The sky was laced with thousands of beautiful stars, but under them was a girl with a tired mind who was finally sleeping. A week had passed since Tsuki had come to Daybreak, but not once was she able to sleep comfortably. Maybe it was out of pity or a lack of efficiency, as after some time of barely being able to avoid the attack coming at her in the dream world, it simply didn’t come. The truth was that the person doing the intense training had simply planned to train Tsuki every other week. Tsuki now had a week of rest available.

A few doctors tried to figure out a way for her to rest during that long week, but it was all in vain. It was the slum, and no one wanted to pay a huge sum of money to call in someone competent just for a random girl who they didn’t even consider one of their own. In the end, it was Lapis, with the help of an old pharmacist working for the nearby brothels, that helped her. It wasn’t much, but they managed to alleviate her constant headache.

"Her heartbeat is still too fast," said the pharmacist. He was about 50 years old, with thin gray hair, and had helped countless people in the slum. He was well known for helping the sex worker with whatever ill or need they encountered. "Also…"

He lifted the girl’s right leg – the only limb not infected by some kind of being. It was reddish pink, with skin peeling off like snowflakes. "We came from the Forest of Dreams… everyone shows similar symptoms," added Lapis. She was referring to mercury poisoning. Although everyone had symptoms of it, Tsuki was the one in the worst state because of her constant death in the dream world.

The trees of the Forest of Dreams were covered by a compound that contained mercury. This spread to the leaves and plants, such that everything in that forest had traces of mercury inside of them due to the food chain. The water they drank, the fruits they picked, the air they breathed, the meat they ate… everything had traces of this poison.

The fact that only her right leg showed signs of poisoning didn’t mean that only this limb was poisoned. It was only like this because her other limbs were infected by the other creatures. The maws of gluttony were happy to consume everything that came their way, and they were the only ones actually eating the intruding metal – the rest were simply suppressing it one way or another.

The pharmacist then got up and was ready to leave, but was met with the old caretaker of this military school. She simply glanced at him and then at the girl, as if asking what had to be done. The man simply said that rest and a nourishing meal would be the best that could be done for now. Her internal organs, such as her heart, might be damaged – due to the constant injection of adrenaline by the unseen person in the dream world – and anything too exciting had to be avoided.

Once he had left, Lapis looked at the caretaker with a thankful expression. This old lady was named Jinguu. Lapis had been told by her after visiting the sick Tsuki multiple times. For Daybreak residents, telling someone their name was a show of respect and friendship… something people started doing 25 years ago after a group of false prophets used people’s names to cast all sorts of wicked spells on them.

Both women dreamed of having a daughter… and both had lost the man they loved. Although Lapis was now married to Cain, they were both incompatible with one another in terms of having children. They had two very different constitutions that made every baby die after a few weeks.

"I’ll leave her to you," said Lapis. She needed to go, as Cain was waiting outside for her.

The caretaker was left alone with the sleeping girl. She herself had to leave. Before doing so, she lit a few incense sticks. When she closed the door behind her, Halambusha manifested himself to watch over the sleeping girl. Her breathing was calmer, but beads of cold sweat showed she wasn’t doing well.

❀

Morning came, and finally Tsuki woke up. It was a somber morning, welcomed by the usual shouting of the warriors training outside. The tree outside her window had completely lost all of its leaves. They brushed calmly on the paved ground while, in the sky, birds sang their final goodbyes. Some wisps of cold air caressed the girl’s neck as she used a towel to clean her sweat-covered body.

She was still a bit lethargic, but the morning sun in this cold season warmed her mind a bit… until she remembered how bad the sun was for her skin…

A rash managed to show up for the short time she was in direct sunlight. The tiger, who had opened a window during the night to cool her burning body, licked where the rash appeared and somehow managed to heal it completely. It was the yellow flower's power of healing. It would have been a good thing if it could cure the mercury poisoning, but the petals needed to be in contact with the ill part, which in this case was unreachable. On this, she could technically heal a wounded organ but would need to either dig it up or extract it first…

Tok Tok Tok

The old caretaker had come to see how Tsuki was and to serve her breakfast. But when she entered, thinking Tsuki was sleeping and not responding, she was met with an empty room…

❀

The many workers were just starting their day: bakeries were opening their doors and letting warm aromas outside, tailors were moving boxes filled with all kinds of fabrics; blacksmiths were slowly warming their forges; kids laughed on the way to school; and more activities of the early morning… the usual day… which was broken by the sight of a girl in a strange dress running around.

Tsuki had discovered she could technically go out in the sun, and she was fully enjoying it. She was used to being outside almost every day and missed this warm embrace. One thing she would understand later is that constantly healing herself was so taxing that she would run out of energy quickly. But as it would turn out, this was one of the main reasons she would get stronger.

But for now, she enjoyed running – be it on roofs or on the ground. Because she was seen by a group of kids that had seen her bully the poor kappa-soji, stories about how Crescent Petals – the name she gave herself – was out to no good and needed to be stopped. This was amplified by the workers complaining that a girl was running on their roof and disturbing them…

But Tsuki didn’t care about any of them and truly believed that her disguise was perfect. She stopped by a place where people were eating, confusing it with a shop, and asked for a meal after showing some money. Quickly, she was surrounded by many women who all had light perfume.

"Ah, look at this cute child. How’d she get in here you think?"

"My. My. This isn’t the right place for you, dear."

"Ah? Say girl, won’t you share with me where you found such clothes?"

Tsuki was drowning in all kinds of girls of otherworldly beauty. The few jasmines growing in the surrounding area looked almost artificial but still gave off a certain warmth. She was in an outside garden built inside a large building close to the border between the slum and the richer part of town.

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"Girls!" said an old lady who had known better days. She was accompanied by someone familiar – the pharmacist who took care of Tsuki. "Mister is here for your checkup. Get ready and don’t waste his time. We have a busy day."

Finally, Tsuki was freed from the care of the women. They tried to make a wall to hide her, as if the old woman would steal Tsuki from them. But it didn’t work, as the old woman realized something was wrong. Tsuki was found out in the end.

While the old lady had a shrewd smile, the pharmacist looked worried. He had seen Tsuki just last night, and she was already outside. As for the girl, she had never seen him. A few doctors and the like did visit her while she was still awake, but he did so when she was finally sleeping. As for what he was presently doing, he was tasked with detecting any sign of illness in all the women present in the garden. There had been an outbreak of syphilis not long ago, and his visit had become routine to avoid a new wave.

"Miss," said the pharmacist toward Tsuki. "You may not know it, but I was made to watch over your health last night and even prepared some medicine for a visit later in the day. Since you are already present, would you like to do a follow up on yesterday?"

Before Tsuki could answer, the women around her inserted themselves into the conversation. They were somewhat worried about this strange little girl when they learned she was sick and inquired about what was wrong. And since Tsuki also didn’t know what was ailing her, the pharmacist was made to explain.

His main worry was about Tsuki’s internals. She was forcefully woken up multiple times to the point her heart had some difficulty. It was almost a miracle that she had survived a week of not sleeping.

In the end, Tsuki was forced to have a checkup done on her because of the women around.

"Oh my~ won’t you tell me who made this tattoo on your back? I haven’t been able to find anyone talented enough to suit my taste."

"Ah! It was because of those flowers that you smelled so good! I was sure you simply had expensive perfume. Your dress was also made from them, right?"

"Kyaa~~ Those little guys are so cute~~~ do they eat? Can I feed them?"

"Huh?" Tsuki was confused that the women around her weren’t scared or disgusted by her body. She even found the last one the weirdest. But she liked the attention she was getting. "Want to see my pets?"

She then summoned Halambusha and Sinorous. Some backed off at seeing those two large beasts; others surrounded the tiger to touch him all over; and only one of them tried her best to pet Sinorous. Sadly for her, his shape kept changing, and she made no progress on her quest to pet the other-worldly wolf. Still, Sinorous looked happy at this attention.

"Say, what about the other flowers? Won’t it summon a cute panda?"

"Hmm. Don’t know," responded Tsuki. She never tried to see if the black and white flowers could summon something. So she tried to do so. The flowers moved down her arm until they were all expelled from her hand.

Two birds flew out, one black and one white. Soon after appearing, the white bird, which looked like an owl, attacked the pharmacist, only for it to be killed and returned back to Tsuki’s arm by the black bird, which was an old crow. The man almost fell to the ground from the attack but managed to stabilize himself. The crow, after having killed the owl, started screaming like a mad animal while flying around the garden.

The pleasant atmosphere had instantly become creepy with the lamentations of the winged beast. It was circulating in the air close to the dormitory of this large building they were in. It cried as if the world was ending and filled everyone with fear.

Tsuki was about to try to call it back, but the old lady who managed this place had seen many things, and a bad premonition came to her. She ordered Tsuki to get dressed and for her and the pharmacist to follow the crow.

Confused, Tsuki simply listened by making a purely white dress of petals and running after the maddening screams of the crow. The sunny sky seemed to have darkened, and the air grew colder. Together, they entered a lavish building with thin fabrics of warm colors used as decoration and obstruction for the crow. An incense smell became stronger, as if hiding something unpleasant. Tsuki tried her best to ignore her surroundings and quickly reached a locked door.

There were screams behind it. Not from the crow but from someone in pain. She ordered Halambusha to break open the door. There, a disfigured woman was crying in pain in her bed. A few rays of light coming from a window made her infection obvious. But she wasn’t in pain because of any illness that she had; she was giving birth and lacked the strength to do so.

The man instantly got to work, and a few of the previous ladies pulled back the shocked Tsuki. She was still processing what was happening and why someone like her had to be locked up. Tsuki was simply too young and innocent to understand the world she had entered. Those women were courtesans.

"I should have strangled that dirty bastard," said the old woman under her breath. She then went inside to assist the man. She had seen her fair share of things and was unafraid to get infected, given how old she already was. "Girl! Take care of this little one and don’t let anyone inside. I want to give her my thanks."

"Here. Here. Come, I have some rare fruits from the capital that I received yesterday. I can share some with you," the ladies tried to pull Tsuki away from this place as it wasn’t something someone her age should be seeing. The dark cherry flooring felt longer than usual as everyone could only hear the pain screams growing fainter as they got away. None of the women present expected their coworker to have been pregnant, as her illness hid such signs. They left in silence until only the memory of what they saw became the only sound…

❀

"Young one. Come work for me!" said the old lady. They all sat around a table, with Tsuki sitting on a chair on one side. Her proposition was met with waves upon waves of complaints from the other girls. "Shut up, all of you! Only useless weirdos would be interested in her. She has a nice face, but everything else is out. Instead, I want to make use of her power!"

"And what if someone attacked her!" Some still had issues with the old lady’s proposition, but they were mostly silenced after looking at the two beasts on either side of her.

"Sunny, can you destroy this without touching it?" asked one of the girls toward Tsuki. She placed a small fan on the table and looked on with expectation. It was the weird one who liked Sinorous.

"Hm. Sure?" responded Tsuki, who ordered the maws on her leg to manifest and eat the fan. They did so in an instant and left a large hole in the table. "Ohhhh……." Tsuki turned white, thinking they would get mad at her for damaging the table that looked expensive.

"Any more complaints?" said the old lady toward her employees. They all kept silent, with some slightly terrified and others softly smiling as if they wanted this power. "So, what about you?"

Tsuki was about to accept directly before being pulled onto her left side. It was Halambusha who was rolling his eyes, tired of how reckless she was. "What would I need to do?"

"Help during certain events by using your flowers and anything else you might be able to do. Act as a guard against rowdy customers. And do some simple tasks. Our establishment is the highest class in this city and ranks highly among those in the capital. Many of our girls are highly sought after and require a fortune to meet in person."

The old lady did her best to avoid talking about what exactly this establishment was. Simply put, it was a brothel. But, because of the high class of this establishment’s workers, it was now more like a place where beauty was displayed. Whether a girl decided to service someone was up to them, with some having never been embraced before. High officials from the city and the capital would often visit in the hope of becoming eligible to purchase the one they fancied.

In the end, Tsuki accepted the offer after seeing how much money she could gain from it. The only condition she had was that she could leave whenever she wanted to. After all, she would need to climb the mountain in the north sometime in the future if she wanted to get closer to her goal of rescuing Alice.

"Girls! You all better get ready for tonight, as we’re the main event to conclude Daybreak’s anniversary. Get the little one ready and teach her how she can assist you."

And so, Tsuki entered a world of beauty she had never imagined…

*

Gupta’s report of the week

Gupta succeeded in producing a clone of himself using the sludge he collected. The clone isn’t able to listen to complex orders and mostly just stands around doing nothing. For now, the clone is perfect to make possible intruders think that the medical wing is populated and thus dangerous. Using this fact, Gupta is now able to go outside to get more ingredients required for substance A35.

Gupta has also discovered that the beings stuck inside the wall occasionally produce more sludge. He believed that the beings themselves were required to improve the clone further. His goal, after dealing with the monster making a nest inside the temple, is the creation of multiple clones to create a workforce that takes care of the temple’s various needs.

Mission: reach the medical wing and make it usable. Make venom.

Resources needed: 50 units of wood. Lockpicking tools.

Research: 100% sludge. (5 - > 10)% walls.

Map explored: 10%

Mine discovered. Substance A35.