Alex grabbed the tablet Edwin had brought him with the anatomy textbook, moved around his desk, and thought about his idea. Both [Mirage] and [Parallel Mind] were at the brink of advancement, and he'd been planning ways to push the former to evolve into a clone variation skill.

Things had gone well so far. So well that Maelis was almost certain Alex would get something when the skill hit the last level. Theoretically, all he needed to do was keep pushing the skill as he had been, with the shell and mana stone dust, and he should get offered some sort of illusion skill with physicality.

Truthfully, though, that wasn't enough for him.

Alex sat on the floor in front of his desk, on a plush new rug, with legs crossed. He rested his back against the desk after getting himself situated with the tablet in his lap. He pulled a pouch full of mana stone dust from his bracer and set it in front of himself while thinking through the idea he'd had last week.

"It should only take one…" he said to hype himself up.

He allowed the threads of mana to spill out from his fingers at the same time that he activated [Mirage]. His still image appeared seated across from him, eyes closed and legs crossed.

The illusion had been working well over the last several months, and, aside from its lack of physicality, it had very few downsides. He felt that there were even more aspects of the combination that he could explore if he really wanted to.

But, more than anything, Alex wanted the mirage of himself to turn into a clone of himself. He wanted that physicality, that ability to interact with objects and pass for a realistic version of himself. One that wouldn't shatter from a stiff breeze or a passing shoulder.

While holding his intention firm, he carefully ran each thread through the magical dust at his feet before using them to form a shell around the still image. The next two hours of concentration and tedious construction of a flawless solid skin for the mirage, getting as detailed as its ears and each finger web and joint.

Something about the hands felt particularly important to Alex, and he knew that while this was more care than he normally put into forming the shell, it was the next step and intention that would push the skill to the final level of the tier.

He used a full D Rank mana stone to funnel the necessary mana into the task. Taking a deep breath once finished, he made sure to keep the mental desire for physical quality adaptation.

Not taking his eyes from his likeness, he removed a dagger from his ring and drew it across his left palm before stowing it away. He allowed new threads to form from the left hand and slide through the blood, rather than the mana stone dust. Taking twice as long as the previous step, he painstakingly used the threads to form the outline of a heart in its chest, and followed up with a myriad of veins. He focused first on the major arteries and then added as much detail as possible.

The entire process was extremely tedious and required all of his attention to maintain the intent, many threads, and focus on adding more. By the end of it, his Spectral Eye could see so many lines of mana overlapping and intertwined that it looked like a tangled mess.

Is it too much?

A bit of doubt crossed his mind as he looked at the finished product, worried that it was too detailed or that he'd gone overboard.

Alex recentered himself and redoubled his intent. The detail was part of who he was. The evolved skill would also need to be a part of who he was. Something about that thought clicked to him, and he focused on that thought and desire with as much of his mental power as he could as he activated the skill.

A huge smile broke out across his face as he read the window that appeared.

Congratulations, [Mirage] has leveled up! You have reached the Tier threshold of an active skill. Would you like to advance or evolve this skill?

Advance: This skill stays the same and advances to an improved version in the same tree.

Evolve: This skill changes based on the different ways you may have used it or pushed the bounds of its purpose. You will lose levels in this skill if you choose this option.

Advance / Evolve?

Even though he felt a desire to jump up and down to celebrate, he took a shaky breath before releasing it. While the plan had been to evolve the skill for the longest time, a small, greedy part of him wanted to advance it.

It felt like it would be a badge of honor to have an Adept Proficiency skill. It would be his first, and he'd have earned it before fully hitting C Rank.

Even as he had the thought, he shook his head. In the long run, getting the evolution was the best route for him. [Mirage] had served him well, and the ability to create illusions had a lot of versatility, but other than creating the sudo-clone, he hadn't used the skill for anything else in a long while. Additionally, if Valtherion went further down the route of illusions, then there wouldn't be as much of a need for them to overlap specialties.

Despite these logical reasons, he knew that he'd still be sorely tempted if it weren't for the fact that [Parallel Mind] was also extremely close to advancing, and when it did, he planned to take it to Adept, rather than evolve it.

Decision made, Alex mentally selected the evolve option.

Analyzing skill usage… New Skill Learned: [Fractal Body] (Novice - Level 5)

[Fractal Body] - Creates a duplicate matching the Awakened One's form and physicality.

Scanning the description alone was enough to make the tension leave Alex's shoulders. Part of the unknown aspect of the evolution made it feel almost like a gamble, with its one saving grace being that it took the Awakened's intent into account.

Excitement replacing his fear, Alex took a breath and took several moments to let his mana refill again. While he waited, he reached out to check on Valtherion and found the amphiptere to be asleep in the backyard.

Once his mana was full, Alex activated the new skill for the first time.

The excitement he felt quickly turned to concern as he felt his mana continue to get pulled from his body. It continued past the halfway point and didn't show signs of slowing down. He pulled another mana stone from his storage and started to siphon it as quickly as he could.

Seconds passed as the skill continued to cast, motes of mana drew away from his skin and coalesced in the same space his previous illusion had been sitting with its legs crossed.

When the skill finished activating, only about five seconds had passed, and he felt a sense of tiredness settle over him that was quickly replaced by more excitement. All of the smaller details of the process were lost on him as he stared, wide-eyed, at the second version of himself.

It looked like a perfect replica, but the largest difference from the previous skill was that the current skill didn't seem to transfer any clothes at all.

The new Alex sat completely naked with eyes closed.

Alex squinted at his body, noticing the multiple scars he'd accumulated since the integration began. He had a large one on his shoulder and hip, with the most noticeable crossing the bridge of his nose.

Cautiously, he reached out and poked his own chest, and watched as the clone flopped backward like a rag doll. The action reminded him that no matter how real the clone looked, it was only a copy of his body, not his mind.

He stood and activated [Parallel Mind], ready to push his mind into the new clone, but paused as he looked at his finger. After prodding the fake body, he was pleased to see that it didn't burst into motes of magic on contact. What was more interesting was that it felt like real skin as he touched it, compressing a bit before halting on the muscles of his toned chest.

He shrugged and figured that he'd learn the most about the skill by using it, observing it, and experiencing half of his mind being inside the clone.

Pushing his second consciousness into it was just as easy as it had been with the illusion skill. He felt the skills work together, and his mind slipped into the other body.

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Eyes blinking, the second Alex woke up and looked around from where he lay on the floor. It only took a moment to reorient himself and stand.

Both of them stood face to face, but both of them looked down at the clone's body. Alex's body had been replicated—all of it— and he stood completely exposed. He found it unnerving to see himself so clearly without having to look in a mirror.

Tapping his hand on the bracer at his forearm, Alex removed a spare set of clothes and tossed them to the mirage. It moved and caught the shirt and pants without issue.

"Yes, I can still move independently," it answered, knowing Alex's line of thinking.

"Just had to check. This is… amazing," he said while walking around himself.

"Okay, can you at least wait until I get the clothes on before you start oogling me?"

After completing a full lap, Alex leaned against the front of his desk and pulled up his status screen. Immediately, he saw the difference, and realization dawned on him. "Shit," he whispered.

"What is it?"

"My stats. The physical stats are all split while you're active. I see a new window next to my readout, though. I can see your stats, and they're exactly half of my normal stats." He looked at the smaller, miniature window that detailed his clone.

HP: 480/480

MP: 920/920

Physical Stats:

Strength: 14

Agility: 25

Constitution: 48

Vitality: 15

Magical Stats:

Intellect: 143

Willpower: 602

Mana: 92

Wisdom: 78

The result fascinated him, and he loved the idea that the new skill allowed his clone to have 480 HP, compared to the equivalent 1 HP that the mirage used to have.

"Do you feel pain?"

"Don't know, but guess what. You're going to love this."

"What?"

"I can see mana," the clone said with a smug smile.

"You can? Like, with the eye?"

The clone nodded and accepted the knife that Alex handed him. "Yep, it seems like the eye works, but I can't seem to scan anything with it," he said that last sentence as he looked around the room.

"I guess that makes sense. The eye innately has mana sight, but the scanning function is a product of the System, right? I'm guessing that means you still can't access the System?"

"No, I can't."

"Figured. Okay, cut your hand or arm. Don't go crazy with it, but enough to drop a few points of health. I want to see if I can see the change, and tell me how much you feel it."

The clone did so, drawing the blade across the top of his arm.

In real time, Alex watched the HP count on his System window tick down by a few digits.

"Nope, I don't feel a thing," it said.

"Really? That's pretty amazing. Can you still use unstructured magic?"

There was a brief pause before a weak breeze spell circle blasted Alex in the face, his hair flying in odd directions.

"All right then. Do you— I don't know, feel any different?"

"I know what you're worried about. No, I don't feel any more like a human. It's your mind. I know that this is just a fake shell of a body. There's no real sense of self-preservation here, at least not any more than there was with the illusions. Something… does feel a bit weird, though."

"What is it?" Alex asked.

"I can't really put my finger on it," the clone scratched its head.

"Okay, well at least I need to think of you as something other than just me. I put some thought into what I'd start thinking of clones as when they started to last longer—"

"Yeah, I remember. I'm Test, then?" Test asked.

"Yep," Alex said.

"Easy enough. So what's the next test? Spell circles?"

"No, not yet. I think there are some more basic things to go through." He'd wanted to use one of the clones to begin testing all of the untested ritual circles he now had at his disposal; at least that way, he had a catalogue of all his available spell circles for research purposes. "I think the first two tests need to see what happens when I pull the second consciousness back. Does that make the clone disperse? If not, what happens when I dismiss the body?"

Test extended both of his arms. "Bring it on."

The corner of his mouth quirked up before pulling back the second half of his mind. The moment it left, the body collapsed to the floor in a heap. It made Alex wince, even though he couldn't feel it. Seeing his body fall to the ground like a rag doll was odd to witness.

He scratched his arm, curious to note that while it didn't hurt, there was a very dull sense of phantom pain. He removed his notebook to begin taking notes on the experience and future tests. When he did, he added a test to further examine the relationship between pain and sensory perception.

The fractured body lay on its back, with both legs folded unnaturally from how it had fallen backward.

With a thought, Alex dismissed the use of the [Fractal Body] skill and watched both the blue window in his vision and the body. His stats returned to their natural state instantly, and he felt more awake than he had been before. Simultaneously, the body dissolved into a cloud of blue and white motes of mana, expanding only an inch or two before vanishing completely. It was as if the body had been a balloon containing the mana, popped to release its contents. When the cloud disappeared, the clothes settled onto the floor in a heap.

The thought made him add a few more notes to his notebook. While the clone had bled when cut, the lack of a permanent body made him wonder if it actually had organs like a real body. If it didn't, would it make a damage difference if it were hit in the chest or the leg? If it didn't, would the clones need to eat?

Or breathe?

They were interesting thoughts, and he made a note to test each of them in time.

Before he continued down the route of testing, however, Alex decided that the next step would be to finish pushing [Parallel Mind] to advance. If it did so, as he hoped, then he'd only have more to test with the new clone skill.

Scooping up his materials and moving to his chair, he made himself comfortable while closing his eyes.

The final push to advance his mental skill was more akin to a nudge at this point. He'd spent hours during the last months of the Rift preparing the skill, doing repeated drills each morning after the fight against Unity.

The fight against the aspect wasn't the first time he'd wished to split his mind into more lines of thought, but it was the deciding moment for it to be his new goal. During their time in the Rift, he'd been constantly limited by his desire to either let the second consciousness learn from Maelis or continue to train in the mirage.

He deactivated the skill completely and centered himself.

The entire theory of advancement was based on his development of his old [Ritual Insight] skill. Similar to the way he clamped down on the skill with his will, forcing it to activate more slowly, and over time, he did it with the mental skill. The key difference between the two was his focus and attention. When used with [Ritual Insight], Alex had focused on the continued hints and System-guided learning portion of the skill. But with [Parallel Mind], he focused on the portion of the skill that pulled his mind apart.

With how fluidly the System cast the spell, it wasn't painful. Rather, it felt almost as if his mind were "unzipping" from the crown of his skull to the top of his spine.

Focusing on that, he willed it to repeat the process, focusing his intent and desire for the skill to continue developing into more lines of parallel thought.

Congratulations, [Parallel Mind] has leveled up! You have reached the Tier threshold of an active skill. Would you like to advance or evolve this skill?

Advance: This skill stays the same and advances to an improved version in the same tree.

Evolve: This skill changes based on the different ways you may have used it or pushed the bounds of its purpose. You will lose levels in this skill if you choose this option.

Advance / Evolve?

Unable to stop the relieved laugh that came from his lips, Alex reveled in the feeling of progress. The last three and a half months in the Rift had been focused on preparing for this moment, and it felt good to reap the rewards of his long hours of training.

He wasn't sure if it helped the actual advancement, or if the options were already chosen on the System's side by this point, but Alex focused his intent on how he wanted the skill to progress while selecting the Advance option.

Analyzing skill usage… Skill Advanced: [Parallel Mind] (Adept - Level 1)

[Parallel Mind] - Splits the Awakened One's consciousness into separate streams of thought.

Dedication to controlling parallel streams of thought has led to an increase in proficiency in volume. The Awakened can now choose to create up to four simultaneous consciousnesses.

His jaw hung open slightly as he read the improvement. It was more than he was hoping for. Wanting to see if the limitations were the same, Alex activated the skill for a quad-split of his mind.

The feeling of opening his mind was intensified, but otherwise, the skill was smooth and easy to activate.

Just as before, his stats were split evenly among the created consciousnesses.

"Shit. Well, if it weren't for my titles and Epic Class, that could have been a useless advancement. He deactivated the skill, let his mana regenerate, and repeated the process, interested to see if the split was still even with three minds. It was, and he confidently knew that the improvement to the skill would be an enormous boon to his kit.

Alex took several notes in his journal before packing up and leaving his office. He passed through the ward, closing the door behind himself.

Edwin waited for him at the bottom of the stairs.

"Master Moore, did you need something?"

"Yes, thank you. I'm going to the workshop for a bit and want some privacy. I'll lock both doors. Later tonight, I want to take up some of your time. I'd like to update your list of skills to look out for, and I'd also like to discuss the next staff hires we should be on the lookout for… I have a feeling we're about to need lots of spare clothes." The last statement was mumbled more to himself, but Edwin's mustache still twitched after he said it.

"Very well, sir. I'll ensure we have available trading and supply lines ready to discuss this evening and prepare to adjust as you see fit."

"Awesome." Alex started to turn into the living room before stopping and asking, "Where's Lin?"

"She asked me several questions about decorum before wandering into the new greenhouse to speak with Mr. Grant and Samuel."

He nodded, pleased that she was keeping herself occupied.

In just a few minutes, he was locked in his workshop with Valtherion sleeping in the main area. It had taken him a moment to find the bond, who'd somehow managed to make himself a comfortable spot in the metallic rafters.

The walls of the workshop had been repaired from his early spell circle experiments, and he knew that he'd need to create another set of more permanent wards for the building to prevent future incidents.

For the time being, he was simply happy to be back in his space. It took a few additional minutes for him to wheel the movable tables and chairs from the center of the floor and create some space to begin testing the clones.

When it was ready, he looked around the open workshop space with a giddy sense of excitement that he hadn't really felt since he first started learning how to use his mana and empower his body.

Between the future tests of his clones and the open horizon of his spell circles, it felt like he was stepping into an all-new playing field.

He rolled his shoulders and adjusted the brim of his hat before starting to activate his new [Fractal Body] skill.

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