"We need to gain these soldiers' trust. Who are they?" I shrug, I know they belong to the Kingdom of Jun but I'm not telling him.

"I don't know, let's just watch and wait for now. We're safe as long as we're around these guys." I don't think I disagree.

I decided to focus on myself and the mana residing in my chest. I feel a distinct connection with it like if I can pull or push it. I pull a wisp of it out of my chest. The entire carriage is lit up with a crackling yellow lightning wisp. Shera's face is covered in shock and surprise.

I can maintain my connection with it for longer but this was a mistake. A burning sizzling pain courses through my entire body. The pain is unbearable. I faint with a notification sound ringing through my head.

Ding!

[Skill Unlocked]!

[Create Will]

[Basic Skills Learned]

[Status: Initiated]

...

..

.

I appear in that mana space. I enter it using my meditation skill but this time is different. Is it because I fainted? I can't say for sure.

I decide to activate that skill I gained. I don't know if I can activate it here but it wouldn't hurt to try. I have an instinctive understanding of how to perform this skill. I pull some mana out of that clump of dirt and use it to form a magical formation. It takes me hours of painstaking work to get it right.

It starts to ripple like water in a pond and something climbs out. It's a tiny transparent version of me. I feel an instant connection with it. I close my eyes and I can see through its eyes up at myself. It's wild. I can see my chest, neck, and a giant head towering above me.

Ding!

[Create Will LVL UP!]

[Lv. 0 > 1]

Brilliant, only 99 more to go. I feel optimistic about this. It's just such a brilliant skill. I can think of hundreds of use cases for something like this. I need to test it out first but this isn't the place for it, it has to be somewhere private.

I make it move around and it does so. Raise your arm. It does so. I give it a few other simple commands and he(?) follows whatever I say. I'm still not tapping into its potential.

"Do you think I should kill that other player?" I ask it through our connection. It feels like talking into a tunnel.

"Yes or no. We should kill him if we have the chance but we can't forget about the bigger problem here. We need to get away from the knights."

That is reasonable. "What are the limits of your abilities?"

The little guy just shrugs. It's very weird. He's even copying how I speak.

"I don't know. The extent of my knowledge is what you're aware of."

Does that mean this thing can read my thoughts?

"What did I just think about?"

"Can I read your thoughts?" Ok, that is weird. What if somebody had a copy of this thing and just used it to find everything about me?

The fact that it can read my thoughts is very disturbing. "Maybe there's a distance limit or you might just be able to stop me from reading your thoughts." It even offers suggestions.

"What, so I just turn it off like a tap of water?"

"It wouldn't hurt to try."

I focus on the flow of mana going out of that clump of dirt and dampen it. It's like pulling back a yarn string. It takes me a few seconds to get the hang of it.

"No, that wasn't it. You weakened the flow of mana coming over but I can still tell what you're thinking."

Hmm, this is a bit difficult but it shouldn't be a problem in the short term. I'll figure out a way later. I'll ask it some other basic questions.

"How much longer do you think you'll be around?"

"I don't know. I think if you cut off this flow, I might die."

"What if I pushed in a lot of mana at once and then cut off this constant stream. Do you think you might be able to live without me being present here?"

"I think that's possible." It's been dimming down for the past few seconds. I think it's about to disappear, die(?) The question is on my tongue and it is a version of me so I ask away.

"You know I'm not going to save you, right?"

"I know."

"Then, how can you be so calm about this? I wouldn't be this calm!"

His tiny face seems to be lost in deep thought. "I'm not dying because you'll remember my version of memories too. I'm a branch but I'm about to join the main river again..." The will burst into millions of tiny shards and disappears.

A stream of memories rushes into my mind. It's from the will, what it was thinking and feeling. When the will is alive I think it has the ability to put up a curtain. To think and do things independently, however, once they die everything rushes back into me.

It feels very weird and normal at the same time. I think that will was a lot calmer than me and now I'm calmer.

The melancholy gives way to excitement. This is an insane skill. I'm so excited that I don't know what to do with myself. Another version of me, that I can trust is to have my back. How can that not be a valuable asset?

I need to create more versions of these. I have an idea...

I guess I shouldn't say that anymore:

We have an idea.