My three split minds continued to compete to create the most challenging puzzle. Skirmishes were fought in a valley of my mind. Every moment they fought, the splits became closer to being their own minds. Cal jumping into the fray added more complexity to the battles. He was an unknown element, which meant that none of the puzzles could be solved with the transfer of thought.

It then became a battle to extort Cal to gain an advantage. I thought Calypso might resent me for putting him in the pit along with my splits. On the contrary, the mind cultivator was basking in an atmosphere of comfort. He proved to be every bit as aggressive and cunning as my splits.

Subtly, the flayen propped himself up to claim the position of the supreme mind, all while fanning the flames between the splits. He thought himself quite the deceiver, forgetting the last focus that watched over all and freely shared knowledge.

The battle would've lasted for weeks, and I was tempted to let it all happen while working on other tasks. Solving the puzzles or even making an unsolvable puzzle wasn't my goal. I only wanted to split my focus. I now had three separate minds within my one mind. The splits were solid. They wouldn't unravel or work contrary to my will and would not be a weakness other mind cultivators could exploit. They were complete splits, allowing me to multitask on four things simultaneously with complete focus.

It was almost like I'd cloned myself three more times. Which was what I wanted…

With a command, I ended the war of puzzles and started a new war on my palace. The goal was simple: reach the center-most palace in my mind where I stored the core of my mind. Three splits got to work. Their invasion was much different than the fights before. With my main focus taking part in the battle, I was able to withhold information, preventing my splits from cheating.

War commenced. It started with three splits cutting through the dense barrier of water. Their combined effort took roughly fifteen minutes to reach my outer walls.

Once at the walls, a salvo of attacks was exchanged. Defenders conjured monsters to destroy the invaders' siege weapons, and the invaders countered with monsters of their own. Massive beasts that couldn't exist anywhere but in a mindscape tore into each other.

The walls were broken and quickly repaired. When the frontal assault was repelled, the splits halted their attack to form a new plan, giving the defenders time to renew their fortification. Eventually, the splits won the battle. The combined forces of three minds sent an unending volley of attacks using siege weapons, monsters, and deception.

Like Cal's attack, the trio found a way into the fortress while the battles were fought at the walls. It was an oversight that I was glad to be discovered. Even as the battle inside the palace played out, I implemented new defenses into deeper fortifications, working out the kinks in my barrier.

The war inside the walls took another thirty minutes before the invaders had complete control. From there, they searched for the hidden vault. What they found was a door leading to another ocean and another fortress. The battle would begin again. This time, the defenders were updated on the invaders' strategies and prepared to fend them off.

In the end, the splits made it through three tiers of defenses. After shoring up all the weaknesses they exposed, I added one more deterrence to the defenses that could possibly keep even the most powerful mind mage out of my defenses and restarted the battles.

On the third round of fighting, the splits could no longer penetrate my first fortress.

In the fourth round of fighting, I actively participated in defending. It was a landslide victory. The splits got lost in the ocean, and from there, I knocked them out one by one. Though each one was as powerful and cunning as my primary focus, they lacked the extra bit of focus that I had. A little bit of an advantage was all that was needed to turn the tides of battle.

Besides improving my mental defenses, the battles with my splits helped provide ideas for using my third split mind from here on out. At the start of the endeavor, I was only looking to gain a new split. One turned to three. It was a significant improvement, but I wasn't prepared for the extra processing power. Now, I knew what I wanted out of all of them.

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One split would be focused on mental defenses. He would try to find any weakness and provide modifications where needed. He would also train the defenders and help them become better fighters and more strategic.

The defensive split would also work on his conjuring. During our many fights, we learned some monsters were stronger than others. Split one would practice with his monsters and discover the best builds for all the environments.

Split two would focus on channeling my mana. While I could do this passively and often did, cultivation was much more productive when it was actively being done. Split two would improve my spirit so that I would have the perfect foundation when I focused on gaining more spirit essence.

Like the defender seeking constant improvement, Split Two would do the same. It would refine my cultivating techniques to maximize my gains. He would also be in charge of exploring new skills and techniques with water. That meant Split Two would improve my current skills, including domain strengthening.

Split three was going to be my wild card. As of right now, that meant it was focused on helping me improve my body cultivation.

It was a bit of a conundrum because of all three essences. The body needed the most physical assertion to improve. Still, plenty of mental aspects of body cultivation could be improved within the mind.

The first involved improving techniques. Split three would seek ways to improve my body cultivation, and a major part of that would be sparing past foes.

First would be Purity, then it would move on to Tom. After that, if I had enough information on the mages, it would simulate the battles against them.

I sent the command to the three splits and let them get to work. It was all in my head, but it seemed like my progression shot through barriers as soon as the command was given. I couldn't help smiling at the thought.

"This is something else," Cal said, appearing beside me. The flayen often spent time in his mind trying to find a way to exist alone—not stuck to me. Since being trapped in the loops, his progression had just about been halted, and any gains he earned with me stayed with me. He wanted more and I didn't blame him. "I thought you would've created clones with them… however, keeping them in your mind… Your progression is going to spike. Brilliant."

"I'm worried it's too artificial."

Cal stroked his beard of tentacles. "Perhaps it is, but does it matter?"

"You witnessed it with me; the split minds, though they are every bit as powerful as my primary focus, can't match the raw power of, well… my mind."

"Yes, there is that. The splits will never be as powerful as the original. It is like a summoner with a minion. The summoner could give the minion every powerup in existence. He could upgrade the minion for a thousand years while neglecting his progression. Who would win in battle?"

"The summoner."

"Does that undervalue the minion? Does this mean his minion was weak? The minion could've been a destroyer of worlds. It could bring realms to their knees. At the end of the day, though, the minion is the extension of the master, and as such, they can't go against the master's will."

"So the battle I joined against the splits wasn't as much of a landslide as I thought it was?"

"Yes and no. You exert power over your splits, which could significantly impact the battle against them. However, I believe your active influence in any mind battle will have the same effect." Cal paused, diving into deeper thought. "Posting your own split to guard your mind actively might be overkill."

I considered all of Cal's words, especially the last. Having three splits work for me would be a considerable advantage; however, I needed to consider the possibility of wasting their potential.

"Would you have split the act otherwise?" I asked.

"No. I would want the mental defense as well. I might not have one dedicated to it at all times, but I would have one of the splits close by to defend at any hint of invasion. Mind mages can be cunning enemies."

"I'll keep the split working on my defenses for now. If something needs more focus, I'll consider using it for the task," I said after more consideration.

I wanted to keep my mind protected at all times, and it was. The dedicated split was just extra defense on top of... extra defense. That didn't even include my latest upgrade to the defenses. Even just having the split ready to man the defenses at a moment's notice was probably enough. If the need occurred, the split would have plenty of time to act while the invader struggled through the dense ocean barrier.

"Until then," I continued. "The defenses will be improved, my monster creations will be strengthened, the defenders will be trained, and I'll be able to test more scenarios."

Cal smiled and shook his head in response. "I almost want the flayens to get here now so that you can further test your mind… and see how ridiculous you have taken it." The last part was said with a chuckle. However, the looming threat of the flayens and Cal's ties to his people halted our conversation, and both of us were deep in thought.

Cal broke the silence with a sigh. "So what are we going to do now? Build another palace? Train some more splits?"

"In time," I said, returning Cal's jest with a serious joke of my own. "I'm gonna watch my splits a little longer, and then I'm gonna hunt down Tom. It's time for some more training."