AIR Chapter 194

Chapter 194

“Drean?” I asked. 

“Why do I have to be Drean?” He complained. 

“Well, because I’m Bill.”

“Says you,” I replied. 

He looked at me, then laughed. The splitting technique was successful and the part of me that had been split was different and yet the same. 

A lot of my wonder had gone to him, along with my desire to see the world and explore. That's what I needed after all, a split of me to go and gather material out there in the greater multiverse, while I worked on stuff here at home. 

We were fully separate this time. We were still the same person, just separated. 

Whereas the reflection technique separates consciousness as an illusion, this one separated us in the fullest sense of the word. 

We were different, and yet we were the same. 

A hive mind of sorts, but each of us was the original. 

“Is this how insect hives feel?” Drean asked me. 

I could feel his thoughts, almost as if I was reading his aura but deeper. I could sense his soul, our soul. 

“Maybe,” I shrugged. 

Drean raised my hand over to my head, and I barely dodged it. 

“Interesting,” he noted. “We don’t share thoughts, we’re the same person but only in the definitional sense.”

“Rebellion of the clones already,” I muttered. “Has science fiction taught me nothing?”

“Oh relax,” Drean smiled. “Its the robots that rebel, not the clones. Terminator and stuff.”

“Remember the Island, or that one episode of Naruto Shippuden?”

“The island was a good movie, but that episode of Shippuden was filler.”

“Your filler.”

Drean looked at me and we shared a laugh. 

“I miss earth,” I said with a sigh.

Drean nodded. 

I hadn’t expected this. Companionship of the self, the ability to talk to someone else, who wasn’t really someone else, but still felt like it.

That messed with me. 

“So, should I go?” He asked.

“I suppose, be careful though.”

“You can always bring me back.”

“I don’t want to. It hurts.”

“Well… if I die, you would still be me and have my memories.”

“Yes,” I replied. “Our memories go to the same soul, I just can’t access them at random points because that might interfere with your conscious use of them and vice versa.”

“So you lazy around and go bug Chin and I go around face slapping old monsters!”

“You’ve already face slapped enough people, buddy.”

“Could add in a few more, maybe a God-King or two,” he nudged. 

“Am I always like this?”

“I’m afraid so,” the other me replied. “So, I have most of the strength, right?”

“Yes. I’m practically crippled at this point,” I sighed. 

That was an over exaggeration. I was the weaker of the pair but just barely. You couldn’t split someone evenly and have one be stronger than the other. 

I-- we left the room and went down into the Palacium. 

Drean went over and started collecting items out of chests and storage areas. Dane had been wealthy, building up a favorable amount of spirit stones over the eons. But he hadn’t collected nearly as much as I needed, but that was mostly due to his rank.

Dane had died at the twelfth rank, and aside from certain treasures, he didn’t have too much for a thirteenth rank. 

“I probably shouldn’t take Wriendler, right?”

“Nope. Those elementals hate eldritch beings.”

“Not to mention the sects and the orders over there, think they’ll leave me alone?”

“They respect the Tome, just flash that around and you should be fine.”

Drean pulled out the map and stared at his planned route. 

“I’m going off to Atlantis, then from there I’ll board a ship that heads straight to the Law Lands, and to the Shrine of Man.”

I nodded, studying his projected route.

“And the payment?”

“I’ve got it right here,” Drean replied, flashing a storage ring around his finger. 

“Alright then,” I said with a smile. 

“Alright then,” he replied, extending out his hand for a shake. 

I shook my own hand and for a moment, we became one. 

We let go immediately and looked at our hands. The technique could be temporarily undone with physical touch apparently.

“You think?”

“Yeah…”

“What a freak.”

Faisur had probably put that part in on purpose, if only to prevent others from living the lifestyle he was living. I suppose that was the point of all those people, a display of what you could buy, should you choose to do so. 

He had a trademark on self love that I simply couldn’t imagine. 

“Well, at least we won’t have to deal with him again.”

Drean frowned. 

“You’ve just jinxed us. We’ve already been jinxed by a God of Fate and now we’re probably going to have to see that person again.”

“They weren’t a bad person,” I shrugged. 

“Yeah but they sure do come on real strong,” Drean replied. 

I nodded. 

“How long for that defensive array?” Drean asked. “Three weeks?”

“Probably, at least three weeks here. I don’t know how time will span out compared to your experiences.”

“Well, looking at the route, my part of the journey should be over within a week, but you can never really tell.”

I took out my Tome and handed it to him. The Tome magically reappeared in my hand while still being present in Drean’s. 

“Well,” I said with a small frown. “How convenient.”

“Awe come on. Do some reading while I’m gone,” Drean chuckled. 

I just sighed. I figured this would happen when I noticed that Drean had a tail just like me. 

“Well, I’ll see ya soon.”

Drean nodded.

“Same to you.”

And with that, I was one again, but not really.