C020 – Spell Remote Activation

C020 – Spell Remote Activation

[Ascension]

[Solstreus Plain: Area 12]

After eating lunch, fulfilling her daily needs, and giving Kuu another candy, Hecate logged back into the game.

As soon as she appeared, she left Solstreus City and headed for a certain area. The place was about 10 km southwest of the city, which she reached in one hour by continuously using her Dash skill.

There weren't many monsters she met on the way, except for a few low-level monsters.

[ ][Petit Furrabbit - Lv1~3](??)

[ ][Furrabbit - Lv5~10](??)

[ ][Adult Furrabbit - Lv16~30](??)

Furrabbits were non-aggressive furball-like creatures, suitable for beginners to hunt. The fur can be collected to make clothing items and the meat was quite tasty when cooked.

Their name indicates their growth stage which can be said to be quite fast. It takes about 3 days for them to grow from the "Petit" stage to the normal stage, and a week from the normal stage to the "Adult" stage. People usually hunt the adult ones and leave the younger ones to grow, as they produce more fur and meat than their younger stages.

But hunting them wasn't the reason why Hecate went to this place.

Area 12 was a place rarely visited by anyone, whether it was Players or Natives. The place was by no means a secret or remote place or unknown to anyone. But according to the region forum, there was almost no benefit to visiting this place.

The terrain was somewhat complicated and difficult to traverse, where there are many steep cliffs and ravines, unsuitable for horses and carriages. Hunting monsters here requires caution, as the terrain is tricky and one wrong move can lead to slipping off a cliff. Therefore, no one but people with climbing and parkour skills actually visit this place.

But because those reasons, this place was the perfect for Hecate to practice, since no one would bother her here.

Hecate chose a nice spot under a tree on one of the cliffs to sit. And just in case she was seen, she changed her attire first before creating her clone, and then changed back to her normal clothes.

"Okay... Mana Clone, come forth!"

The clone, still as white as a ghost, appeared not long after the skill's activation.

This time, its appearance was changed, following the equipment Hecate used during its creation. Right now, the clone looked like the ghost of an ordinary girl who had died due to unfortunate circumstances.

Spoiler ; ; Item Name: Cotton Clothes Requirement: All Classes Type: Armor - Body Rarity: Durability: 62/70 Crafter: Unknown Effect: None Description: A cloth made of an ordinary cotton fibers. You can find this kind of clothing anywhere because of the low cost of production. ; ; Item Name: Cotton Skirt Requirement: All Classes Type: Armor - Lower Rarity: Durability: 45/50 Crafter: Unknown Effect: None Description: A skirt made of an ordinary cotton fibers. You can find this kind of clothing anywhere because of the low cost of production. ; ; Item Name: Crude Headband Requirement: All Classes Type: Head - Upper Rarity: Durability: 15/15 Crafter: Unknown Effect: None Description: A poorly-made headband made of cheap materials. But at least, it can still fulfill its function as a headband.

Those clothes were bought from one of the refugees cheaply on the way when she passed the City Square.

They were sold by a very sad looking man who may have lost everything. So, she paid a few more coins, hoping to get an easy Karma +1. Unfortunately, it was a vain effort as the man looked numb from his sorrow.

But now, those clothes would be of use to her.

"Not bad! I think I still look good in it."

The atmosphere between before and after Hecate changed clothes was completely different. Now even if someone saw the clone, they might not be able to link this ghost to her.

Hecate controlled the clone, allowing it to run across the ground while simultaneously adjusting the commands to her liking.

There were several times when her control went wrong, causing the clone to become stuck in something or fall off a cliff. If that happened, she simply disperse the clone and create it again.

After nearly two hours of experimentation, Hecate's understanding of the clone deepened.

The clone has something like a HP bar, which decided by how much MP Hecate used during its creation. Every minute, this HP would decrease by 500, and any damage such as scratches on the clone would also reduce this bar. Thus, she activated Heart of Mana to increase her MP to above 100k, and used all of it from the start to make the clone last long.

And fortunately, she was able to recharge the clone's HP with her MP, provided she had to touch the clone.

Then, for the activity range, the clone seems could only go about 10 meters away from her position. More than that, control will be lost and the body of the clone will start to disperse and eventually disappear.

As for how Hecate controlled the clone's movements, she eventually settled with a few presets for static movements. Meanwhile, smooth and subtle movements, such as grabbing a foothold of the cliff, must be controlled by herself.

"Wait..."

Suddenly, Hecate came up with an idea, which seemed absurd even by her standards.

The clone was literally a lump of mana from herself in human form. Then, the fact that she could control the clone meant that there had to be an invisible link between her and the clone.

Then, if she could control the clone's movement with thought commands, why not spells?

"This idea is worth trying, let's see if my idea is right! Waterbolt!"

Hecate activated the Waterbolt spell that was in her Ring of Aqua.

She used her own thought to control where the spell would manifest. Instead of at the tip of her wand, the spell manifested as a blob of water in front of the clone, who was currently around 5 meters away from her.

But of course, because it was cast in this way, the spell control was poor. The spell was immediately launched without being able to be held back, and five bolts of water shot through the air and bombarded the cliff in front of the clone.

Still, it was a successful experiment.

Spoiler ; ; You have invoked the spell Waterbolt via your Mana Clone's body. Your discovery of the utilization of magic has been molded into a skill. You have created a new skill!

Please name the skill you have created.

You have set the skill name as Spell Remote Activation.

Skill Learned: Spell Remote Activation (Active)

You can remotely activate your spells through any object with your mana signature.

The object must be within 10 meters from your position.

Hecate couldn't help but let out an evil smile as she looked at the clone.

That was the last word she spoke before her body disintegrated, turned into a life-spark.

; ; You are dead!

Your level has decreased by 1!

You have dropped Emerald Brooch!

You will be disconnected in 10 minutes!

You will be able to re-login at your Save Point after 24 hours!

That day, a certain rumor was spread.

There was a girl from the refugee camp who died and came back as a ghost-type BOSS monster in Area 10. That ghost was extremely strong and comparable to the World BOSS that appeared recently. The origin of this rumor was a credible figure, who personally witnessed this ghost's brutality.

Because of this rumor, the entire Solstreus City was in an uproar.

Area 10 was near to the city and there was a BOSS monster roaming there?

Unfortunately, there was no physical evidence as the witness forgot to record their encounter. But as people investigate the site, they did found countless Furrabbit corpses and the aftermath of a great battle.

As for the ghost girl herself, she seemed to vanish and nobody seen her anymore.

Hecate's training to control the clone went well.

Over time, her clone control has become smoother and her killing speed has become faster. It didn't matter even if she didn't receive any experience, as she only intended to train. She didn't even bother collecting the loot, as it wasn't worth much.

Even though the control of spells cast through the clone was poor, it was fine to just shoot something in front of the clone. But then, it became clear at this point, that the MP cost of the spell had to be borne by the clone. Every time Hecate casts a spell through the clone, it will reduce the clone's HP according to the spell used.

But that was only a minor inconvenience, as she could simply touch and recharge her clone's HP.

Controlling the clones while moving simultaneously proved to be a pain, so Hecate just stayed in her hiding place while the clone was hunting, and moved only when the clone was done killing monsters in the area, before moving on to another area.

It didn't take too long for her to receive two notification windows.

Spoiler ; ; Skill proficiency has reached the threshold.

Mana Clone has leveled up to Lv2!

Your clone's body has become denser and its activity range has increased by 5m. ; ; Skill proficiency has reached the threshold.

Precision Mana Control has leveled up to Lv4!

Your control of the spells has been slightly improved.

Spell Power increased by 5%

Looking at the two notification windows, Hecate let out a smile.

Her beloved Mana Clone skill had reached Lv2, which might improve the clone's body somewhat. She didn't know the extent of this improvement yet, as the clone likely had to be remade to find out, and she felt there was no rush.

And the level up of Precision Mana Control skill was a complete surprise to her. Now, her spells being cast through the clones became somewhat controllable, though still a bit awkward. But it was still a great improvement.

Still, there was some unexpected things happening.

For example, the strange woman who appeared and suddenly shouted confusing things at the clone.

"She seems to be protecting those monsters... But why?"

This woman seemed to treat those monsters like her own children.

It was behavior that Hecate could not understand. Those monsters didn't have any Tamed mark, so they must be wild monsters. And wild monsters were supposedly free for all to hunt. So the woman should have no right to stop her.

Still, Hecate complied with the woman's request.

- 'If you need to vent your emotions, pour it out on me instead of them.'

As requested, Hecate killed the woman instead of the monsters.

Then, after killing the woman, she did not continue her training and left the place. Still, she did it at a loss, as not only did she have to give up the training, she also lost 1 Karma because of this.

The only consolation prize she received was just the unidentified brooch the woman had dropped.

"I did what she asked, so she shouldn't have any complain, right?"

Hecate checked the current time trough her game interface.

She still had to practice the Aura Breathing method at sunrise and sunset as well in the real world. Because she stopped her clone controlling practice earlier than scheduled, there was still nearly one hour left before sunset.

"Alright, I should return to Brynhild Fort tonight."

There was no reason to hang out in this foreign place any longer.

Hecate took out a certain item, Nerkia Town Scroll from her inventory. Even though cross-country teleportation was not possible, but teleportation to Nerkia Trade City was not blocked. Of course, she would have to report to the officers stationed near the Teleportation Gate there, but that was a trivial matter.

Without further ado, Hecate activated the scroll and disappeared from the place.

Just think of them as Tippy.

Clone's Activity Range.

Clone's activity range:

Base = 10m Mana Clone (Lv2) = +5m