'They attacked you directly?'
Eli frowned at Middendorffi's description, 'Was it powerful? Did it hurt you?'
'Nope.' Middendorffi shook her head, 'The lightning bolt in the back might have chipped off some if it had hit, but I dodged it, and then it just pumped away the black mist. As soon as I drew it away, the 'door' closed.'
In reality, even if some of it was clipped off by the lightning, it was still painless for the black mist. It was a much lighter drain than even a gecko breaking its tail, and Middendorffi had chewed away most of the energy on the 'door' side, and didn't care about the drain.
''Door' closed?' Eliwen, 'And do you want to absorb it afterwards? Do you still want that part of the black mist to wait around and continue to hold it up for devouring until the next time the 'door' opens?'
'No need.' Middendorffi said, 'There shouldn't be much energy left, and there's no telling when it'll open, so I'm not waiting.'
'If you don't want it, you don't want it.' Eli said, 'So, is your part coming back? Will it be able to come back on its own, or are you going to have to pick it up?'
'It should be able to come back on its own.' Middendorffi said, 'I'm manoeuvring it to return, a direct flyby from the air, no detours, should be there soon.'
Borrowing the cover of the night, the Black Mist didn't need much camouflage, and it was very easy to move around. If one could learn spatial-type skills in the future, one might even be able to directly move instantaneously, and that would naturally be even faster.
Middendorffi didn't worry much about the movement of his doppelganger, and only continued to discuss with Eli about what he had seen and heard at the wild lake: 'However, Zhang Dao should have seen me running out of the lake. Will he recognise it as me?'
'Even if he does, what can he do?' Eli said. Eli said, 'Even if he told the Cloud Hidden Sect, just tell them that it was you pickpocketing the "door"-they think it was lying on the Spirit Vein and absorbing the energy in the vein, what can the Cloud Hidden Sect do with you? '
In his words, he very much did not take the Cloud Hidden Sect seriously, and in fact, he had the qualifications to do so. He said slowly, 'I warned the Cloud Hidden Sect not to hit on you and to consciously stay away from you. If they come to bother you because of this Spirit Vein matter, that would be going against my warning.'
Middendorffi then realised that Eli had warned the Cloud Hidden Sect, 'Why did you warn them? Was it because I said I still wanted to be a normal human?'
'Partly because of that. And partly because once such sects meet a great power, they want to climb the ladder, like they did when they came to invite me.' Eli said, 'They'll wind you up with words and use you for things. I don't like it when people do that to you, so I warned them to stay away from you.'
Middendorffi thought for a moment, 'If they must touch me, I can make them fear me too much to play tricks on me.'
'Humans can be complicated, even if you're not easily sympathetic when you're a force to be reckoned with, you don't have to be completely unused.' Eli said, 'Sometimes a thing is good for you and good for them. Then they talk you through the pros and cons of it for you, persuade you to do it, and you do it. This mutual benefit can make you unaware of their exploitation.'
Middendorffi thought for a moment, 'Don't the "collectors" do the same to us when you say this?'
'... Indeed, you are quite clever.' Eli gave a smile, 'But you're already on good terms with the "Collectors" and they're not just using you as a tool to lend a hand, but in turn helping you out as a vulnerable group. So I think it would be good to befriend them with you.'
Middendorffi understood, 'So the people who have been asking me to give, going along to get benefits from it, and who don't really care about me, are simply using me, yes?'
'Yes.' Eli looked at him and slowly said, 'It doesn't matter if you can't tell the difference, I will help you identify it. Just like now, if the Cloud Hidden Sect wants to harass you, they have to cross me first.'
With this statement, he was already blatantly minding Middendorffi's interpersonal relationships. On the contrary, Middendorffi trusted him wholeheartedly and nodded without any thought, 'Hmm.'
Eli smiles slightly.
He was about to say something else when, just then, Middendorffi looked in the direction of the door, 'Back.'
'... Your part?' Eli wavered for a moment, then realised what he was talking about, 'Why in the doorway? Wouldn't you just come in through the window?'
Before Middendorffi could answer, a knock could be heard coming from the door.
Eli was even more puzzled, 'More knocking?'
Middendorffi walked straight over and opened the door.
A youth who looked exactly like Middendorffi, dressed exactly the same, and even had the same expression, stood in the doorway.
He then takes one step in, under Eli's gaze, and reaches out to embrace Middendorffi!
Eli:!!!
He subconsciously teleported to Middendorffi's side and raised his hand to yank the youth. But his hand reached and the youth disappeared. To be precise, the moment the youth embraced Middendorffi, he turned into black mist and returned to Middendorffi's body in full.
Eli closed the door and twisted his head, 'What's going on? How come there's still a human form?'
'I can't say.' Middendorffi was also quite bewildered, 'This part, it seems to have a bit of a consciousness of its own, but it's under my complete control. I can perceive it completely, sense the information it acquires, the feedback it generates, whenever and wherever I want; at the same time, my thoughts can be fully due to this part, acting freely with it, no different from manipulating myself ...'
He rambled on for a rare moment, and at first it was quite confusing. But Eli listened and at once thought of some possibility, 'Extra-magical incarnation?'
'... is it?' Middendorffi said, 'I don't know anything about cultivation, but I can confirm that it's a part of me. It would just be a bit of that ... 'subjectivity' if you split it off? I don't think it's a bad thing. Maybe put it out there and it can prey on me on its own.'
'So are you sure you can fully master it?' Eli asked, 'Suppose it swallows more energy than your portion, will it turn on you?'
'The energy it swallows comes directly to me. If it needs energy when it fights something, I can redistribute it as well.' Middendorffi said, 'The part itself can't digest too much energy or it will collapse and dissipate. Just like when I devoured the 'Mayfly' before, it would probably have collapsed without your help as well.'
After a pause, he added, 'If I hadn't managed to swallow the "Mayfly", I wouldn't have been able to swallow so much energy on my own this time.'
'That would be the extradimensional incarnation.' Eli said, 'Now that this part is back inside you, will there still be a consciousness to communicate with you?'
'Nope.'
Eli reached out, 'Let's see?'
Middendorffi then hands him his hand.
Eli held the youth's hand, and carefully perceived the other side.Middendorffi is unlike other people, demons, monsters, beasts, he does not have the so-called meridians, gong methods, Eli can perceive, only majestic but introverted, no fixed operating path but still stable ... energy mass.
The black mist was an energy mass that didn't even have a core.
'Shouldn't be a problem.' Eli pondered slightly, 'But I may be checking on your condition at any time lately, and you must also speak to me immediately if you think there's a problem. We're not even sure what kind of upbringing you've had, it used to come casually, but now it's time to pay attention.'
Middendorffi again obliged him without question, 'Good.'
Eli remembered another thought, 'By the way, so it became the same shape as you, was that your manipulation or its own consciousness?'
'Not my command.' Middendorffi returned truthfully, 'I only told it to come back.'
'So the doppelganger is instinctively mimicking you, the main body?' Eli asked again, 'And if it was only mimicking you, why did it embrace you?'
Middendorffi queried, 'I recycled the part, so it came to be near me, right?'
'That's not what it says ...,' Eli wanted to ask why the hugging gesture, but again, it was hard to explain. Thinking about it, Eli could only say, 'You split a part of you off again and see.'
Then Eli kind of regretted saying the offer.
Because the black mist released by Middendorffi soon transformed into the same human form as Middendorffi again, and then stood next to Middendorffi!
How close? It was right next to Middendorffi from behind, with his chin still resting on Middendorffi's shoulder.
The two identical faces were almost pressed together, and Eli looked away in a trance.
'Why is the extradimensional incarnation standing close to you?' Eli frowned slightly, 'That wasn't a move you asked for, was it?'
'I didn't ask for it.' Middendorffi inclined his head to look at his doppelganger, or 'himself' to be exact, and surmised, 'It's probably because all the parts of me, instinctively come together. That's how the black mist form stays.'
That seemed right to Eli, but something about the actual manifestation seemed wrong.
'Your alter ego, does it have to come out in human form?' Eli couldn't break it up with Middendorffi, so he could only make a side comment, 'If you walk around with your face on, it might cause misunderstandings. And if you're in human form, you'll be noticed if you go to some remote or sensitive places.'
Middendorffi's mind moved, and the doppelganger next to him transformed into black mist, 'It should just be mimicking me acting.'
In fact, Eli certainly knew that an extra-magical incarnation would mimic the main body. But a humanoid guy sticking to Middendorffi, even if it was essentially Middendorffi himself sticking to himself, visually it was a bit disturbing. Now that Middendorffi had melted it back into the black mist without saying a word, Eli's heart smoothed out and asked, 'So are you going to put the avatar out to hunt for food now?'
'Yes.' With a nod from Middendorffi, the black mist flew out of the window.Middendorffi also explained, 'I'm letting it patrol the city first.'
'It's good not to go too far away, so you don't get partially cut for nothing if something happens.' Eli walked over to the bedside and looked in the direction the doppelganger had gone, 'If it finds anything tricky, we'll go check it out ourselves, we don't have to let your avatar deal with it hastily.'
'Good ...'
The two chatted about this and sat down to watch the video again. Just then, a message came from Eli's phone, again from Zhang Dao.
Eli opened the message in front of Middendorffi.
Zhang Dao: [Mr Jones, is the ... on the Spirit Vein Mr Bear?]