"And now, when I used the [Body Replica], who creates a body that the user controls with their mind alongside their own body at the same time, the skills decided on their own that a sub-mind, which is you, should control the clone body, minimize the stress for the main-mind, which is me. Is that it?" - Garami

"That's it, yes. Kinda simple when you list it up like that, right?" - Clone

Don't come and give me the 'right?' response! What the heck's all this about?! Could [Parallel Mind] do stuff like that?! 

"Then tell me about that happy-go-lucky personality of yours." - Garami

No way I have such a carefree personality.

"Isn't that how you are daily?" - Clone

Eh! It was 'yes way' instead?!

"But maybe devil-may-care is better to call it?" - Clone

What's the difference? But maybe she, err, I was right. If I was the type to care about every detail, I would have never challenged Glavras, nor would I have evolved into my current form. There was a shitload of luck that helped me as well, but luck is part of one's skills. 

Maybe this is like seeing yourself on video? Like how your voice feels different and such? Must be.

"Whatever. What else can this skill do then? And can you even return?" - Garami

"I think I can. I'm not feeling the need to protect this body like with yours, ah, with the original body." - Clone

Then she will come back when the clone body dies, or the skill gets turned off. That's good to know. Gonna have to try it out several times, just to be sure. That would increase the proficiency as well, maybe earning me a level or two in the skill. But not out here in the wilderness. I need a stable source of food, aka SP, to experiment more with this. I'm currently munching on the final bits of the frog I started on to recover some of the loss due to the skill.

"Okay then, what else can that body do? Not that much in its skill department." - Garami

"At least [Transformation] and [Appraisal] remained untouched. But that will not help with fights or such. No telepathy between the bodies after all." - Clone

She must have been thinking the same as me, having the clone body appraise any threats, while the original body fought them. But we, I, could already do that. I even got [Thought Acceleration] to help me with that. No need to go the extra length.

"Hmm, ah! How many fingers do I hold up behind my back?" - Clone

"Three." - Garami

"Correct!" - Clone

No need to make such a big deal out of it. Or, did I just know how many fingers the clone hold up? Like, knew it, and not guessed it? 

"I see." - Garami

"Right?" - Clone

Even if the Parallel Mind is doing something outside my field of view, I'll still subconsciously know what they do. This only applies to when the Parallel Minds have a body of their own since their part of me when they don't have a body after all.

We tested this theory some more times, with guessing what the other was thinking of, what the other saw from outside the rock formation, a rock-paper-scissor tournament, and much more. In the end, we found out that the Parallel Mind would know what I did at any time, and vice versa. The finisher was the rock-paper-scissor tournament, that had 61 rounds, with 61 draws in a row.

And, the body that the Parallel Mind uses is subjective to my commands. I made her body pinch herself, a. We tried the opposite, but that didn't work at all. In the end, both the bodies, and minds, are mine, and only I have the absolute command right. Not that either of us saw any problems in that. I mean, we're both me.

We tested out the shared sense as well, which turned into a painful experience for me since I did it while I was pinching the clone's cheek. We could only share the sense of touch, and therefore, the sense of pain as well. Sight, taste, smell, and sound wasn't available. Maybe with a higher skill level? The clone came up with an ingenious idea of using the shared sense of touch. It won't be helpful with the first, but in the future..., if I actually can communicate with people.

We also came up with the conclusion that the clone cannot gain proficiency in skill levels. Damn it! In the end [Body Replica] won't be of any important use. If I want a decoy, I can just use a Mirage. That, and there's still the problem with the clone not having any clothes. Not good if I want to use it in the middle of a city.

---

After going through all the potential scenarios were [Body Replica] could be useful, I canceled the skill, and the clone dispersed into the same black fog that created it. I didn't feel anything off, nor were any skills affected by the disappearance of the clone, meaning the Parallel Mind came back safely. 

That's all the skills then. And the sun is starting to go down anyway, so let's set up camp here. According to the map, I'm one quarter finished already, no need to stress it.

There's a good corner made by two of the boulders, so I'll cover that with some camouflage, and rest here for the night. I've got some time before I need to sleep, so let's go over the titles again.

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[Title Page]

[Arch-Demon] UPGRADED [Serial Giant Killer] [Daredevil] [Poison User] [Mysterious Serial Killer] [Thread User]                [Monster Slaughterer] UPGRADED [Beast Slayer] [Pinch Breaker] [Dark Hero] [Medicine User] [Fear Bringer] [King Maker] [Dragon Slayer] [Dungeon Conquer] [Ultimate Slayer] [Slaughterer] NEW

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Two upgraded ones, and one sparkling new one. [Slaughterer] sounds a little vicious, so let's get it over with.

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Title: [Slaughterer]

Acquisition condition: Kill 100 or more opponents in one-on-one combat and under a certain amount of time.

Effects:

• Adds an X% bonus to SPD, with X being the number of opponents at one time. Max 150%

Description: A title given to those who have killed a great number of creatures, in a short amount of time.

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Nasty. And perfect for crowd control, when I'm not able to use the [Hydra] attack. Nice. What about the monster variant?

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Title: [Monster Slaughterer]

Acquisition condition:

• Have the [Monster Slayer] title.
• Kill 100 monster opponents in one-on-one combat.

Effects:

• Increased damage against monsters [Small]
• Adds an X% bonus to damage against monster-type enemies, with X being the number of opponents at one time. Max 150%

Description: A title given to those who have killed many monsters in one battle. 

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The damage is boosted more on normal mode, and I get another boost determined by the amount of fodder, err, monsters I'm fighting against. This is gonna be awesome against swarms. But, I got this against the spiders, so shouldn't I also get some spider slaughterer title?

Wait, no. I needed Monster Slayer to get Monster Slaughterer, so I would need some kinda Spider Slayer title before even qualifying for Spider Slaughterer if that exists. Then, the last one.

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Title: [Arch-Demon]

Acquisition condition:

• Have the [Demon] title
• Reach a certain amount of strength as a demonic creature

Effects:

• Increases the difficulty in raising one's Karma Value
• Eases the difficulty in decreasing one's Karma Value
• Grants skill [Demonic Vault LV1]
• Grants skill [Kin Creation LV1]
• Grants skill [Kin Promotion LV1]

Description: A title given to demons who have matured to a new stage.

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Hmm, unclear. The 'certain amount of strength' part must be the evolution to Kur Kigal. That's understandable, but it does not explain if I barely reached the necessary amount, nor what they mean with 'strength'. It could be stats, but it could be something else. Bet that Karma Value is gonna be a bi-, not that. It's gonna be way more difficult to raise now. At least, this thing eliminated any chance I could have had with feeding those scorpions from earlier today if I got anything at all.

Whatever. There's no need for me to get all the details. I have the title now, and that's all that matters. I'll just make my bed, and go to sleep. Dinner? After all those frogs? No way. I don't have room left in my stomach, even with [Golden Ratio].

There's still some time before the sun sets, so is there anything else I can do? 

The claw? Yeah, I can see what I can do with that claw enhancement item. Better than seeing out into space. 

Let's see, out from the storage you go, and the instruction note as well.

According to the note, I need to fill the claw with my mana, then select the skills that I want to grant to it, amongst the possible choices. Kinda simple. Is this simplicity the reason for the item's high rank? 

I did as it was written on the note, and a screen similar to the System Messages came up, showing me the available skills for granted.

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• Mana Burst (Darkness) -> Mana Blade (Darkness)
• Thread Synthesis -> Spider Threads
• Assassin Arts -> Assassin Blade
• Stealth -> Presence Distraction
• Silence -> Silent Slash
• Transformation -> Mode Change (Blade)
• Hydra, Dragon of Poison -> Poison Edge
• Hydra, Dragon of Poison -> Poison Dust

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Not all of my skills fit the bill, but I got eight alternatives to chose from, and three slots available. Good enough. Kinda wanted more, but let's not be too greedy.

The reason for getting two different skills from Hydra must be since both [Poison Bite] and [Poison Dust] is integrated into it. The same must be for [Thread Synthesis] since it was originally the racial skill [Spider Thread].

There is some difference between my skills, and the skills that the claw gets. A quick round of [Appraisal] reveals that these are the item effects for bladed weapons, that match the skills. 

Mana Blade is the same as the skill, taking some MP from the user to encase the weapon in the element of the skill, which in this case, is Darkness. A sword of darkness... so cool! Oops, my inner chuunibyou came out there. Sorry.

Spider Threads are the same as the racial skill I was born with. The bad side is that I can't customize these threads like I can with my own. That, and it takes a huge chunk of my MP as well, so rejected.

Presence Distraction is like a passive [Stealth], making everyone oversee the item, including me. Don't wanna lose my only weapon, so pass.

Silent Slash uses the wielder's MP to reduce the sound of attacks done with the weapon, but this is just a weaker Silence. I can reduce ANY sound, even sheathing the sword. And for no cost. Yup, this one goes to the trash can.

Mode Change (Blade) is similar to [Transformation], but the difference is that one can only change the weapon to a different bladed weapon. This is placed in the pending group.

The two poison skills from Hydra may sound good on paper, but they make the poison on their own, meaning that Hydra won't be able to boost it. And they use just as much MP as I do with the skills! Nope, I don't need these.

Then, we have Assassin Blade. And this is in a class of its own. The effect is like a combination of everything an assassin could wish for: Poison coating, increased damage for critical hits, lowered enemy detection rate, and it gets a 30% ATK boost when used by an Assassin.

The katana that I use has an ATK of 162. That's over 200 if I add this effect to it! No need to spell it out, but I added the Assassin Blade effect to the claw at once. I didn't think that [Assassin Arts] were anything that impressive, but the item effect changed my mind completely.

Most likely, [Assassin Arts] must be a skill to work in tandem with other attack skills. It is a skill unique for the Assassin Class, and people normally would have their fighting style by the time they managed to obtain the Mysterious Serial Killer title.

[Assassin Arts] is, therefore, a skill aimed to support the already high killing ability of the skill holder, making it seen kinda weak on someone who fights with just their basic abilities and skills, like me. The proof is the effects of Assassin Blade, which screams 'I'm strong!', meaning that if I mixed [Assassin Arts] with other skills, the result will be just as great.

After thinking a little about it, I decided to add Mana Blade, and Mode Change as well. Even if I started to look after some new skills, I don't have a clue on what skill would work for both the weapon and myself. No need to waste Skill Points on a skill that I won't use more than one time. I did buy [Charm Resistance], for future uses of [Body Replica].

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Item Name: Claw of Tris Clades

Rank: B+

Type: Enhancement Material [Weapon (Sword)]

Durability: 500/500

Weight: 20

Effects: 

• Perfect Enhancement
  • Enhancement using this item will always turn out successful.
• Single-Use (Enhancement)
  • Only this item can be used to enhance an item.
  • This item cannot be used as material for item creation.
• Perfect Fit (Weapon)
  • The enhanced weapon will take the shape that fits the skill-granter the best.
• Weapon Enhancement (Self-Customization)
  • Skill: [Assassin Blade]
  • Skill: [Mana Blade (Darkness)]
  • Skill: [Mode Change (Blade)]

Description: An enhancement material that grants sword-type weapons up to three of the owner's skills.

Restricted to Attack, Active, and some Racial skills. There can only be one individual to copy their skills to the item. 

Due to the massive amount of skills that it is possible to grant the weapon, and from its claw-like shape, this item is named after the Monstrous Chimera, Tris Clades, that has ravaged the Alhiraci continent for the previous centuries.

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All that's needed now, is to add the claw to the katana. Good thing I made this table earlier. This will need a workbench after all.

The process is simple: just fill the claw with mana again, then I push the claw into the blade as if stabbing it. The claw went into the blade as if it was made of water. The katana was covered in black lights and started to change form.

I'll just take some steps back, you know, to be safe. The enchantment took some time, but it's finished now, I think. The black light faded out at least. What is the result then?

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Item Name: Dark-Edge Kodachi

Rank: C+

Type: Dagger

Durability: 150/150

ATK: 151

Weight: 10

Requirements: 

• STR of 120 or more
• DEX of 150 or more

Effects:

• Increased chance to score critical hits: 10%
• Assassin Blade
  • Increased damage for critical hits: 10%
  • Poison coating. Requires Poison item, or Poison creation skill
  • Lowered enemy detection: 10%
  • Increased ATK when used by Assassin Class holder: 30%
• Mana Blade (Darkness)
  • Adds the Darkness attribute to attacks. Requires MP.
• Mode Change (Blade)
  • The weapon is capable to transform into the following forms. Requires MP
    • Kodachi (Main) (Current)
    • Katana

Description: Formerly a katana from the Wakoku country, this dagger has been remade to fit the use of an Assassin, and has been granted several new effects from its owner.

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Well, who would have thought? The sword has retained its shape as a katana, but the size has reduced to that of a dagger. The blade is black with no reflection in it, along with a tint of dark purple. The guard and grip were colored dark-grey and black. This thing fits its owner's occupation alright. 

I made a few test swings, and it's just the right weight to it. The ATK went down but considering that it went from a katana to a kodachi, that loss isn't so bad. Even the durability recovered to the max amount. I should praise it for staying so strong. That's an idea.

"Today you're my trusted partner, the cursed blade, Orimaru! Just kidding." - Garami

As one can guess, my chuunibyou soul has been on fire for a while now. The name is just something I thought of, seeing the spiderweb engraving on the guard. Not that anything bad can-

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SYSTEM MESSAGE

Naming of Dark-Edge Kodachi to Orimaru, successful.

Granting Title, [Kin of Garami], to Orimaru.

Skills, [STR Enhancement (Small) LV1], [Stealth LV1], [Surprise Attack LV1], successfully granted.

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Whoa, deja vu. Isn't what I should be saying here!!

What's that about?! I kinda agree I was getting cocky right there, but this is a sword! A sword!! Is this even allowed?!