The next few months passed in a flash as Percy – multiple Percys, actually – focused on their training.

  Much to the joy of his siblings, the Yellow clone joined them in studying the new runes while waiting in the queue. He hadn’t expected the challenge cubes to be so busy during this trip, or for him to end up with so much downtime.

  Practicing Internal Magiscript would have arguably been more productive – it would have allowed him to bring even more valuable memories back to his main bodies – but he’d rather not reveal the technique in the artificial world. Metatron’s equipment should have a tougher time detecting what was happening inside his cores, but it wasn’t worth the risk just to save a few weeks. Besides, any magiscript training was useful, and studying the new runes would probably help more in the challenges.

  It took him and Cassiel a couple of months to get their turns this time, though they weren’t sure how long it had been for the others. Picking a queue was a complete gamble, since the speed by which the line moved depended solely on the whims and intentions of those in front.

  By the time he entered the challenge cube, he hadn’t finished reading even half the books. He and the other clones had split the material between themselves for efficiency’s sake, though they hadn’t done that perfectly. There was inevitably some overlap in the topics that they had deemed to be the most important, as well as a few things that they had collectively agreed to ignore for now.

  On top of that, they had bought many additional books over time, having come up with several new ideas or developed new interests during their studies. Not all of their recent purchases had to do with runecrafting, however.

  A few books contained information on spells and other technologies that they didn’t have back home. Nothing too valuable for him personally, but a lot of it could potentially benefit the people of Remior as a whole.

  Percy’s balance had dropped below six thousand credits by now. It was still plenty compared to his previous trips, but a far cry from the thirty-seven thousand that he had amassed after completing the challenges.

  ‘Hopefully, we’ll be able to increase it again,’ he thought with a sigh as he asked the system to start the tenth wave of the magiscript challenge.

  At least, he had learned a lot of stuff that he was itching to put into practice. Over the next month – his ninth during this trip – he repeatedly attempted the challenge, focusing more on honing his skills than completing it. The time limit for this one was barely twenty minutes, so he was able to restart it dozens of times per day, and several hundred over a period of around four weeks.

  At the beginning, he wasn’t doing that well, still stuck at a level only slightly better than what had been required by the previous wave. In other words, he could draw five unit cells per second, each containing seven or eight different runes at most.

  It was quite a respectable achievement for a Yellow mortal who hadn’t even been alive for half a century – let alone one who had barely practiced magiscript for a couple of decades.

  He had his Scribing trait to thank for making it this far. At the rate by which he was drawing the symbols, its influence was quite noticeable. It allowed his hands to move with a speed and precision that somebody else in his shoes would have found impossible – a task no easier than actually breathing meaning into the enchantments.

  More importantly, he improved rapidly. At least at first. By the second week, he doubled his output, drawing unit cells that contained fifteen runes each. This was only to be expected, since this was his first time truly pushing himself since he’d woven his Cloak a couple of years ago, as well as his first chance to truly take advantage of his increased mental prowess following the fusion.

  Sadly, his gains appeared to slow down after that. By the start of the third week, Percy barely managed to push his output to eighteen runes per unit cell, reaching twenty by the end of the fourth. He could still draw enchantments of the required size if he wanted, but not fast enough to meet the requirements in the allotted time.

  ‘Alright… I suppose this is my current limit,’ he thought with a heavy sigh.

  His improvements hadn’t stopped entirely, so he could probably complete the wave if he stayed here for several more months, but it wasn’t worth extending the trip so much just for a few thousand credits. The fact that his balance hadn’t gone up probably meant that the other clones had failed to complete theirs too.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  ‘Oh well… it was still good practice. I’m sure that our efforts will benefit the main bodies and the next batch of clones.’

  Sending a message to his siblings, as well as Tlaloc and Gabe through the system, he enlisted their help to move on to the next phase of his plan. Passing the other clones the new spatial seals, he made sure that they filled them up with several copies of the material they had bought. They might as well take advantage of all that storage space that had cost him so many credits.

  Bidding their hosts farewell, the Red and Orange clones were the first to go, leaving him in the Vault for a while longer.

  Ideally, they wanted Gabe’s clone to have all three sets of memories, since the Green challenges were by far the most important ones. Tlaloc would have to make do with less, however. After all, they needed the Yellow clone to stay here and help with the possession.

  About two days after the weaker clones left, Percy began pumping what little phantom mana he had left in his stash through the cord, trusting his main body to do the same on the other end.

  If they failed to widen their connection this way, he’d have to return to Remior as well, send another random host to the Vault that would keep his cord in its empowered state from the beginning, before proceeding with the next step.

  Luckily, that wasn’t necessary.

  Each packet must have strengthened the connection just enough for the other to travel farther, the two colliding somewhere in the middle. Soul Resonance hadn’t activated just yet, but the main body promptly seized the opportunity to send even more mana to the clone, the latter bouncing it back a few times until the connection stabilized.

  From there on, things were much simpler – if somewhat tedious. The clone in Cassiel’s body didn’t have to do anything else. It was up to the main body to guide the new clone to the Vault using their connection and a couple of rapidly fading marks that the previous clones had placed using Ludwick’s Compass as references.

  Soon, the fourth clone arrived, just as Percy was done surgically cutting Tlaloc’s soul open. The grey wisp seeped into the Huehuan’s body without difficulty, working along with the Yellow clone to stitch the man’s wounds up.

  It was finally time for him to go too, to ensure that the fifth clone would have his memories as well.

  ‘See you around kid. Thanks again for all the help,’ he said. ‘It’s not goodbye forever, but I imagine it’ll be a while before I possess you again like this. Then again, that’s what me and Gabe thought just a few years ago – from his perspective – and here we are.’

  The boy teared up. Or was it Percy? Cassiel was one of his longest-lived clones so far, after all. They’d even approached the one-year mark.

  ‘I should be the one thanking you,’ the child replied. ‘Not only did you save my life, but you also made it a billion times better.’

  Percy chuckled. ‘I get that a lot but, honestly? Everything I do, I mostly do for myself, first and foremost. Helping you was just a lucky afterthought.’

  Cassiel shook his head. ‘Somehow, I doubt that. There are many little things that you didn’t have to do – like giving me a copy of your books or not touching any of my credits. In fact, it would have been more efficient for you to sell me your resources at a discount or something like that, to put my own money to work. Besides, I’m not sure that your intentions matter more than the result.’

  Percy shrugged. ‘You’re a mature kid, Cass. Did anyone ever tell you that? I suppose you didn’t really have a choice – growing up in this shithole and everything.’

  Not saying anything else, he finally left the child’s body, soon returning to his own.

  Once again, he couldn’t help but appreciate how seamlessly his memories blended with the original’s. Even after having already absorbed nearly two years’ worth of experiences from just as many clones in the past couple of days, he wasn’t fazed in the slightest as the third one joined them. That said, truly consolidating his gains would still take some effort.

  ‘Well, that’s partly what the new clones are for, isn’t it?’

  Emptying the new seal, he merged it into a bunch of others. He’d already sent a big one to Tlaloc, but he couldn’t fit everything in a single wisp. Activating his bloodline again, he placed the device in the forming clone. Technically, he still had a third cord available now, but he didn’t need more than two in the artificial world.

  If he hadn’t needed somebody to guide him to the Vault, or to pass Tlaloc the Moirais’ Decree, they could have even skipped the second clone entirely. In fact, Percy – all versions of him – were looking forward to resuming their regular adventures as soon as possible, having placed them on hold for a couple of years.

  As soon as he severed the wisp off, he found himself flying in the soul plane, apparently being the clone. Reaching back to the main body before he travelled too far, he worked with him to widen the cord again, before following his instructions and another temporary mark to return to the artificial world.

  Thankfully, finding his counterpart – a soul that actively exerted a powerful attraction toward him – didn’t take long. Ignoring his fellow clone, he jumped into the injured Green soul next to him. It had to be Gabe, right?

  Sure enough, he found himself in a body he recognized – albeit one markedly stronger than he remembered. Its owner instinctively granted him permission to stitch him up, clearly having expected him.

  ‘Hey! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?’ Percy asked.

  ‘Sure has,’ a familiar voice answered. ‘Ready to melt down a few golems?’

  Percy grinned. ‘I’ve been ready for months.’

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