Chapter 67
Sssrrk.
I activated my inventory and laid the two corpses down on the floor.
A strong smell of blood wafted over me.
One was a corpse with its head severed.
The other was a corpse whose abdomen had been split open, its entrails spilling out.
My scythe was what had done this to them.
The moment I saw them, I couldn't help being reminded of that fact, so I turned my gaze to the holographic panel.
Someone had commented on the post I had written.
One Who Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : If you've learned a mind-splitting technique advanced enough to perform multiple actions, then you've fulfilled the training condition for Necro Sync, which allows you to share the senses of an undead body. ^^
Sharing senses.
I had a rough idea of what I needed to do.
ㅇㅇ(121F)(Author) : Does that training involve putting my consciousness into this corpse and making it stand?
ㄴ One Who Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : That's right! Thanks to the Reaper's scythe, its soul has been completely extinguished, leaving it a perfectly empty vessel for your consciousness. ^^
The moment I heard that explanation, I realized how the training worked.
ㅇㅇ(121F)(Author) : So if I practice synchronizing my senses by controlling a human body similar to my own, I'll be able to share senses with monster undead bodies too?
ㄴ One Who Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : Oh my… That's right! You're so clever, as expected!
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(702F) : He's the one learning, yet he's explaining everything;;;
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(346F) : LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I hurriedly asked the most important question.
ㅇㅇ(121F)(Author) : Then this is possible with the Blood Knight I've stationed on the 100th floor, right?
At that point, the necromancer on the 702nd floor answered instead.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(702F) : It'd be absolutely impossible with ordinary necromancy… but it's possible with the Blood Spirit Tea Ceremony Art.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(702F) : The blood circulating through the Blood Knight's body is spirit blood infused with your mana, right? It's practically a part of your body.
I immediately understood why Sword Venerable Jihee and Seol Harin had willingly stepped aside.
I understood at once why everyone had concluded that I needed to learn this first.
Necro Sync.
Once I learned this technique, I would be able to learn more than just the fact that an intruder had entered when the Blood Knight on the 100th floor encountered one.
I would be able to determine vital information in real time, such as the intruders' numbers, armaments, combat ability, and types of magic.
Knowing the enemy's information in advance meant gaining an overwhelming advantage.
That was something I had felt keenly while clearing the twenty-first floor.
Since I had been climbing while consulting the Gallery's information compendium from the 101st floor onward, I had even been able to afford the complacency of fighting with only my scythe.
Now I would be able to bring at least a little of that informational advantage into battles against intruders.
But.
The two corpses lying on the floor right now were a problem.
“Will this really work…?”
ㅇㅇ(121F)(Author) : But… one corpse has all its entrails spilling out, and the other doesn't even have a head. Is that really okay? Will I be able to move properly even if I put my consciousness into them like this?
ㄴ One Who Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : It's fine. ^^ There is a way! You just have to combine the two!
I flinched slightly at those words.
ㄴ One Who Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : Fit the intact neck of the corpse with the split abdomen onto the torso of the headless corpse! ^^
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(249F) : Huh?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(461F) : Damn…
ㄴ Seol Harin : Gasp;
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(543F) : Human chimera, damn
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(335F) : Legendary
It was a horrifying proposal, but there was no reason to hesitate.
Hadn't I thought, when I first killed them, that it was only right to make full use of a life I'd taken?
ㅇㅇ(121F)(Author) : Understood. I'll try it right away. But how do I combine them?
ㄴ One Who Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : You sew them together with blood. Since you've succeeded at Blood Tide Control, you must have completely mastered Blood Command. ^^
ㅇㅇ(121F)(Author) : Understood.
ㄴ Seol Harin : Seoyun, can you really do this…?
I ignored the reply and closed the Gallery window.
I adjusted my grip on the scythe and approached the corpse with the split abdomen.
“I should remove the neck first…”
Swoooosh-!
A precise half-moon arc.
I cleanly severed its head.
Then I dragged over the intact torso without a neck and pressed the two cross-sections together.
I placed my hand on it and accelerated the Circle in my dantian.
“Blood Command.”
Whiiirrr-!
The pools of blood on the floor responded to my mana and rose into the air.
The drops stretched out like red threads and burrowed between the cross-sections of the two severed necks.
Szzzt—crack!
The mana-infused blood began weaving together the tissues and blood vessels.
It was an extremely grotesque sight.
Now that they were joined, the two mages' skin tones were subtly different.
The skin around the face was pale, while the torso had a slightly darker tone.
A hardened smear of blood settled as a scar along the boundary between the two skins.
…
The corpse was whole again.
I opened the Gallery again.
The instructions for the next step had already been posted in the comments.
One Who Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : To transfer your consciousness, you need to become completely connected to the corpse. ^^
Fully connected.
Did that mean I just had to hug it?
After already going so far as to draw the corpse's blood into my body and circulate it through my organs, a hug was nothing.
But when I saw my teacher's next post, I realized that I had still been underestimating the grotesque nature of necromancy.
One Who Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : You need to sew part of your body to part of the corpse and fuse them completely. Once you're in that state, you can send your consciousness across!
…
It seemed she meant literally grafting myself to it.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) : No, that's a bit fucking much;;
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(643F) : The entry barrier is fucking brutal lolololololol
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(351F) : There was a reason she didn't explain it all in one post lololol She just wanted you to start first lololol
The gallery users' shock continued in a steady stream, their soft sensibilities from their previous lives still intact.
One Who Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : Hmm… Are you somewhat reluctant? But once you do it, the transfer will happen immediately. Having two consciousnesses in one body is inherently very unstable, you see. One overflowing consciousness will naturally flow into the empty space. ^^
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(543F) : Having to connect your bare skin to a corpse is seriously fucking insane lol;;
ㄴ One Who Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : That's only necessary for the first Necro Sync. From the second onward, the path will already be open, so contact between mucous membranes will be enough. ^^
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(432F) : Contact between mucous membranes…?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(249F) : What.
The gallery fell silent for a moment at that shocking choice of words.
But quite a few gallery users were unfazed.
ㄴ SSS-Rank Item Abuser : Newbie probably doesn't care, so why are you making such a fuss?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(702F) : Seriously, why are there so many airheaded fuckers… What warm and cozy world did you all come from…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(335F) : Yeah, I was eating cookies on a hill when I got possessed by the Demon King's Tower, though?
The necromancer with a fixed handle then asked a question.
ㄴ One Who Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : I've never had a humanoid body, so I'm not sure which body part would hurt least to sew together. Could you gallery folks recommend one? ^^
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(312F) : It all hurts…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(558F) : Wouldn't hair or fingernails be okay?
ㄴ One Who Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : Your blood has to connect!
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(558F) : Eek…
At that moment, Seol Harin offered a solution.
ㄴ Seol Harin : Seoyun, use Pain Block…
Ah.
Pain Block.
It was an anesthetic spell I had learned while acquiring a whole batch of 3rd Circle utility spells.
ㅇㅇ(121F)(Author) : Got it. I'll try using my finger.
I closed the Gallery.
I raised my right index finger.
“Pain Block.”
Fwoosh-!
A tingling sensation spread from my fingertip.
I laid my scythe on the floor and brought the tip of my index finger to its blade.
Slice.
I cut away a very shallow piece of flesh.
Then I cut away the joint of the chimera corpse's index finger.
I pressed the two cut surfaces together.
“Blood Command.”
Whiiirrr-!
Blood flowed from my finger like a red thread, stitching and binding the place where it met the corpse's finger.
Squelch.
That was the exact moment the physical connection was complete.
Fwooooooosh-!!!
One of the two consciousnesses that Persona Divide had expanded…
It was sucked in through the sewn-together fingers like water finding a drain.
“Gasp…!”
An unreal sensation.
My consciousness expanded in a grotesque way.
Blink.
I opened my eyes.
A view of the ceiling.
And then.
At the same time, a view gazing into the air from an oblique angle on the floor.
Two different viewpoints flooded into my mind.
Two fields of vision.
No, it wasn't only my vision—all the sensations I felt had doubled.
It was maddeningly alien and bizarre.
Sssrrk.
I raised my hand.
At the same time my hand rose into the air,
the corpse's hand also rose into the air.
“Wow…”
But I wouldn't have to control it by making the same movements like this.
I would be able to move it independently.
It went without saying that I was bound to be clumsy, since this was the first time I had ever had two bodies to operate.
I decided to try making the corpse stand.
No, I was standing up.
I braced my hands against the floor, raised my upper body, then put strength into my legs and stood completely upright.
…
…
I stood before myself.
I met my own gaze.
I slowly looked myself over.
Like that.
I kept both of us in view.
But neither side was a self I recognized.
Both were female bodies, and neither was human.
One was a Reaper.
The other was a corpse made from two people fused together.
I suspected the sense of alienation would only grow.
I would soon be facing corpses of monsters that weren't even humanoid.
The next in line would be the Blood Knight standing alone on the 100th floor, and to make that possible—
“Let's see how far this goes.”
I needed to learn how to handle this corpse's body.