The rings on Trace's fingers vanished. His body was already that of a normal man, even with the rings. Now, he had truly lost everything. But his eyes were full of hope. He thought of the scene from earlier today.
"Master, I want to be with…" he paused.
How could he pick one person? The time spent with Noelle and Eimi was equally important. All his life, he went with the flow. But now was the time to change.
"I can't give up on Noelle, I can't leave Miss Swirls either!"
"But Noelle left Koyoko and little Swirls' mother doesn't like you," Master said.
"To gain acceptance of her mother, I need coins and become a powerful Sorcerer. But Noelle… she doesn't want anything. I have to tell her how I feel."
"But what about loving only one person?" Master asked in a confused voice.
Trace sighed and deeply looked at his master. It was a tough question. Do I have to give up? Uneasiness filled his heart. He pulled his legs up on the sofa and closed his eyes.
Slowly, all of his thoughts disappeared. A flickering flame emerged in the darkness. It stabilized slowly and split in two. Trace's eyes snapped open. He saw Master smiling at him.
"Master, I can clone myself!"
"Good idea, but how will you do that?" Master asked in an amused voice.
"I cannot clone my body…" Trace said. "But I can clone my mind!"
Trace might have said that in the spur of moment but Master's smile widened. For a normal person, this was impossible. But what about the apprentice of 'The Greatest Fortune Teller of The Century'?
"Try it, Trace. It might work."
Trace nodded on receiving Master's approval. He closed his eyes and seven lights emerged. Step by step, they combined into each other. A figure blazed up in orange was seen. Its face was distorted by flames, but the physical features were like Trace.
The blazing figure shuddered and dancing flames around it froze. But nothing more happened. Trace opened his eyes when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Trace, try to split it with mana."
Mana? Trace closed his eyes again and repeated the process from earlier. The same blazing figure materialized again. It froze, and then nothing happened.
An unknown amount of time passed before two rings appeared on the figure's hands. Trace's physical body shuddered along with the figure. Coldness erupted from his very soul, but an equal warmth flooded in.
It was as if the blazing figure was ripped into two equal parts. One part carried the hand with two Sorcerer rings. Gradually, the two parts generated their missing whole.
Two identical human shaped figured formed inside Trace's mind. But suddenly, the part carrying Sorcerer rings turned blood red. While the other still shined orange.
When Trace opened his eyes, he noticed his clothes were drenched in sweat. It was just like when Rae pushed him into the pond. But this time, he opened his mouth to let out a burst of air instead of water.
"Go take a bath, I will explain it later," Master said after lifting his hand from Trace's shoulder.
Trace rushed downstairs. The clothes hung like heavy jelly on his body, slowed his movement. In the shower he realized that his hands did not have rings anymore. Instantly, he remembered master's words and calmed down.
…
"Master, did I succeed?"
Master was looking out of the window. He turned back and smiled when Trace entered the room. Both the master apprentice duo lacked rings on their fingers now.
"Yes, now you have two separate minds."
Trace was thrilled on hearing it. His fists were clenched and his heart was set. I should try to switch, he thought.
"Wait," Master said. "Trace, this is more complicated than you think. For now, you cannot switch to the other state. It will take time to mature. You will eventually share same memories but can have different opinions and likings."
"Master, thank you for teaching me this!"
"Don't slack off now, make sure to properly cultivate…"
Master paused. He looked out of the window and sighed. The Sorcerer System was a systematic path that focused on forming rings.
"Cultivate?" Trace asked.
"Keep working hard Trace, properly cultivate and become a strong Sorcerer. The most important thing in this world is strength, money will follow and so will your dreams."
Trace looked at his master deeply. He could tell that Master's eyes were closed now. It was as if the man was reminiscing. About an hour passed before Master said.
"Are you going to meet Noelle or not?"
"But-master…"
"I will tell you where she has gone. Why don't you enroll in the academy as her," Master said while smiling.
"We don't have any money," Trace slowly said.
"My apprentice worries about money? How can I allow that? The academy has some free courses, make this trip worth."
"Master, I don't want to stay in a foreign land."
"Don't worry about me, I will stay here and make the business boom again."
"Yes, master," Trace said after some time.
"Now go, tell little Swirls that you will be gone for the next six months. I will arrange for your travel."
…
When Trace reached back home, he saw a carriage parked in front of the shop. He quickly climbed the stairs. Inside the room, three people were present. They were his master and the coachman brothers. Thomas and Lucas Klutch.
"Young master, I came to see ya!" Thomas Klutch said.
"Thank you for saving my daughter," Lucas said.
He also stood up, along with his little brother. But as soon as he said those words, his eyes turned away. He rubbed his stomach before taking a peek at Trace.
"Beautiful Rose talks about ya, I saw how ya jumped on tha carriage," Thomas said.
He reminisced about the past. The room turned lively with words. After twenty minutes, the party departed.
Trace looked at his master one more time before climbing up the carriage. His master had prepared a little backpack for him. It contained a lunch box, water bottle with a change of clothes and a sealed letter.
The carriage moved and soon Trace could not see his house anymore. He was looking waving at his master little the last moment. A surge of emotions rushed to his eyes and turned into tears. He wiped the tears, but his palms rested on his face for a long time.
"Young master, look ahead. Your future is limitless," Thomas said.