‘Hmmm… you don’t want it entirely gone, do you?’ Nephthys asked back.

  ‘Not really.’ He shook his head. ‘Our current state comes with too many advantages. It would be a waste to reject them and go back to how we were before.’

  He merely wanted to carve out spots in his mind for “Percy” and “Micky” to exist as individuals again. That way, they would be able to control their respective bodies most of the time, and even keep their most private thoughts and memories to themselves, so that their relationships with their friends and family wouldn’t be affected.

  At the same time, he wanted to keep the ability for his bodies to communicate and cooperate seamlessly, as well as fuse completely at a moment’s notice when he used his Ultimate Art or embarked on some joint operation. Finally, his current condition allowed him to share a single, extremely powerful domain across both bodies, and he had no interest in giving it up.

  Was he being a little too greedy? Perhaps, but this was nothing new. His ambitions had already brought him quite far, hadn’t they?

  ‘I see… well, here’s the deal. What you want is certainly possible,’ the goddess replied, rekindling his hope. ‘Regardless of whether we are talking about a complete separation or just a partial one, it’s just a question of combing through your mind to segregate your memories and certain mental processes, as well as forming certain structures like gates or links to set everything up the way you want.’

  Percy drew a sharp breath, though he didn’t let himself get too excited. ‘I sense a “but” coming.’

  The former goddess sighed mentally. ‘This would have been simple enough with my old affinity. Sadly, I don’t think I can help you without it.’

  Percy nodded, not letting this get to him too much. Splitting his personalities up wasn’t that urgent. To somebody who was planning to eventually attain divinity, waiting a few years for Nephthys to acquire her second core was a small matter. Even if she didn’t awaken the correct affinity, he could always look for another powerful mind healer later or find another solution entirely.

  The biggest issue in the short-term was that his current condition would make his relationship with Nesha needlessly weird. Then again, they were already on a long-distance relationship anyway. Waiting a few years wouldn’t be the end of the world.

  Other than that, the rest of his plans shouldn’t be affected negatively.

  ‘This procedure that you’ve just described… Would it produce something like a new mindset?’ he asked, switching to a different topic.

  Nephthys tilted her head in confusion, prompting him to elaborate. ‘Like that “Structured Amnesia” that you’ve given yourself.’

  ‘Ah! How do you know about that?’

  ‘It’s listed in your Status.’

  ‘I see.’ Nephthys nodded. ‘I hope to meet this titaness of yours one day. Before meeting you, the concepts of Decrees and titans were foreign to me. She must be quite a talented woman to have achieved so much – and with the same affinity as me. I’m sure I’d have a lot to learn from her,’ she said before pivoting to his earlier question. ‘Indeed, “mindset” sounds like an apt term for it.’

  ‘How do they work? Can anyone with the mind affinity just create one at will?’ he asked again, still finding the notion odd.

  In some ways, mindsets could be considered analogous to spectral traits – in the sense that they represented a special category of abilities tied to a certain mana type. However, the way they worked appeared entirely different.

  ‘More or less,’ the former goddess replied before elaborating. ‘Mind mana can be used offensively by tampering with an opponent’s senses, but that’s barely scraping the surface. In my experience, the affinity’s greatest application lies in augmenting one’s own mind. You’d be shocked by how much hidden potential is lying inside your head, waiting to be dug out.’

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  ‘Can you give me an example?’ he asked.

  She shrugged. ‘You can accelerate your thoughts, prune unpleasant emotions, recall forgotten memories, reduce the time you need to sleep every night, augment your senses… lots of things, really.’

  Percy nodded. Some of that, he’d found ways to replicate with the soul affinity or his spectral traits, but the mind affinity clearly had its own advantages. Most importantly, one didn’t have to hope that they happened to be compatible with the right fiend, and there didn’t seem to be a strict limit to the number of mindsets an individual could possess.

  ‘Wait, no… that’s not quite right either,’ he corrected himself, recalling what Saint Ludwick had told him.

  According to the deceased demigod, the mindset he had gifted him would put a small mental load on his head whenever he used it. It wasn’t a big deal – certainly not when compared to the hard limit of absorbing spectral fiends – but other, more ambitious mindsets might be pricier to wield. It would probably be quite difficult for one to handle too many at once – especially if they didn’t possess the mind affinity themselves.

  ‘So… that mindset of yours. What’s its purpose exactly? Don’t you remember your past life?’ he asked.

  ‘Not all of it,’ Nephthys said. ‘I remember the most important things – who I am, where I came from, and what happened to my world. However, I was forced to let go of many memories to make the trip.’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘Well, I’ve lived for a very long time, Percy. I’d memorized most of the information on our planet’s heritage that you’d found carved onto the walls of my internal world. I’d also memorized a lot of things about my subjects’ lives, to help them remember who they were, should they ever wake up from their slumber. Much of that is gone now.’

  Percy couldn’t help but clench his only remaining fist upon hearing that. He’d already watched first-hand how much damage the pyramid had endured as it shrunk to a size that would allow even a mortal’s severed wisp to carry it across the soul plane.

  He didn’t think that any of the information in the library had survived the trip – let alone the months of degradation it had suffered since, or its transformation into the crimson gemstone currently embedded in the familiar’s forehead.

  Evidently, the pyramid had just been Nephthys’s backup plan, but she’d clearly lost the memories stored in her mind too.

  ‘So, is it all gone then? Your people’s history and culture?’ he asked, his voice shaky.

  A mental chuckle rang through their connection. ‘It’s nice of you to be worried about us, but that isn’t necessary. I took great care while severing my memories to preserve the most important details in the form of numerous mental seeds. I only got rid of things that can easily be inferred later. Some of it I’ve already recovered. The rest should slowly come back to me as I advance through the grades again.’

  Percy exhaled in relief, glad that he wouldn’t have to go through the arduous process of helping another familiar remember their past. Perhaps he shouldn’t be surprised that a literal mind goddess had had the foresight to plan ahead though.

  At the same time, he couldn’t help but reevaluate how useful the mind affinity was. For the longest time, he’d considered it weaker than many other rare affinities that he had run into. Evidently, that only spoke to his ignorance about its potential.

  Other than the gods and demigods whose Decrees and mindsets he had obtained, his only other brush with a mortal user had been Kassorith’s opponent from the Ancestral Lineage Sect.

  The woman’s magic had been largely suppressed by her bloodline during their fight, so Percy had only experienced glimpses of what she was capable of. He’d mostly worried about her short-lived illusions, having not had the slightest clue what had been going on inside her head.

  ‘I really hope Nephthys awakens it again…’ he thought.

  It wasn’t just about fixing his fusion with Micky or getting more mindsets. More importantly, the former goddess had already mastered a mind concept to ascend to godhood. Regaining the correct affinity would essentially guarantee that she would do it again!

  If Percy was to fuse with her too one day, this would basically amount to a free ticket to divinity!

  ‘A man can only dream…’ He shook his head.

  He still didn’t know how the Moirai ascended, let alone an entity with multiple bodies like him. Even if he found a way to cheat his way to divinity with a single core of one aspect, it didn’t mean that it would be easy to do so with the rest.

  Putting that aside for now, he allowed Nephthys to talk to the Queen. Evidently, it was as simple for her as joining the mental network that all the Starry Wasps had access to. In fact, it soon became clear that this was even easier for her than communicating with him, as her instincts helped her bypass the need for a translation device. Not that Percy would have refused to lend her his, had she asked.

  Letting the royal wasps discuss the affairs of their underground kingdom, Percy took a moment to consider his next moves. Nephthys’s growth, boosting the hive’s output and improving his Internal Runecrafting were all things that would likely require several months.

  Before he focused on any of them, there were a few other things he wanted to do – a couple of prisoners that he needed to rescue, a bunch of Violet-cored elders that he had to talk to, and a certain White-cored traitor that he had to deal with.

  He grinned, a wave of nostalgia rippling through his soul.

  ‘Time to return to the Alchemists’ Guild.’

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