His throat felt sore; actually, every part of his body felt sore. Even with a night of restful slumber.

He opened his eyes to the stars; the ceiling of this pocket dimension had changed to a window into the night sky. It was still a strange sight to see the sky but not to feel the wind in the air.

He sat up from the comfortable bed, still enamored by the celling; he gaped at the view before centering himself once more. He took in the newly created living room, and found what he was looking for.

But first, he needed to be presentable. He found his clothes neatly tucked on a nightstand that hadn’t been there the night before. Hopping off the bed, he felt stronger both physically and magically.

Azura pulled up his fitted pants and remembered his business plan with a certain Dawen; they were going to dominate the specialist quality enchant armor/clothing market. He finished clothing himself and pulled out his sword from his storage ring, strapping the blade to his waist.

Pulling out a simple mirror from his storage ring, he inspects his state of being. He looked like he always did, but his scales somehow became even more vibrant, his eye-searing azure scales even more blue. Seeing this change, Azura’s hand immediately shot up towards his head to where his formerly tiny horns were and…

They were unchanged, which was disappointing, but Azura checked himself for other physical changes, his eyes had also gotten the scale treatment, more blue. Pulling out a bronze coin from his ring. It was a multi-tool that could transform into a variety of tools and armaments. Although bronze wasn’t the best material, with enchantment, it is on par with unenchanted steel.

Azura transformed it into a dagger and percid to stab his outstretched hand with it; the bronze chipped as it failed to even scratch his scales. Now that was new, originally, his scales would’ve been chipped, and the bronze blade would’ve been undamaged. He put away the bronze tool for now, he would fix the chip when he got a chance to do so.

It reaffirmed to him that the bloodline improvement was a powerful one, and he would’ve guessed that his new scales would be a match for any adult dragon. Grinning, he poured some mana into his robes to change the appearance of it to a more formal and form-fitting suit with darker blue colors.

Nodding in appreciation at the figure in the mirror and checking for the last time that he was ready. He puts away his mirror, and turn to the ever-patient messenger.

To his disappointment, the messenger was no longer in the dragoon form they were in, while in their contests, it had been a surprise to him that the messenger could change shape, even though that should’ve been expected.

“Ah, you are finally awake,” noticing Azura’s new outfit and raising a nonexistent eyebrow. “And you gotten dressed for this occasion.” Sounding slightly amused. Their voice was no longer the genderless resonating voice they used in the trial; instead, it was the female voice, albeit without the dragoon’s characteristic accent.

Azura preened at the complaint like a hatchling who just discovered they could sput fire, “That’s right, I can’t be dressed like a brute for this occasion, now can I?”

“I suppose.” There was an awkward silence as Azura was unuse to talking to a messenger so causally, clearing their throat. Azura didn’t even know they had a throat, “So, what boon do you desire?”

A line

“––An immediate jump to Mythril rank, become a chosen of Navorus, [Spilt], [Aura of an Emperor/Empress]––”

Out of those options, one stood out to him, [Spilt] an unassuming name skill among the options. Of course, an immediate jump to Mythril rank would be great, and extra affinity could also be fantastic, but something about [Split] called to him, so it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

“What does [Spilt] do exactly?”

Startled by Azura's abrupt question, the messenger paused briefly before they replied.

“The [Split] is a unique skill utilized by Navorus and their messengers. It allows the user to split into several versions of themselves, much like [Simulacrum] and [Clone], but unlike both of those spells, this skill does not copy and replicate but splits the user both body and soul in several vessels.”

“So, how does that work exactly? Can I control how much of myself get split, or I just split half of myself, and does my equipment get copied too?”

The messenger, ever so patient, answered curtly. “Further information of the skill will be answered after you choose your choice, but do know this skill can cause complications.”

***

In the end, Azura decides upon the [Split] as it is the only that seems unobtainable and rare compared to the others. [Aura of Emperor] could be eventually obtained by being an [Emperor], and he could potentially obtain another element from another system trial or other means. He also doesn't feel like having a target on his back from being a Noavorus chosen. Most the gifts seems to be either some rare augmentation, a skill from a rare class, or something obviously powerful that has a drawback. So that leaves only [Split].

This was easy compared to what he had done in the past, dungeon diving while the dungeon was overflowing with elementals and recently making his beautiful new robes, speaking of. Azura changed his robes back to the comfortable version with a pulse of mana.

Steeling his nerves, he spoke, his voice trembling only slightly.

“I have decided. The skill [Split] is my choice.”

“Are you confident in your decision?”

“Yes.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Well then, Azura Galesong, [Ambassador of Navorus], I grant you the skill, [Split].”

With a snap, Azura felt something inside him ripped in twine, and he blacked out.

***

When Azura next awoke, he was on the floor made of that strange material. His head felt like it was going to blow. It was a strange sensation and it was hard to put in words, he distinctly felt two floors. How was that possible? Azura had not opened his eyes yet, but a sinking feeling of wrongness settled upon his soul.

***

The nameless messenger looked down at the mortal duplicated, he still hadn’t moved in quite a while but they could feel the mortal to be awake. The messenger didn’t used the skill exactly correctly as they needed to strengthen the mortal's soul before they could be [Split], but this was a violation of the system’s noninterference. They would face punishment, and they had to agree with Navorus that they had changed too much.

Looking down at the mortal, they couldn’t help but feel a bit of remorse for the little mortal, they could’ve warned him about the pain, but at the same time, it was amusing.

Azura had managed to outsmart a messenger in a challenge that was frankly used to crash the egos of newly initiated ambassadors, but he managed somehow, despite losing in the first two matches, he chose to duel in a frankly unexpected way.

***

While the messenger was pondering his future prospects, Azura was not enjoying his life at the moment; the feeling of wrongness in his soul had turned to mind-searing pain as both of him thrashed on the ground, and the extra sensory input overcame the two brains he has now. Azura’s brain felt like it could implode from sensor overload any moment now. His soul isn’t fairing much better, it felt like it had doubled in mass but then ripped apart without any of the numbing agents.

Azura has a very low pain tolerance, which is strange as he is in the adventuring business, albeit much less active. His only saving grace was adrenalin and his scales. He also has non of the pain-reducing and body-enhancing skills most warriors have, but back to the present, where Azura, in all his twenty-three years of wisdom, opened his eyes, now four eyes, by mistake.

Surprisingly, Azura didn’t black out; it was more like he couldn’t; instead, he just screamed from both of his mouths and, startling the messenger who was deep in their musing. The pain he felt was not like nothing he felt before, but to be fair he hadn’t felt many painful thing before. He clutched at his head, hoping it would help. It didn’t.

The messenger paused for a moment before bent down and tapped both of them on their shoulder. And the screaming ceased. Azura’s world stopped overlapping, and it suddenly calmed. He felt a connection he hadn’t noticed before close; he felt he could open it back up again, but that would likely be a bad idea.

“Thank Navorus, I was beginning to think–”

Azura stopped as he heard his relieved voice echo, and not like the cave echoes and more like a mimicfolk’s but different as he and his other self turned and stared dumbfounded. He found his own dumbfounded look reflected in his other self. It was like a mirror, but Azura reached out and his other self also reached and touched, it did not feel strange in the sense of physical contact, but he could feel from the muted connection something akin to a dull vision of staring at himself.

Wait, if this version of himself has the items, does that mean… Azura looked down, expecting to see his naked form, but was greeted by his clothes and items. He quickly checked his ring and confusingly found it empty, but that was okay; he still had his sword and clothing. He unsheathed his mythril sword, which looked the same as it always did, glowing and blue. He even went as far as to check the feel and aura of the blade, which felt slightly different, like it had been freshly made. so all these clues, Azura determined he wasn't Azura Prime, and by the time Azura figured that out, the other Azura grinned in a way that was so, so infuriating. Azura is starting to realize why his friends and family get annoyed when he gets that smirk going.

*****

After fumbling around for a while, the three of them sat down at a newly created living room. He wonders if this is the messenger’s personal house, it has also been bugging him how the messenger doesn't have a name, and it’s been quite tiring to refer to the messenger as just messenger in his head.

“As an Ambassador of the system, your duty is to find suitable worlds to integrate into Nevorus’s Domain. You will, of course, be given certain protections. In certain worlds with unstable deities, you will be given a protection shield that protects you from harm.”

“Deities, like the system?”

“Yes, like us, but they are less restricted in some ways and more restricted in others.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

The messenger went on and ignored his question.

“However, you won’t be coming in contact with any of them just yet. As a newly appointed Ambassador, you would be sent to worlds and planes that were already cleared for integration.”

“Worlds cleared for integration?”

The Messenger nodded and went on, “As such, the plane of existence you will be sent is already inspected and is commonplace to newly instated Ambassadors to visit.”

“So there are others like me?”

“Of course, how do you think the system manages to inspect other realms without the help of Ambassadors?”

“Why not just use the messengers?”

The Messenger considered it for a moment. “No, sadly, that would not work, as our power is tied to the system, and stepping foot to other realms would weaken us,” the messenger gestured to their form. “This form is not suited for the task as it is not entirely corporeal and will be unable to experience the world as a mortal would.”

Azura agrees with their sentiment, but “Can’t you just create a mortal vessel to inhabit?” What he wanted to say was, why don’t they use that form?

They paused for a second time in this conversation. That sounded plausible and feasible, and they could easily create a new form that had mortal, but wouldn’t the other split version of themselves have tried it already? For now, that was a question for later: "It might work, but it is easier to simply delegate these tasks to ambassadors.”

“I see––may I ask a few questions?”

“Sure.”

“Okay, so are there more ambassadors like me?”

“One’s with [Split]? None, but there are other ambassadors in training, many.”

“So, if a silver ranker like myself is considered “ambassador in training,” then is gold rank considered full ambassador?”

“No, gold rank is not considered an ambassador. Ambassadors is considered ready if they are in the mythril rank.”

“Then,” a mythril ranker. It was said that no one had achieved the mythril rank that Azura knew of. “Are there any full ambassadors?”

“There was, but that one had perished when they tried to challenge the heavens of the other world that you will be diving into,” The messenger stated simply.

Even a mythril ranker fell. What kind of world is it? And why is he going? “Why am I going to that place, exactly?”

“To become more powerful.”

“Couldn’t I just stay here and get to mythril rank eventually?”

“You could, but it would be a lot slower. But since you have two bodies, you have the opportunity to have one stay behind and the other go.”

The messenger was making a good point it would be a hassle to explain to bodies to his friends and sending one off to this mystery world sounds like an experience worth having, but. “What’s so special about that world isn’t Nouvella enough for leveling?”

“That’s a good question––It is, in a sense, perfect for ambassadors as a large portion of the population is obsessed with ascending the ranks, and it would provide the perfect environment for an aspiring ambassador.”

“That sounds, frankly. Awful. But also fascinating,” Although adventuring and other such jobs are dangerous, they are also the fastest-leveling ones compared to less violent jobs. But such jobs usually require one to be in dangerous situations or be in training to level. Azura himself is trying to stray away from adventuring in recent years. Starting by hunting fewer beasts and monsters and limiting the dungeon delving to only when his party agrees upon it or the Dungeon Tide comes.

“So, Have you decided?”

The Azuras looked at each other before deciding on a course of action. The one with the money will stay, and the other one will go after they split some provisions between themselves.

He nodded, “I will go––and I will stay.” Dang, he would miss connecting sentences with his other self.

“Wise decision.” The messenger stated before waving their hand and teleporting him to another world.

He hadn’t even had time to share items before he was teleported.