Dresden opened his eyes—rather, Aezan’s eyes, finding himself in the now familiar interior of their portable camp. The survival kit really had a lot of helpful things that were left out for their use, it was a real godsend for people like him who had not much of a clue on how to survive in a forest situated in the middle of nowhere.

Even worse now that he had two bodies to take care of. Speaking of which, Lia then got up from her sleeping bag too, turning to look at him just as he did to her. Their eyes met and they got to work for the day.

Though it was fun to make random conversation with himself through these two bodies, it wasn’t really necessary and after basically milking it for the first day with random antics, they didn’t really say much of anything out loud anymore.

That and it also ran the risk of them getting detected by the monsters outside, but with the survival kit they got… well, it was unnecessary.

[Portable Camping Site <Small> {Gold Rank - Can be Upgraded}]

Can be placed on any flat surface. Takes up a 5x5 square meter area. Basic utility and tools included inside (cooking wares, plates, etc.)

Repels hostile entities (up to level 20) a meter away from the campsite.

More abilities can be unlocked as you upgrade.

This campsite especially was very useful, and basically made it so that they could sleep worry-free.

Groaning and getting up from their sleeping bags, Aezan and Lia summoned their weapons with a flick of their wrists, exiting out of their camp… and going out grinding again.

It was still a little disorienting sometimes, having multiple bodies and controlling them both simultaneously… but Dresden got used to it fairly quickly, and with the last few days where they’d just basically been grinding away at the rather scarce amount of monsters around the area they were in.

It seemed so intimidating earlier on when they’d caught sight of the numerous GIant Orcs roaming the forest, but after going around and exterminating them… there were a whole lot less of them than they expected. Or rather, they were so underwhelming because of how overpowered their bonus weapons ended up becoming—that and how the two of them always stuck together throughout their grinding session, bolstering their stats all the more.

Although the XP requirement was a little painful, with the amount of Giant Orcs they’ve been continuously killing the last few days, and with how much stronger they got per level, it didn’t take long for them to get to Level 5.

Turns out, however, that wasn’t the only thing they needed to do before they could actually get out of the monster-infested (well, Orc-infested to be more accurate) forest, but they also had to go and explore the entire forest to even get a decent map of their surroundings.

Either that, or they level up more.

They did both.

And now, they were only just a few levels away from Level 10, which was the requirement for the System Map to be upgraded to Tier 0 from Tier 1. Which meant that they could at least see most of the major world map stuff without having to thoroughly explore their surroundings.

There would still be merit in going around and filling up the map by exploring themselves, but at the very least they’ll have some sort of idea of the direction they’d have to go to get to the nearest civilization in this region.

Now that he thought about it though, Aezan paused and looked up, frowning as he found it weird that there were no dragons around.

“Don’t get distracted now.” Lia said, though unnecessary, as Aezan nimbly dodged a Giant Orc’s wooden club from hitting him.

“I know, but I just had a thought…” Aezan said, putting his attention back to the Giant Orc, dashing towards it and sending a slash to its torso, cutting it in half. “… This is seriously getting boring…” he muttered, frowning.

“Probably because we’re not supposed to even be this powerful right now in the first place.” Lia said as she raised her staff, shooting out two mana bolts towards an oncoming Giant Orc, blasting a hole through it with her attack. “That… and with how we’ve been distributing our stats, most likely.”

“That too, it seems.” Aezan said, nodding as they both glanced at their stats again, following the chime of a level up.

[+490XP from killing Lv. 4 Giant Orc]

[Level has risen to 9]

[Title Acquired: Slaughterer of Orcs (Giant) - Additional 20% damage to Giant Orcs, Additional 10% damage to all other Orc types]

[20 Free Stat Points Available]

---

Aezan Diaz / M / LV. 9] {HP: 1960/1960 MP: 480/480 SP: 173/173}

[EXP UNTIL LV. UP: 134900]

[PHYS. POWER: 14(+5+2+2)=23]

[MAGI. POWER: 4(+2)=6]

[SPEED: 10(+2)=12]

[ENDURANCE: 10(+2+2+1)=15]

[PERCEPTION: 7(+2)=9]

---

[Lia Saejan / F / LV. 9] {HP: 860/860 MP: 1490/1490 SP: 78/78}

[EXP UNTIL LV. UP: 134900]

[PHYS. POWER: 6(+2)=8]

[MAGI. POWER: 14(+5+2+2)=23]

[SPEED: 8(+2+2)=12]

[ENDURANCE: 5(+2)=7]

[PERCEPTION: 12(+2+3)=17]

---

[EXP UNTIL LEVEL 10: 134900]

“Yeah, this is ridiculous.” Aezan muttered, looking at his—well their stats. “Though maybe most of that is offset by how insane our gear is.” Considering that, he decided to not allocate any of the points still, since it was kinda pointless right now, it’s better to keep those points as spares until they really need it.

“Our weapons mostly. The gear is pretty standard at least. It likely just looks overpowered because of our stats and level right now.” Lia said, looking around for any more Orcs to kill.

There weren’t any, they’d pretty much completely massacred all of the Orcs in this part of the forest. That was just in the last three days… it was surprising how quickly they were clearing the place, but then again, they haven’t met any sort of large tribe yet (if there even was any) so it was likely that this Orc-infested forest was just that huge.

Or maybe these guys just didn’t like to group up much at all, they’re Giants after all.

Looking at their map didn’t yield much of anything either.

Stretching a bit, Aezan yawned, “Where should we head to next?” he asked, looking up at the sky that was nearing the peak, signifying it was almost noon, “On second thought, want to have lunch?”

“Let’s do that, not like we’re going to get much from rushing through this place anyways. Nor is there much point.” Lia said, and her stomach suddenly growled, making her blush, “A-And yes. I’m also very hungry.”

Aezan grinned, making a table and chair appear out of thin air using the portable camp item they had. “Let’s dig in!” he said as the food appeared on the table (the portable campsite seemed to be able to preserve everything that was cooked inside and they could just pull it out anytime they wanted).

And without much chatter, they got to eating their lunch for the day.

How long had they been here already? Actually, rather than that, when did Dresden start referring to himself as them?

He didn’t really know, but as he got used to things here more and more, he started to really feel a distinct difference between the two consciousnesses present in the respecitve bodies he had control over. Like… they were forming their own personalities of sorts?

… He didn’t know, maybe he was just going crazy.

Or maybe that’s just the side-effect of the parallelization system? He technically does have two minds now. Three if one were to count the separate mindspace he used to control and coordinate the two bodies.

It really did feel weird. If one were to ask Dresden if he was Aezan or Lia more, then he wouldn’t be able to answer that easily.

He still felt somewhat detached to them even if he technically was both of them.

Both Aezan and Lia blinked as Dresden started to think about how weird it would be if these two were to be in a romantic relationship… How would that even work? Would it even make sense?

Who even is Dresden?

Aezan and Lia both blinked rapidly as they shook their heads, then they stared at each other with a frown.

“We should probably stop thinking about that.”

“Yes. It won’t do us any good after all…”

They nodded at each other, agreeing to not bring this up anymore again.

Instead they just shoved it into the corner of their minds.

Or rather Dresden’s corner—

Yes. Don’t think about it.

Don’t.

Think.

About.

It.

As they finished their lunch, getting past their daily existential crisis again, they started to explore the forest again to kill more Giant Orcs.

… they continued doing this for another week, and then they finally got to level 10.

---

[+750XP for killing Lv. 5 Giant Orc]

[Level has risen to 10!]

[25 Free Stat Points Available]

[World Map Unlocked!]

“Finally!” Aezan sighed, raising his hands as he unsummoned his sword. “I’m like, real tired of this forest now. The Giant Orcs especially. God just give us a different monster please!”

“…” Lia just rolled her eyes as she opened up the map. Scanning through the map with Aezan who was looking at it over her shoulder, they found that the closest settlement was across the sea.

Turns out, this forest they were on was just a fairly small monster island in the middle of two continents.

“Seriously?!” Lia screamed, she couldn’t take it anymore, “Just how many things do we have to do before we can get out of this fucking place?! We’ve been here for almost a month already! I swear if—”

She couldn’t finish her tirade though as they both suddenly got a new pop-up.

[Congratulations on achieving Level 10! New skills have been unlocked and some have been enhanced!]

---

{Aezan}

<Indomitable Will (Unique Passive)>

50% Additional Physical Damage Reduction

Completely Immune to Mental Attacks

20% Reduced SP Consumption

200% Increased HP Regeneration

10% Chance to not black out when you run out of SP. (Infinite SP for 30 seconds / 1 Month Cooldown)

<Legendary Mana Slash (Active - Level 1 - 50MP)>

Creates a magical slash. Has no cooldown.

0.5% Chance to ignore Magic Resistance and Magic Barriers

50 Physical Damage

100 Magical Damage

<Elemental Blade Enhancement (Unique Active - Level 1 - 200MP - 10 Minute Cooldown)>

Imbues specific elemental enhancements on the target blade for 5 minutes.

Usable Elements:

Frost (Can be used) - 5% chance to freeze target, 10% reduction to target’s speed upon contact. +10 Ice Damage.

Flame (Can be used) - 5% chance to burn target, 10% increase in physical damage, +10 Fire Damage.

Shadow (Affinity must be 20 or higher) - 2% chance to curse target, 15% increase in damage, +10 Dark Damage.

Light (Affinity must be 20 or higher) - 2% chance to purify/smite target, 15% increase in damage, +10 Holy Damage.

Wind (Affinity must be 20 or higher) - 5% chance to activate a wind slash, 10% increase in speed, +10 Wind Damage.

Ground (Affinity must be 20 or higher) - 5% chance to stun/paralyze target, 10% defense reduction against enemy, +10 Ground Damage.

<Transcendent Sword Mastery (Unique Passive)>

500% Damage when using any sword-type weapon.

300% Attack Speed when using any sword-type weapon.

50% chance to break an equipped sword if lower than Legendary Rank (100% chance to break at lowest rank)

---

{Lia}

<Tranquil Consciousness (Unique Passive)>

50% Additional Magical Damage Reduction

Completely Immune to Mental Attacks

20% Reduced MP Consumption

200% Increased MP Regeneration

10% Chance to not black out when you run out of MP. (Infinite MP for 30 seconds / 1 Month Cooldown)

<Legendary Mana Barrier (Active - Level 1 - Base Cost: 50 MP - 5 minute Cooldown)

Base: Forms a small spherical mana barrier around the target (Duration: 2 minutes).

Can also form a mana barrier of any different shape, MP cost scales alongside the surface area. (Maximum: 50 square meters)

Completely Blocks up to 10,000 points of damage.

0.5% chance to block a devastating attack that exceeds the maximum damage that the barrier can receive.

<Elemental Skill Enhancement (Unique Active - Level 1 - 200MP - 10 Minute Cooldown)>

Imbues specific elemental enhancements on the target skill for 5 minutes.

Usable Elements:

Frost (Affinity must be 20 or higher) - 5% chance to freeze target, 10% reduction to target’s speed upon contact. +10 Ice Damage.

Flame (Affinity must be 20 or higher) - 5% chance to burn target, 10% increase in damage, +10 Fire Damage.

Shadow (Can be used) - 2% chance to curse target, 15% increase in damage, +10 Dark Damage.

Light (Affinity must be 20 or higher) - 2% chance to purify/smite target, 15% increase in damage, +10 Holy Damage.

Wind (Can be used) - 5% chance to activate a wind slash, 10% increase in speed, +10 Wind Damage.

Ground (Affinity must be 20 or higher) - 5% chance to stun/paralyze target, 10% defense reduction against enemy, +10 Ground Damage.

<Transcendent Staff Affinity (Unique Passive)>

500% Damage when using any staff-based weapon.

300% Casting speed when using any staff-based weapon.

50% Chance to break an equipped staff if lower than Legendary Rank (100% chance to break at lowest rank)

---

Some really overpowered skills, which made them wonder just where the challenge in this whole thing will end up being—though now that they’ve thought of that, they’re definitely going to get fucked by some insanely overpowered boss later on.

So they stopped trying to challenge those thoughts. Lia specifically looked at Aezan with narrowed eyes to make sure he didn’t get any more ideas.

He, in turn, just smiled nervously at her, then they both turned back to the floating windows to look over their improved skills and also their equipment.

---

<CO-OP SYNCHRONIZATION / UNIQUE PASSIVE>

Only active if you’re within 20 meters of a player you are Synchronized with

+7 to all stats

Coordinated attacks with your Sync partner are more effective. Additional 20% damage boost per coordinated attack. (Maximum of 300% boost, will reset if no additional coordinated attack is made after 10 seconds)

??? [Additional bonuses unlocked as you and your partner level up]

<Frostflame Arclight Sword | Unique Evolving Sword | Bound to Aezan Diaz>

Can be summoned at any time.

750 Base Physical Damage [LV. 10]

+30 Affinity to Frost and Flame Attribute [LV. 10]

Transcendent Sword Mastery (Unique Passive)

Legendary Mana Slash (Active - Level 1)

??? [Additional bonuses unlocked as you level up]

<Void Tempest Starscream Staff | Unique Evolving Magic Staff | Bound to Lia Saejan>

Can be summoned at any time.

750 Base Magical Damage [LV. 10]

+30 Affinity to Wind and Shadow Attribute [LV. 10]

Transcendent Staff Affinity (Unique Passive)

Legendary Mana Barrier (Active - Level 1)

??? [Additional bonuses unlocked as you level up]

[NEW ITEM!] <Scroll of Teleportation | Infinite Uses | Teleports to #@#!@*!!> {Bound to both Lia and Aezan, they have one respectively}

---

…

That last item.

That did not look safe to use at all, especially with the constantly changing characters that didn’t seem to make sense at all…

Before they could say anything out loud, however, the ground beneath them suddenly shook violently.

Much more violently than any of those Giant Orcs could ever hope to do so—actually, cracks were forming on the ground right now so… they started to run.

Again.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING NOW?! SERIOUSLY GIVE ME A BREAK!!!” Lia screamed at the top of her lungs, with Aezan barely managing to keep up as they ran and jumped across trees everywhere, not daring to look behind as they could hear the sound of crashing and some real nasty crushing sounds behind them.

The ground was literally collapsing, and somehow, the two of them have to get the hell out of this place and survive.

As much as they tried to run, however, the cracks were rapidly approaching them, it wouldn’t take long until they also fall into that abyss. Aezan made the mistake of looking back for a split-second, and both he and Lia nearly stumbled from what he saw.

[Chaos Entity Lv.59 ???/???HP]

“FUCK THIS! AEZAN LET’S USE THE SCROLL!” Lia shouted, as she reached out to her inventory and took out the scroll,

“WE’RE TOTALLY FUCKED HERE LIA! THAT SCROLL IS PROBABLY NASTIER THAN WHATEVER THAT BULLSHIT MOB BEHIND US IS!” Aezan shouted back, also pulling out his scroll, somehow managing to keep his running pace. “TOGETHER THEN?!”

“WHAT DID YOU THINK DIPSHIT?!”

“DON’T CALL ME DIPSHIT!”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP JUST DO IT ALREADY!”

The two of them somehow got into an argument in the last second before they tightly held the end of their scrolls… and ripped it.

Then they lost consciousness.

---