6.26 – A Disoriented Fox II


    Rubbing her forehead, Delta walked back to the bed and plopped down, sinking a good half-foot into the overly plush mattress. She couldn''t say she was <em>stunned </em>by the realization. Rosalie was obviously part of wayfaring high society; Delta had intuited that the moment they''d met. Those stupid sharp cheekbones and arrogant blue eyes alone would have given it away, much less the enunciated words and her total disdain for any wayfarer not meeting her ridiculously exacting standards.


    But apparently she was so cozy with the upper ss that Delta had been dragged into the actual <em>d''Celestin </em>Pce.


    As a visitor. Or rather, temporary prisoner, presumably. Her attention flicked over toward the enormous closed double-doors leading out into the pce hallways. Delta hadn''t tried to open them yet, but she had a sneaking suspicion she didn''t have free-reign of the estate.


    Well. Whatever. Prison break couldn''t be that hard. It''d be interesting to see what the security of the d''Celestin pce was like.


    First, Delta needed—and wanted—to see her new abilities. She''d appraised her direct surroundings and didn''t feel immediately threatened. If admittedly she was dying with curiosity and a bit intimidated by what her future looked like. But she''d progressed in advancement, and, as any wayfarer, was itching to see what skill or skills she''d gotten.


    Unlike Zoey, that ridiculous woman, Delta had only a single rune to check up on. Closing her eyes, she quested out for that block of information embedded onto her soul. Reading one''s tab anima was a skill that took some, if not much, practice. She couldn''t believe Zoey still didn''t know how. Though that was almost certainly to oblige her girlfriend''s nosy nature. Delta snorted, remembering how eager Rosalie had been to peek in on Zoey''s skills. Zoey probably didn''t even realize how intimate that act was. Or maybe she did. They were gross like that.


    <em>Rune of Dual Strikes</em>


    <em>[1]: Dual-wield: Bonus damage when wielding two daggers and scoring alternating strikes.</em>


    <em>[2]: Twin Fangs: Left hand dagger applies bleed; right hand applies poison. When both effects are applied through [Backstab], amplify each debilitation.</em>


    <em>[2]: Backstab: Attacking from the nk does bonus damage.</em>


    <em>[3]: Fade Away: Drop aggression of all current targets and enter stealth. Emerge with an amplified attack.</em>


    <em>[3:] Quick Step: Travel short distances quickly. If an immediate [Backstab] follows, deal bonus damage.</em>


    <em>[4]: Shadow: Create a controlled illusion of yourself that can attack at half power.</em>


    Delta''s eyebrows shot up.


    A controlled illusion of herself? That attacked at half power?


    It fit with the ''dual'' nature of her ss. And while she''d only gotten a single skill this advancement, she wasn''t disappointed. The skill seemed incredible. Not just the effective fifty-percent increase in raw power, but the increase in versatility too. Her shadow-version would be able to take far riskier gambits, ones that Delta herself would have shied away from. Though that assumed the death of her clone didn''t cause significant harm to herself, and that she could sacrifice it in such a way. Like any skill, experimentation would be needed to discover its quirks.


    The downside, of course, was that the illusion was <em>controlled</em>. Which was also an upside. But the mental overhead necessary to control a second version of herself midbat was going to take enormous amounts of practice, if she had to guess. It might be impossible to use it to its full potential. Her brain would be the limiter.


    But she was pleased by that. Skills with high requirements for mastery were generally stronger than easier-to-use ones, at least if the user was sufficiently skilled.


    She expected future abilities would build on her shadow clone. It seemed like a foundational skill, simr to how Backstab synergized with many other of her ss abilities. Her mind started running wild with the possibilities. One such future skill could be the ability to swap ces with her clone. <em>That </em>was something she would fall in love with. Quick Step hade in handy plenty of times, but Delta wished she had better mobility. Repositioning was crucial to an assassin. How else would she find and exploit vulnerabilities? She already had tons of damage potential, but not as many ways to sneak in and utilize it. At least in her opinion.


    Briefly, Delta took a second to mourn that she hadn''t received any sex skills. Zoey''s presence—a sponsored disciple of a goddess—altering her own ss had seemed within the realm of possibility. A part of her had even <em>hoped</em> that her ss would mutate into something closer to Zoey''s. How amazing would that have been?


    At the same time, Delta appreciated having a normal ss. She only had one rune to go around; if she started developing sex skills, herbat prowess would suffer.


    And she guessed Zoey had plenty to go around by herself. Plus all the items they got from shards. No need for further redundancy.


    Delta nced at the tall doors leading out into the pce. Before she made a break for it, she ought to practice with her shadow, in case she needed it.


    Furrowing her brow, she mentally fumbled around, trying to grasp onto that strange ''activator'' that triggered ss abilities. Of course, she found it easily: the actual <em>using </em>of skills wasn''t the hard part. Rather, utilizing them effectively.


    Seated on the bed, Delta watched a fuzzy ck image appear in front of her. It solidified over the course of a second and a half. She took note of that. Rtively short summon time, but not instant. Definitely one of the ''quirks'' that Delta had mentioned she would need to learn to have a strong grasp over controlling the skill.


    The shadow stood before Delta, a perfect copy of her. Her athletic build, the same soft curves. Tight-fitting leather armor hugged her body in the same way.


    Delta wondered whether admiring her busty figure was egotistical, but she hadn''t ever been able to help herself from checking out a curvy girl—even when that girl was a copy of herself, she guessed.


    Two ethereal ck daggers were sheathed at her waist, which Delta took note of, since she didn''t have her own weapons drawn from her inventory. The shadow''s long ck hair syed out behind her in the same manner as her own. Her tail swished from side to side, idly. Her expression was nk, though her eyes met Delta''s own, and when she tilted from side to side on the bed, its gaze followed.


    A little shiver went down Delta''s spine. A shadow clone of herself. Staring at her impassively. It was a little creepy.


    Now the hard part. Controlling her.


    She couldn''t exin exactly how she did it. With the summoning of the clone, a second set of instincts had imnted into Delta''s brain. Mentally reaching out, she seized control of the clone''s arm and told it to rise. In front of her, the shadow outstretched her arm, palm facing up, held horizontally. Delta gave her fingers a few wiggles.


    "Weird."


    Reaching out—physically this time—Delta grabbed her own hand. She was both shocked and not shocked to find that the shadow had physical substance. She gave a squeeze, feeling soft skin press against her own. Fully tangible. The shadow didn''t react to her experiments.


    She moved into moreplicated motions. Drawing her dagger. shing the air. Prowling forward, low to the ground, making as little noise as possible. Then she tried joining the shadow''s movements with her own, moving both their bodies at the same time. That was many times more difficult.


    The mentalmands took fairly significant amounts of concentration, so she would need lots of practice before she could control it in a real scenario while acting in her own body as well. Maybe at some point it would be subconscious. But in time, she was confident she would achieve a level of control that would make the shadow a lethal asset inbat. Attacks from unexpected angles, nking maneuvers, distraction, and misdirection—the tactical options were endless.


    Nodding in satisfaction, Delta ceased her brief experiments. The shadow was an incredible addition to her skill set. She couldn''t have asked for a better upgrade.


    Then, perhaps inevitably, Delta''s thoughts wandered somewhere else.


    A clone of herself.


    A physical one.


    Which she could control.


    Oh, shit.


    Forget thebat possibilities. Delta had a million <em>other</em> ideas.