Blood Assimilation

Randy was pleasantly astounded by the effect brought about by simply having a [Mental Seed]. The noticeable difference was that the psionic energy it generated was versatile and easy to move or influence compared to erratic and disseminated mental energy.

Amazingly, the psionic energy was also nearly ten times faster at splitting and duplicating his consciousness as compared to when he used his mental energy. His consciousness even had a physical manifestation, looking just like a tiny version of himself.

The physical manifestation of Randy’s duplicated consciousness also reminded him of his personified spirit body. He manifested once inside the dark void of imaginary space and once inside the [Blood Space] in his bloodstream.

Before, when Randy duplicated his consciousness, it looked like a mass of ripples, and it wasn’t uniform in its shape. As such, it was like scattered particles. He had to maintain his hand on the head of the incarnation in order to prevent it from aimlessly scattering away and ceasing to exist shortly after.

However, the fact that his consciousness had become tangible in this instance through the manifestation performed using psionic energy wasn’t necessarily a safe outcome. After all, it could be implied that if something were to happen to his physical consciousness, he would be prone to receiving feedback shocks to his main consciousness whenever his incarnation’s consciousness receives trauma or damage.

That was because he could also tell that this newly constructed physical consciousness, or spirit body as he would call it, was somehow connected to his main consciousness on a fundamental level as compared to before.

At this moment, a surge of knowledge resurfaced in his mind. It was knowledge from the Black Tome. Despite the abundant wisdom he obtained from the Black Tome, he wasn’t able to process it in its entirety mainly because there was too much information to sort through. However, whenever he wanted to recall something or saw something that triggered specific knowledge among the various knowledge he received, that specific knowledge would resurface in his mind.

According to the knowledge he recalled in his mind this time, incarnations were theoretically supposed to be connected to the main body. They could share sights, even if there was a vast distance between the main body and the incarnation. However, it was only limited to the same realm or world.

.....

Randy acknowledged this theory to be real, as he had already connected his consciousness to the incarnation a few times when he fought the two demons near Meistic Forest. The only difference was that he didn’t feel any pain or discomfort when the incarnation was hurt at that time.

Randy only felt its suffering when he investigated what had happened to it by transferring his consciousness inside the unconscious incarnation that still had a trace of its consciousness left.

Putting that to the side, Randy held his duplicate consciousness in one hand. Then, he crouched in front of the incarnation on the floor, placed his other hand above it, and injected his divine points into its body. Afterward, he directed the currents of soothing energy generated through his will or psionic energy coercion.

At the same time, he activated his [Synergy] skill to see if he could use it to finely control and further guide the currents of soothing energy. He wanted to convert soothing energy so that it could promote healing and recovery in the incarnation’s body just like he did with the Dungeon Hunters that were attacked by the black-cloaked vampire man.

Sure enough, he succeeded in converting the divine points into healing power and was able to quickly heal the incarnation’s body of any physical and hidden wounds it incurred during its fight with the Red-Scaled Demon. Afterward, he placed his hand that was holding the duplicated consciousness on the forehead of the Incarnation, transferring the consciousness inside its head.

Moments later, the incarnation’s eyes fluttered open with mild confusion on its face, and then it proceeded to stare blankly into Randy’s eyes in silence. The two of them then proceeded to stare at each other without turning their heads.

A strange scene of a young man wearing a black coat and kneeling on a white marble floor beside another young man with an identical face but in tattered clothes unfolded silently without any verbal exchange. Visually, Randy could see himself gazing at himself while also gazing at his incarnation in an endless loop.

Randy could not help but frown after the brief visual exchange. The unusual and disorienting perception made him feel slightly muddled-headed and uncomfortable. Although he wasn’t affected mentally, he didn’t like the experience at all. Perhaps he would have to get used to it someday, but for now, he could do just fine without it.

With that in mind, he closed his eyes and manually disconnected the connection between the incarnation and himself. He then synchronized his consciousness with the incarnation’s consciousness and instructed. He didn’t bother to verbally relay the instructions to the incarnation.

Randy didn’t want to talk to himself. Therefore, alongside his memories, he chose to transfer and share his opinions and intentions with the incarnation.

A few moments later, Randy pulled his consciousness out of his incarnation, and then he took off his black coat and handed it to him. This was his Shadow Beast Leather Armor. To be safe from the likely feedback on his consciousness, Randy decided to give his armor to his incarnation. He also didn’t want his incarnation to die pointlessly out there, as that was no different from him dying due to recklessness.

With a blank expression on its face, the incarnation took the Shadow Beast Leather Armor and proceeded to wear it over its clothes. This was because it was still processing and assimilating the information transferred to it by Randy.

Shortly after, the incarnation of Randy regained the light in its eyes and then revealed an unusually excited smile, causing Randy to shudder for some reason. He stared closely at the incarnation and was then baffled by the next action of the incarnation.

“Challenger’s System? Are you still here?” Incarnation Randy queried with a smile.

[...]

[Yes, Challenger Randy. In light of the recent event regarding the Challenger’s unique ability, the system had made preparations in advance in case you needed this feature in the future. As a result, proxies for the main system had been created. The system has already successfully transferred one proxy over to this body, so you don’t have to worry]

“Very well.”

Incarnation Randy nodded approvingly. He then began confirming other relevant things one by one. Most of the queries were related to the features of the proxy system and the accessibility associated with it.

...

A few moments later.

After Incarnation Randy had completed his queries and was satisfied with the answers he received, he then decisively issued his final instructions for the Challenger’s System to carry out.

While looking at the incarnation on the side, Randy noticed that something was very wrong with its behavior. He recalled from the incarnation’s memory that it was acting strange when he fought against the Red-Scaled Demon. However, its current actions and gestures were completely different compared to then, almost as though it was the ideal incarnation with defects.

Before Randy could talk to him to verify his doubts, the incarnation of him had already received confirmation from the Challenger’s System. Then, without hesitation, it requested the Challenger’s system to teleport him back to Randy’s last position.

“Transmit!”

“Wait!”

Whoosh!

Randy belatedly reacted and shouted. However, it was already too late. To confirm the doubts in his mind, he wished to stop the incarnation for questions despite not wanting to talk to it before. However, he missed his chance to do so. As a result, he could only stand there in a daze for a brief moment with his hand gesturing in the empty air.