Why had Space attacked him? Where was the stake? His clothes had a hole in them where the stake had pierced him but his skin wasn't damaged, he didn't even bleed. He got back up and looked towards Space, unsure if he was supposed to be angry or confused. Getting stabbed was not the best reward there could be.

"I had forgotten the initial pain could be excruciating but I swear it is a formidable treasure, said Space to defend himself. Don't look at me like that, it is well worth the pain I tell you."

Since Emp still seemed unconvinced. he just went straight for the meat of the matter.

"Here, let me explain. The thing I just planted into you is called the Sacred anchor of multiple simultaneous space occupation. I know it's not a very catchy name but trust me, that thing will never let you down. Haha, do you get it? Catchy, never let you down?" Space said with a grin.

Emp ignored the joke.

"Basically." Said an oblivious Space. "The anchor let you make a copy of yourself. If you ever need to be at two places at the same time, no problem, you only need to send another you!"

Emp just looked at him with a raised brow, unable to believe what he had said.

"The anchor makes a second you that shares the same body and the same mind as you. Your two selves can now reunite and split again whenever you want, you only need to will it. Once the two are united again, you will keep the memories and experiences of both!"

Emp was starting to understand the use of such a thing, if it ever really worked of course.

"So, if I use that anchor and the other me trains while I go fishing, I will get the benefits of the training as well as the fish?"

"Yes, although people usually find more interesting examples than training and fishing. But beware, for this to work properly, I needed to make it so that absolutely everything would be shared including tiredness, hunger and of course death. So, if either you or your copy where to die, the other would instantly die as well."

"Understood, to double the profits, I also need to double the risks. Is there something that is not shared?"

"No, nothing, but some things will be shared only once reunited. As a general rule, only the most critical of things will be shared instantly, like death to continue on my example. Otherwise, a scraped knee or even a chopped off arm will stay unknown to the other until you are combined again."

"I think I get it, how do I summon the other me?"

"Nothing more simple! I see that you have Luck's bottomless bag, do you know how to use it?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"Use the anchor like you would the bag, search in your mind for it and wish the other you into being. It's your will that controls it all. Go on, try, take your time."

Space started tapping on the tip of his nose as he waited for Emperor to do it.

Emp closed his eyes and focused his mind to search for the anchor. First, he found the bag, before this point, he had never noticed he didn't have to put his hand in the bag to feel it, that was an interesting feeling. Maybe he didn't need to put his hand inside to get things from it? He put the question aside for now and resumed his search.

He could feel his arms and legs and even feel what was in the bag easily but could not pinpoint the anchor. It was as if someone told him he had a third arm but he was unable to find it, it was frustrating. He searched and searched before finally, after a long time, he felt something he couldn't recognize. There it was! The anchor was in a place he couldn't describe, he had no idea where that was or what that was. The anchor wasn't on him nor in him, it was somewhere else.

Anyway, he had found it. He did what Space had told him and wished for the second him to appear. Almost immediately, he heard himself say "Oh!" in an impressed tone. He opened his eyes to discover that it wasn't him that had said it but a second Emp that had just appeared at his side like Space had said. Impressed, he couldn't help but exclaim "Oh!"

"It worked."

Emp took a good look at himself, after all, it was the first time he could see himself. He seemed a little over five feet tall, he had a pair of hazel eyes and short but messy brown hair. He wasn't as large as Chinui but definitely more than Sage or luck. It felt really strange to look at himself while seeing him do the same.

"Of course it worked, now look, I will show you something interesting."

Space pointed towards the far wall and asked Emperor.

"One of you go there and hit the wall strongly enough to hurt yourself.

The two Emp looked at each other with a pained grimace. Neither wanted to hurt himself.

"Go on young man, isn't it better to confirm all I told you now? You already endured the torments of the anchor, a little pain in the hand is nothing in comparison."

"Mhnn..." x2

Space made an impatient gesture and the two Emp decided to follow the instructions. Emp-two went to the far end of the room and punched the wall before leaking a pained groan. While he gripped his pained hand with the other and bent himself forward to comfort it, Space spoke to the first Emp.

"Perfect, now make him disappear."

Emp did as he was told and immediately, he remembered how he had made his way to the far wall and punched it. At the same time, his hand started to pain him greatly and he repeated the scene he had just witnessed. He gripped it and buried it in his stomach while the pain bent him forward.

"See? At first you felt nothing but the moment you remembered what you had done, the pain came back."

"I just hurt myself, I do not see what was so interesting about that. What was I supposed to see?"

"That wasn't what I wanted to show you, just part of it, now bring him back, you will see."

Annoyed, Emp did as he told anyway and the second Emp reappeared. He instantly saw it.

"He reappeared over there!"

"Yes, exactly! If you do not make him disappear at your contact, he will stay where he was! That gives you many advantages but I will let you think about them by yourself, what I wanted to tell you is many times more important. You cannot save yourself by making the other you disappear."

Emp was smart enough to understand what he meant but Space explained it anyway.

"If the other you ever happened to fall off a mountain for example, even if you called him back before he hit the ground, the instant you summoned it again, you would both die from the fall. The Sacred anchor of multiple simultaneous space occupation isn't an item made to defy death."

"I understand."

It wasn't that scary to think that if the other him died, he would die as well. Both of them were the same after all. Since he was sure he would be cautious in dangerous situation, there was no reason for either of them to die.

"The last thing you need to know about the anchor is that it duplicates everything that is on you but not the things in the bag."

"What do you mean?"

"I will show you.

He called back the other Emp and asked him to get anything out of the bag, as long as it was easy to recognize. Emp-two searched his bag and got the book of answers out of it.

Space then turned towards Emp and asked him to look for the same book inside his bag. He focused on his bag like he usually did but in the end, was unable to find the book. Space read the result on in his expression and finished his explanation.

"This is what I meant, the book is over there, how could it be in your bag at the same time? When he put it back in the bag, you will once again be able to pick it up from your side. Since it's the same bag, they share the same space."

"How come there is two bags but only one book?"

"There isn't two bags young man, there is only one that is sharing two spaces at the same time like you are currently doing. The bag was on you so it was copied with you, the book was in the bag so it wasn't."

"If I put something in the bag that wasn't there at first, will the other me be able to take it?

"Yes, exactly. Your bag now has two openings to access it. Like a second door on a house. There are a lot of advantages but also the obvious disadvantage that while one is using something, the other won't be able to take it."

"Alright, I got it but, what would happen if the other me took off something that got copied with him, his clothes for example? They are the same after all."

"If the other you gets rid of something that was copied with him, it will still disappear when you recall him. You cannot lose something that way but you can't make infinite copies of a thing either."

"That is interesting."

"I know right? I'm quite proud of myself. Now, let's go over my blessing!"

Space raised one of his long fingers and touched Emperor's forehead. A blinding light invaded his mind and vision before quickly receding and getting back to normal. Emp had no idea what had just happened but he knew Space would tell him before he had the time to ask.

"The blessings will show up on your hunting card but not their effects. Because yes, there are effectively effects bound with them. Haha, what a wordplay!"

Emp ignored the wordplay.

"What you will be able to accomplish with this will only depend on yourself but I will give you the basics. Space and distances don't work like you think they do. They are often nearer than what you think. For example, the far wall from earlier. You could say it's on the other side of the room but in fact, it's just a step away."

Space gestured for Emp to watch closely and raised a foot he slowly placed back down beside the wall. The two Emp were tongue tied. He had just made a ten meters wide step! Emp had no idea what had just happened. His eyes had to be tricking him, Space had not jumped, he had not stretched himself either and did not disappear, he had just taken a normal step. It was impossible! How could it be?

"How?"

"I told you, distances are never how they seem. All you have to do is look over here and convince yourself that you are only a step away since this is the truth anyway. All you have to do is to stop believing this is impossible. You have to feel your proximity to the wall."

Emp focused on what Space was telling him and tried to understand that new knowledge. Maybe he was right and the wall wasn't that far away. He made a step forward and found himself were he expected to be, just a step away from where he had been. The other Emp tried as well with the same result. They practiced like that for a whole day under the amused gaze of Space.

As they tried again and again, Space told them how to do it over and over. It was more a question of sensation and instinct than a question of knowledge which didn't help Emp in the least. He knew he would get it eventually but he had other things to do, there was a boulder full of liquid gold waiting for him outside and he had a long road to travel. Space, to cheer him on, told him that those who completed his trial usually assimilated the blessing in less than a complete day.

Finally, in the evening, Emp did it. He had made so many tries already that at this point, he was more daydreaming than anything else. His eyes lost their focus on their own and he felt like everything rushed towards him. He immediately found himself on the other side of the room. Space cheered and Emp himself was really surprised. From then on, it became easier. After he understood he had made it, he recalled the second Emp back to him to share the memory of it and acquire the memory of seeing himself do it . Then, he split again and trained once more. Quickly, they managed to make it happen again and redo it more and more often. He felt really happy and since he was doing well, Space decided it was enough.

"You are getting better, that's good. If you could take a break now and recall your double I could tell you about what comes next."

Emp nodded, touched his double and made him disappear. He sat down against the wall and listened to Space. It was seemingly a god that had a lot to say.

"It's a great ability isn't it?"

"Yes but wasn't the challenge too easy for such rewards?"

"What do you mean?"

"I wondered all afternoon, it wasn't dangerous and I made it by luck. I won the ability to make a second myself and even a way to move weirdly."

"But it wasn't only the trial, you also need to find the place and manage to get in. Every God has a trial room hidden in the most remote places of the world, most people don't see a single one in their whole life and those who do often fail the trial and almost never find a second one."

"But why are they so hard to find, once someone gets to it, he should tell everyone else where it is no?"

"That's exactly what I wanted to talk about now, the rules. Once you get out of here, you are forbidden to tell anyone about this place, that is the rule. People will be able to read the blessing on your hunting card but will never be able to get the location of the trial ground out of you."

"Is it that I cannot tell anyone or that I will be made to not tell anyone."

"Both, the blessing itself will stop you from talking about it and if the gods ever learned that you still managed to tell someone, you would be punished harshly."

"I get it, I will not tell anyone about the trial ground."

"Good, aside from that, there isn't much else to tell. The most important is for you to remember that my blessing isn't just some weird way to walk, it's a way to influence the space that surrounds you."

"What does that mean?"

Emp did not get it, he had been very sure it was only a way to move quicker.

"Well, until now, you only managed to reduce the perceived distance between two points to get there faster than a normal person but there are so many more way to use it than you think. I am not supposed to tell you how to use it for the simple reason that it would be boring but, you should use your head much more than your legs. If you really think about it, I'm sure that you, as the creation of Sage, will find all kinds of uses to it."

Emp already couldn't wait to see what he could do with it. He had been happy with the faster way to travel already but now that he knew there was more to it than that, his curiosity was dancing of happiness in his head.

He wanted to know what he could do with it very badly but for now, he was exhausted. Since the night was upon the land already, it was probably wiser to stay here until morning and go back out only on the morrow. He asked Space if he could sleep here for the night.

"Yes, of course, I don't mind, I'm glad you can use your mind sometimes. See what I did? Mind and mind!"

Emp ignored the enormous smug on Space's face and ate a little before he fell asleep like a rock against the wall. He didn't fear Space and knew it was definitely the safest place in the region to sleep in.