Alaster sent his Undead out to hunt again with the same orders. Instead of retreating into his hole, Alaster decided to practice moving while he meditated. It was a slow process, both the movements themselves, and the progress. He had to be careful not to move too fast and disrupt the [Meditation]. By the time the Skeletons returned with the prey, the sun was beginning to set, and he had had only managed to slightly speed up.
It was such a small improvement as to be pointless. But any progress was still progress. He promised himself that he would continue to work on it as he focused on the Monsters the Skeletons had brought back.
They were more of the large rat like wolves. Four more of the still growing monsters. The damage to both the Monsters and the Skeletons were the same as the first time. However, it confirmed one thing to Alaster. These Monsters moved in numbers, were large, and if the damage to them said anything, it was that they were hard to kill. Ten Skeletons against four of these things, and the damage to their bones said that it was still a close fight. Alaster did not want to meet the adults.
While the Skeletons had been out hunting, Alaster had received a notification that he had leveled up, but he had put it off to the side in order to focus on his [Meditation]. Just the appearance of the notice had nearly been enough to disrupt him. He had been forced to shove it to the back of his mind.
Alaster quickly got to work on the Monster bodies using a sharp bone knife he had made. It would not hold up to any sort of combat, but for slicing through the layers of fat and muscle of a dead creature, it was adequate. It was slower going than the last time as Alaster kept his [Meditation] active, but as he finished with each body, one of the Skeletons would drag it away from the hole and deeper into the forest, returning without it.
When he finished gathering any salvageable meat and the bones, the sun had properly set, drowning the world in darkness. With the material safely stored in his Ring, which was beginning to get quite full, even after he condensed all the Goblin Bones into cubes, Alaster retreated to his hole and started the fire.
The Black Guards followed him in, and he sealed the doorway, making sure to leave a gap at the top for fresh air. The Night Children watched the area of the hole from the tall branches. But the Skeletons mindlessly wondered around the tree the hole was under.
Alaster knew he needed to move. As easily protected as the hole was, the surrounding ground was soaked in blood, both from the Goblins and from the rat like wolves. The snow that was falling would help to cover the scent, but there was no doubt in Alaster’s mind that it was bound to attract a Monster he couldn’t face. Especially the adults of the Rat Wolves. They would certainly track the things that killed their young, and the Skeletons had definitely left tracks even a blind man could follow.
For now, though, Alaster stayed in the hole. It was dark, and it would be foolish for him to attempt travel when the moon was out. The forest was less active as the sun set, but it was also much more violent. The Predators that slept during the day were active.
Warming himself by the fire as the snowstorm outside grew worse, Alaster checked his status.
[Class: Death Mage
Level: 11<12
EXP: 63%<12%
Health: 310/310<320/320
Health Regeneration: 8/min
Mana: 320/320<330/330
Mana Regeneration: 5/min
Spells: Necrotic Bolt, Raise Undead, Bone Crafting, Mana Manipulation, Death Touch, Skeleton Creation, Meditation, Necrotic Heal
Strength: 42<44
Dexterity: 37<39
Constitution*: 42<44
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Wisdom*: 52<54
Intelligence*: 49<51
Free Points: 5]
[Intelligence Bonus Unlocked]
Before Alaster looked at the Bonus unlocked, he quickly added the five free points into CON, to bring it to forty-nine points, and his health to three hundred fifty-five.
[Intelligence 50 Bonus: Split Mind
Level 1: 0%
Splits the mind into two.]
Alaster was immediately rocked by a piercing migraine. He let out a pained scream before he was able to control himself enough to bite down on his cloak. The Black Guards held him so he didn’t thrash around, possibly falling into the fire, but they did not know what more to do. Outside, the Skeletons collapsed into small piles of bones, while the Night Children anxiously paced around atop the towering branches.
Gradually, the migraine did calm into a dull headache. Alaster came to his senses, his heart pounding, lungs burning, and body in a cold sweat. As he stopped thrashing, the Black Guards laid him down and returned to their posts by the entrance. Alaster was not sure how long the migraine lasted, or how long he laid there.
Eventually, he sat up, gingerly holding his still pounding head. He shuffled over to the bone bowl he had packed with snow, now melted, and gulped down the entirety of it. His heart was beginning to calm, but his breath was still ragged.
‘That must have been my mind splitting in two.’ Alaster realized.
He then noticed that he could indeed think about two different topics. It was a stunning development that Alaster struggled to comprehend.
He had of course heard of the Split Mind Bonus. It was what every Mage Type Class wanted. It would not only allow them to process more information at any single time, but would also allow the user to cast multiple magics at once. But that was the problem. It was an incredibly advanced Ability. Adept Mages that had it struggled to use it, and not even every Expert Mage had it. Alaster had never heard of a Novice getting it for their first Bonus.
The ‘Split Mind’ was a well known Intelligence Bonus, but Alaster had only ever heard of Mages getting it for their one hundred or two hundred Bonus, never their fifty.
Alaster experimented with his second mind, and after a few minutes of thinking about his immediate plans, he realized a few things. Just as he had heard, the second mind, and any additional mind he developed, was slower and simpler than the ‘Prime Mind’ as it was called. These additional minds would have to be trained. The more they did a certain task, the better and more detailed they would work.
So it was still better to think about the important things with his Prime Mind, but he could leave the less important things to be figured out over time, such as [Bone Crafting] or [Necrotic Healing]. Both could be very boring, but required constant focus. Now that his Mind was split, he could be working on those while he was still strategizing or working on something else.
Alaster did also notice that if he left his secondary mind to work on a complex problem, his headache got worse. He was sure that the pain was simply due to his body not being suited to the secondary mind, and was still adapting. He only hoped that it would adapt quickly.
So, Alaster set his mind onto a fairly simple task. The creation of some Bone armor for himself. He had already made it all before. He knew how to do it already and didn’t need to figure it out. But after the Goblin attack, of his bone armor was either lost or too broken to be useful. As it was, his leather armor was scratched in numerous places.
Alaster felt his headache, not quite become worse, but more intense. Like it was stepping forward from the back of his head into the spotlight. But he also saw the scrap bones around the hole float closer to him and begin to change shape, his sickly green mana around them. It was fascinating to watch. He knew he was the one doing it, but it wasn’t a conscious thought. He knew every step and every thought that was going into the actions, but it was like he was watching it from the outside, not as the one actively doing it.
After watching the process for a little bit, ensuring that the second mind was doing what it was supposed to do, Alaster turned to his surroundings. When the migraine had hit, he had lost his [Meditation], causing the Skeletons to be dismissed. Alaster opened the doorway of the bone wall, causing a wave of freezing air to sweep into the shelter, and ordered the Black Guards to go gather all the bones.
Alaster huddled closer to the fire as the air hit him, and opened his Ring to pull out some of the meat. As his Ring opened, his mana entered and pulled out a few cubes of Bone. It hadn’t come as a surprise to him as he could feel the intent of his second mind, but it was still amazing to watch.
As Alaster cooked himself a small and pathetic dinner, the Black Guards finished gathering all the Bones, which the second mind casually paused creating the armor and opened the Ring, ordering the Black Guards to begin throwing the bones in.
‘So the Second Mind can even order around my Minions.’ Alaster grinned to himself, already thinking of all the uses for this new mind. But then he thought of something that, if it worked, could completely change his way of doing things.
If the second mind was capable of processing complex problems, ordering his Minions around, and even cast Magic. Would it be able to [Meditate] and allow Alaster complete freedom with his Prime Mind?