I bought other three memory stones, and after using one to register that place, I returned. Without wasting any time, I used the skill, and my copy appeared. Just like Stella and Silver, we had a mental connection. It was a bit unnerving and depressing, but I end up sighing, looking at myself, and that made me feel even worse. It was like I was looking at a mirror and didn’t like what was there.

HP: 170/170

MP: 445/450

STA: 170/170

Words weren’t necessary between us, so I just gave him one of the twin bags, one memory stone for him to register the place if he ends up dying and the vampire hunter crossbow. After that, he climbed on Stella’s back, and they headed to the west.

Even though I was physically more fit than before, and my body was also stronger thanks to the mana, those mechanical arms weren’t easy to keep equipped. It was hard to be sure, but each one weighed probably thirty kilograms.

‘Well… all this weight only means they are very sturdy. This will also be a good training,’

Only in a few hours, I would confirm that fact, but if by carrying twenty kilograms, I could increase my HP and STA by one point. Perhaps, those would increase after a little less than seventeen hours, the mechanical arms were three times heavier, after all.

‘For now, I will get used to these weapons and wait until the partial replication levels up. After that, I will create another copy and make him fight against the trolls while I meditate and give him some support.’

I entered the portal, and then I saw the next five trolls, it was already a habit, so I tried to teleport and attack them from behind. However, I managed to stop at the last moment; I needed to get used to fighting with my body alone. Mana was useful, but I was too dependent on magic, and because of it, I always had to stop and create magic arrows before and after a big fight. That kind of action shortened the duration of those battles, but I always end up wasting too much time outside those very battles.

‘I can’t be a glass-cannon forever. Besides, I will also break my physical limits, and it would be a waste not use this strength.’

When the trolls started their attacks, I remembered the first days after the monsters appeared. It was hard to run in that knee-deep snow, and the visibility wasn’t good, so their attacks were difficult to dodge completely.

‘My body is kind of heavy since I’m sharing my energy with my copy, but I don’t think I’m slower… I guess this will work.’

A troll used its club to attack me with an ice pillar, but I used that opportunity, and with all my strength, I charged forward after a jump. Before the ice pillar could even appear, I punched the troll’s face with my right hand and made the hidden blade pierce the monster’s skull. Well, I tried, I wasn’t strong enough to keep my arm still, and the troll’s skin was too thick. The hidden blade penetrated the monster’s mouth through its cheek, but it made my right hand move a little backward.

I sensed danger, and then an ice lance flew toward me, but end up only hitting the troll that I was attacking. But since all of them could use ice attacks, the ice lance didn’t even scratch. I retread and then began to run around to avoid their attacks.

‘Since the hidden blade appears almost instantly, I ended up receiving some of its kinetic energy, and that was why my arm moved backward slightly, huh.’

Once I approximated the trolls, instead of magic, those idiots used their clubs, but they were too slow. Their attacks only hit the ground and then raised a massive screen of snow. I used that opportunity to move to behind one of them.

‘Let’s see if your nape is sturdy as well.’

I jumped to attack the monster again, but before finishing the punch, I used the hidden blade. The strength of my punch nullified the hidden blade’s kickback, the blade pierced the troll’s nape, and he lost control over its body and fell on the snow. However, I didn’t receive any message. As if that wasn’t enough, I saw the wound healing at a fearsome pace.

‘Not even a direct hit in their spine is enough… I have to destroy their brains.’

Using my left hand, I tried to attack the fallen troll’s head, but I only made a crack in the skull. Their heads were big, and their skulls were thicker as well. I retreated because ice lances were flying toward me, but soon after that, I returned to finish the job. The second attack pierced the skull until the middle of the troll’s brain.

You have obtained 150 Evolution Orbs.

You have obtained 150 Evolution Coins.

‘Well, considering that I only broke my physical limits twelve times, this isn’t half bad… I expect nothing less from a weapon so expensive.’

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To kill the trolls, I had to hit the back of their heads two times using all my strength. It was much better than I had expected; after all, it was the first time that I was trying to fight without using mana.

It took a couple of minutes to kill the remaining four trolls; I had to evade all their attacks, and the snow was slowing me down, so it couldn’t be helped. When the battle ended, the next five trolls appeared.

‘It seems Tinemouth can only give them simple orders and his voice can’t reach this place. The entire mountain is his domain, so he probably can make his voice reach any point of that mountain, and he can make his trolls appear only inside of it. I’m relatively safe here.’

The cold of the wind was eating the heat of my body, so I decided to keep my body moving before the blizzard could freeze me to death. Although it was dangerous, it was also quite refreshing fighting up close. I felt that I was overcoming my coward side; every time I avoided their clubs by a hair’s breadth, I felt my heart beating faster. That excitement was terrific; the only thing that felt better than that had been my night with Claire…

I remembered Claire, and then I lost my focus for half a second, and then a troll managed to hit me. At the last moment, I used the mechanic arms to block the attack, and it worked. However, I felt the bones of my arms cracking. It was crazy to use my arms in that situation, so I stopped my melee training combat and used my mana to kill the trolls.

“Why in the hell I thought about that in the middle of a battle…”

HP: 95/170

MP: 375/450

STA: 150/170

I received a lot of damage, so I would have to drink a few potions and wait until my bones are fully healed. Soon, my HP was full again, but broken bones weren’t something a few low-quality potions could heal in a few minutes. Only after a few hours, my bones were back to normal.

“I have to focus on the job… no more distractions in close combat.”

After my wounds healed, I fought only using my mechanic arms again. However, every time I got too excited, I ended up remembering Claire, and every time that happened, I lost my focus and received other wounds.

“What the fuck is wrong with me?”

It seemed that I was confounding the excitement of the battles and sexual arousal. It was crazy, but even though my master sword didn’t react in the middle of the battles, the excitement was similar. It couldn’t be helped; I couldn’t differentiate one of the other since I didn’t have much experience in dealing with my hormones.

“I have to control my nerves… or I will end up overthinking and reaching a dangerous conclusion about Claire and me.”

In the blink of an eye, the time passed, and after seventeen hours, I received a message.

Congratulations, your HP and STA increased by one point, thanks to your recent actions.

To my surprise, the partial replication also leveled up. I thought it would take a few days, but it probably leveled up faster because my copy could kill hundreds of monsters in a few minutes with Stella’s help.

‘I still want to keep fighting myself, but I also have to increase my mana pool… it can’t be helped.’

I created another copy and gave the assassin’s mechanic arms to him. Since our HP decreased again, I decided to eliminate at least three trolls for efficiency’s sake and because I didn’t want to feel the pain of one-third of me dying.

Compared to that, the tower had been a walk in the park. At least in the tower, the weather was naturally warm, and I had free food. Once in a while, the trolls’ body would dissolve and leave ten kilograms of meat, but I didn’t want to eat the meat of something humanoid.

I only didn’t freeze to death thanks to the two meters long fire arrows which I was creating; those were powerful enough to melt all the snow one meter around me. After three days, my copy and I were already at our limits. We didn’t sleep, and we were sick of cold food, and after twenty-four hours under that blizzard, my copy started to receive damage over time thanks to the cold.

‘I guess I underestimated the patience of a guy who is a few centuries old…’

I could always cancel that copy and create another one, but there was a problem. The copy I create will be the same as me, precisely the same. It will have the same amount of mental and physical tiredness… the only thing which kept me motivated was the fact that I was progressing a lot. In three days, I broke my limit again, even though I would need more than ten days to the same on earth. However, I couldn’t keep doing that forever. I needed to sleep at least two hours every day, and the trolls didn’t let me sleep even for ten minutes.

‘Time to change my tactics…’

I canceled my copy, and then I returned to earth, I decided to rest for a few hours before doing anything. Since there were no monsters in the city and the trolls would just kill each other, I didn’t need to worry about an ambush. After eight hours, I returned to the frozen world, and this time I headed toward Tinemouth’s castle again. The chances of me annoying him inside the castle were bigger. Besides, even though the castle was cold, it was much better than stay under that blizzard.

After running an entire hour, I finally reached Tinemouth’s castle. To speed up things, I used mana to kill the trolls along the way. Just like before, I created a copy and began to meditate right at the entrance of the castle. I wasn’t sure, but since a straight line connected the portal to earth and the entrance of the castle, I bet all the trolls had to cross that path.

“So, you returned, pathetic human.” Tinemouth sounded bored. “It seems that you learned a new skill… but such pathetic skill is useless against me.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, to defeat me, you have to have at least one transcendental skill,” Tinemouth answered. “But, this isn’t something a human should have right now.”

“What is a transcendental skill?”

“I didn’t know humans could be so stupid…” Tinemouth’s voice seemed surprised. “No wonder your race is on the verge of extinction. The name is self-explanatory, transcendental skills are skills which had reached the next level. All skills can become transcendental skills, but after those reach a certain point, they need a sacrifice to evolve. Transcendental skills don’t grow strong like normal skills; you need to perform a sacrifice.”

Although I was thankful for all that information, I wondered why he was telling me so much. It was probably because he was a warrior, and warriors tend to worry about honor and bullshits like that. I didn’t know much about him, but apparently, he wanted to defeat me fair and square. His trolls weren’t a cheap trick, they always attacked directly, after all.

Anyway, based on his words, the limit the skills could grow was probably level ten. After that, something had to be sacrificed to evolve the skill. I wondered what I would need to sacrifice. Besides, if all skills could evolve, what kind of skill my teleport would become? Was there a thing even crazier than crossing distances instantly? I couldn’t even imagine what that would be…