Nothing to See Here

Chapter 118

Chris was high, and not just a little. Given his lack of soft tissues to inebriate, I wished that was the weird part.

For want of a better description, Chris was sparkling, giving off light like a magical girl anime protagonist. Only predominantly in blue with undertones of green instead of the usual team leader pink. Water flowed around him in a complex swirl while he lounged in the middle of the floor of a new room I'd added to Aaron's lab to contain him.

Chris insisted he could talk to the fish contained in said water, but I doubted it. Lake fish wouldn't have a reason to know lusty sailors' songs. Thankfully it kept him entertained, if nothing else. He hadn't even tried to escape the magic circle he was in.

"So, you have no fucking idea what exactly is going on?" I asked Aaron. The skeleton in question had been running the magic equivalent of diagnostics on Chris more or less since I fished him out of the lake. Chris had thoroughly offended the eyes of Mina and Hetcha before I got to him, but had done no other apparent damage besides causing minor flooding in the crypts.

Whatever the hell had happened to Chris seemed to have granted him a slowly decaying ability to control water. He'd used it to make a pool, then lost interest in it before heading out to the lake.

"Correct… Mistress," Aaron said hesitantly. I'd been freaking out more than a little since the incident occurred, but I was calmer now and realized I'd probably put him on edge.

"Hey, relax. I know this isn't your fault. You couldn't have known Chris was going to go through your shit like that," I offered. Chaos beverage plus a potion was the cause, and the result was pure wtf sauce.

That wasn't on Aaron in the slightest, since I was the idiot who'd created the chimera concoction. I'd also handed it over to him for study without taking any Anti-Chris precautions, which was also on me. I should have assumed Chris's chaos goblin sense would tingle, and fuckery would ensue.

"Thank you, Mistress," Aaron said, relaxing just a little.

"Yeah… Try and figure out when it might stop if you can," I said after a moment. Nothing in Chris's stats explained what I saw, but the effect was wearing down. Once it stopped, it seemed like he might be okay, though I couldn't be sure of the side effects. Aside from his permanent immunity to fire damage, anyway. That had been added to his stats, unlike the light show.

Part of me wanted to make sure Chris was okay before anything else. That part made a deal with the paranoid feeling he'd manage to make things worse and opened a security window to monitor him continuously. I cared, but I had shit to do. Also, unlike Blackmore, he wasn't in apparent danger and had brought the situation entirely on himself.

With the issue as sorted as I was going to get it, I headed to my palace of shadows to make some calls. Andrea had changed her build, and it was the other ladies' turn. Something they all had stated they'd rather not do in the dungeon proper.

From a technical standpoint, I knew I could have just gone to the farmhouse myself to facilitate the resets. It wasn't like sunlight burned me or anything. Honestly, the exposed feeling it gave me was the biggest issue. Nighttime was better, but I preferred being underground most of the time.

Rather than worry about it for the moment, I made a video call. It connected with Mira almost immediately. I could see Roksolana, the fighter, and Grisa, the wizard, were already in the farmhouse. Roksolana would be advising Mina and Hetcha. Grisa would try and help Mira.

"Alright, aside from blessings and hereditary issues, you should be able to edit things how you like. I'll remain available if you have any questions," I explained. I'd given Roksolana and Grisa a crash course in character resets when I edited their builds after summoning them. They'd both volunteered when I sent a text around asking for help.

"Yes, Mistress," Roksolana and Grisa said together.

Sitting between Mina and Hetcha, Roksolana was a calm but cheerful figure in her illusion of life. She was human, and her choice of clothes was an exciting blend to my eye. The cut was European in style but covered in simple geometric patterning and bold colors.

The pattern reminded me a bit of Japanese sashiko, but it wasn't embroidered. Instead, it was accomplished through a method similar to batik. Roksolana had taken up dying as her personal craft and created the patterns using a resit that left white areas after the dye set.

That group was chatting amiably while Roksolana explained their options. Grisa, by contrast, just looked confused. Mira's expression was a mask that didn't fill me with confidence about how they were doing.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"Mistress… I've reset her class, but I can't find a heroic equivalent," Grisa said after a moment.

"Does she still have the option to choose the original ones?" I asked. Mira had five levels of acolyte and one of Seer. I hadn't seen any options that fit when I looked through them while resetting the skeletons. Still, I'd been hoping there would be something. Preferably one that wouldn't fuck up her eyesight.

"Yes," Grisa said after a moment.

"Oh, thank Ula," Mira said, relaxing suddenly. If not for the stark change, I wouldn't have realized how tense she'd been before. That gave me a moment of pause. I hadn't considered that some classes might only be available if particular conditions were met. In fairness, that wasn't covered in the tutorial or the joke of a manual.

"So, you can pick your old class again, but if you're open to an experiment... Why not pick Cleric for the first five and see if you can prestige to Seer? I can always reset your class again," I offered. I didn't know that a hundred percent for a fact, but I'd double-checked and seen that I could reset Andrea again if she needed it. Since Mira hadn't lost access to Seer during the initial reset, it stood to reason she'd be fine.

"That… should be fine. Some have been Clerics in the past, but it's been a long time since the tower had enough resources to train them," Mira said after a long pause. Everyone around her had likewise stopped what they were doing before she answered. They all politely turned back to their own business after the good news.

"Good, good," I said for want of anything helpful or intelligent. That was when something occurred to me that should have earlier.

"Grisa, are you comfortable helping with Cleric levels? Or should I ask for someone else to help advise with those?" I asked.

"It would be best to get an actual Cleric. I wasn't even religious before," Grisa said with a shrug.

"Mira, is that alright with you?" I asked. It was Mira's build, so it was up to her.

"Yes," Mira said without any hesitation. I texted the Clerics once I had permission.

"Neat. I'll have someone over shortly. Everything going alright for you guys?" I asked. Roksolana and Hetcha nodded.

"Totes! This is way more fun when my brain isn't a horny disaster," Mina chirped. I started to reply, and then realized I had no idea what to say. On the bright side, Hetcha and Mira looked as wrongfooted as I felt.

"Oh! Dawn said she'll help," I said aloud to move the conversation forward. On the heels of that pronouncement, I teleported Dawn from her crypt to the farmhouse. She sat down with Grisa and Mira, getting straight to work with only a nod for me.

While everyone else was occupied, I started looking through Mira's build. Thankfully she'd been able to become a Seer despite swapping Cleric for Acolyte levels. Not having had a chance to look the class over, I took the opportunity.

The write-up was pretty straightforward, like most of them were. The only thing I was having trouble with was finding the source of Mira's eyesight problems. Not because they shouldn't be happening, her vision would degrade with every level until she was blind. I couldn't place the severity given that she was only first level in the class.

"Mira… Did you get potions from the system and not take them?" I asked after a few minutes.

"What?" Mira asked, startled as I'd interrupted a discussion with Dawn.

"Once you signed with me, you got the health benefits. However, you have a condition that should have resulted in you getting a potion or two, but it's still in your stats," I explained. Mira had been exposed to a toxic substance. One whose most noticeable effect was blindness and mild physical paralysis. My confusion wasn't about the foreign substance but how oddly close to the natural degradation the class caused its symptoms.

"Well… I did, but I can't take it," Mira said.

"Why?" I asked. I had a pretty good idea, but this wasn't something to make assumptions about.

"The vision healing potion?" Hetcha inquired. I just nodded, and she looked uncomfortable but cast a supportive look her lover's way.

"Loss of vision is required to become more connected to Ula. I can't restore my vision without threatening that," Mira said. I nodded, expecting as much.

"Did you have to drink something or do a ritual to cause it?" I asked. I got a pair of nods and couldn't help a sigh as I scrubbed a hand over my face. Mira had mentioned they hadn't had the resources to train clerics for a long time. Even before it fell, things must have gotten pretty bad in the seer tower.

"Well… not all of it is because of your class. That damage can't be undone. The potion will only fix what happened in excess," I explained. I wasn't technically lying, despite leaving some things out. The loss caused by her class specifically stated it couldn't be undone without entirely renouncing the class itself.

"And if I still refuse?" Mira asked. Before she'd signed the contract, I'd have found that question worrying. Now I didn't have to weigh my every word with as much care.

"Then you don't take it," I said flatly. I thought it was unreasonable, but this wasn't just a question of utility. Mira was a Seer that belonged to a religious order. This might fall under the nebulous issues of "faith," and I wasn't about to argue that with her.

"I… I'll consider it," Mira said after a moment. I just nodded.

I doubted that I'd been religious in my prior existence. Something about it rang hollow even in a world where the gods were active and felt. Anything further, and I'd likely come across as cynical or petty. Particularly since I was pretty sure the Seer's Tower had thought they needed to cause the blindness and poisoned their acolytes.

Religion was weird, and one of the few social landmines I could reliably identify. One I would not be tap dancing on this time. That was not how shadow monsters made friends and influenced people.