Chapter 156 - Farenlight’s Den VI

When Claire opened her eyes, she found herself within the confines of the manor’s courtyard. She was seated in a fancy gazebo, garnished from one end to the other with beautiful flowers in full bloom. Glowing lilies, vibrant roses, and dazzling orchids decorated every last nook and cranny, completely obscuring the dark cherrywood with which the pavilion was made. Allegra was sitting on the other side of the table, lecturing away at a thousand words a minute. It would have been a familiar scene, if not for the conflicted look on the tutor’s face and the unfamiliar book in her hands.

Though the cottontail’s voice was silent, just like everything else, the halfbreed could tell it was a lecture on curses and their applications; there was no other reason for the grand magus to be discussing the sacrificial use of shoggoths. While Claire had very little of the otherworldly void beasts committed to memory, she knew that the lecture covered an aspect she had yet to learn anything about; its contents matched perfectly with the previously unseen page opened up in front of her.

She almost reflexively started dozing off, but grabbed ahold of herself right before she fell asleep—a concern she soon labeled absurd. She was already asleep. The tutor, the book, and the manor were all hallucinations born of her unconscious mind.

Dismissing the thought with a small smile, she picked up the educational text and hurled it as far as she could. Her strength being what it was, she expected the projectile to fly over the manor and off into the sky. But it didn’t even clear the building. It crashed into one of the many oversized glass panes and bounced off without leaving so much as a mark.

Raising her hands to her face, she joined her tutor in staring in confusion. But the difference was that Allegra was staring not at her open palms, but rather the halfbreed herself.

Claire caught the discrepancy out of the corner of her eye, but she was too distracted to pay it any mind. Her hands were thin and dainty, like they should have been, and her scales were in all the right places. At a glance, it didn’t look like there was anything wrong with them. But they weren’t hers. The way they moved was unfamiliar. They were too noodly; the limbs felt more like parts of Shouldersnake’s body than her own. Her skeleton should have stopped her from twisting her wrist all the way or bending her elbows back at an impossible angle. But it didn’t. She could contort her arms however she wished.

Her bones were just as non-present as her muscles. It was all just goop, a thick black goop made to take on a shape. She tried to manipulate it, to change the slime into something else as Allegra shouted at her, but her body suddenly started to go away. Everything started to go away. It all got further and further and further as something pulled on her blouse and dragged her out of the inexplicable delusion.

When the force was released, she turned around to find the culprit sitting on a sofa with a boyish grin plastered all over his lips. She tried to protest, by stomping the ground, but he wasn’t discouraged. The toothy smile remained until she took the artifact out of his hands and looked towards the glowing box mounted atop his wall.

She focused her eyes on the magical device, only to stop in her tracks as her finger touched its multidirectional lever. Because only then did she realise that she wasn’t supposed to be able to touch anything.

Her materiality wasn’t the only discrepancy. The man’s spirit was certainly present, but his body was nowhere to be found. An unsettling, sinking fear washing over her, she sprinted through his house and made for the bathroom. Somehow, her feet knew where it was, a fact that only deepened her concern.

Reaching the destination and looking in the mirror brought a sigh of relief. Her worries were moot. Her form was still hers. She hadn’t somehow come to possess him.

Upon returning to the spirit’s living room, she realised that there was a foot sticking out from under the couch, and a quick investigation confirmed that the rest of his body was also sequestered away, beneath the leather seat. She had been worried for nothing. But the questions of why and how were still up in the air.

Sitting down, she picked up the artifact and returned it to its previous position, several times in a row, before turning to the man and shrugging, but he didn’t quite seem to get the message. He ran his mouth, but his words were silent and unreadable, until they manifested in the back of her mind as text.

“What’s wrong?” A strange whisper appeared along with them. It was quiet, but messy and muddled, like a thousand voices all speaking the same words at once.

Shaking her head, she pursed her lips and walked through the room. The device was just one of the many things she could touch; the doors, the couch, and everything else could all be easily accessed, as they could outside her dreams. But her control only extended to her palms and fingers. Her arms could still phase through the world, and her legs and body could do the same.

There was no explanation. If anything, the man appeared put off by her confusion, so she shook her head free of her concerns, slowly floated over to the screen and manipulated her tiny, projected self with the artifact in her hands. She pressed the buttons one, two, three at a time and moved her body in ways she thought impossible. Her fingers grew faster as she continued to operate the tool. And the actions grew smoother. Her tiny body was practically a blur, transitioning between various attacks and transformations with all the fluidity of the sea.

Log Entry 5567

Artifact Manipulation has reached level 6.

She stood up shortly after gaining the skill level and tried out mini Claire’s moves for herself. She kicked as a centaur, slide-tackled as a humanoid, and strangled as a lamia. With her form incorporeal, it all went smoothly, but she knew that it would be more difficult once she got back into her body. It wasn’t as flexible as her spirit. Its parts would sometimes get in each other’s way, simply because of its size.

By the end of the night, she had dueled nine other mini people, seven times each. She didn’t even notice that the sun had started to rise until she opened her status, noted all the skills that had leveled, and accidentally looked out the window.

Something soft pressed itself against her face as the light blinded her. She was half expecting everything to turn black, but it blurred instead. It wasn’t until the world came back into focus that she realised the dream had abated. And that the thing on her face was a paw.

“Claire! Wake up already!”

The comforting weight was centered on the bridge of her nose, pressing down with just enough force to bring about a sense of relaxation. The way she was slowly shaken only added to the comfort. She felt like a child in a cradle, warm and secure.

“What the heck! Don’t go back to sleep, Claire, come on! Wake up!”

“Five more minutes.”

“Oh, come on! Not this again!” Sylvia shook the lyrkress again, this time, with more force. “Get up! There’s only like an hour left till noon!”

Claire snuck her hands behind the fox, pulled her into her chest, and rolled so they were both under the sheets. “Don’t feel like it.”

“But we’re supposed to go dungeon diving today!”

“I know.” Without loosening her grip, she reached behind the critter’s head and scratched the back of her ears. “But I don’t feel like it yet.”

“Really? Why not? Weren’t you super excited about it yesterday?” Sylvia fixed her posture and got comfortable before leaning into the hand.

“But it turned out to be boring. Everything was weak. I didn’t even level up,” complained the lyrkress.

“Yeah, but didn’t you end up fighting Lia? And she even beat you up, so it’s not like it was all easy.”

“Shush.” Claire briefly pinched the fox’s nose. “I won the second round. And she’s not a part of the dungeon. My point still stands.”

“Why do you like fighting so much anyway?” asked the fairy.

“I don’t.”

“Oh, come on! That’s a lie and you know it!”

“I really don’t.” She gave the fox a light squeeze. “I don’t care about fighting. I just want levels. My father’s men will come for me soon. And I need to be able to fend them off.”

“Right…” Sylvia rubbed her cheek against the other girl’s collar before slowly looking up. “Are you sure he knows already? Because like, it’s not like we really even stand out that much. There’s a bunch of different kinds of people here, so it’s hard to pick you out in a crowd, and you don’t even always look the same as you did when we first met.”

“He knows.” Claire twisted her lips into a frown as she recalled all the spies that flowed in and out of the manor each day. “I’m sure of it.”

“Well uhmm… I mean, if it makes you feel better, I can sing them away if they ever show up.”

“Thanks, Sylvia. But no thanks. There’s no point. If I don’t do it myself.”

“Okay.” Sylvia scampered up onto one of Claire’s shoulers and gave her ear a hug. “Just make sure you tell me if you ever end up changing your mind.”

“I will.”

Looking past the fox, Claire took a moment to cast her gaze on the cat standing in the doorway. Lia didn’t quite seem to know what she was supposed to be doing with herself. An awkward smile on her face, she played around with her fingers whilst shifting her eyes between the bed and the floor. She was clearly waiting to be noticed, so Claire turned the other way and pretended she hadn’t spotted her.

“Soooo… uhmmm… when are you gonna get out of bed?” asked Sylvia.

“In five minutes.”

“But you said that like five minutes ago!”

“I know.” She slowly sat up whilst holding the sheets in place with her tail, so the pervert wouldn’t have the chance to see her in her negligee.

After lifting the fox off her shoulders and placing her on the bed, Claire transformed the sleepwear into her usual armour set. She took a moment to look over the various items she had set down next to her bed, only to leak a quiet groan. The chain was the only weapon she had left; the others had all been destroyed in the previous day’s spar. The metallic link-whip wasn’t particularly outstanding, courtesy of its lack of lethality, but it also wasn’t completely useless. While it lacked the weight or sharpness to bludgeon or cut her enemies, it did at least serve as a useful tool against anything that could easily be strangled.

“Wait a second! Now you’re getting up even though you just said you weren’t gonna!” shouted Sylvia.

“I can go back to sleep. If you’re going to complain.”

The fox pressed both paws to her lips as her tail shot straight up. “I wasn’t complaining!”

“Whatever you say.” With a quiet giggle, she gave the foxy pupper another pat and got to her feet.

“Good morning, Claire.” Lia greeted her with a smile as soon as their eyes finally made contact. It was a gentle look, one that betrayed no hint of the awkwardness that she had previously been doused in. “I hope you had a good night’s rest. Today is going to be a long day.”

“Good morning.” She inspected the room again, just to make sure she hadn’t left anything behind. “Are we heading right into the dungeon?”

“Of course not.” The cat put her hands on her hips and frowned. “We need to get everything ready first. Remember what Kalvin told us yesterday?”

“No,” said Claire.

“N-no?” blinked the cat.

“I stopped listening and fell asleep. Before he listed any of the details.”

“Right…” The completely honest response had the former soldier momentarily appalled, but she soon recovered and shook her confusion away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realise that you were that tired.” She fiddled with her hair and put on an awkward smile. “You can tell me next time. I know mages don’t have as much stamina as warriors, so I promise I won’t hold it against you.”

Claire shrugged. “So? What did he say?”

“The dungeon is nearly thirty floors deep. We’ll have to buy several weeks’ worth of supplies if we want to make it to Farenlight and back.”

“How strong is it?” asked Claire.

“He said it was about level 400, but it might be a little higher since it’s been a while since anyone’s last fought it.” She opened up her notebook and adjusted her glasses. “It shouldn’t be any higher than 410, so I think we should have a good shot at taking it down.”

Claire placed a hand on her chin. If the apex predator was around level 400, then the monsters it ate would likely be worth killing as well. “We won’t need supplies. I can make food.”

“I know, but I think we should get some just in case we get split up. We might also want to buy some other equipment, like extra bags so we can carry everything we find.”

“Wait, there’s treasure?” Sylvia popped up from behind Claire’s head with her eyes shining.

“Not treasure, monster parts,” said Lia. “Some of the tougher species have valuable pelts and horns. We might be able to make some extra money if we take them back with us.”

“Not a bad idea. For a stupid cat,” said Claire.

Stretching her arms one last time, the lyrkress steeled herself for all the bloodshed to come and waltzed right out the door.