Man, I slept like a baby…well, I kinda am one. It surprises me every time, but I really have gotten used to sleeping on the cold ground. Weren't it for my size, I would look like an ancient dragon sleeping in her lair. Ha!

I should stand up and...ow! Urgh, my body feels like scheiße...it's so stiff!

Parallel mind #3 informed me that I've been soundly sleeping for a very, very long time now. She couldn't guess how many days, but that's understandable as we are inside a cave with no access to the sun. Frankly, I think this kinda feels familiar to the morning I woke up after the getting chased by the garms and falling into a hole; if I remember correctly, I was affected by [Exhaustion (Major)] back then. Oof, I really am bad at managing my stamina and mana...

My whole body, from my tail to my wings to my neck, was completely inflexible and ached a lot even at the slightest movement. I couldn't begin this day like this!

After doing some stretches, to free myself of this stiffness, I decided to go collect the orc corpses I left lying around. The two I burned to death are unusable as food, so I need to find the orc tracker and that orc that died through my bombs. I’ll take it slow. My parallel minds were generous enough to identify everything, while I was asleep, and are ready to brief me with their findings. So, I'll be looking over this information while I'm walking.

He. I feel like a boss having her workers do the tedious job for her. It does save me the time to sort it all out myself though. Now, if you guys are ready, then I'm ready for the information dump.

‘So, you want to talk to us again? I don't know about you, but I still feel annoyed that you called us out for speaking too much in that fight. Hmph.’

That was parallel mind #2. She seems to have some “tsun” inside her, considering she is rather curt with how she talks to everybody, despite being the most lovey-dovey and cautious of us all. It would be endearing…were it not for the fact that she is me.

I’ll just apologize a bit and ignore her for now.

‘He he, sorry? Anyways, manager mind, would you please?’

‘You actually called me that?! Oh my gosh. You do know that one sorry isn’t enough to make up for it, right? We tried to help, but you just had to be so rude. Don’t project your anger on us.’

Parallel mind #1, who I will now call manager mind, seems quite displeased about it, but it seems everybody is just acting that way to support #2’s effort to make me reflect on what I did in that last fight. I personally didn’t think I was that rude, considering the situation was pretty hectic, but I did shout at them so that does demand an apology.

‘Ok, I’m really sorry about shouting at you guys. But, come on, the situation wasn’t so super, and you guys just had to push me into that crazy plan of yours. However, we survived! And it is all thanks to you guys that supported me so perfectly. Can you guys forgive me?’

‘ ‘ ‘Sure.’ ’ ’

3 parallel minds forgave me instantly, leaving #2 exasperated that nobody committed to her plan. Her faces just screams, “I’ve been betrayed!”.

‘You guys…sigh. Well, I guess I’ll let you off the hook, too, after that giant compliment.’

With peace regained inside my mind, we all began sorting through the information the parallel minds gathered. With that said, manager mind began relaying [Identify Lv. 10]’s new description of [Primal Magics].

Primal Magics An ancient skill that allows the user to wield magics with the highest efficiency. A combination of multiple skills that are inherited by a being naturally inclined towards the power of mana. The skills combined are: [Mana Efficiency Lv. 10] [Arcane Mind Lv. 10] [Arcane Corruption Resistance Lv. 10] [Chant Revocation Lv. 10] Mana Efficiency A skill that decreases the amount of mana used in spells. Besides spells, any usage of mana will see an increase in efficiency and strength Arcane Mind Strengthens the mind of the user with mana to prevent break down due to mana related problems. Enables the learning of spells Arcane Corruption Resistance Through the usage of magic, arcane corruption is accumulated in the body and mind of the user. This skill prevents a certain amount depending on the level of the skill Chant Revocation A skill that lowers the necessary spell’s chant. At max level, the need to chant for a spell is completely unnecessary

‘Ah, so many skills.’

‘Is that all you have to say?’

Uhm, ja? I mean, what is there to say besides the amount of skills in this one master skill. I guess it is quite powerful, as I got all these skills for free and fully leveled.

‘See, manager mind. I knew she wouldn’t understand it without experiencing it herself.’

‘Yeah, just explain it to her already. No need to beat around the bush.’

It seems everybody is starting to call parallel mind #1, manager mind. I’m happy I influenced everybody into doing that.

Manager mind, on the other hand, seems quite distressed and starts complaining about it.

‘Even you guys are calling me that?! Alright, let me explain it. You know what [Mana Stress] is, right?’

‘Yep. It happened after using up my mana during the garm chase. I also got a big headache whenever I tried using a spell.’

‘[Mana Stress] is essentially that. You used up too much mana and you’ll get that status effect, and whenever you use mana over your limit your symptoms will worsen.

‘It restricts mana recovery while we have the condition and causes some severe pains when we try using mana over our limit.’

#3 begins wriggling a mental towel. Slowly, the water starts dripping off it, until all the water was gone, and the wet towel was now dry. She kept wriggling it, despite it having no more water. That is essentially the mental image that you should have, when [Mana Stress] happens.

‘If it reaches the major stage then our mind would have collapsed.’

‘A collapse of the mind?! Do you mean I would have lost my sanity?’

‘Not your real “mind”, your arcane mind will collapse. You will lose the ability to use mana and depending on how much mana you have; you could have exploded. You nearly killed us way back then.’

‘…’

‘But that's where [Arcane Mind] comes in. Besides giving us the ability to remember the spells we learn; it also prevents and reduces the effects of all the mana related problems. It slows down the deterioration of your mind, although you would still have headaches if you tried using mana.’

‘Not to mention, it also prevents [Arcane Fever] from becoming drastic.’

‘What’s that?’

‘Arcane corruption, a byproduct of using mana, accumulates inside your body and mind, eventually overflowing and you’ll receive a hug fever while your Health slowly decreases.'

The rest of my parallel minds mentioned that they had a small taste of this during the orc fight, when they overused far too many spells. I never experienced it ‘cause in the beginning I barely had the mana to use that many spells and when I did, I already had [Parellel Thoughts] to help me out.

‘Yeah, manager mind handled half of your spell usage back then, so you never got to feel the pain. Well, neither did she but whatever.’

[Arcane Corruption Resistance] lowers the accumulation and [Arcane Mind] reduces [Arcane Fever]’s on me. As my parallel minds can also receive it, I must really start managing my mana correctly.

‘I-I can’t believe how broken this skill is…Doesn’t this make us the perfect mage since our birth?’

Looking through all this information, I gotta admit that I have underestimate how hard magic is.

I’ve been able to do all the crazy stunts in my magical life only ‘cause of the starting skills I got since my birth. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to do this as a normal person.

‘Yep. [Mana Control] is needed to control mana in your body and to move it to your mind. It’s not needed for abilities but without it, we wouldn’t be able to use spells.’

‘[Arcane Mind] is needed to store the spells we learn from skills and protect us from the after effects. Without it, we couldn't have learned a single spell and [Mana Stress] or [Arcane Fever] would have killed us eventually.’

She also mentions that our spell slots are running out and that we should buy something that can give us more.

‘[Arcane Corruption Resistance] is needed for us to use multiple spells and dragon abilities. Without it, [Arcane Fever] would come more frequently.’

‘Yeah. Finally, [Chant Revocation]’s existence means that, generally, spells need to be chanted for them to work. We never knew this ‘cause we don’t have to do it. Even saying the name is redundant.’

My parallel minds are also stressing me to also be careful with [Spark Fire Dragon] abilities as they use mana, but that it would be better to use them when the two mana related effects are getting problematic.

‘And that's pretty everything we had to say about that part. The titles are the next thing we need to talk about.’

‘Thank you. Show me them.’

The Light A title granted to a mortal recognized by the Goddess of Light, whose control has been usurped by the owner. Boosts proficiency gain of magics based on Holy Element. Decreases Dark Element resistance and proficiency. The possessor of this title will feel strengthen under light, but will feel uneasy and weakened in darkness Bearer of Kargryxmor’s Blood A title granted to a mortal recognized by the God of Dragons, whose control was usurped by the owner. Boosts experience gain and decrease skill point costs. Decreases Water Element resistance and proficiency. As a possessor of the progenitor dragon's blood, the possessor will be occasionally affected by the [Battle Frenzy], if one has not fought in a long while. Battle related skill proficiency gain will be increased during battle or if affecting an enemy

‘U-Usurped?! No, no, no, when did I do that?!

Oi, when I mentioned that I didn’t want to be involved in any of your plans, I didn’t mean to be overly defiant or something. Oh shit, we are in big trouble! I’m a good kid! Seriously!

‘Woah, what are you flipping out for?’

‘Seriously, just cool down and think about it first. Panicking whenever something bad happens, is one of the flaws you wanted to address. It has caused us problems with our old life during auditions, and it happened again whenever you fight.’

‘The second kobold encounter, the garm encounter and just now when the orcs outsmarted you.’

‘Urgh, but you guys were panicking too!’

' ' ' We are you! ' ' '

‘…’

…I got screamed at. It may be true, but I don’t deserve being shouted at. Ignoring my bad mood, my parallel minds just continued onwards and started talking about the titles.

‘If you think about it properly. “whose control has been usurped”. Doesn’t that mean that the gods who gave us the titles were in control of us, or at least they had influence over us.’

‘And remember when we felt weird before the garm encounter and how we felt so refreshed after evolving? It may just be a theory for now, but it does prove that the gods were trying to control us to participate in their schemes.’

‘It’s just a theory ‘cause we never were able to see it before getting [Identify Lv. 10] so we also have no idea how we “usurped” the titles. However, what we need to talk about are the effects these titles have had on our life.’

It seems like the information session is beginning to turn into a theory-crafting session, where they began analyzing the problem that I panicked over. They calmly share their thoughts and discussed everything among themselves.

It seems fun…

‘…’

‘[The Light] affects both our combat and daily life. Remember when we were born and how we felt coming out of the egg? Or how unbearable the first few hours it was after waking up in the cave? Put us in a dark room without light and we weaken, while somewhere with a ton of light empowers us.’

‘[Bearer of Kargryxmor’s Blood] is also extremely problematic…’

‘…Uhm, aren’t we gonna talk about how she’s sulking right now?’

Parallel mind #3 seems to be the only one who cares about me, the original mind. She’s such a caring person!

‘Meh, leave her be. It’s not like it’s anything uncommon for her to sulk when things don’t go her way. She’ll cheer up after a good pep talk from us.’

Wah?! How cruel! As a matter of fact, weren’t you also sulking when I shouted at you #2? You even made everybody else help you with your selfish request!

I kept all of this to myself but I noticed #2 sticking her tongue out at my direction. I forgot that everybody could hear my thoughts.

‘…Anyways, the dragon god’s title is the source for [Battle Frenzy], an effect that only appears if we don’t fight things for a while. It’s awesome that it helps our skill gain, but this sounds like a troublesome “addiction” …’

‘Or, of course, we could get some kinda skill to help us solve it. It’s only important that we know these new quirks so we can plan for the future. Now, let’s talk about the other stuff.’

My parallel minds kept talking and informing me about the new descriptions my skills had. They also analyzed stuff surrounding the system, like monster rank, the breakthrough points and all sorts of stuff. It was pretty interesting, I guess, but I wasn’t really listening to them seriously. I wasn’t in the mood to do it.

Like, honestly, when manager mind encouraged me during my little melodramatic phase, I thought it would be great that I can finally talk with a “person” about my issues but I kinda forgot that the “people” I’m talking to were myself.

“You can be your best friend or your worst enemy.” totally makes sense now.

As their talks have finally ended, they began talking to me again.

‘Are you still pouting? Argh, whatever. At least you listened to what we worked so hard for. That is correct, riiiiiight?’

What is her problem?! She’s now intentionally provoking me! Does she have a case of dumb?

‘Uhhh, hello? I can hear all those thoughts, you know, or have you gotten a case of dumb?’

Oh, this girl! Not only was she being sarcastic about it, but that obvious use of my own words just begs me to punch her face! #2 looks extremely irritated, but I bet that my anger won’t lose to hers.

‘Urgh, come on everyone. We still need to discuss skill list, skill upgrades and also our evolution. There is still too much to do, for us all to start annoying each other.’

“B-But she…urgh.”

I guess I should stop being so childish about it. They all share my emotions so the deterioration of my mood will equally affect them.

‘Sigh, yeah sorry. I’ll stop.’

Although, they are pretty emotional for being my “logical” side.

‘Ok, considering that the general atmosphere in our head is worsening, I’ll just give a quick rundown of the skills. Just say ja or nein.’

My apology earned me an equal apology from parallel mind #2, as she also admitted that she shouldn’t act this emotional. Noticing that the overall mood hasn’t recovered much, manager mind clutched her head and began caressing it, seemingly exasperated at our bantering.

Her mental image then began running towards each of us and smacked us in the head, an expression that we should start getting our shit together.

I guess this forceful way to wake us up is caused by our hunger. Don’t forget that I just woke up, and haven’t had anything to eat yet.

‘Ja.’

' 'Jaaaaaaaaa.' '

We just obediently accepted this situation. We know that doing it this way would prevent any further arguments.

‘Skill upgrades first. Upgrade all stat-boosting skills over their breakpoint.’

‘Unanimous ja.’

Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Enhanced Health Growth Lv. 4] [Enhanced Mana Capacity Lv. 4] [Enhanced Strength Growth Lv. 4] [Enhanced Vitality Growth Lv. 4] [Enhanced Wisdom Growth Lv. 4] [Enhanced Stamina Growth Lv. 4] gained. 3500 SP remaining

“900 SP spent. Do we want to increase [Earth Magic] to level 10?”

‘No, we can train it up.’

' 'Mhmm.' '

All three of my parallel minds were agreeing immediately. All that banter and ill will from before just disappeared, replaced by a strange tranquil atmosphere where everybody switched from “fun” mode to “work” mode. It’s something I’ve learned to do, during my early days as an idol trainee. You always need to be able to instantly switch to a professional, stoic persona, when it’s time to go on stage.

I may joke that we aren’t very similar, but this just proves that I’m entirely wrong about that.

‘[Evasion] and [Acrobatic] are next. [Evasion] is at its second break point.’

‘Lifesavers. Yes, ja, hai, ne.’ (English, German, Japanese., Korean)

Defensive skill are too important to not improve. We only have two ways to defend ourselves, either evade everything or take small amounts of damage and heal it up. I said “yes” in all languages I can speak fluently, just to emphasize how much I want them.

Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Evasion Lv. 8] [Acrobatic Lv. 8] gained. 3100 SP remaining

‘400 SP spent. The rest of the skills aren’t needed right now, so let’s go to the skill list. Time for some work, girls.’

Urgh, looking over the whole skill list will be annoying. We already planned to take all the stat-boosting skills and [Humanize] so that would mean we will have to use 1700 SP for that, which leaves 1400 SP for other skills.

Among all of them, we are looking for skills related to becoming a better mage. A skill that opens up more spell slots, skills that reduce mana usage or skills that increase our spell’s power. Those sorts of skills.

Though, I think we should also look for skills focused on close combat. [Spark Claws] displayed incredible results and I presume [Spark Fang] will be good too. My parallel minds, on the other hand, think it’s not necessary.

‘Don’t let them get close to us. No need to use [Spark Claws] or [Spark Fang], if we bombard them from range.’

Said manager mind with full confidence.

I do understand their logic, but I’m worried that we’re maybe focusing too much on range and magic. Our defense is quite weak, so I was hoping to find one of two skills to protect my body better.

There is also the issue of the two mana-related abnormal effects that I would like to address by taking a skill that gives me some abilities. [Spark Fire Dragon] builds up arcane corruption, albeit slower, so maybe [Unarmed Technique] would be useful in a pinch.

‘Hey, stop worrying already. We got some good skills that should help you forget about it.’

‘Oh?’

In her usual curt way, parallel mind #2 interrupted me from worrying any longer. She patted my back with her mental tail, saying “Leave it to us.”, and called System Voice. The monotonous robot sounding System Voice began listing all the skills my parallel minds found.

Would you like to buy [Health Recovery] [Mana Recovery] [Stamina Recovery] [Magic Power Enhancement] [Mana Barrier] [Accuracy Correction] [Mental Stability] [Mental Warfare] for a combined amount of 1100 SP? Your current SP is 3100

‘Oh, recovery skills do exist. How did we never get them?’

‘We can’t answer that. It perplexes us too, but at least we can get them now so we can train them up. It should help us with our mana and stamina recovery issues.’

‘True. So, the rest are combat-related ones, right? I like the sound of [Mana Barrier] and [Mental Stability].’

‘Those are the defensive skills you wanted, although we still don't think taking a close combat-related skill is efficient. [Mana Barrier] constructs a barrier composed out of mana to protect us. Range and close attacks alike.’

‘[Mental Stability] should help you with the [Battle Frenzy] effect. The skill protects you from stuff that affects your mind, so it should slow down its appearance rate. It probably won’t stop us from wanting to fight more often, but it should stop the anxiousness caused by it.’

‘[Mental Warfare] also has some nice effects for its price of 250 SP.’

Mental Warfare A skill related to magic. This skill increases the user’s available mental space to learn spells, while also boosting the power of spells. It reduces the effects of mental attacks inflicted on the user

The last two skills [Magic Power Enhancement] and [Accuracy Correction] do exactly what their names suggest. Simple but powerful skills.

‘You guys did a really great job. Did you guys find any good expensive skills or why did you not take any?’

‘There were a few, but we needed these skills, especially when they are so cheap. We left 400 SP in case we need to upgrade something, after the evolution, so considering that we already planned on taking the stat boosters and [Humanize], our budget was running empty.’

‘Geez, maybe taking [Humanize] isn’t that good of an idea?’

‘Of course not. 1000 SP for a skill not related to combat that also provides zero utility in our situation should never be considered.’

‘But we need it…’

‘Agreed, we need it.’

‘It’s been so long since we last sang properly. I can only imagine how rusty our dancing skills will be. Urgh, I wanna sing!’

Ah, I guess I should be happy that they aren’t complete robots.

These small trivial and illogical quirks; parallel mind #2 blushing and pouting over the fact that our dancing skills will be even worse than it ever was, manager mind teasing her that she won’t have to dance anyways while laughing about it, and #3 just gushing over the fact that we will get [Humanize] soon, wanting to sing so very badly.

It is really reassuring that my inner self is still the same, as always.

Sort of like a bunch of younger sisters.

‘*chuckle* Let’s end this already and get to evolving.’

' ' 'Agreed.' ' '

You have bought [Health Recovery Lv. 1] [Mana Recovery Lv. 1] [Stamina Recovery Lv. 1] [Magic Power Enhancement Lv. 1] [Mana Barrier Lv. 1] [Accuracy Correction Lv. 1] [Mental Stability Lv. 1] [Mental Warfare Lv. 1] [Enhanced Health Capacity Lv. 1] [Enhanced Strength Enforcement Lv. 1] [Enhanced Intelligence Enforcement Lv. 1] [Enhanced Vitality Enforcement Lv. 1] [Enhanced Wisdom Enforcement Lv. 1] [Enhanced Agility Enforcement Lv. 1] [Enhanced Stamina Capacity Lv. 1] [Humanize Lv. 1]. Your current SP is 300

This great mood lasted only for a bit until we found and collected the orc bodies...or what was left of them. When parallel mind #3 informed me that I was sleeping for a long time, then she really meant a long time 'cause all of the corpses were already decomposing. Worms, insects, and bacteria have already munched and turned them into piles of rotten meat.

...I guess we only have to evolve now.

_____________________________________________________

Spell and Ability Descriptions