“Are you sure about this?” Percy asked Nesha upon receiving his clone’s memories, not even bothering to mask the disappointment in his voice.

She gave him a rueful nod.

“I’m gonna miss you too, but this is something I have to do.”

Percy sighed. Evidently, his hopes of spending some time with her after taking Acton down had been nothing but a pipe dream. His girlfriend had decided to return to Twilight City by herself, and he didn’t exactly fault her for it either.

Both she and Elaine had spent years risking their lives and training endlessly to help him and his familiar, putting their own goals aside. Of course, they had arguably been paid rather handsomely for their assistance, receiving a lot of Aurora Dew, priceless knowledge that couldn’t be found on Remior, and even their second cores.

That said, they couldn’t just keep following him around wherever he went. They had their own lives to get back to. Nesha’s mission had always been to uncover the reason for her family’s destruction, and to enact her vengeance upon those responsible. Before meeting Percy, she would have been hard-pressed to accomplish that, but things had changed greatly.

Right now, she was strong enough to hold her own against anyone below Blue – possibly even some Blues. And she could probably escape from most of them. Furthermore, she had the means to continue growing stronger by herself, by advancing her second core, figuring out affinity fusion or the Dance, and getting better with runecrafting.

Most importantly, the Syndicate was actually the best organization on Remior for her to join. To solve a mystery concerning a Great House, she would need a lot of money and influence, and joining a noble House was completely unrealistic for a fugitive like her. It was much easier for her to accomplish all that from within the dark alleys of the black districts. There, she was in her element.

“It’ll be dangerous. We won’t be able to help you if you get caught.” Percy warned.

“It will. But I’ll be careful. I will avoid Alexander and all the people we involved in our business like the plague. I won’t even set foot in the same districts if I can help it. I’ll try to work my way up as a commoner. Maybe get close to another Lord or Lady.”

“Okay.”

As much as it hurt to part ways, Percy knew she would thrive there. She had already proven herself more than capable of navigating the murky waters of the underworld many a time. The fact that her recent promotion had finally fixed her eyesight completely would help perfect her disguise too, as she no longer needed her glasses.

Taking all his spatial amulets off, he started emptying their contents on a pile by his feet. In the past, he used to keep most of his stuff in the seal, but its volume had decreased a lot now that he had to split it with so many clones.

‘I should try to get a bigger one from Metatron at some point.’

He wasn’t looking forward to negotiating with the titan again. Not to mention, he would have to find a way to suppress his blessing before he returned to the Vault, else the god would find out about the Ring of Sacrilege. Based on what Gabe had shown him in the past, he knew it should be possible to forcefully prevent it from showing in his mana after some training. Perhaps, Zoris would be willing to coach him, as he was also invested in keeping his existence a secret.

But that was a problem for later.

Sifting through his belongings, Percy soon split the pile of vials into seven roughly equal parts, shoving two to his girlfriend. Contrary to his expectations, she only took a couple of spatial amulets, and her share of Aurora Dew for the next four or so months, leaving the regular elixirs untouched.

“This is plenty. The rest, you should keep for yourself and Micky. It’s harder to buy more while on the run,” she explained.

Last time, they had to amass a lot of money because they’d needed to brew over a decades’ worth of Aurora Dew, for several people, in a very short period of time. If it was just regular elixirs for her own use, it wouldn’t be difficult for her to earn enough money to buy a couple doses per day.

The thing she’d said about him being on the run was also true. She and Elaine might be able to lay low, but there was no hiding a giant crow as big as an elephant. Certainly not one famous for its two cores, and for having belonged to a now-dead Holy Child. Percy was under no delusion that his life outside the Valley would be peaceful.

“Your progress will slow down without Aurora Dew,” he reminded her.

“That’s okay. I’m not in a rush. I’ll take everything slow and careful, moving forward.”

“Alright. But do take these books.” Percy insisted.

Going through them, he picked out the ones that either he or Nesha had yet to read, passing them over. This included many that he’d bought from his last trip to the Vault which had been sitting mostly untouched in his seal for over a decade.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Don’t you need them?”

He shook his head.

“I’ve been thinking… I’d like to give you another clone for a few months – if you don’t mind. It’ll let us stay in touch, and it’ll give me some peace of mind to know you’re okay. The two of you can work together to study magiscript, and he’ll bring me the books back when you’re done. Even better, my new trait will help you both.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“Is it worth wasting one of your cords for me though?” she asked, clearly taken aback by his offer. “I know you have more of them now, but still, aren’t you better off sending them away?”

He shrugged.

“I’m not just doing it for you. I’ve bought many of these books to upgrade my armour, though I never got a chance to read them. Now that I’m working on my mana threads, I’ll need that knowledge pretty soon. Sadly, me and Micky will be busy with other things too, so delegating magiscript to one of my clones isn’t a bad idea. Oh, but it would be nice if you could do it without the translation device. We only have one, and we can’t keep passing it around. I plan to lend it to Elaine this time, since she’s farther behind, and we all need to master the language anyway at some point.”

Nesha nodded, rearranging her supplies inside the amulets. By now, they’d amassed a lot of them from all the people they’d killed over the years. It was handy to have the extra storage space – especially considering Percy’s issues with his seal – but the amulets were getting a little annoying to manage. Percy had decided to keep eight of them to himself, splitting the rest between Elaine and Nesha.

As for what they did with them – he didn’t care. They could use them, sell them, or exchange them with elixirs from his family. Their choice. Besides, he was sure it wouldn’t be long until his enemies delivered him a fresh batch…

“I’m guessing you’ve made your mind up too?” he asked, turning to Elaine.

The girl was right there with them, having remained silent during their conversation.

She nodded. She’d also decided to leave him for now. Percy and Micky weren’t entirely out of danger yet – in fact, the following days would arguably be more dangerous than ever – but they were strong enough to take care of themselves.

On top of that, Elaine had several reasons to return home. She had to get her hand fixed, and she missed her parents and brother, having not seen them for over a decade. It hadn’t been as long for them, but she was still worried about their House. They still had no idea what had happened after they killed Jason.

Either way, Percy wouldn’t insult her by expressing worry over her safety. He knew his cousin was easily the strongest Blue on Remior, so nobody would be able to lay a hand on her on the way home. Not unless a Violet geezer randomly decided to leave his family unprotected, to go around attacking random travellers. Even then, he might just end up being the one to suffer.

“I’ll only take some Aurora Dew to get me started, like Nesha. No point in taking any regular elixirs from you, since I’ll be able to get them easily once I’m back.”

Elaine would only be allowed a single dose per day from their House, unless she revealed the existence of her second core. It was the same problem that had forced Percy to leave for the Alchemists’ Guild back when he was a teenager. The difference was that Elaine was a hundred times stronger right now than he had been at the time. She had countless ways to earn an extra dose of elixir.

“How are you going to explain being away for so long?” Percy asked.

With any luck, nobody had drawn the connection between Elaine and the rest of them, so she might be able to return to her old life. That said, she’d left supposedly to go on a mission, and it had been over a year since then. Their relatives were bound to ask some difficult questions.

She shrugged.

“I’ll figure something out. It wouldn’t be the first time I take several hunting trips back-to-back. I’m sure Uncle Galahad and Grandpa will cover for me.”

“Alright. But I’ll craft you both a bunch of bandages before you leave. Remember that you need to hide both your cores now.” Percy said.

Other than the obvious need to keep their second cores secret, Elaine couldn’t let people know she had reached Blue nearly forty years ahead of time. If news of that spread, everyone would know she was either involved with the Aurora Dew or had snuck into the Thirsty Valley. Or, most likely, both…

Luckily, Percy was confident he could apply the same principles behind his cauldron to the bandages too, using controlled-concealment runes to partially mask her core’s grade, so that it would look Green to an outsider. Between his fused mana and all the magical beasts in the Valley, getting some materials for the bandages shouldn’t be that hard either.

Elaine would still have to be careful not to reveal her strength though – or leave any witnesses in case she was forced to. As for Nesha, this wasn’t as much of a problem, since she was going to invent a new identity for herself again. Nobody would know she was “supposed” to be at Yellow.

“And one more thing. I’d like to give you a clone too.”

Percy was also worried about their House, so he wanted to get news from them as soon as possible. On top of that, he’d need a way to retrieve the books and the translation device from Elaine once she was done.

Unlike him or Nesha, Elaine’s ambitions with regards to magiscript were quite modest. She didn’t have the patience or a suitable affinity for it, and the variants Percy had bought from the Vault didn’t all work with her mana type either. So, he would only be giving him some of the earlier books on concealment and preservation runes. She had made it clear she wasn’t hoping to include them in her fighting style like them. For now, she just wanted to master some handy enchantments that could make her life easier here and there.

In any case, there was one more reason Percy wanted her to have a clone.

The Dance.

Elaine had yet to complete the water version, but she shouldn’t be that far. And Percy had a vested interest in her success too, because his familiar shared her affinity. Between himself, Micky, Elaine, two of his clones, and even Galahad, they were bound to complete the spell sooner or later.

After that, it would be a lot easier for the crow and his uncle to figure out the spell for their other affinities. If they could give Nesha some valuable tips too, Percy might get to a point where he could use the spell with most of the common affinities and even a bunch of the rare ones.

Whether it was to strengthen his familiar, his friends and his House, to help his clones during their adventures, or to find some inspiration to upgrade his boosting art again in the future, this was definitely a great investment of his time.

‘I’ll only have two free clones for a while, but I should be back to four or five a few months from now…’