I held my breath, ignoring Allysa's questions as I kept an eye out for anything strange happening, but beyond my essence signature changing slightly nothing else happened. I sighed in relief and finally refocused on Allysa, who was now inches from my face in an attempt to get my attention. I jolted back in surprise, leaning away from her.

“Ah, you're back now! Welcome to the land of the living, now could you kindly explain what the fuck I just witnessed?” She said in a faux sweet tone, dropping it at the end. I took a deep breath to steady myself.

“It would appear that, with the first squirrel, living creatures cannot withstand large amounts of essentia being forced into their bodies, which resulted in the squirrel imploding for some reason. As for the other one, I removed the concept of beast which also had intent to it, and as near as I can tell that caused it to no longer be considered one entity by the world and rather a pile of loosely connected parts, which… did not end well.”

She nodded slowly before looking around and checking my hands. “So, where is the essentia you committed an atrocity to get?”

I chuckled nervously. Allysa raised an eyebrow, giving me a suspicious look.

“Well, so, I sorta… accidentally absorbed it. Apparently, if a single type of essentia is left alone long enough, it will begin to naturally absorb into whatever it is touching, in this case my hand. Also, as far as I can tell, it has no additional effects other than altering my essence signature.”

Allysa paused for a long moment before giving me a look. The one every woman learns to do at one point or another that conveys a simple message: Rrreeeaaally, now? I cringed, not enjoying being on the receiving end of it. I barely noticed her movement when she suddenly appeared next to me, showcasing her significantly higher stats, and grabbed my arm. Allysa then proceeded to march me back to my room, sit me on my bed, and tell me that in no uncertain terms I was to stay here until she returned. I nodded weakly, not wanting to anger her anymore than I apparently had, and she blurred out the door before I had finished moving.

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She returned a few minutes later with a frazzled healer in tow, and I figured that this was Pala, the healer in Allysa's adventuring party, since I vaguely recognized her.

“Check her over, please. Lycara did something stupid while testing her new skills, and now says that her essence signature has shifted.” Allysa said in a flat tone. Oh, yeah, she's pissed. Pala nodded before using several skills in quick succession, a haze of mana settling over the room as she attempted to diagnose any issues. A few moments later she stopped, taking a deep breath before turning back to Allysa.

“The only issue I can find is that her essence signature seems to have some slight dissonance with her real body, but it should correct itself within a few days. Trying to heal it would only make it worse, but it's nothing life threatening. Now, if that will be all, I'm going back to sleep.” Turning to me, she continued, “And you, miss, need to stop getting yourself into situations that I'm needed. Please. This is the second time I've had to use all my skills to figure out what's wrong with you, and last time you were nearly dead. So, goodbye, and goodnight.”

And with that, she left before either of us could say another word, slamming the door behind her. An awkward silence fell, but was quickly dispersed with a sigh from Allysa.

“Could you try not to get yourself into a possibly life threatening situation at LEAST until you fully recover? Please, for my peace of mind?” Allysa said wearily. I nodded, slightly abashed. It felt like weeks, but in reality it had only been less than a week since I was rescued from the slavers. So much had happened, and I'd had such little time to process it. I suddenly remembered the wording of [Disassociation], that it blocked the effects of most emotions and trauma, and realized that I had yet to turn it off since I earned it.

I made a note to disable it later, but instead turned my attention to the many System messages awaiting my acknowledgement. I heard Allysa sigh and mutter something about my attention span and a turnip, but mostly tuned it out. Time to see what I earned!