With the experience point buffer now exhausted, my primary concern is getting my last two levels in [Void Mage] and picking a collection of good skills. That is available whenever I want to do it, so there’s no need to stand around in the center of the village scrolling through pages.

Relieved, I hop back down the make-shift steps of the stage and immediately get tackled into a hug from both my parents. I can tell they’re concerned for me and the pain I experienced during system unlock is fading slowly with every breath.

“I’m fine, I’m fine” I reassure them as we start walking home. The return journey is relatively short. The entire time we walk Neia and Daniel are both recalling their own system unlock days and giving me recommendations for skills now that they no longer have access to my system. Expectedly, Daniel's suggestions are all physical skills and combat or utility skills he picked up during his tenure as a mercenary. Most of them don’t feel applicable to my current situation, but a few simple ideas seem sound enough. Pick up a stealth skill even if I use stealth magic, so I can hide without needing mana, and get a navigation or survival skill in case I get lost or stranded.

I had considered the latter, but I honestly just assumed an invisibility skill would be good enough if I needed to hide. In an emergency situation, every point of mana counts, and being able to hide without wasting any on a spell is a sound enough suggestion.

Soon enough, we finally make it home and I say a quick bye to Mom and Dad before rushing down to the Cellar. I’m in too much of a hurry to close the doors behind me, but a quick scan around the room confirms Sigil’s absence. I call Kite and Cain over to my side while simultaneously pulling up my current skill list.

I want to check my skill levels before acquiring any new skills.

General Skills:

Blessing of Mana - lvl 38

Tool Proficiency - lvl 32

Curse of Pain - lvl 38

Charm - lvl 6

Combat Footwork - lvl 10

Concentration - lvl 38

Keen Senses - lvl 38

[Vacant]

Weapon Proficiency - lvl 8

[Vacant]

Class Skills: Half-Elf Child

Obsessive Mind - lvl 38

Energetic Soul - lvl 38

Inquisitive Spirit - lvl 38

Rapid Acquisition - lvl 38

Cutie Patootie - lvl 29

My skill levels are inconsistent but acceptable. As expected, anything I haven’t used to the utmost is below my current level cap, while my most frequently used skills are probably overcapped.

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With two new classes under my belt, I have twelve total skill slots, two general and two sets of five class specific slots. I know what I want to get for my two general skills after talking with dad, so I may as well get that out of the way.

Wayfaring - Utility Skill - Passive

“We are not stopping to ask for directions.”

Skill user experiences a minor correction to sense of direction.

Skill user experiences a minor correction when identifying landmarks or reading maps.

Skill user experiences a minor correction when foraging for supplies or searching for water.

Stealth - Buff Skill - Active

“I am the night.”

Opponents experience a minor penalty when perceiving skill user

Skill user experiences a minor correction when attempting to move silently

I mentally confirm both of those choices, and feel a faint vibration to my head as new information trickles in. Not quite as painful as Andras’ mind intruding on Vincent, my two souls melding, but decidedly similar.

As I recall my current state of being, I can’t help but ponder what the gods had told me during system unlock. Specifically how everything else should be up to me, both of me. With no one else around inside the cellar to object to any strange behavior, I try to mentally focus inwards.

I never meditated much, Andras Gregori left that sort of thing to mystics and monks, but it wouldn’t hurt to try. I take a cross legged seat on the ground and try to bring to mind anything and everything about Andras Telmire Gregori that I can manage.

“Alright you old bastard, knock knock” I mutter under my breath, and probe my mana deep towards my core, aided immensely by a freshly level thirty eight [Blessing of Mana]. The energy of my souls is swirling deep inside me, and while not clearly overflowing, the chaotic swirl makes a lot of sense when I consider the fragmented nature at the core.

“Andras. Vincent. Me.” I speak slowly, comfortably, with each breath the two mingle ever more and more. I can now recall my system unlock from both perspectives. I can feel the rage of being silenced and the confusion of being separated.

I am not Vincent, nor am I Andras. They are separate, but they are the same.

With closer inspection I can see the damage the patron gods told me of when we spoke, but at the same time there are cracks and fragments that seem newer and more pronounced. A potential side effect of being separated as long as I was?

I’m not sure which half contains my current sense of self, nor can I tell which half contains the larger portions of Andras. The two pieces blend and swirl like milk dropped into tea, they were only separable by the power of the gods themselves. A clean division through the middle would likely produce two of me as I see myself and not a distinct Vincent and Andras segment.

“We need skills. Any suggestions?” I probe my souls, both the parts accessible and those shrouded in mist. The only response I receive is a pain unlike any other when every crack throughout my being lights with mana at the same time. The shock throws me from my meditation and hurls my mind back to the world at hand.

“Right. No talking yet.” I groan, collapsing backwards onto the floor and probing the system.

“Query, open available skills for [Apprentice Dark Mage] and [Void Mage]” I prompt mentally, wincing when a loud DING! echoes through my ears.

Operator override detected.

Skill input accepted.

Skill input accepted.

Congratulations!

[Soul Healing] has been granted.

[Soul Healing] has been set to level 5.

[Memory Therapy] has been formed.

[Memory Therapy] has been set to level 15.

With a sigh, I accept the two new skills and mentally mark off two of my ten remaining skill slots. The gods clearly had more in mind when they said they’d helped me already. Duplicitous bastards, always speaking in double meanings.

I pause, glancing around the room. No one else is here but Cain and Kite, Sigil is still gone. That thought felt different though, more so than anything else before. It wasn’t just a blip in my train of thought, it was a crack I could see through. It both was my thought, and wasn’t. The influence of perceiving myself twice, the reflection of a reflection in two facing mirrors.

I’m in there somewhere. He is. We are. I just have to figure out how to fix my fractured soul.