Jack followed the directions he had memorized. Grace and Oswald followed him. When Grace kept on complaining about the rats, Jack informed Grace that the rats were the key, they needed to follow them. He then gave her a simple explanation about the nature of this forest, about how it was separated into different cells that trapped those who traveled inside. Only when one passed through a node that one could travel in between these cells.
When Jack brought her passing through her first node. She didn't feel anything. Her mana sense was still at its very beginning stage. She had to close her eyes and concentrate before she could feel an inkling that something was unusual there.
They went through three nodes before arriving at the cell where Jack last saw Jet. They started searching around. As long as Jet was still within this cell, they would stumble into him sooner or later.
After wandering for a while, they heard something. "Sounds like fighting," Grace said.
"Let's go take a look!" Jack said and took point.
They soon came upon the source of the sound. It was indeed the sound of two people fighting. Or more correctly, two identical dwarfs fighting. Two Jets were fighting against one another. The more fascinating thing was that they both used the same style. Both of them jumped around trying to hit each other with their katars.
"The heck…!" Jack uttered. He used Inspect on both of them. Both displayed the same information.
Hearing Jack's voice, the two Jets turned to them. "Jack boy!" both of them shouted at the same time.
"Hey, why are you copying me?!" The left-side Jet scolded.
"Damn copy! It should be me asking that question," the right-side Jet scolded.
"Calm down!" Jack said. "One of you is a fake, but do not worry. We have a secret weapon against such a trick. Grace, do your magic!"
When Grace didn't respond, Jack looked back, "Grace?"
"What? I can't tell if any of the two is fake," Grace answered.
"But didn't you say you can notice the difference?" Jack asked.
"I can if I know the person well. I haven't known him for long. How can you expect me to know all the details of his appearance?"
"Eh? But you know me around the same time as him. Maybe we are old friends in the past, but you only started seeing my real appearance at the tournament. That's around the same time you have seen him as well. So, why can you know my details but not him?"
Grace didn't answer, she instead lowered her head. When Jack was about to say something, Peniel smacked him on the head. "You insensitive brute. Stop speaking or I'm going to slap you for her!"
Jack was confused by Peniel's action, but he didn't ask Grace further. He didn't notice Grace's cheeks that had gone red. Oswald was sighing by the side and thinking, 'To think that I have been defeated by a clueless guy like him. Sigh… How low I have fallen...'
The left Jet was getting impatient. He said, "What are you doing, Jack boy? Hurry come here and defeat this doppelganger with me!"
"That should be my line, you fake cheat!" The right Jet uttered. "I will show you my Seven Injuries Fist! The real one will be the most proficient with this martial art!"
"Good idea! That will be how I unmask you," The left Jet didn't back down.
The two lunged at one another again. Jack didn't stop them. Letting them exhibit their signature martial moves should indeed be the most likely way to determine who was real and who was fake. But when they clashed, the two used almost the same punching move. Each executed seven punches that bordered on reality and illusion, fast and slow. Both of them were also proficient enough to evade the fists. They ended up getting hit by two of the seven punches. Both their HPs went down.
"Shit… Even their martial arts are equal," Jack uttered dejectedly.
The two Jets seemed unhappy with the result just now. They couldn't believe that they were at a standstill even in martial arts execution. They were just about to go at one another again when Jack abruptly shouted, "Look! A naked woman!"
"Where?" The left Jet's head turned to where Jack was pointing with such speed that it defied logic. The right Jet's gaze lingered on Jack for a bit before turning.
"Got you!" Jack shouted and sent Wind Slash to the right Jet.
That Jet was startled by Jack's sudden assault, but he was still reflexive enough to jump away. One of the three wind energies still cut him, though.
"Oswald, attack!" Grace said while casting a spell. She had started casting once she saw Jack take action.
Oswald's body zipped forward and arrived before fake Jet in an instant. He then disappeared when Jet tried to punch him. He reappeared behind Jet and delivered a backstab, but this Jet was equally skillful as the real one. He turned back swiftly and slapped, foiling Oswald's backstab.
"Let's gang this son of a b*tch!" The real Jet was about to join the fight, but Jack held him back. "No! You stay back! We can't have you get mixed up with him again. It will be trouble if we have to again try finding out which one is the real one."
Grace's spell formation was completed and a lightning snake shot out. It was the Chain Lightning spell. Grace had used the Universal Technique Book to learn this offensive spell from the Elementalist class. She could now be said as an all-rounded character, with healing spells, offensive spells, and the capability to melee. But of course, being all-rounded also meant that she was just average in all. She didn't mind though, she preferred this way so she had more options for every situation.
The Chain Lightning was fast. It hit fake Jet who was busy dodging Oswald's attacks. Fake Jet got paralyzed from the spell. Jack threw a few more spells as well before joining Oswald ganging the doppelganger. Fake Jet soon turned with a poof into black smoke. This black smoke was similarly blown away despite there being no wind.
"Damn! That was spooky," Jet said. "Wait…! You three are real, aren't you?"
"If we are not, don't you suppose we would have ganged you instead?" Jack said.
"Heh, well then I am really glad to see you, people!" Jet jumped and hugged Jack. "You don't know how scared this old man is. Oh, I truly regret following you here, Jack boy. Of all the places you have to pick thisâoof!"
Jet had let go of Jack and was heading to Grace while talking. He was in the middle of a jump to hug Grace but ended up getting a fist.
"Damn, girl! Can't this old man express his joy in reuniting with his teammates?" Jet complained.
"I can welcome your hug," Oswald said with open arms.
"Who wants to hug you? I've just known you for one day!" Jet retorted.
"All right, cut the crap!" Jack said. "I already know the way to get through this forest, but I have only looked for the path to get to you two. Now I'm going to map the path going forward. I need you guys to protect me while I'm checking them out. We don't know if the vines will attack and try to separate us again. Be vigilant!"
Jack summoned Therras and his ten wolves for extra security. He then sat cross-legged.
"How are you going to… Oh, I get it. You are doing your corporeal state," Jet came to an understanding. He then took his position beside Jack and stood guard. Grace and Oswald did the same, they didn't truly get it but Jack had given them a brief explanation about his corporeal state ability when they were on the way here looking for Jet.
Jack did as before. He went to the furthest part of the cell to touch the barrier's mana. On his way, he thought about the nature of a single cell. It always placed the people inside as its center, but what if these people separated? Who would the cell consider as the center? If the cell picked one of them as its center, then the others could move towards the barrier physically.
But then he remembered, the vines that separated them had only attacked when Oswald started moving away. Which meant this was a mechanism applied so that the people in the cell continued to stay at its center. If they didn't, they would be forcefully divided and placed in one cell each. This rule probably had exceptions only for those who had just passed through a node, like how he did when he was looking for Grace and Jet. But now that they were together again, they were most likely considered as one group again.
Jack looked back to where his body was. He was already too far away. He hoped his friends didn't try to move away from one another when he was out.
