"Calm down Cecil." Elsie whispered beside me. Her voice barely coming through over the gnome's laughter.

"Remember that this is training."

'Make sure you take them alive.' Pool-Cecil whispered as well. His voice coming in as half a hiss from the other ear. 'Death is not the worst thing a living being can experience. It is a mercy to be granted upon the end of one's service.'

I could almost feel the touch of a slithery tongue on my cheek as he kept going.

'We still have a little bit more work to do in order to reach level 3. Give me Magic. Not too much. Not enough to take complete control. Just enough for me to connect to this floor and to the flora within it. Let me birth an army for you. While you call all the shots. Let me grow you a Pool, while you strengthen yourself. If she asks you for something, give it to her. Indulge her whims and placate her with platitudes and empty promises. Let her think she has you under her thumb, while you grow stronger.'

Elsie jabbed my side.

"I don't have to read your mind to see what's happening Cecil." She muttered. "It's fine. Give the voice a little bit of leeway. Not enough to take over, obviously. But just enough so that you can get some practice in. It'll be better in the long run and you'll be able to rein the other guy in whenever you're really about to lose control."

'See?' The voice spoke again. 'Even she agrees. Perhaps she is not so foolish after all. Do as she says, Child. Only a little bit. Only an inch.'

I did as they bade me. Letting a steady stream of Magic flow through the Skill.

And then, I felt it. The world became dimmer and less pronounced while my body felt more real. More alive than ever before.

I lifted my hand. Quick as a snake. And grabbed the closest gnome by the throat.

Then I squeezed. His tiny clawed fingers scratching at my chest, arm and eyes in a futile attempt to break my grip.

He did some damage, but I could feel the healing kick in automatically. That, and I could feel that my body wasn't in any danger. I felt... free. In control of myself to the point where the body I'd always had felt like an illusion.

The gnome's face responded for him, while his mouth let out half-strangled chortles. His cheeks turning a deep and garish purple as his hands slowed.

I squeezed tighter. Just a little bit tighter and...

CRACK!

The arms went limp.

Small droplets of my blood still falling from the thing's little clawed fingers.

Then I saw the gnome's body start to sink into my own fingers. As [Assimilate] kicked in.

"Okay." Elsie continued. "Now you're going to try moving while using the Skill. Don't make any minions yet. Try and see if anything changes in the way you attack and in the way you move. Try and see if there are things make your control slip."

'What? No. Don't listen to her. Start making units and.... actually, do listen to her. Appear as though you can be controlled.'

I didn't know about that.

About whether or not I could be controlled.

I certainly felt in control. More so in fact. I felt as though each and every heartbeat and minute exertions carried the entire weight of my purpose. I was measuring out each and every breath before it came and this was not wrong in the slightest.

I was me.

But I knew just how foreign that acceptance really was. How odd it felt to be so self-assured and so lacking in concerns.

Regardless, Elsie was right.

I needed to test this out.

So, I turned to the closest gnome. The one who had been the slowest after they'd started running.

I lowered my body in the same manner as a big cat preparing to pounce and then kicked off the earth with both feet. Lunging forwards like an arrow. Splitting the air before me until I'd crossed half the distance. For the other half, I lifted my arm. Figuring I could [Transform] it and then use it to strike down the gnome in that same instant.

I'd intended to simply turn it into a Bio-rifle, but the ideas flooded in as soon as I thought of it. My fingers aching with unrealized potential and the efficiency to bring the changes forth with unheard of precision.

The digits turned into bony protrusions. Each one exploding forwards and growing more and more bony sections in the moments between heartbeat. Slitting and splintering like pale white branches in the dead of winter.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

One of those branches caught the gnome in the left shoulder. Others caught him at his hip or in his right leg.

I make those branches into hooks and reined in the catch.

The gnome kicked and screamed the whole way back. Spending his last two seconds screeching bloody murder at the compatriots who had gotten away.

"Don't you worry." I told it in a deadpan voice. "In a way, you are lucky. I will be a bit clumsy when I start with you. The others will get to meet a me that is far more experienced. They will live longer, and for that, they will be more unfortunate."

My eyes bore into his. Until his face went from fury to surprised terror.

Then my fingers went into his chest. And the changes started to take hold.

Time seemed to become blurry and confused as I focused.

My mind now feeling connected to the body of the gnome as if it were my own.

'Now there's a new sensation.' I thought to myself. 'I'm using [Transform], but on a monster. I used it on my units and on Cupcake before that, but I never recall focusing on that during combat before. It was always growing bone blades or Bio-rifles after that. Why didn't I ever think to run up to monsters and [Transform] them into being weaker?'

'Inefficient.' Pool Cecil spoke. I think. It was hard to tell his voice apart from mine now.

'Any scenario where that was even remotely necessary was a scenario that we had no business fighting in. Better to send tens of thousands of units to their deaths than to risk our own person. It is their purpose. The only reason they were born. They won't mind.'

Well that was true enough at least.

Still, I kept applying magic. Turning his stumpy fingers and his stubby little toes into small snakes that bit into his hands and feet. I then followed up by making this nerves thicker, making him more sensitive so that he could feel the pain more acutely.

'Wait, is this wrong?'

"It probably is." Elsie spoke from the side.

I turned my head to her.

"I wasn't even reading your mind. You've been mumbling to yourself."

Yeah.

Now that she mentioned it, I had been mumbling to myself. And to the gnome.

"Now, I haven't knocked you out because you still seem more or less in control. If you lose it, it's lights out for today."

She lifted a finger.

"I will absolutely stun-lock you into oblivion with psychic blasts the second you try something funny. I'll stun lock you until Nerfect Chell's ordeal in that anime starts to look like a minor inconvenience."

She widened her stance. Puffed up her chest. Sharpened her glare.

"Stand up and let the gnome go."

I did so.

Dropping the weeping, pulsing, ugly thing.

"Okay. Now, answer me honestly. At what point did you stop being aware of the other voice as a separate being?"

"I... no. He's still a separate..."

Then I stopped. Because I could not feel the other Cecil's voice in the back of my mind.

Elsie's eyes went from me, to the gnome.

"Since when have you been able to use [Transform] on other things beside your units?"

"I don't know. When I first saved Cupcake?"

Elsie whistled.

"We're gonna have to change that on your Status then. [Transform] definitely doesn't do that."

I nodded slowly.

"Take a deep breath." She said helpfully. "Hold it in for a few seconds. Try to go for a minute. Let the breath sit still and then let it go slowly."

I did as I was told.

Now feeling myself more clearly.

"There, see?" She said with a newly creeping smile. "You were absolutely furious and you were out for blood and you still kept yourself in check. That and this was only your first time."

She nodded to herself with a proud, satisfied face.

"Imagine how better at this you'll get after a few hours of trying! And you can keep practicing with Presence as you go!"

"Yeah." I said. My chest heaving as the sense of complete control and confidence receded.

"I guess I do need some practice."

We moved together after that. Hunting more gnomes as a pair .

I confirmed that I was faster when I was running the Skill. That, and the fact that Pool-Cecil provided a large boost to the speed at which I used my other Skills. He was just better than me and he always put 100% of himself to whatever he was doing at any given time. Allowing that purpose to become his only focus.

I was learning to snap out of the trance after a few more hours. Though I still hadn't made any progress with Presence and Free-Form Magic.

"I don't want to stop." I said out of the blue.

"I bet." Elsie answered in a deadpan voice. "I wouldn't want to stop if I was also on a roll. But you've done enough for today. At the very least, we've confirmed that the Skill can be controlled."

"Yeah. Right."

We returned after the allotted time had passed and then we made our way towards Mr. Robertson and Coach Russell.

"Okay. That will be it for today. You children will be getting to the business of regular classes again tomorrow. No homework, but do try to think on the things you have gained so far. And the progress there is left to do. No amount of effort will never be enough if you want to be the best version of you that you can be. It takes sacrifice and dedication. Maybe you would rather sleep in and watch television or maybe you would rather go for a horse ride or maybe you would rather play some games and be with your friends. It's okay to feel that way. It is perfectly normal. But you will have to give some things up if you want to giver training your all. Remember that every point and every fraction counts towards something greater."

He gave us all a warm smile and a wave.

"Prepare to ascend."

I made my way back to the surface with the rest of the group.

Finding my clones among the crowd.

"Hey guys. How was the training with coach Homer?"

"Better than the day we met, but not by much." Mike retorted. Fingers creasing his brow. "Dude. My new Core fucking sucks. I take back all the things I didn't like about the Robertsons and having to be their farmer and help in their schemes. If I ever find myself against a real monster, I'll get ground into dust."

"It probably isn't that bad." I told him. "Worst case scenario, you can take some of mine or Patience's Skills. I can't imagine you'd go wrong with that."

Mike scowled.

"Yeah. I guess you're right. It's just... damn man. Went through all of that once just to have it all stripped away. This sucks."

I could see that.

"Once we get back, we can go start a farm near the mansion. Our mansion. We'll get some more work in and get you some more stats."

"Yeah." Another deep sigh escaped.

Then Mike sighed even deeper and retained that glumness all the way back to the surface.

"Hey Cecil. Do you have a moment?" Elsie called out from behind me.

"No. Sorry. I'm going to help Mike today. And the others, if they want to come along."

"But you're heading to great grandpa Carlyle's little bribe right? Great." She said through an impish smile. "That's great, because as it happens, I got you all a gift I think you'll like."