In a way, Cal did blow my mind. Instead of slowly explaining the intricate details of the mind, he sent a wave of information, granting me a wealth of knowledge in an instant. Before, I was wary of trusting the flayen with too much information. Now, I was trusting in my powerful mind to keep me safe and well, Cal. He was sworn to only help me.

Trust was a good choice based on the information I received, most of which I was still processing, and the other half was irrelevant. Motivated by what I'd learned, I had some work to do in my mindscape.

First things first, I needed to revamp my mental security. That meant protecting the core elements of my mind, such as my memories, beliefs, character, and preferences.

I followed the same patterns as my final defenses before reforgement with a lot of added extra elements, traps, and surprises. Locked rooms with no doors or locks. Condensed ocean barriers inside condensed ocean barriers. Castles and Palaces with armed guards. Monsters patrolling the exterior of walls. False rooms and fake rewards. Several duplicates of the core tenets of my mind were created, and each one was properly protected.

It took me a little over two weeks inside my mindscape to create the perfect defense.

Cal commented a handful of times that I was being overly protective. He thought I was being redundant and he was probably right. Still, I found comfort in abundance and blanketed my mind with all the security it could muster.

Admittedly, I might've been intoxicated with the power I wielded in my realm. I held so much power that it was hard not to want to push it to its limits. This became a problem when Cal was unable to test my defenses properly. Unlike before, when he could break through my initial fortification, now the mind flayen couldn't even make it through the ocean to reach my stronghold. And that was only the first level of defense. He assured me that if I had the security I had now, not even Balthazar, let alone Zaltur, could breach my walls.

I wanted to believe Cal, and I did, but I also wanted proof.

All it took was a little willpower, and I was able to bring the might of the flayen invasion into my mind palace, where I had them attack. Cal proved to be correct. The ocean was too dense for the flayens to travel through, and even though they weren't in water, their minds couldn't tell otherwise. They struggled for air, which slowed their progress. As they swam, currents pushed them away, and freezing waters broke their spirits. Darkness and monsters did the rest. Balthazar almost reached my walls. He fell to a barrage of arrows and knives from hidden assassins.

The trial wasn't good enough. I needed a stronger force. The fact that the flayens lost to the Empire convinced me that I would face stronger opponents and never again would I let my mind be at the mercy of another. Never again would I be so unprotected.

I added the rest of the mages involved in the battle. The combined might of all the mages allowed them to reach my walls, where they all died. Despite all of the supernatural forces attacking the invaders, the scenario was real to them. They were sieging a castle and not in a mindscape. And because they were lost in my illusion, they forfeited power that they might've conjured otherwise.

On top of that, I stripped them of their mana. The mages and flayens attacked my colossal walls with swords, axes, and spears—like ants biting at boulders.

It wasn't lost on me that these trials were all in my head, and the outcomes were predisposed to be favorable. I tried to minimize my desire to succeed by turning my desires toward destruction. It wasn't good enough that my walls were built so sturdy. I needed the invaders to break them down so I could shore up weaknesses.

After several failed sieges, I implemented some changes. All of the attackers were bolstered by my will and given my blessing. They were no longer stripped of power and had some ability to manifest their wills in my mind. In a sense, a part of me was devoted to the invaders.

Still, with the advantages given to them, they couldn't breach the walls of my first fortification. The results were somewhat irritating.

What I needed was an opponent on the same level who held the same amount of power as me.

The solution was simple. I just needed another me to challenge my protections.

In other words, I needed to split my mind. I wanted to do this task earlier in the loops but couldn't because I needed to reforge my mind first, and I was afraid of reforging my mind because of a lingering parasite that persisted in his process.

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Cal and I had come to a deal since then. He had made a pact with me, and while I can't completely trust him, I can trust our pact. The flayen was bound to serve me. It helped that he was impressed by my shiny, reforged mind—almost borderline worshipful.

Splitting focus was a high-level skill that cultivators on mind pathways strived to achieve. It wasn't the ultimate boon for the cultivators, but it was a significant one that led to much more growth. The problem was that it took a lot of mental foundations to split a mind. Usually, only mid-tier templars started the process. Skilled cultivators could split their minds before reaching the rank of sage.

It was a bit rare that I split my mind while still at the lancer rank, but I attributed it to my training and teachers. Lana, Flint, and Sasha were all adept in the ways of the mind. With their tutelage, I pushed past barriers that were usually unbreakable.

To split a mind, one needed to focus on two things completely for an extended period of time. It wasn't just passive focus, either. The focus needed to be active, like solving two separate puzzles at once. It would be even better if one of the puzzles was more logical and the other physical.

I got to creating two puzzles to split my focus. As I focused on one puzzle, my mind wandered, and I started working on the second puzzle… and then a third and a fourth. I capped off the surreal moment before a fifth puzzle could be created.

My mind felt like it was unraveling as each new focus began a new task. The uncomfortable feeling somewhat frightened me, and I wasn't ready to let the splitting play out.

What if there were lasting consequences?

Instead of completing the fifth puzzle, I focused on the budding splits, watching as they created, swapped, and completed puzzles. Three minds were working separately on different tasks, interacting as if one. Each action one mind took was my own. I held all the knowledge and experience it had. When one created a puzzle, I shared the feeling of satisfaction. When a new puzzle was placed before one of the splits, I saw a new challenge, while at the same time, I knew precisely how to complete the puzzle. I was each one of the creators and challengers and even the spectator.

Splitting minds was supposed to be a complex process. Yet, here I was at the brink of splitting my mind four times simultaneously, and perhaps it could've been more. I watched my splits work against each other for hours, each split determined to outsmart the other. The puzzles became more complex, the challenges tougher, and they took more time to create and solve. Deceit was employed, and all manner of trickery was unleashed.

Puzzles turned to labyrinths. Labyrinths were filled with traps and monsters, then placed in dungeons and guarded by more traps and monsters. The amount of detail and trickery that went into each puzzle intrigued me. However, the biggest takeaway was that each split had a strong urge to cheat to win. I respected the efforts to gain the supreme split title.

"This is remarkable," Cal said, sitting beside my fourth spit. We were on a ledge overlooking the valley where the other splits battled in a game of wits. "Are they stable?"

I turned my attention from the battle and focused on the splits individually. As far as I could tell, they were complete minds. Each was a replica of my mind and capable of completing tasks independently. If I wanted to, I could place one in a shell and create a new clone. On the surface, the splits were whole. However, I still wanted to watch them closely to see if there were any loose threads.

"As far as I can tell, they are stable," I answered Cal. I watched the battles for a few more minutes, grinning as a devious thought came to me. "Would you like to sow some discord?"

"And risk ruining the results of the challenge?"

"They're too comfortable with the stalemate. They need a second party to upset the balance."

"They will see right through me."

"Ae," I agreed with Cal. "You'll have to employ new tricks; get your hands dirty."

"Another test?"

I nodded.

"Do I need to remind you of the dangers of getting lost in one's mind?" Cal asked a bit wearily. He placed a hand on my shoulder. "Kip, one can get lost if they aren't careful. That is the case for mere talented cultivators. With the power you have here… why would you ever leave?"

"It's not real?"

"To who?"

Cal didn't need to say more. The truth was that the mindscape was as real as I wanted it to be. In other words, it could be real for me, and that was all that mattered.

"I won't get lost in here," I couldn't get lost in my own world.

As intoxicating as it was, living in a world of my power and creation was self-gratifying. It only served me. Sure, it was awesome and felt great, but I was never the center of my goals. Power was only a means to an end. I was only going through the loops to save my friends, and no amount of godly power in my mindscape was going to save them. For that, I needed my power within to transfer to the world outside.

The transfer of power, however, wasn't as simple as I'd like it to be. I was indeed a god in my own mindscape, but who wasn't a god in their own minds. Absolute creators with unlimited power. Most of that power dissipated when one tried to manifest it physically. In order to bridge that gap, I needed actual training as well.

However, the physical and metaphysical gap wouldn't stop me from exploiting my mind for as much gain as possible. What good would having three extra minds be if I didn't exploit them endlessly… I already had plans for two of them.