I was meditating in deep space.

It was a dream, obviously. I was getting a vacation from getting skewered by dream Namrick. Mainly because I had something else important to do.

Ellin and I were busy failing to intrude on each other’s dreams. We experienced a few curious coincidences about dream contents, but actual communication had not succeeded. Failure.

Trying to ram my astral projection self against her wasn’t much of a use. I just slid around her natural barrier like on an extremely slippery surface. I had yet to find the trick of casting spells in such a state. Failure.

To share a dreamscape, we needed to establish some sort of link, and for that to happen, Ellin had to astral project like me. She had gotten proficient at lucid dreaming. She only needed that last push.

Then we both could spaz around like drunken flies in the astral world.

And finally, she would experience for herself that it’s not possible to peep around like a pervert. There’s absolute zero Kelvin sex drive in astral form. I’ve had enough of those accusatory glances, even if it’s just for teasing.

Who likes bald silhouettes, anyways?

I have superior standards.

『Allen! Can you hear me?!』

An intrusive telepathic voice echoed inside my head. It was Ellin. Finally!

『Allen: It’s about time! You made me wait six nights as you kept failing to activate the ring while inside your dreams.』

『Ellin: It was hard to do!』

She complained.

『Allen: It’s a piece of cake. I did the first time I tried.』

『Ellin: And you woke us all in the middle of the night. We thought you were under attack or something…』

『Allen: I told you. You just have to feel your spirit body where the ring is and active it.』

『Ellin: You’re terrible at explaining! Who even knew how to feel the spirit body?!』

Her projected voice betrayed a trickle of excitement despite the complaints.

『Ellin: It’s because you’ve been taught stuff by an Archmage!』

Well, maybe she had a point there. Usually, feeling your physical body would wake you up.

『Allen: Alright, but tone down your excitement or you’ll wake up and waste another attempt!』

『Ellin: Hmrgh.』

Ellin sent a mental sigh as she collected herself.

『Ellin: What now? Uh… is that you sending music my way?』

Ah right, I stopped the background music. MY rings transmitted the mental sounds of their users, but in a dream, all sounds were just that.

『Allen: Sorry.』

『Ellin: It was ni-』

『Let me pleasure you, my mistre-』

『Ellin: BEGONE!』

Something exploded. All sounds that came through the ring.

『Allen: …』

Pfff. I pretended not to hear. Teenager brains, and more specifically, dreaming teenage brains, are full of lust. She must have thought she didn’t want an embarrassing situation, so her subconscious summoned one for her.

A beginner’s mistake. Thoughts can materialize things and situations, that’s why meditation is key to dream control.

『Ellin: S-so…』

Her voice carried some embarrassment. It’s okay Ellin, it’s just the hormonal storm thing that cripples every teenagers’ brain. I had been one of them and still remembered with dread my younger days.

『Ellin: Are you speaking in a foreign tongue? I don’t understand.』

Shit, I had inadvertently sent that last thought. Okay, I make mistakes too, sometimes.

『Allen: Astral projection.』

I reminded her. It was important to keep her focus—and mine—on the task because the brain is not fully awake while dreaming. Focus.

『Ellin: Right.』

『Allen: Give me a moment to exit my body so I can see what’s happening during your attempts.』

I pushed out, and the world of luminous blobs came alight. In this state, there was no risk of getting swayed by the dreaming mind.

I floated through the faint outlines of the walls toward the trio’s rooms. Ellin was in her single bed while Grastel and Namrick slept in the room just outside.

I lowered myself toward the luminous bald silhouette of Ellin. Maybe if we enchant our hair, we can solve the astral baldness problem.

『Allen: I’m here, watching over our bald silhouette in a totally not creepy way.』

『Ellin: Who’s bald?! Don’t do anything weird!』

『Allen: Well, lucky for you, I haven’t yet learned how to do anything weird. Come on, try to astral project!』

I said back to her and observed her spiritual form for any change. I waited for a few minutes. Nothing happened.

『Allen: Are you doing anything? I don’t see any change.』

『Ellin: I’m trying, but I can’t “push out”, as you say.』

She said in a demoralized voice.

『Allen: Hmmm.』

What could be the difference between Ellin and me? I had started astral projecting a while ago when my skills were still limited.

The main difference was that I’m an enchanter… But I only used magic that-

Suddenly, I considered that I may have overlooked a few details in my former explanations.

『Allen: Maybe I have an idea. Give me a second.』

『Ellin: What’s a sekond?』

『Allen: Wait for a breath.』

I returned to my body and pushed out again a few times, slowly, while paying attention to the whole process.

That could be it.

I moved back in position next to the sleeping Ellin.

『Allen: Ellin, do you know about Jalkavian’s projection method?』

『Ellin: No… What is it?』

『Allen: It’s a way of pushing spells further away from your casting range that doesn’t involve telekinesis.』

『Ellin: Explain.』

『Allen: When you apply an enchantment, like the triggers you taught me, you can spin a mana filament connected to it. You should be familiar with that, right?』

『Ellin: Yes.』

『Allen: If you will it a certain way, you can make the filament rigid, so it extends away in a straight line. That’s how it feels when I push out.』

It was not a very precise way of pushing a spell and could only be used for small enchantments. That’s why it was considered obscure knowledge. Despite the flaws, it had worked reasonably well for my radar, which I had recently upgraded with telekinetic spells for straighter lines.

『Allen: So, does that ring any bell?』

『Ellin: I think… I think I know what you mean. Why didn’t you tell me before?! Wait. Let me try!』

She replied, excitement in her mind-voice.

I waited, remaining vigilant for any change. Once again, I was reminded how bad I was at explaining stuff. I’m not wired for that shi-

Something rippled in Ellin’s head area. Had it been just my imagination? It was hard to say since her spirit brimmed with light, so I lowered myself down to better see the surface.

It happened again!

『Allen: You’re doing something! Try again!』

『Ellin: I feel something!』

She exclaimed. On her forehead, another ripple shimmered as if something wanted to push out.

『Ellin: Urgh! why is it so hard!』

She grumbled with frustration, but she didn’t give up.

The ripple bounced down and up again… And finally, it happened.

A small bright glob escaped outside, tethered to her forehead by a mana thread.

She immediately started spazzing out, unused to the 360 degrees of vision. An absolute mess of squeals of joy and girly shrieks pierced my mind.

『Allen: Calm down!』

She didn’t calm down. Instead, she zapped around in random directions at very high speed. I felt dizzy by just trying to follow her movements.

『Ellin: Woooooooooo!』

I sighed and waited it out.

Eventually, she came to a stop.

『Ellin: Uhhhh… I feel dizzy.』

『Allen: Congrats, you gave me a headache too.』

『Ellin: I did it! I did it!!』

『Allen: Yep.』

I confirmed.

『Ellin: It’s so weird! I can see all directions at once!』

『Allen: You get used to it. Do you see me?』

I wiggled in front of her.

『Ellin: The glob at the end of the thread… Is that you?!』

『Allen: I’m a handsome glob of mana, am I not?』

『Ellin: This is so cool!』

『Allen: Why don’t you come closer so I can show you around and-』

Ellin crashed into me so fast I had no time to react.

Chaos.

It took me a moment to realize I could feel her every thought directly. We had somehow gotten tangled.

「Allen: Well, it looks like we managed to establish that link, somehow.」

But for Ellin, that task was secondary. Her emotions of joy and euphoria were leaking into me. How brightly she felt. My emotions were a pale shadow in comparison, but I was happy for her.

Kids should get the chance to be happy before it all goes to shit.

「Ellin: I’m so happy!」

She wobbled, but we were still tangled. I could see no actual tangle, though. I was getting aware of a new sensation I hadn’t experienced before.

「Ellin: What now? I’m stuck!」

「Allen: Hmm. This is the first time I get stuck to someone. I kinda feel something. We have to learn to control it, I think.」

I probed the link that was Ellin and tried to push her away.

At least, that was the plan. Instead, I ended up pushing straight into her spirit and found myself inside a dreamscape. A luxurious room with a big bed and flower petals scattered around. What really caught my attention was the huge hole that had erased a third of the room, revealing a bright sunny sky.

There were discarded clothes on the ground.

In a corner, I saw the statue of a ripped man in a provocative pose.

I see, I thought, my amusement leaking through the link.

Ellin appeared next to me, confused, and quickly devolved into an evident state of agitation.

「Allen: Are ya winning, daughter?」

I said to break the ice.

「Ellin: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!」

Everything exploded in a massive conflagration.

A big crater had replaced the ground.

Ellin sat pitifully facing away from me. Shame and embarrassment so thick I could almost taste them.

I had walked in on her before she could get rid of the evidence. Whoops.

So this is what a parent feels like when they walk in on their kids with a porn tab open, and they jump startled, failing to close it in time. I see.

「Ellin: Stop thinking weird things!」

「Allen: Well, at least I didn’t walk in whil-」

A giant hammer from nowhere pummeled me into the ground. It seemed I lacked dream control in this dreamscape because I couldn’t simply phase through it. I ended up having to ooze through the cracks.

「Allen: Whew…」

I was impressed. The dreamscape hadn’t collapsed despite all the excitement. Ellin was a natural. She was standing before me, her fists clenched and shaking. Her face was red like a strawberry.

「Allen: I’m so proud-」

Another hammer buried me again, deeper.

「Ellin: I’m not a pervert!」

I hadn’t said that, though. I oozed out again, reshaping myself into my usual form. That last complaint sounded like an admission.

「Allen: As expected from my disciple.」

I said with a stupid grin on my face.

「Ellin: AAAAHHHHHH!」

She wasn’t thinking straight anymore.

Things escalated. I liked teasing my friends a little, every now and then. All of a sudden, the dream crumbled, and I was caught inside a frenzied maelstrom of chaos.

Woah! What’s going on?!

Despite my efforts, I was being washed away and realized that this had to be how it felt to invade someone who dreamed blissfully unaware. The sleeping mind turned out to be a powerful protection against invaders.

I decided to let Ellin sleep. This had been a great success, and I had learned a lot more than expected. She needed to sleep through the embarrassment.

Next time I would invite her into my own dreamscape and test the effectiveness of Violet’s teachings.

I let myself out, returning to the out-of-body experience. I made my way back to my body. I didn’t have to, but it felt nice to float around weightless.

I passed over the silhouettes of Grastel and Namrick, and I wondered how hard it would be to have a shared dream everyone together.

As I approached my physical body, I noticed something off.

There was a big blob of light that wasn’t there before. As big as a volleyball and very bright.

I froze mid-air.

The fuck is that?

Not knowing what to do, I took a page from my nightmares. I zapped toward it with angry, stuttery, unpredictable motions.

The spirit pulsed and floated away. I tried to give chase, but it was too fast and nimble.

Shit, I thought, staring at the retreating light.

My mood turned sour.

Someone was spying on me.