Ting! Clear Mind has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling past level 80!

6th Breakthrough: You've maintained a clear mind even under the pressure of a mind mage, this will help you resist mental assaults.

7th Breakthrough: You've maintained a clear mind even when entranced, this will help you resist mental effects.

8th Breakthrough You've maintained a clear mind even when a mind of yours is dominated, this will help you fight mental domination.

Ting! Clear Mind has obtained levels 38-63!

Ting! Twin Minds has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling past level 80!

7th Breakthrough: You've used multiple minds in a mental conflict, this will help you overpower your foes mentally.

8th Breakthrough: You've managed to split your soul mind, this will help you develop a true second mind.

Ting! Twin Minds has obtained levels 68-80!

Ting! You have gained the Mental Fortitude general skill!

Ting! Mental Fortitude has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling past level 40!

Mental Fortitude: You've built up an iron will against a powerful foe, this will increase your mental fortitude against attacks.

1st Breakthrough: You've resisted the multiple minds of a mind mage, this will help you fight off groups of mental attacks.

2nd Breakthrough: You've resisted being entranced, this will help you resist such influence for longer.

3rd Breakthrough: You've resisted mental domination, this will help you remain yourself for longer.

4th Breakthrough: You've somehow shed off a second mind to take the mental attack instead of you, this will help it fight off attacks for longer.

Ting! Mental Fortitude has obtained level 2-24!

Five gods-damned minds! That thing has five minds! How the hell was I supposed to fight off that thing?! Isn't this supposed to be the tutorial zone?! Why is a mid-game boss here?!

I managed to escape its attacks on the mind I’d been using to scout ahead by pinching off that mind’s metaphysical presence in my soul. I had noticed it was possible a while ago, when I noticed that it looked like the mind component was halfway through mitosis, but didn't want to try it at the time for fear of unintended effects. Having done so, it’s good that it still counts as part of me for resistances, but it’s very bad that it’s still connected enough to use my mana and skills against the group.

Instead of [Astral Projection] – which works by detaching my mind component from my soul – I control my clones by sending information and commands back and forth along the link maintained by [Summon Clone], but my mind component… or components, now, remain within my soul.

On the other hand, my spheres of perception for [Sense Mana] and [Sense Soul] work by ‘feeling out’ with my metaphysical mind, like an immaterial extra limb – acting as the center of the sphere – linked back to the main component in my soul, and it is via this mental presence that the problem occurred. In a similar manner to a computer virus from my past life tracing a connection from a remote server back to the main one, the monster now controlling the clone traced that link back after detecting that mental presence and is now infecting the mind… which was the one that was scouting until I accidentally shoved it into the clone in a desperate, reflexive attempt to get the thing away from me.

I seem to be able to cheat breakthroughs in [Clear Mind] with my [Twin Minds], as both of my minds count even if only one is being attacked. Even if one is completely dominated, my other will still count as calm and give me breakthroughs.

[Mental Fortitude] follows the same logic. I think it has more to do with my consciousness – which is not duplicated by [Twin Minds] – rather than my ‘thought processes’, so that might be why I can effectively cheat these skills. The fourth breakthrough in that skill, although I don’t really understand it since I just got all four breakthroughs in rapid succession, seems to work by shedding off a ‘decoy’ metaphysical mind that, while it looks like a proper mind, is ultimately hollow; akin to a lizard breaking off its tail to fool attackers. Too bad I only got this by sacrificing my primary mind and not earlier. The one good thing is that I didn't have to replace any skills for [Mental Fortitude] as I had a free slot from [Mana Toxicity Tolerance] moving over to my race.

As I run another clone over to the ruins I think back on what happened.

* * * * * *

I searched through the slimy halls with my primary mind and my dissociated perception spheres, marking down the rooms on my map including their dimensions, the number of monsters and anything that stood out or that could act as a landmark.

My secondary mind piloted my clone remotely and was engaged with some slimes, mostly watching so Tana could get more combat experience.

I marked down another room with a treasure chest, detailing the traps in my map; the chest had a trap too and would release poisonous gas if opened. There seemed to be some sort of enchanted kite shield in it for someone who opened it successfully. I moved on with marking the dead ends and monsters inhabiting the halls, my next stop being at a particularly complex trap, with a mechanism consisting mostly of mechanical gears rather than being primarily enchantments like most of the others I had found. It would activate in a large room; when a fake treasure chest was opened, the door to the room would shut and a slime boss would be dropped down from the ceiling, forcing a surprise encounter with one of the mini-bosses.

Bile Slime (Major) Poison Ooze (Major)

A poison specialist slime could be quite dangerous. I marked the room on my map with a skull and crossbones.

In my scouting, I came across another orb just like the one at the dungeon entrance and [Analyzed] it to make sure it was what I thought it was.

Dungeon Waystone (Major): An anchor for a Dungeon Waystone Key

Yeah, that doesn't explain much.

I continued for a few hours until most of the map was complete, saving the boss room for last. The group had just entered a room full of slimes – too full. so I sent an exploding fairy to thin their numbers. Something was strange about the slimes, however; It was as if they all shared the same soul, the same core, the same everything, despite clearly being in many little pieces. When the last of the slimes had been killed all the cores flew together, becoming one.

"So that's why..." I muttered. This slime divided itself only to reunite on defeat, a mini-boss with a second form. It seemed to be a skill of some sort, as its vitality had been completely restored. It seemed, when I checked my still-growing map, that there were five mini-boss rooms for the first floor of the dungeon and one final boss at the end of the floor. They’d likely all have annoying tricks of some sort.

I was blasting away at the boss and charging up my ice spell when something seemed to brush up against my primary mind. I didn’t know what to make of it, but it was warm and comforting... My primary mind saw a giant floating slime in the last room, the floor boss’s cylindrical chamber with ornate design and gold inlays. As I was about to [Analyze] it something stopped me, taking my attention elsewhere. Something seemed off, but the pleasant warmth seeped into my mind, a kind and gentle feeling that I somehow couldn’t think about clearly. A sweet scent greeted me and an enticing song met my ears... what is going on?

"Stop attacking, you're feeding it!" Irela yelled.

Anger filled my primary mind. Can't this idiot see that it's being diluted? My second mind, however, was calm. Why am I feeling angry about that? It's in the heat of battle, details can be overlooked.

"No, she's diluting it, the slime isn't even its body, the core is," I explained calmly.

"It's growing bigger! How is that helping?!" Irela retorted.

I felt [Calm Mind] working. I provided an explanation, surely she understood, right? Not everyone has knowledge from another world, I told myself. Despite that thought, my primary mind was getting angrier and angrier.

What is going on? I asked myself again. [Inquisitive Perfection] was also acting weird, but before it could settle on a solution it changed direction as if it were being blocked somehow. The warmth filling my primary mind slowly, gently made its way to my secondary mind as well. It was soothing... but something was definitely off about it and I didn't know why, this was something I'd never encountered before. The scent was getting more potent and the song more intrusive.

Tana attacked with a jet of vitality-consuming flames that spread over the slime’s surface, like a burning oil slick spreading across water.

"We need to get rid of the slime, keep diluting it until it can't hold its shape anymore, then we attack the core," I said, annoyance starting to build up within me.

"That's stupid!" Irela said and sent a giant ball smashing through the slime, spraying burning slime everywhere. "See, just smash it apart!" The slime just flowed back and rejoined the main mass around the core.

I may have a lot of patience but Irela can't seem to get it even when spelled out!

"A lot of good that did..." I retorted, annoyed.

"Everybody SHUT UP!" Esofy shouted.

With Esofy taking control of the situation we finally defeated the boss without further issue, at least until Irela smashed the boss's core.

"Could have let Tana drain the vitality to keep the material intact," I said passive-aggressively. Anger was filling me like a ravenous beast, I would have liked nothing more than to slap the self-satisfied smirk off that bitch. Maybe I should? A nice slap with an exploding fairy, these people are all incompetent anyway. I don't need them, I can kill the boss all by myself!

I suddenly realized what I was thinking. This wasn't me, something was influencing me, but what? This started when I was examining the floor boss's room. I had to know, so I tried to [Analyze] the boss again, only for Irela's antics to distract me... no, it shouldn't distract my second mind, unless... The boss is using mind magic!

Once I realized the problem I immediately started trying to fight it, attempting to push back the insidious warmth with a jab of ice-cold rage and fear from both my minds.

"Why are you taking her side?! She's not even with us physically!" Irela complained

"But I am mentally!" I stuck my tongue out and swished my three tails, suddenly feeling playful.

Why am I acting like this? I tried to warn the others but the words caught in my throat, the invading mental influence preventing me from doing so. The gentle warmth fought back against my will, expertly resisting my attempts to fight it off.

"Alysara, I know you're better than that." Chyzu chastised.

"One of me is," I said in a joking tone, trying to alert her that something was wrong. I couldn’t directly say what’s wrong, or even that anything is, hinting at it was the best I could manage.

"You're not usually like this Alysara, is there something going on?" Esofy asked

"First I'm told to play like a normal child now I'm told not to? Make up your mind, I have two helping with that" I giggled, a hand over my mouth. Kill me now. My artificially bipolar emotions were making this very embarrassing; why was the mind mage doing this to me?

Catch on already, Esofy, Chyzu!

My primary mind was more affected, but its connection to my second was allowing the mind mage's influence to spread.

A treasure chest appeared in the center of the room. "Loot!" I said and skipped over to the chest energetically. Wait a minute, why did I say that word? This mental spell is far more powerful than I realized. It seemed as if the spell’s effects were changing randomly between rage and whimsy, showing that the mind mage was inexperienced with dealing with Runalymo at the very least.

I need to stop this, if I am completely taken over I can cause a ton of damage to the main camp. I don't know what will happen but I have to cut myself off from my primary mind and shift my consciousness to my secondary mind.

I observed my soul and focused on separating my primary mind. A sharp mental stab assaulted me, as if the monster saw what I was attempting and didn't want me to do it. Oddly, this felt like another force, almost as if the monster also had a second mind. Using what was left from my primary mind I blocked the attack, only for another stab to attack my other mind as a third mental presence invaded me.

This thing has more minds?!

I have to escape now! Fear gripped me as a fourth presence made itself known, trying to chain me down while feeling like a fluffy blanket. A fifth presence tried to persuade me to just surrender and let it take control, to fall into its gentle, warm embrace, because then there would be no pain or fear or suffering or—

This thing has five minds! In an instinctual panic, I pulled my second mind away from the clone’s link and threw my primary mind down it instead, away from my soul, before tearing my mind component apart and cutting the link to my clone. Seemingly surprised, all five of the terrifying presences were torn away with it and I immediately felt the attacks on my mind weaken due to the distance and the reduced capacity of the [Summon Clone] link compared to my dissociated perception.

There was a moment of terrible pain, a feeling I couldn’t entirely understand but knew to be that of my mind tearing in two... then all the pain and mental presences, the sweet scent and the siren song I only then realized had been coming from mind essence mana that my new racial [Mana Senses] had interpreted as sound and smell, it all disappeared as I watched the mind component in my soul split apart fully.

Relief filled me for a second, but I noticed my mana had started dropping. The monster was using my primary mind, whose metaphysical presence was now mostly isolated within my clone, to attack and was drawing upon my mana… which it could do, because despite being separated from my other mind the primary mind was necessarily still connected to my soul! I quickly removed my Kyhosa to weaken my spells, but I knew that wouldn’t be enough to allow the group to overpower it

I could still feel the boss through my primary mind, still sense what was going on around the clone, but it was remote; like watching a screen, unable to interact with anything. Somehow the boss had taken control of my clone, its link was now attached to it, having been carried entirely with my primary mind when I discarded it.

I quickly summoned a new clone and started running back toward the group, knowing they'd need all the help they could get.

* * * * * * * * *

"Run!" Esofy shouts. The group runs out of the room and Irela and Jowaru seals the door with their metal. Explosions resound and the ‘door’ flies back towards them.

Fairies stream through the archway as the metal mage and warrior retrieve their metal, calling it back through the air to them.

Irela launches hundreds of needles to intercept the fairies but the shockwaves from the exploding ones blast them all away before all the fairies are intercepted. Undeterred, Irela does this over and over again, trying to thin the numbers.

Chyzu and Tulalo summon bolts of water to intercept the fairies, following Irela’s example.

"This isn't going to end, is it?" Uloru complains about the seemingly unchanged number of fairies while repeatedly throwing her hammer and calling it back with her gravity manipulation.

"We just need to wait out her mana," Kadona says, standing at the front of the group.

"She should be running out soon," Esofy comments, watching the fairies for any opening.

However, she doesn't run out. If anything, more fairies are showing up.

"She... did take her Kyhosa off, right?" Tana asks, keeping their shield raised.

"I'm sure she did." Chyzu answers, panting from the exertion of the battle.

"It could be that the monster is feeding her mana." Irela explains. "If it lacks proper ways to attack and relies on others to fight for it, it may need to sustain them in some way."

"That makes sense," Esofy nods. "But if that's the case then we stand no chance. If anyone else had been controlled then we might have been able to subdue them, but not one of Alysara’s illusory clones. This is the worst case possible."

The group is at a stalemate, only barely holding off the fairies by intercepting them. However, they can't last forever and the mages are starting to falter, running low on both mana and concentration before the seemingly endless tide. Esofy slashes at one that gets close, then breathes a tiny sigh of relief that it wasn’t explosive; although it doesn’t really matter to the mages, to a martial fighter the inability to tell apart the normal and exploding ones is a serious hazard.

Esofy watches as the beauty mana damages her sword, the enchantment on the blade degrading rapidly. Even with mana-infused enchantments, it can still be worn away by spells.

"Ahh!" Klora screams in pain as a fairy strikes her; she had been trying to save her arrows, but it looks like she can't afford that luxury anymore. Chyzu is next to be hit, then Jowaru as more and more fairies break past their defenses, the specter of defeat looming closer and closer.

At the worst possible moment, an extra-large group of fairies flows through the archway. Irela tries to blast them with a wall of needles, but she can’t get them all and more are still coming through into the hall. Jowaru tries to form a metal wall but one fairy dashes ahead of the swarm and blows up where she was trying to anchor the metal to the stone bricks of the wall, disrupting her attempt.

"Run!" Esofy shouts, turning to look back, only to see another clone turning the corner behind them. Before her shocked eyes, a burst of mana comes from the clone and hits the swarm of fairies, which stop moving.

"It's my skill, don't think you can outdo me!" Alysara declares to the unseen monster, seething rage clear in her tone.