Chapter 33
When Keith did what needed to be done, he decided to hold off on drinking more elixirs for a while. The next time, he’d drink them slowly.
Keith held back a burp and went to the living room to lay on a couch – one of the few furnishings he had in an otherwise barren home. For minutes, Keith was motionless, recovering from his binge drinking.
After a short period, Keith opened the Collection Grimoire’s function shop and purchased Clone, spending all of his Collection Points in the process. A new skill array appeared in his chest, so unbelievably complicated he recognized barely any runes.
Unable to make heads or tails of it, Keith pulled up the details of his new skill.
(Special) Clone
Description: Consume 90% of your health and mana to summon a clone. The clone possesses all your base stats and skills, except it doesn’t gain access to your titles and innate gift. Any experience or skill levels gained are shared with the main body, and no matter what happens, it’ll always stay connected to you. You can summon a maximum of one clone. If it dies, you must resummon it.
Keith heaved a sigh of relief upon reading the description.
One of his concerns was what unfolded with Elaine and Yara. When Sloth cursed Elaine, the connection between her and her clone was severed, allowing Yara to gain independence. Keith didn’t want something like that to happen to his clone. Thankfully, according to the skill’s description, it wouldn’t.
The only troublesome part was the 90% health it consumed to cast the skill. Since it would take Keith over a week to recover naturally, he hoped the health stored in his Collection Grimoire would cover the cost. The moment he arrived at that thought, his Grimoire vibrated, sending a vague message to Keith that it could.
“Great!” Keith was elated.
Now that the health cost was no issue, he activated the skill and summoned a clone for the first time.
Whoosh!
The airflow in the room picked up as a circular array manifested on the floor. From within rose a bald young man wearing a simple shirt and shorts, looking exactly like Keith.
As soon as the clone appeared, Keith felt a sensation similar to that when he used Sensory Link, and in his mind, he saw two perspectives.
“Hello,” Keith greeted.
The clone replied with a smile, “Howdy.”
Keith gave his clone a handshake, mesmerized by how fluid it was to control each body. There was no feeling of discomfort at all. Every action was harmonious, even if one body did something different than the other.
No doubt a hidden benefit from the System, Keith thought.
Initially, Keith was prepared to utilize Mind Division to control his clone. Now, there was no need.
Keith’s clone also had a status panel of its own.
Opening it, he saw its stats were much lower than expected and immediately understood why. Besides not having bonuses due to his titles and equipment, the clone lacked a Mana Body.
If it were in the past, Keith would’ve needed Heart Calming Tea and a Tranquility array to form Frisk’s Mana Body design, but with his recent gains in Mana Manipulation, Keith figured he could form it without a problem.
Keith promptly got to work, and indeed, he casually completed the clone’s Mana Body in one go. What used to be an incredibly difficult task was now simple, and it was hard proof that Keith was constantly improving.
Upon finishing the Mana Body, a notification about its details appeared.
[Transcendent] Mana Body (109%)
All stats 85%
Damage taken from skills at or below level 500 reduced by 93%
Damage taken from skills at or below level 750 reduced by 68%
Damage taken from skills at or below level 1,000 reduced by 23%
Damage taken from regular attacks reduced by 15%
Critical damage taken reduced by 15%
Debuff resistance +55%
Mana regeneration rate +1,150%
Skill casting speed +210%
Skill cooldown reduction +30%
Skill mana cost -42%
All skills behave as if they’re 1 grade higher (Limit: Transcendent)
“Huh,” Keith gasped, startled to find that his clone’s Mana Body was significantly better than his main body’s. Most bonuses had higher numbers.
What was the difference?
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The completion rate!
When Keith first formed his transcendent grade Mana Body, the completion rate was 96%. At the time, he was distracted by all the boosts the Mana Body gave him and ignored that little detail. Now, it seemed that the performance of a Mana Body greatly depended on its completion rate.
However, Keith was confused about how it could exceed 100%.
Wasn’t 100% a perfect score?
Keith tapped on the completion rate in the notification, which stated that the completion rate was based on the model used to form the Mana Body. Exceeding 100% meant you had surpassed the original design.
No wonder. Keith was enlightened.
There was no doubt Frisk had terribly poor talent in Mana Manipulation. Even though he could design the most intricate array, the actual drawing of runes was important, too. It would reduce the array's performance if the lines wobbled or weren’t the right thickness.
Due to Keith’s recent life-and-death encounter, his Mana Manipulation skill exploded in levels, gaining over 150 in one go, and now sat at level 743. As a result, his prowess in drawing runes was probably one of the best in the Innate Dimension. He improved Frisk’s model simply by drawing runes correctly.
Wait a second… Keith paused.
Just now, he formed his clone’s Mana Body without thinking too much and didn’t do his best. What completion rate could he get if he went all out? He wanted to find out.
There was one problem.
A prior notification warned that removing a Mana Body was excruciatingly painful. How painful exactly? Keith didn’t know.
So, he made an attempt.
Keith’s clone focused inward and tugged at the array interlinked with his body.
A sharp sting came from his nerves as soon as he did, causing Keith to stop.
From that little test, Keith guessed that the pain was no different than trying to pull out your veins.
What the slimeball, Keith’s eyebrows twitched.
How could he replace the Mana Body in his main body if the pain level was so high?
For now, Keith decided it was better to summon a new clone instead of trying to pry away the Mana Body. A new clone meant a fresh slate to work with.
Dismissing the clone with his will, Keith activated the Clone skill again, millions of health and mana draining from him and his Collection Grimoire.
Another bald Keith rose from the ground, its lack of hair irritating him.
This time, Keith deliberately took his time, trying to perfect every rune.
An hour went by when he finally finished forming the Mana Body.
A notification appeared, revealing that the Mana Body had a completion rate of 120%.
Even then, Keith wasn’t satisfied.
He had made a few mistakes on several runes during the drawing process.
Again!
Keith could spend around 25 million mana until acquiring Mana Sickness, so he had room to work with. Before starting, he sent Adeiv a message asking for Heart Calming Tea. Though Keith could form a Mana Body without it, he sought to attain the highest result, so why not rely on some external supplements?
With that in mind, Keith created a Tranquility array in his living room.
Sitting inside it with his clone, he started his second attempt.
One hour…
Two hours…
Three hours…
Soon, night came, and Keith headed for bed, unable to conceal an expression of fatigue and anticipation. He had made three additional attempts with the Tranquility array as support. The best completion rate Keith scored was 145%, 49% better than his main body’s Mana Body. And that was without the Heart Calming Tea!
Adeiv had replied a few hours earlier, saying the tea would arrive in the morning.
Keith felt there was little room for improvement after so many tests, so he wanted to get a good night’s sleep before using the Heart Calming Tea in one final attempt tomorrow.
Upon waking up, Keith found a package on his doorstep. Adeiv had delivered it not long ago. Keith brought it inside and opened it up, finding two portions of Heart Calming Tea within. He was lucky enough to get two, as it was a divine grade potion sought by many who wanted to form their Mana Body.
With everything prepared, Keith ate breakfast and settled his mind before starting his last attempt. Sitting within the Tranquility Array, he summoned a clone and drank the Heart Calming Tea. Its cold chill shocked his mind into a state of wakefulness. When the Heart Calming Tea’s effects peaked, Keith started drawing runes.
This time, Keith took two hours to form his clone’s Mana Body.
He learned from his previous attempts and made no discernable mistakes.
As a result, his completion rate was the best yet.
[Transcendent] Mana Body (151%)
All stats 97%
Damage taken from skills at or below level 500 reduced by 96%
Damage taken from skills at or below level 750 reduced by 70%
Damage taken from skills at or below level 1,000 reduced by 27%
Damage taken from regular attacks reduced by 20%
Critical damage taken reduced by 17%
Debuff resistance +59%
Mana regeneration rate +1,350%
Skill casting speed +240%
Skill cooldown reduction +35%
Skill mana cost -45%
All skills behave as if they’re 1 grade higher (Limit: Transcendent)
Keith wiped the sweat off his forehead.
Overall, he was pleased with the result.
The Mana Body, at 151% completion rate, had around 30-40% better effects than the 96% completion rate, which was rather significant.
Next up came the difficult part.
Keith didn’t put in all that effort just so his clone could have a better Mana Body.
No, he wanted to replace his main body’s Mana Body.
The recent experience of almost dying weighed heavily on Keith’s mind, and he now felt a deep desire to grow strong enough to make sure it never happened again.
Knowing that many would jump at the opportunity to gain an improved Mana Body in exchange for enduring some pain, Keith grew decisive.
After meditating to recover his stamina, Keith’s senses focused inward on his left arm and, mustering his mental strength, yanked at the arrays wrapped around his bones.
“AGH!” Keith released a heart-wrenching scream, his face draining of blood.
Agony.
Unbelievable agony.
It was like countless daggers dug into every nerve in his arm, slicing them into bits. The pain was viciously sharp, and whatever organ allowed Keith to sense mana took on the brunt of it.
Keith desperately wanted to let go of the half-removed arrays in his left arm, and though his will wavered, wanting to give up, he held firm when he recalled the scenes of Isuni severing his hand and the resulting chase where he nearly died.
Gritting his teeth, Keith tightened his mental hold over the arrays in his arm and pulled hard. The world spun around him as a deafening headache assaulted his mind. He saw the arrays loosen and knew he was almost there. With one last yank, they came free, and the resulting pain shook him to his core.
Success!
Laying flat on the hardwood floor, Keith gasped for breath, his body shivering as the pain slowly resided. Eventually, he gathered enough strength to stand up, and wobbling over to the bathroom, he leaned against the wall and took a freezing shower, using the cold to shroud the pain.
Half an hour later, Keith returned to the Tranquility array and sat down.
He looked inward and found the detached Mana Body in his left arm. Parts of it had broken, with mana dissipating. Keith guessed that having destabilized arrays floating within his body might be dangerous, so he needed to carry on and quickly remove the rest.
Taking a deep breath, Keith focused on his left leg and began removing his Mana Body. During the process, every moment felt like hours. A voice whispered in his mind, telling him that stopping would make the pain disappear.
Rather than give up, a rare stubbornness took root in Keith’s soul, using the pain as a whetstone to sharpen his will.
Finally, the pain subsided, signifying that he succeeded again.
It took Keith almost an hour to recover the first time, while it only took 45 minutes this time. After taking another shower, he moved onto his right arm and then his right leg. Although it didn’t get easier, Keith’s tempered will shortened the recovery time.
When all that remained was the torso and head, Keith’s expression was placid as he removed the Mana Body in one go and tossed it out of his body, at which point it fell apart.
With the job complete, Keith’s eyelids grew heavy, and he fell over, unconscious.