

"What the...why didn't it work...let's try again.." Saying so, he started reading the strange words again, but once more it did not work.

"Phew..."

Looking at the scattered particles of energy, Arlin finally began to accept the new reality.

"So it means I have traveled to another world. Moreover, a world with magic, knights, different races?"

"And now I have become a director...???"

"But what to do next...judging by the memories, the previous owner of the body could freely use magic, and now I can't...wait..."

When he lowered his head on the table trying to tidy up his chaotic mind. A thought suddenly came to his mind.

He abruptly raised his head and carefully said.

"Status?!"

His voice contained notes of disbelief, which was confirmed by the lack of any effect.

"Ha...it can't be that a game system has arrived..."

When he disappointingly and subconsciously decided to speak, suddenly after pronouncing the word "system", a panel appeared before his eyes.

On the panel there was a silhouette of a human on one side, and on the other side there was something like a crystal.

"...Er...what is this? An interface?"

Carefully observing the window, Arlin focused his gaze on the crystal drawing.

"This looks very similar to the magic crystal in the memories...will a crystal be needed to do something?"

Speaking, he thought for a few moments before glancing at his hand. On his hand was a ring, but it was unusual. According to the memories, this ring was given to Arlin by his father.

It is a magical artifact that can store a small space inside, where you can store items.

He concentrated, and repeating the actions from memory. He felt some strange feeling of flow in his body. This was mana, which could be used to cast magic.

Under his control, the mana slowly began to flow to his hand, then pour into the ring. Immediately he felt some kind of connection between him and the ring. When he wanted to look inside, a picture appeared in his mind.

It was the inside of the ring's space, where lay several magic crystals, a couple of books as well as necessities like a weak potion and food.

He wasn't interested in anything else besides the crystals at the moment, so he thought about it and raised his hand with the intention of taking a crystal. The next second, one crystal was in his hand out of thin air.

After examining it for a few seconds, he stretched the crystal towards the window in front of him. Suddenly the crystal in front of him disappeared, the next second he saw a number 1 appear next to the crystal drawing.

The same thing happened on the other side near the silhouette on the left, where the number one also appeared.

Thinking for a bit, he reached out and tapped the silhouette. Following this, another window appeared with a slider, but there was only the number one there so he simply pressed the create button below.

When he pressed the button, a shadow appeared to his left and then it began to take human form.
It was a human, however it had no facial features, except faintly glowing white eyes. The rest was completely black, like a shadow.

With such a development, Arlin fell into brief shock. Apart from the appearance of this shadow, he could clearly feel a sense from the clone. It was as if this shadow was part of his body, he could feel it clearly.

"What the hell..."

Catching his breath, he calmed himself down a bit, then got up and approached the shadow. Reaching out, he cautiously touched the shadow, feeling a solid touch. However, in addition to this, he could also feel as if he was touching himself.

"What is this...is this me?"

Arlin looked for some time before asking doubtfully.

"Are you alive...?"

"No..."

Although he had asked the question, it was his feeling, but the shadow did indeed answer his question.

"Then how are you speaking?"

"I am your shadow, master."

Speaking, the shadow slowly knelt down and then bowed its head.

"Meaning shadow?"

"Yes master, I am your shadow, and I am a part of you."

The shadow did not raise its head, but still answered Arlin's questions.

"...."

Several thoughts spun in Arlin's head, it seemed he also vaguely understood what this shadow was. He thought in his mind and then mentally wanted the shadow to raise its hand. Which confirmed his guess, the shadow did just that, maintaining its posture, it raised its hand.

Sitting back in the chair, he began various tests.

Some time later, he gradually figured out what this shadow was and what its properties were.

"So, it turns out this is my shadow, or in other words my clone."
He sat at the table and carefully read his own notes that he had written after several experiments.

"So, first I can control it and also inhabit it. Secondly, it feels no pain, proven experimentally. Thirdly, it will be able to become intangible for a while, I found this out after asking directly.

And from the conversation it seems it can think normally and hold a dialogue. What I also noticed is that it has the same preferences as me. Does it mean it has my personality and worldview?

Fourth, I can share my memories with it, as well as delete them conversely. And most importantly the last, I can gain knowledge from it, as for other aspects I need to conduct more experiments.

In essence they are my clones."

Looking at the clone in front of him again, he thought about it and summoned the window again. After that, he took out another crystal from the ring and embedded it in the window.

Spending all 6 remaining crystals, he looked at the clone drawing. Now he could create 6 more, which he did.

6 more clones appeared from all sides in exactly the same way as before. The feeling was the same as with the first clone, he could clearly feel them all. They were no different from each other.

"So let's think about what to do next." Arlin had already taken into account that the clones could also think for themselves. It was as if instead of one brain he now had a whole 7.

However, seeing that they still did not speak, he continued.

"Well, it seems you have my memories and think like me. So now we are in another world."

"Yes master, and you are interested in magic."

"Not only magic, but the world outside as well."

"Also concerning is the question of how we got here."

The clones began to speak one after the other, which was amazing - the next spoke when the previous one finished without interrupting each other.

They also expressed Arlin's own thoughts, he was interested in these questions.

"Master it seems our priority is magical stones." This was said by the first clone. Arlin understood what he meant so he nodded.

"Yes, according to the interface, the more crystals I have, the more clones I can have."

"In addition, more experiments need to be conducted." Speaking, he looked around at everything, his eyes scanning the books on the shelves.

"So let's start the experiment, you will all start reading all these books. Mainly I need the history of this world as well as valuable knowledge ranging from magic to knights."

As soon as he finished speaking, the shadows quickly moved taking books from the shelves. At this time, Arlin began transferring his memories to better understand this world and his position.

"Ha...from an ordinary weak game developer to a director of a magical school, absurd for sure."

Reviewing the information in his mind, he gradually began to understand the world. What made it easier was that the incoming information from the clones as they read did not negatively impact him.

He clearly understood the knowledge and even found with surprise that his memory was an order of magnitude higher than before.

And so now he had become the director of a weak magical academy. Weak precisely because neither the father of this body nor the original owner had powerful abilities in magic.

In the world of Eldoria there are many powerful beings and different races. One of which are humans, the kingdom of Aradia belongs to the human race. It is quite large, and therefore has different territories.

The magical academy whose director Arlin became is called Etherium, which was also the name of the third largest city in the kingdom. And the academy is located near this city.

The reason why the father and son were weak is because unlike other academies, it did not have a great past or strong history. And various powerful academies had already strengthened their positions, as they have existed for a very long time.

Compared to them, the Etherium Academy was created relatively later. Factors such as less wealth, magical knowledge, lack of magic crystals, and teachers also played a role in the academy's weakness.

And following this, the lower prestige brings a small number of students, and the circle is closed.

And so the father and son, although magicians of the 3rd-4th generations, had a depressing heritage. Even talent limited them so that they could study in much better places than get home schooling.

"Uh...should I continue to be the director or just leave and go..."

Checking his memories, he inhaled and looked at the clones quickly flipping through various books. Feeling the knowledge in his mind gradually increasing, he continued.

"At the moment, nothing threatens me based on the memories, besides the father of this body did not die in any strange way. So I think there should be no conspiracy.

Besides, there is enough knowledge here for now, as well as ways to become stronger, this world is quite dangerous but intelligence clearly rules here first. So unlike other professions like knights, warriors and the like, mages need to possess great intelligence to become powerful.

In addition, if you consider the learning progress of the previous owner of the body and mine, I clearly have an advantage."

His gaze fell back on the clones.

"Heh...and I like this...if I make this place my lair and secretly plan with the clones, who will think of the director of the Etherium Academy. As for looking for a way home...it seems clearly more fun here, I want to know the depths of magic."

Speaking, he leaned back in his chair and watched the clones, feeling the knowledge coming from them.

Black eyes with inexplicable light were hidden under black hair...