Two voices rang out inside my head at the exact same moment, overlapping perfectly.
So technically, it wasn't an echo.
Two separate selves were coexisting simultaneously.
'Legendary…'
'Legendary…'
How utterly alien.
It was a sensation I'd never felt once in my entire life.
I swallowed hard.
This time, I decided to try having each of those two selves think different thoughts.
'Blue.'
'Red.'
…!
'Land.'
'Sea.'
It wasn't like I was thinking them one after the other. I could hold two completely different things in my mind at the exact same time.
If that was possible, then what about this?
'Star.'
'Umbrella.'
I raised my right index finger and traced a star.
Simultaneously, my left index finger drew an umbrella.
"This is insane…"
Completely independent.
I wanted to test more things, but there was a more pressing problem to deal with.
"Ugh…!"
Nausea surged up.
The dizziness was hitting its limit.
Circle stabilization was urgent.
I quickly shut my eyes and focused my consciousness on my dantian.
The moment I looked inside the circles—
'What the…'
I could tell something had gone wrong.
They were spinning however they pleased.
Rotating in bizarre arrangements and orbits, barely maintaining balance through sheer stubbornness.
It seemed like a side effect of using magic while still in an unstable state.
This was going to be harder to stabilize than the original tangled mess I'd started with.
'Yeah, no kidding…'
Whether it had calcified into place or what, the circles just wouldn't budge properly.
There was only one solution.
'I have to tear it all down.'
I cranked my mana up to maximum and slammed it straight into the four circles that had settled into their sloppy positions.
Hmmmmm—! CRASH!
I spun the circles at full force, violently shattering the balance they'd managed to hold.
The agony hit immediately.
"AAAARGH!!!"
My dantian twisted and contorted, reverting to that spaghetti state from when I'd first crammed in the 4th circle.
"Hnngh…!"
Swallowing the pain, I began re-establishing the reset circles one by one.
Sorted by size.
The largest—the 4th circle—placed outermost, then the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st layered inside in sequence.
Then I pumped mana in and began rotating them one by one in a regular rhythm.
No counter-rotation. I synchronized all the circles to spin in the same direction, at the same speed, at the same interval.
Shhhhh—
Several dozen minutes passed like that.
Finally, the nausea faded and the circles settled into order.
"Phew… I might actually live."
My head cleared.
Stabilization: success.
Now. Time to test the real heart of Mental Fork.
The purpose of this skill—obviously—isn't to draw a star with one hand and an umbrella with the other at the same time.
'It was supposed to let me double-cast.'
Now that I was in this state, how to do it felt completely intuitive.
Swish—
I raised both hands simultaneously.
Then I assigned each hand to one of the two minds.
With my right hand, I began drawing the magic circle for Dark Magic Missile.
Scratch, scratch—
With the other consciousness, I drew the magic circle for Shadow Sphere, a 2nd-circle spell.
Scratch, scratch—
The moment both magic circles were complete—
I overlapped the activation words in my mind.
'Shadow Sphere.'
'Dark Magic Missile.'
And then—
Hmmmmm—! FLASH—!
From the magic circle in front of my left hand, a spear of shadow condensed in midair. From the circle in front of my right hand, a jet-black sphere coalesced—simultaneously.
BOOM!!!
HMMMMM!!!
I released them into the wall.
"That's double casting!"
Success.
I let out a breath of amazement and lowered my hands.
Then I remembered the last thing I needed to check.
"Gotta see if both artifacts are equipped."
I pulled up the hologram and switched on the camera.
Click!
I checked the photo and started writing a post on the Gallery.
______
Title: Got 4th Circle and Mental Fork Success!
Author: Anon (100F)
{Photo of a silver-haired, blue-eyed girl with a faint smile, posed against a corner of a thoroughly wrecked wall.}
[STATUS]
…
Equipped Items: [Ring of Arcane Might], [Adventurer's Ring], [Magitech Cerulean Earring (+2 / Charge: 97%)], [Twin-Tail Black Ribbon], [Wrath of the Sun God], [Oblivion of the Time God]
Both artifacts are equipped now.
Getting the circle took 10 hours, learning Mental Fork took about 20 minutes. Stabilization after that took another 10.
And there was something I got stuck on during the learning process…
……
……
……
Solved it by deliberately stopping the circles like this.
In case anyone learns this later, take note. Thought it might help.
______
I hit refresh.
The first wave of comments was people reacting in shock to the fact that I'd successfully cast magic without stabilizing first.
Anon (430F): Wait so you actually used magic without stabilizing?? ;;;;;;;;
└ Anon (550F): That's insane lmao.
└ Anon (216F): How does someone even do that…
└ Anon (522F): Rank 1 pulled it off lol
└ Anon (164F): Blood Demon Sword Sovereign did it at 11th circle so it's not the same tier.
└ Anon (187F): Ngl the glazing is getting a bit much?
└ Anon (463F): Oh my god who DOESN'T know that, shut up!!
└ Anon (548F): Ignore the brainlets.
└ Anon (710F): The fact that a newbie is already being compared to the Blood Demon Sword Sovereign is itself insane…
After that, comments congratulating me on Mental Fork and the 4th circle came rolling in.
Anon (312F): ggggg
Anon (650F): Congrats. But newbie, that tip about using magic without stabilizing is probably not useful to anyone else…
└ Anon (349F): For real who's gonna do that lmaooo
Anon (431F): Whoa two Legendary artifacts that's disgusting…
Anon (312F): Stabilization done in 30 minutes lmao
Anon (249F): 4th circle achieved, congrats. Now you're at the same circle count as the mages in the 100s. ggg
At that point, one anon dropped a comment.
└ Anon (134F): Same circle count as me now huh…
└ Anon (643F): Oh so THAT'S why the 100-floor crowd has been getting so salty lmaooo
└ Anon (345F): You'll be getting lapped on circle count plenty more times ahead, don't worry lol
└ Anon (248F): But wait, can't the newbie just push straight to 6th circle at this rate?
└ Anon (710F): If she doesn't bother hunting them all down and just picks whatever, probably yeah.
'Straight to 6th circle…'
That implied there was some kind of difficulty or wall starting from the 7th circle onward.
I was turning that over in my head when Seol Ha-rin's comments appeared.
└ Seol Ha-rin: Congrats… you're genuinely incredible…
└ Seol Ha-rin: The fact that you deliberately stopped the circles to buy time for concentrated vibration is remarkable…
└ Anon (643F): Why do you sound so dazed about it?
Someone asked that, and Seol Ha-rin answered.
└ Seol Ha-rin: Because I feel bad… I think I could've told you that in advance. I've just never tried using mana without stabilizing first, so I couldn't help it ㅠㅠ
└ Anon (643F): She had her student do something she's never done herself? lmaooo
└ Anon (550F): Blood Demon Sword Sovereign did it though lol
I replied.
└ Anon (100F) (OP): I'm really fine. I'm grateful just for what you taught me.
└ Seol Ha-rin: Still… it was a tip I could've thought of even without having done it myself. I fell short.
└ Anon (431F): That is a bit of a shame.
└ Anon (249F): Time to switch teachers?
She ignored the snarky comments and asked me directly.
└ Seol Ha-rin: What did Mental Fork feel like to use?
└ Anon (100F) (OP): It's wild. Like another person moved into my head.
└ Seol Ha-rin: Right? heh. There aren't many experiences in magic that top this one. Have you tried double casting yet?
└ Anon (100F) (OP): Yeah. Drew two magic circles at the same time and it worked!
I replied like that, and a brief silence followed.
└ Seol Ha-rin: …Hm? Not incantation?
└ Anon (100F) (OP): No. I did it with magic circles?
She seemed confused for some reason.
└ Seol Ha-rin: Am I… misremembering something? Mental Fork shouldn't allow multi-action…?
└ Anon (432F): Huh?
└ Anon (383F): ?
Saying I'd double-cast by drawing two magic circles simultaneously seemed to be the issue.
The comment section started buzzing.
└ Anon (543F): Isn't Mental Fork only for multi-thought?
└ Seol Ha-rin: … Maybe my memory is wrong. Let me look into it again. Congrats on learning it for now!
└ Anon (324F): Nah nah, newbie probably misspoke?
└ Anon (643F): Why is she doubting herself when she's the one teaching lmaooooooo
└ Anon (246F): Newbie's new, makes sense ;;
The atmosphere was getting muddled.
└ Anon (246F): Hey newbie, aren't you mixing up incantation and magic circles? Multi-action shouldn't be possible with Mental Fork.
└ Anon (100F) (OP): What's multi-action?
└ Anon (246F): Exactly what it sounds like. Doing two physical actions at the same time.
Someone who didn't seem to be a mage asked on my behalf.
└ Anon (311F): So incantation isn't multi-action?
└ Anon (487F): Right, incantation works through subvocalization so it falls under multi-thought. Magic circles involve hand movement, so that's multi-action.
Someone asked me again.
└ Anon (324F): Newbie, you did it with incantation and just said it wrong, right?
└ Anon (100F) (OP): No, I drew two magic circles and double-cast, I'm telling you?
└ Anon (324F): ?
└ Anon (487F): That shouldn't be possible with Mental Fork…
I tilted my head.
Anon (100F) (OP): What are you talking about, right now I'm reading the Gallery with my right eye and staring at the floor with my left eye while practicing the magic circles Ha-rin taught me?
└ Anon (383F): Peak efficiency grinder is unhinged.
└ Anon (354F): Huh? Excuse me?
└ Anon (246F): Then multi-action is working for her…
└ Anon (311F): Maybe it's not actually Mental Fork?
└ Anon (487F): No no, there's no other consciousness-split spell at 4th circle or below besides Mental Fork…;;
Seol Ha-rin said:
└ Seol Ha-rin: Really…? But aren't you tired? Mental Fork isn't for training. It's better to only activate it during combat. If you keep it running continuously you might hit mana exhaustion, so turn it off for now.
"Huh?"
I couldn't understand.
└ Anon (100F) (OP): How do I turn it off?
└ Anon (249F): ?
└ Anon (643F): lmaooooooo
└ Seol Ha-rin: …What do you mean?
Seol Ha-rin asked urgently. Her tone had shifted into something almost interrogating.
└ Seol Ha-rin: Why don't you know how to turn it off? Keeping it running should be the harder part? You just stop the concentrated vibration and it shuts off…!
'But I'm not doing anything…'
I was confused.
I'd only vibrated my focus when the consciousness first split in two. After that, this state had just kept going on its own—there was nothing for me to do.
└ Anon (100F) (OP): It just… stays on even when I'm not doing anything?
└ Seol Ha-rin: ……Hold on.
That was her last comment, and then Seol Ha-rin went quiet for a bit.
└ Anon (461F): ?????
└ Anon (710F): Newbie's saying it's not on/off, it's always-on?
└ Anon (351F): Running Mental Fork as a permanent passive?? lmaooooooo
└ Anon (508F): Always-on Mental Fork that also enables multi-action lol
└ Anon (354F): What did the newbie do this time? Mages, someone explain.
└ Anon (548F): The mage who could explain is currently away from keyboard~
A little while later, Seol Ha-rin came rushing back.
Even through text alone, her shock came through clearly.
└ Seol Ha-rin: Seo-yun! What on earth… how did you do this! What you learned isn't Mental Fork…!
└ Anon (272F): ?
└ Anon (643F): Did she accidentally learn something completely different?? lmaooo
└ Anon (311F): ? Didn't you say there's no other consciousness-split spell at 4th circle or below besides Mental Fork?