Mimicry and the Taste of Power

The moment I was seized by the zero point, a strange thought crossed my mind.

'If I become Yeonhee... Hmm. Maybe I should take a closer look...'

First of all, the claim that this was somehow better than ordinary Mimicry felt odd. It was the same skill—how could there be a difference? I'd never heard of anything like that. Common sense said that even the slightest variation should result in a different skill name. Hmm...

Then again, this was an ability that the incredible Tania had gone so far as to carve off a piece of herself to grant me. Maybe that explained it. Thinking too deeply about it would only give me a headache, so I decided to let it slide.

'It's all good, but there's one thing that bothers me.'

The restriction on voice implementation. Honestly, that was just as important as the change in appearance. What exactly did "restriction" mean? Was I limited in word choice? Or could I only speak up to a certain number of syllables?

'Whatever. I can just try it out right now!'

Ah, the moment of choice.

Obviously I should return to my original body...

......

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

'...... Y-Yeonhee. Mimic into Yeonhee...'

I had no idea when I might return to this space again, so I decided to transform into Yeonhee first and check for any dangers. Of course, I had absolutely no other motives.

'Fuck! They should've put that in the skill description from the start! You got me ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all excited for nothing!! Damn it!'

I'd tried to use it, but transformation was impossible inside the Dark Space. She had so many eyes, yet apparently this place was outside her sight. It was disappointing that I couldn't satisfy my immediate curiosity, but on second thought, using Mimicry here would have been a waste anyway.

Especially since one of the new perks that came with it was detecting the location of one of those insidious Blue Eye bastards whenever the ability activated. It seemed like a special bonus granted thanks to Tania. Even if I located them, the binding would prevent me from rushing over immediately, but since the perk triggered on use, it made more sense to save it for a situation where I could actually accomplish something.

'This is definitely the ability I wanted. My desire to catch those Blue Eye bastards hasn't changed one bit.'

Also, the thirty-minute duration of Mimicry was astonishing from my perspective. From what I remembered, the mana cost of Mimicry increased proportionally with time, making it impossible to maintain for long. There had been various other restrictions as well, but the version I'd received only had limits on duration and number of uses. The cost of activation itself was practically nonexistent.

'The drop in stats isn't as bad as I expected either. Losing fifty points feels significant right now, but... at least my senses haven't decreased.'

Finally, it seemed that gathering information was required to use Mimicry. Every being I'd ever partied with and every summon under my command was listed.

'Would I ever need to turn into Wangwang? Seriously... Anyway, it looks like I can transform into summons too.'

But I was curious why No Hayun was at the very top of the list, so I checked her information.

'...... What the hell is this nonsense?'

It hadn't been that long since I'd stomped her like a dog. And her favorability toward me was High? That shouldn't be possible unless favorability started at a high level... When I checked the others, I discovered the list was sorted by information collection rate, highest to lowest. That meant No Hayun had the highest chance of becoming my next Mimicry target.

'That's dangerous. It's basically suicide. If her mother catches me, I'll be sent straight to an ice prison.'

I looked back at the status window. The top-grade mana circuit that Tania had engraved on me caught my eye. Thanks to it, the burden of investing in mana and recovery had decreased significantly. What I needed now was enough speed to land Flame Slash and an increase in sensory stats to make better use of Mimicry.

'Will stamina be okay?'

I wasn't sure if stamina would help alleviate the strain on my body from using Flame Explosion. I'd think about that after I actually obtained the skill. It was true that I'd been neglecting stamina investment compared to my other stats. My absolute value was still quite low. Still, I decided to set stamina aside for now.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't imagine anything in a D-grade dungeon that could actually land a direct hit on me. I'd probably take some indirect damage, but my bone armor should be enough to handle that.

'I managed to endure the werewolf's attacks a few times too. They weren't clean hits, but my defense is solid enough.'

That meant I should invest in speed after all.

'Agility over strength, right?'

Both agility and strength greatly influenced physical speed. But agility also improved reaction speed, which seemed more effective for landing Flame Slash in various situations.

'And the last one will be wisdom.'

Looking only at Skeleton Bomb, one might think my skill's destructive power was sufficient. But watching the werewolf smack away the bombs with its body had been quite a shock. The fact that my Skeleton Bomb, which I thought had grown considerably stronger, still couldn't do much against an enemy above my current grade was a bitter pill to swallow.

In the end, I raised agility, sense, and wisdom using the stats gained from leveling up.

Tingle—tingle—

The moment I distributed the stats, countless tiny lightning bolts struck across my body, bringing the extreme pleasure that only came with leveling up.

'Haa——'

Even though many of my senses had dulled, the sensation I felt at times like this was no different from when I was human.

'Huaa... This is incredible...'

While my mind floated on the pleasure spreading through my entire body, I began making more Skeleton Bombs to replenish what I'd used up.

Crack—crunch—

As I listened to the sound of bomb production, I reviewed my battle with the werewolf. Dodging its attacks by a hair's breadth with high agility, the Swiftness Rune, and bone armor, slowly stacking bomb damage, then finishing with Flame Explosion—boom!

'Now that I think about it, some kind of message appeared when I used Flame Explosion...'

I'd definitely read it clearly, but I couldn't remember what it said. After becoming a skeleton, I usually remembered things more vividly than when I was human... Hmm. No matter how hard I tried, it wouldn't come to me. If I couldn't recall it right away, maybe stepping away for a moment would help it surface later. I'd set the mysterious message aside for now.

Crack—

Chatting with Tania already felt like a distant memory, faint and nostalgic. Saying I felt like I'd lost my only friend might be an exaggeration. We'd only talked for a short while... Maybe that was why my desire to see Yeonhee burned stronger than ever.

Even though we couldn't converse like I had with Tania, communicating through our eyes while defeating enemies together had its own special joy. Those purple eyes that focused entirely on me... Just thinking about them filled me with ecstasy.

'I wonder what happened to Yeonhee after the time stop was lifted...'

Had she been transported to another location like the people who were defeated and disappeared? I was dying to know. It was almost unbearable. Since time had been stopped, the flow of time I experienced probably hadn't occurred for her. That meant it was still before ten in the morning. At that hour, we could consider running another dungeon. Losing an entire day just because one summon was missing was unacceptable.

'Hmm... There shouldn't be any major problems... Though my mana might be a bit low.'

I should have given Yeonhee at least a day's worth of Irmana's lake water. Why hadn't I thought of that? Crack— I rolled the bomb between my fingers and scolded myself, but no amount of regret could turn back time. I just had to do my best with what I could do right now. First, finish replenishing the bombs.

'Oh right, Flame Slash leveled up too.'

Flame Slash had risen in level, increasing the additional damage by a full thirty percent. However, there was no manifestation of the other abilities I'd hoped for, nor any reduction in mana cost.

'Still, this much from a single level up is pretty satisfying.'

Fireball.

Fwoooosh—

'This is the problem.'

I planned to spend the remaining time making bombs and practicing Fireball. Once I took care of this, I could resume my swordsmanship training routine.

I aimed the fireball that appeared in my hand toward the target point and launched it. It would probably miss by a lot again, but recognizing the problem and starting from there should help motivate my training—

BOOOOM——!

'...... Huh?'

The fireball had landed much closer to the target point than expected. I launched another one, aiming at a different spot.

BOOOOM——!

It flew farther than the last one, but compared to when it used to shoot into the sky or fly completely backward, this was astonishing progress.

'During the fight with the werewolf, I only managed to hit it properly once... What's going on?'

Bang! Boom! Boooom—!

After launching about ten more fireballs, I came to a conclusion.

'My aim has been corrected? Why?'

No particular reason came to mind no matter how I thought about it.

"Clack clack clack!!"

'Anyway, it worked!! Hahaha! So it just happens when you keep at it, huh?'

My accuracy still wasn't as good as I'd like, but if I thought of it as an archery target, I'd reached about five or six out of ten points. It was still a skill that needed improvement, but at least the shots were landing on the target now.

'Hehe—'

The feeling of solving a long-accumulated homework assignment in one go made it impossible to sit still. I finished making the bomb I'd been working on, then sprang to my feet.

'One problem solved. Time for some swordsmanship training, right?'

I pulled out a long stick and awkwardly copied Arin's sword stance, paying careful attention to my grip from the very beginning.

Whoosh—swish—

'Swinging when I'm in a good mood makes it twice as fun!'

In the end, I spent two hours on swordsmanship training, then frantically made bombs with the remaining time while waiting for the re-summon.

And then the sound I'd been waiting for pierced through the vast, silent space.

Creeeeak—

A giant door opened, scattering a streak of light particles into the darkness. I rose to my feet, making room for them, and without hesitation, leaped toward the opening before the door had even fully opened.

Clang——!

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