Victoria returned to her room with a thoughtful expression, considering her lesson with Horace. Besides the insistence on Qi, he had some good points. In particular, she'd never really developed her skill at controlling energy. She was always focused on finding something new to do, not perfecting what she could already do. She never really practiced controlling her Spirit threads, and while she knew she could use her Spirit mist to create illusions based on the objects she'd scanned, she'd never actually done so or practiced with it. Which meant she had no real idea how to actually use all these things she could do. She needed to find more practical uses for her skills…

Victoria paused, before turning and heading out instead, moving towards her father's training yard. Once she arrived, she studied the array of weapons lining the wall, her Spirit threads reaching out to snag various daggers while she picked up the sledgeblade. She moved to the center of the yard, closing her eyes and taking a breath as she considered her next step. Slowly, she began to swing the sledgeblade, her enhanced strength making it feel as light as a… well, not a feather, but like a regular sword at least. Though its weight still threatened to throw her off balance, the ease with which she could now swing it only made the problem worse since her swings had that much more force behind them. As she readjusted to the sledgeblade, the daggers she'd grabbed began to flow with her swings, the Spirit threads moving out of the way of her sledgeblade as it began to whip through the air, swinging the daggers after it. However, as she kept going, the daggers began to get… tangled, Victoria struggling to keep the Spirit threads out of the way of the sledgeblade while keeping the daggers under control. It was pushing her ability to multitask to the limit, and she wasn't quite pulling it off.

Victoria dropped the sledgeblade with a groan. "Maybe I should just focus on controlling the daggers first." She sighed. Trying to immediately integrate the daggers into her sledgeblade forms probably wasn't the best idea. She shifted to just getting the daggers under control, focusing on getting them to move in concert without getting tangled. Four daggers ended up still being a little much, so she dropped it down to three, then two before finally starting to make some progress. Despite how much faster her mind worked due to her cultivation and points, it was still difficult to focus on more than a single thing at once, and every time her attention shifted, the daggers began to go off course or even stop entirely, so she had to almost juggle them, getting one going, then the other, switching back and forth to keep them both on track or make minor adjustments.

She kept working on it for a few more minutes, before the daggers dropped and she let out a sigh. It was increasingly clear that while her power had been steadily increasing, her skill had not. She was going to need to make some adjustments to her training schedule.

"How do I purify my energy?" Victoria asked Maurice. She'd returned to her room and gone to cultivate when she'd realized that with both her cores full, she couldn't. She needed to purify her energy first to make space for more. Which she didn't know how to do. So she'd left again and gone to find Maurice, who was thankfully in his office.

Maurice looked up from his desk, blinking at the sudden question. "Purify your energy?" Victoria nodded. "Are you-" He began to ask, before cutting off as he remembered her system, his expression twisting slightly. She would be ready to start purifying her energy, wouldn't she? "Yes, well, it's a fairly simple process. Simply compress your energy as you cultivate, creating space for the new energy. The more you can compress your energy, the faster you can cultivate, at least, until you compress it faster than you bring it in. The pressure will naturally purify the energy in the process."

Victoria frowned. "How do I compress my energy?"

"There are a few methods, but the most common is to focus the pressure from the Runes in your Runescape on your core. The better you can focus the pressure, the better the results. Alternatively, you can push your energy out of your core while you cultivate, before attempting to pull it all back in, but if you fail to do so, any energy left outside the core will dissipate. It makes it easier to absorb energy, but you risk losing already purified energy if you fail, which in my opinion isn't worth the risk. Finally, you can attempt to compress the energy through sheer force of will and energy control, which is required to a certain extent with either of the other two methods as well, but is unnecessarily difficult on its own, in my opinion." Maurice explained. "Oh, additionally, there are certain formations and treasures that can help, but those are things only found in sects."

Victoria's frown deepened. "But… how am I supposed to focus the pressure from my Runescape?"

Maurice shrugged. "There isn't any trick to it, you just will the pressure to focus on your core. It's a matter of willpower, not skill."

Victoria blinked. The idea that she could just will the pressure to focus on her core seemed a little weird to her, but then again, she'd shown she could just will her Essence into iron, so why the fuck not? "Okay, thank you." She nodded to Maurice, turning to go, before remembering the other question she'd had. "Oh, yeah, I also wanted to ask, what's the benefit of having a larger energy capacity?"

Maurice gave her a look that suggested she was asking a very dumb question. "It- means you can have more energy…"

Victoria flushed. "I know that! What I mean is, if you want more energy, you can just keep cultivating, right? If cultivation is endless, then the stage or realm is more important than the amount, isn't it? If that's the case, then wouldn't it be better to have a smaller energy capacity? So you could progress faster?"

Maurice sat back in his chair, considering her question with a thoughtful expression. "Huh… I never thought of it that way. For most, a larger energy capacity means that when you hit your limit, you are stronger than someone with a smaller energy capacity at that point. Hence why your father is stronger than I am, despite both of us being at the peak of Core Strengthening. However, if you aren't limited, and can simply continue higher and higher…" Maurice pondered the question seriously for a few more moments, before shaking his head. "I'm afraid I couldn't say." He sighed. "My insights stop at the Circulatory realm, and even then they are theoretical, not practical, since I will be forever barred from that realm. Maybe Sir Freid could give you an answer? As a Unification realm Cultivator, he would have a better grasp on the subject than I would."

Victoria sighed. "Yeah, he probably would, but the jackass keeps trying to pressure me into learning Qi skills so I don't 'ruin my future'. Why can't he just mind his own business?"

Maurice chuckled. "Because those who think they know better don't take the refusal of their wisdom very well. I admit, it's a trap I fell into rather often myself, in my younger years, the grating frustration over why they just didn't get it. It took time and not a few arguments and mistakes before I finally realized that my perspective was not the end all be all of reality, that others had different goals and priorities that my advice was useless for." Maurice paused. "Though in your case, I imagine the problem would resolve itself if you'd simply tell the boy you already have a Qi Rune. I believe it is highly unlikely that he'd inform the King or anyone else of the matter, particularly if you asked him to keep it a secret."

Victoria snorted. "I'm sure, but that isn't the point. He needs to learn to respect my decisions. I'm not going to let the overpowered goofball get used to the idea that he can push me around, because if he ever got serious about pushing me around, there's no way I could actually stop him. Better to set boundaries now."

Maurice cocked his head in consideration, before nodding in agreement. "A very good point. I sometimes forget that it isn't about the battle, it's about the war. A small concession at the start may not seem like that big a deal, but over time it could snowball and crush you."

"It's always the little things that get you." Victoria agreed with a sigh. It was something she'd picked up as Thomas, growing up. He was always weird, so he had a tendency to get picked on, and it always started as something little. A small comment, a bump in the hall, a minor joke at his expense, something that was easy to let slide. But the more you let slide, the less you stuck up for yourself, the more people took from you. Comments became scathing insults, bumps became shoves, jokes became cruel pranks, because once you let people get it in their head that they were allowed to treat you in a certain way, they would take full advantage. You needed to set boundaries before people got invested in the idea that you were a suitable punching bag. Sure, sometimes it made you look like a jerk, but it was better than dealing with abuse.

Victoria shook herself out of the small funk she'd fallen into as certain less than pleasant memories resurfaced. "Well, that's everything I wanted to ask. I'll see you at dinner." She bid Maurice goodbye as she left. It was time to see how well she could compress her energy.

"Oh, one last thing." Maurice called out, stopping her. "Once you enter Core Strengthening, be sure not to use your energy for at least an hour after you finish, so that it has time to purify. Otherwise, you'll risk the energy getting stuck outside your core, which… well, I already told you the dangers involved in that." Victoria paused, before nodding and continuing out the door. It was a good thing he'd mentioned that. Literally the first thing she did after cultivating was meditate on her Runes and explore new uses for her energy. That would have been bad.

It turned out that the hardest part was actually making herself aware of the pressure. With the amount of points available to her, her Capacity was ridiculous, and the pressure from her Runes didn't really affect her anymore. Her Spirit and Essence gave her a boost as well, making her think Capacity was only something you really had to worry about when you were first starting out. Which was unfortunate, since that was the period you needed it most. The reason it was hard to Acquire all three Rune types was because you had to cultivate to increase your Capacity and Acquire more Runes, which made it more difficult to Acquire the other types of Runes. With enough Capacity, you could simply Acquire all the Runes you needed before you even began to cultivate… Victoria paused. She should tell Beatrice that, and make sure she wasn't focusing on her Clean Rune.

Victoria put that aside for the moment as she turned her focus back towards her own cultivation, frowning slightly. The pressure was definitely still there, she just had to find it again. She examined her Runescape, seeing if she could feel the pressure by studying the source. It took a few moments, but eventually she began to feel the soft touch of the Runes emanating from within. The more she studied it, the more she became aware of its presence, flowing through every piece of her being, until she finally let out a breath. "Fucking finally." She grumbled, shaking her head. It was amazing how easy it was to adjust to things. It wasn't that long ago that this pressure felt crushing, like it was about to tear her apart at the seams, and now… meh? It just wasn't an issue anymore.

"Alright, let's do this." Victoria muttered to herself, getting back on track as she focused on the pressure, trying to focus it on her Spirit core. Slowly the pressure began to condense, concentrating on her Spirit core until the energy inside began to slowly compress to make room for more. Victoria focused more and more pressure on it until there was more than enough space for a few hours of cultivation, which was when she ran into her first problem. The moment she went to cultivate, her focus on the pressure lapsed and it began to disperse again, letting the energy expand again! She quickly shifted her focus back to the pressure, but that caused her to stop cultivating instead. Victoria's expression twisted as she struggled to find a balance between the two, before she finally broke down in frustration. "Fuck! I need a whole ass second brain for this shit!" She cursed, before suddenly freezing, her eyes widening as an idea wormed its way into her mind, one so audacious, yet so undeniably feasible that she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before. Why- didn't she- use her points- to make herself- a second body?!?

She glanced at her point total. She still had about a thousand points to work with. She opened the creation page, gulping slightly as she created a new entry: Victoria. And the cost? Just a bit under five hundred points. "Holy shit." She gasped, barely even believing this was actually possible. It could be. It had to be, but… if she was wrong, then she'd be wasting a fuckton of points. Was it worth it for the experiment? For the chance? Victoria hesitated for a moment, before her expression hardened and she nodded. Fuck yes it was! Victoria reached out, five hundred points flowing out of her and pooling on the bed, as Victoria made… herself. The points suddenly shifted, collapsing from possibility into reality as in an instant, a body formed.

Victoria opened her eyes, stretching slightly as she sat up, turning to look at her other self, who was just staring at her in wide-eyed disbelief. "So…" She began with a slight grin. "This opens up some possibilities, doesn't it?"

The other Victoria continued to stare at her for a moment, coming to terms with the fact that this was her. Just like when her points were in another person, she could experience what her other self was thinking, what she was feeling, what she was… everythinging! Except… this was a lot more intimate, because she wasn't observing what someone else was thinking, she was thinking it herself. It was just… in another body. She let out a sigh. "This is going to take some getting used to."

Victoria shrugged. "Will it? We're still us, we're just…"

""More."" The two finished in unison.

The one on the bed grinned. "Exactly." She got to her feet, taking a moment to make herself a point storage vessel, before walking to the wardrobe and starting to pick out some clothes, since the points hadn't deigned to make her any. She was bending over to dig out some underwear, when she paused, glancing behind her. "There is something wrong about checking out your own ass, you know?"

Victoria flushed quickly looking away. "You're the one flaunting it, wiggling it in the air like that." She grumbled petulantly.

Other Victoria clicked her tongue and shook her head. "Victim blaming, really?" She teased herself, grinning slightly as she pulled on the underwear.

Victoria rolled her eyes, snagging a pillow and chucking it at her. "Just put some clothes on you freaking imp."

Other Victoria snicked, quickly finishing getting her clothes on, before turning back to her other self. "So, what now?" Both of them frowned as they fell into thought. "Well, to start, I don't have access to our Runescape, which means I can't help you cultivate." She continued with a sigh. "So you're still on your own trying to juggle the pressure and cultivating."

"We're surprisingly separate for being the same fucking person." Victoria agreed with a frown.

"It's like two bodies, one consciousness." The other agreed with a nod. "We're the same, but our bodies are ours to deal with on our own. Except…" She reached out, tugging at the points in Victoria. "The points."

"Well, that makes sense." Victoria shrugged. "We are the points. That's how this-" She gestured between the two of them. "-is even possible."

"Which means-" Other Victoria began.

"You can focus on earning points-" Victoria continued.

"While you focus on cultivation!" Other Victoria finished.

Victoria smiled. "And with the points, you're as powerful as a ninth stage Core Strengthening Cultivator, so you can go out into the wilderness and hunt for cores! Which will be so much more effective than just doing exercises."

"Well, maybe… we have been pretty lazy about gaining points recently." Other Victoria commented. "We could make more tasks related to cultivating, you know? Like cultivate for X hours a day or something."

Victoria sighed. "I know, but if I do that, then I'm going to be focused on the task, not on cultivating."

"Yeah, but still, you know?" Other Victoria shrugged.

Victoria scowled at her. "You're just saying that cause you're not the one who has to cultivate."

"Damn straight." Other Victoria snickered, winking at her.

Victoria just rolled her eyes, before glancing at the door. "Should we let Beatrice in?"

"Probably. I'm wondering why she hasn't- oh, yeah, that's a good point." Other Victoria nodded as Victoria realized it was probably because she heard the two of them talking. Other Victoria then grinned mischievously as she had an idea. "Hold on, let me hide, then let her in!" She whispered, her points shifting to Spirit as she sent out threads to pull her up towards the ceiling, before putting up a cloud of Spirit mist and covering herself in an illusion.

Victoria examined it and helped her adjust it until she couldn't see any signs that she was there, before moving to the door. "Beatrice, you know you don't have to wait outside the door, right?" Victoria smirked lightly as she opened the door. "You could at least knock."

Beatrice jumped slightly, before flushing. "I-I thought I heard- were you talking with someone?" She asked hesitantly.

"Just myself." Victoria replied, her smile widening slightly as she moved aside for Beatrice to enter.

Beatrice walked in, looking around suspiciously before turning to give Victoria a skeptical look. "You were talking to yourself? Why?"

"It helps me think." Victoria shrugged. "Plus, I'm a great conversationalist, aren't I?"

Beatrice narrowed her eyes. "I've never heard you talking to yourself before…"

"Beatrice, are you worried I'm cheating on you?" Victoria asked in mock offense.

Beatrice's eyes widened. "N-no, I would never- I just- it- it feels like you're hiding something from me… I- I mean, you don't need to tell me everything, I just- you- you can just tell me it's a secret… you don't need to lie."

"Oh, Beatrice, I never lie to you." Victoria assured her, wrapping her arms around her waist and pulling her close. "I was just talking to myself."

Other Victoria suddenly dropped down behind her with a grin, causing Beatrice to yelp. "Hi! I'm myself!"

Victoria turned to scowl at her. "Do you really think that was the best time?"

"No, but we weren't really getting to a better time." Other Victoria shrugged. "We're not very good at setting up things like this." She sighed.

Beatrice looked between the two of them, eyes wide in shock. "There- there are two of you!"

"Technically no." Victoria shook her head. "There's still only one me, I just have two bodies now."

"One consciousness, two bodies." Other Victoria nodded.

"Connected through the points." Victoria explained.

Beatrice blinked. "But- why?"

"Well, at first I thought it might help with my cultivation." Victoria explained. "I'm having trouble multitasking."

"Unfortunately I have no say in what goes on in her body." Other Victoria sighed. "But I can still go out and earn points."

"Or anything else." Victoria added. "Like attending lessons while I cultivate. Or going to dinner while I cultivate. Or practicing forming Essence armor while I cultivate. Or deal with freaking Horace while I cultivate."

"Whoa, no, Horace is your deal. If you thought he had questions when you showed up with both your core's filled, what do you think he'd say when you showed up next time with no cores at all?" Other Victoria retorted.

"Fuck!" Victoria growled.

"Also, shouldn't I be out hunting?" Other Victoria added. "Using me as a stand in while you cultivate is an egregious waste of my potential. Plus, there's no way you'd be down to spend all your time cultivating without any breaks."

"Well duh." Victoria rolled her eyes, turning to smile at Beatrice. "I'd obviously take breaks to spend time with Beatrice."

"No, no, no, if I'm doing all the crap work, I get the Beatrice time!" Other Victoria protested.

"You can't spend time with her! You'll be out in the wilderness hunting Rune Beasts!" Victoria retorted.

Other Victoria scowled, before snapping her fingers. "Fine, but when I'm back, I get her all to myself, deal?"

Victoria narrowed her eyes at her. "Only for as long as you were out. Otherwise, we share." She counter-offered, and other Victoria nodded in agreement.

Beatrice's eyes flicked between the two of them with a wary look, not sure how she felt about the two of them… bartering for her time. "You two can't just trade me back and forth. I am my own person."

The two Victorias' turned to her, simultaneously raising their eyebrows. ""You do realize we're the same person, right? We're just trying to figure out which body gets to experience being with you. No matter what, you'll still be with the same person."" They replied in unison.

Beatrice froze, unable to process how they'd gone from arguing to completely in sync in an instant. "I- This- this is a little too much for me." She stammered, backing away and shaking her head.

The two Victorias' expressions softened. Victoria glanced at other Victoria, who nodded back. She turned back to Beatrice. "Don't worry, I can handle this on my own. It's a me thing, not a you thing. Honestly, this whole thing would be pointless if we were always in the same place, so you'll probably never even notice it, except to note that I'm around a bit more often than should maybe be possible."

"I should probably go and see about testing a few things. Make sure I can get in and out of town without causing any trouble." Other Victoria added, heading to the window and slipping out, points shifting to Spirit and supporting her as she began to fly. Turns out it was possible, she just had to have points both around her and on something stable within the range of her point vision. She'd just never had a reason to actually do it until now. *Flying is awesome.* She grinned as she swooped down towards the ground, sending out some mist to cover her in illusions of shadow as she snuck towards the walls.

Victoria turned back to Beatrice. "So, how was your day? Oh, and I realized you should absolutely use your points to increase your Capacity and get all the Runes you need before you continue to comprehend your Clean Rune. It should maximize your chances of getting all three."

Beatrice blinked, before shaking her head with a slight smile. "I know, Obanonos already has this entire plan for me to follow."

Victoria nodded. "Right, obviously he'd pick up on that. I should have known."

"The more he learns about your system, the more excited he gets." Beatrice sighed. "He's constantly going on and on about the heights we can reach, finally walking the Path to Ascension."

"Ah, yes, the Path." Victoria chuckled. "How you mortals must struggle for immortality."

Beatrice rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm sorry we can't all be eternal energy beings."

"Unconfirmed eternal energy being!" Obanonos retorted, popping out of Beatrice's temple, frowning at Victoria. "I'm not going to believe it until I see it!"

"Hey! What did I say about interrupting my Victoria time!" Beatrice snapped at him.

"I was just-" Obanonos protested.

"No, back in the Runescape!" Beatrice shut him down, sending him away.

"Oh, come on, give the little guy a break, huh?" Victoria commented.

Beatrice turned to glare at her. "Not until he stops constantly pushing at my boundaries." She growled. "I get that he's seen a lot, and knows more, but I'm the one who gets to decide how I'm going to live my life!"

Victoria blinked, a bit surprised. "Well, look at you." She grinned, pulling Beatrice close. "Standing up for yourself, being firm, deciding how to live your own life… you're really coming into your own, you know that? Remember when you couldn't even stop calling me 'Lady Victoria'."

Beatrice flushed. "That- that was just- there's- you have to give your superiors a certain level of respect-"

"Oh, so I'm no longer your superior?" Victoria asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Beatrice snorted. "Were you ever?"

"Oh, snap!" Victoria pulled back, giving her a surprised look. "Where did that come from?"

"Well you see, someone has spent hours upon hours, telling me how worthwhile I am, how great I am, how I don't deserve to be looked down on…" Beatrice replied with a smile. "I guess at some point, it stuck."

Victoria leaned in to give her a kiss. "I'm glad it did."

Beatrice beamed. "Me too."