‘This time for sure…’ Percy said, gathering some ice mana to Micky’s wings.

With a violent flap, he sent a powerful gust crushing against the boulder, the force causing the cracks on the hard stone to expand some more. At the same time, several shards of ice drilled deep into the object, crystalline patches of white soon blossoming around the holes.

[Congratulations! Your spell has evolved: Concussive Blast – Crude - Frozen Shards – Refined!]

Suppressing a grin, he walked closer, carefully examining the aftermath of his attack.

‘I win!’ he exclaimed. ‘These definitely pierced deeper than yours.’

‘You wish!’ Micky spat, clicking his beak in annoyance. ‘I could have done this too, if I had only used six shards. You have to beat me while forming eight, like I did!’

‘That was never part of the rules. Besides, my spell just upgraded,’ Percy said, showing his familiar an image of the notification.

‘That doesn’t mean anything!’ Micky protested. ‘You know my Status doesn’t give me notifications. I’m sure I got the spell earlier than you. Let’s check with your main body.’

Not even waiting for him to reply, Micky sent a message over to the original Percy, asking him to check his Status.

It had been well over a month since they started training, and a lot had happened since then. While the two of them had immersed themselves in their pre-casting exercises, the main body had internalized the blessing and even absorbed a second trait. Elaine and Nesha had already left the Valley a few hours ago, both equipped with new clones that didn’t need to sleep.

The clone inside Micky was also meant to get replaced later today, so, in a way, this was their last day training together. The two had had a lot of fun over the past few weeks, having turned their daily routine into a constant competition. They took turns firing ice projectiles from their wings, trying to use their mana as efficiently as possible, and to stack as many effects as they could onto the spell.

Right now, the best either of them could handle, was to split the ice mana into two parts. The first, they kept in its solid form, adding a rotation to the shards. The second, they turned into a compressed gust of wind that served as a propellant. There was still room for improvement, but they had clearly already crossed into the threshold of a Refined spell. Furthermore, they knew they could do even better by working together.

‘Ah, right,’ the main body replied to both of them, though his voice sounded strained, as if he was currently dealing with something rather unpleasant. ‘There’s a new spell there. Not sure when it appeared.’

‘Come on! Do it properly!’ the crow complained, causing the clone to chuckle. He could practically feel the original rolling his eyes by the other side of the cords.

‘Fine… Congratulations! You have mastered a new spell: Frozen Shards – Refined!’

Not missing a beat, Micky shifted his attention back to him, a silent grin proudly oozing through their connection.

The clone sighed.

‘Again, this was never about who registered the spell first… It was about who pierced the deepest holes… That would be me, by the way,’ he reiterated, pointing at the boulder with his wing.

The two bickered some more over the next few minutes, before Micky forced him to admit defeat. Getting one over his stubborn familiar had never been the point of the exercise anyway. The spell was already good enough to be used in a fight, so Micky had another trump card to fall back to. Having a ranged attack in his arsenal would definitely help, though it was admittedly weaker than his Rending Tornado, since it didn’t make use of the crow’s mutations.

Then, there was Percy. His clones could help Micky cast a stronger version of the spell, but he wouldn’t have an easy time firing the attack with his main body. Pre-casting was already difficult to use when it was his own core, let alone when he was controlling another’s core from afar.

Regardless, both of them had grown a lot better at manipulating ice mana, so it was time to move to the next phase of their training.

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‘I’m coming back. We need to get me replaced as soon as possible. We can’t afford to keep sleeping every night.’ he told the main body. ‘I hope you’re ready for it.’

Not even waiting for a reply, he then pushed himself out of his familiar’s body, using the cord to return to his own. He didn’t even bother bidding Micky farewell – there wasn’t a point. From the crow’s perspective, they would meet again a few minutes from now.

Severing himself from the bird’s senses, Percy plunged into complete darkness, but it only lasted a fraction of a second. Slamming into his soul, he felt welcomed in, as countless connections locked him in place, his memories blending with the original’s.

His separation with Elaine and Nesha… his conversations with Zoris… the blessing… absorbing the spectral fiend… his progress with the mana threads… It all mixed with his own memories of pre-casting and ice mana, his brain soon throbbing painfully inside his skull.

Opening his eyes, he found himself sitting cross-legged. He had barely managed to plop down when that idiot clone decided to return without much of a warning. He tried to stand, but his knees buckled, sending him face-first against the hard ground. His stomach churned, the colour draining from his face as he heaved out his breakfast.

He groaned, using some pure mana to wipe the acrid goo off his mouth.

The clone he had just retrieved hadn’t been away that long, so assimilating his experiences wouldn’t have been much of an issue by itself. The problem was that Percy had retrieved another clone from Nesha just hours ago, and he had yet to fully process that set of memories when the next one arrived.

He sighed.

‘I guess the human brain isn’t meant to juggle seven lives at once…’

Worse still, this was merely the beginning. It hadn’t been that long since he internalized the blessing, so the first batch of external clones had yet to return. Once he was outside the Valley and all his companions were done with their clones, Percy would have to send and receive many of them every single day. All these years, he had been looking forward to increasing his capacity, but he hadn’t fully appreciated what a toll it would take on him once he succeeded.

He shrugged.

‘Well, I’d better get used to it, since it isn’t going away anytime soon. Nor do I want it to…’

“Are you alright?” Micky asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.

The giant crow was standing over him, looking at him with concern. Percy hadn’t even noticed him approach.

“I’m fine. I’m just having some trouble sorting through all these memories… Hopefully, the next guy I lend you will know better than to come back with no warning…”

The two sat side by side for a couple of hours, waiting for him to feel a little better. They did get attacked by a bunch of beasts at some point, nothing keeping the creatures at bay now that Elaine was no longer here. But it wasn’t a big problem either, as Micky made quick work of the poor things. By the time the crow was done, Percy was able to stand again.

“Alright. I guess I’ll pass you another clone now.”

“You sure you’re up for it?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem… as long as he stays there. Anyway, we don’t have any time to waste.”

They knew they had to leave the Valley soon. The season could change any day now, bringing a fresh wave of Holy Children with it. Percy and Micky should be able to handle a single squad, but they had no idea how many would enter the Decree.

At the same time, they didn’t really want to leave. Acton’s death would be discovered almost immediately once more people entered, and it wouldn’t be long before all of Remior started hunting them down. They’d have to fly away from populated areas, and go into hiding until they grew strong enough to attempt some of their bolder plans.

Suffice to say, getting another month of free training before returning to normal time might make the difference later. Whether they stayed a little longer or left immediately, it wasn’t without its risks, so Percy was essentially playing a game of chicken with the Divine Root.

‘Better make these next few days count then…’

Going over all of his spells, he considered what the most efficient use of their limited time might be. The Carnival was easily his strongest trump card at the moment, and he had grown much better at maintaining it without resorting to his potions. He could already keep it active for over an hour straight, and he could even use it multiple times per day. It wasn’t a lot, but it should be enough to last him through a fight.

On the flipside, he understood he wouldn’t be improving upon the boosting art anytime soon. It was already quite a high-end technique. If he wanted to get stronger quickly, he’d have to look elsewhere.

His mana threads were coming along nicely – he was already using five mixtures of soft and crystallized mana along with the plain versions, and the threads were almost thin enough to be woven into a fabric. That said, perfecting them was taking forever, and he wouldn’t have the time to upgrade his armour either, even if he somehow got them done within the week.

Leaving aside all his alchemy-related spells and everything else not directly applicable to combat, he knew his best bet was Micky. The crow was improving rapidly as he trained alongside his clones. Whether it was incorporating his third mutation into Regulation or perfecting his ice attacks, things were going great. Percy was confident Micky could hold his own against a Blue.

But he still wasn’t happy with their progress, feeling there was more they could be doing.

‘Our collaboration… We need to work on that too. We’ve only ever learned to fight as two individuals. Never as a proper team…’

As early as when they had first arrived at the Fungal Spire, Percy had imagined himself fighting side-by-side with his familiar. Unfortunately, that dream had yet to manifest, even after so many years.

While they had learned to hunt the wasps down efficiently, they’d never really fought together against a difficult opponent. Given their powerful telepathic connection, and even their ability to share mana, Percy was sure they’d been wasting one of their greatest advantages.

Well, it was time to change that…