Chapter 24 | Schooling 1

~~*~~

Alisha needed to get some air after directing Guide to build tiles for her new dungeon. It was cold in the dark forest night. She looked around to see if any Imperials were around with her Monster Sight that now extended to all the dungeon territory she now owned. The moons and stars were obstructed by the gathering clouds.

She ran away again.

This time was different than in her previous life but the premise was the same: she was afraid of what her family might think if they discovered the truth of what she was. She was afraid of what might happen to the Altons if they continued to protect her. What Hans said made her realize that she was too dangerous and that she needed a moment to straighten herself out.

“Black, you knew of soul essence ever since we came to this world, didn’t you?” Alisha asked.

“Of course. Now that you’ve acknowledged our innate abilities, you can now manipulate souls freely,” Black explained. “We need to feed. So, let us do just that.”

“No! I won’t!” Alisha shouted in pain, desperately trying to drown out the voices.

“I told you that relations with humans weren’t possible.”

Guide wasn’t a murder machine and he was a Dungeon Master like her. At first, she thought that the pricking in the back in her mind was her monstrous side making her want to kill but she was just feeding. Alisha figured this out after feeding on Reinold’s soul essence. It was just hunger that could be easily satisfied but Black ripped through those dungeon monsters and was enjoying herself. Black wanted to get stronger and she didn’t care if she needed to kill everyone to do it.

Alisha needed to know who Black was and what, if anything, was affecting her. And if she couldn’t, how could she ask the Altons to protect her when she was more dangerous than any human? It was either that or accept what Black said and accept that she was a heartless monster. She sat under the tree all night and contemplated what she could do. Despite the cold, the warmth of Jun’s soul was still within her and kept her company.

***

Alisha wanted Guide to be with her so if anything arose, she’d be able to get assistance from him and the dungeon. Also, she wanted Guide to see and learn more about the world so this was an obvious next step. How this was going to happen was a difficult question to answer.

If Guide left the dungeon and she wasn’t in it, the dungeon and its monsters would assume a change in ownership. A lot of systems would be reset so it’d be an inconvenience if this happened every time Guide left the dungeon.

The most probable solution was to create a long-range communication system. It’d be difficult but it’s been done before. There were ‘radio’ towers in every town for telegrams using long-range telepathy. The process to do this was convoluted and impractical for her proposes so she had to rely on something ‘simpler.’

Spiritual magic would be a great solution because its range didn’t rely on the amount of mana used. Samuel’s freelancer group used spiritual magic to track someone’s status and location with soul contracts with Soul Beads strung in a bracelet. Since she was in a soul contract with Guide this would be perfect.

No one in this world seemed to know about the Network so it was reasonable to say that they didn’t know how important it was towards spiritual magic or that they could replace their magic radios with this.

Putting things simply, Alisha’s and Guide’s Network connection could be used together with their soul contract like how the internet worked with sending and receiving information. It was a communication channel that used the soul contracts like an IP address to know where the receiver was.

The only missing piece of the puzzle now was to stitch these elements together to create the Channel. Alisha needed a spell but she didn’t know the formulation. This was going to be a novel spell that relied on tinkering with the Network and the contracts in tandem so, naturally, there was no precedent to base this on. Alisha also wasn’t good at casting yet so making a new spell with no help was impossible…

“I’ll do it,” Black said in her astral form.

She did and the communication device was created in a pair of mana gems without much effort and therefore discovering a new category in magic theory. The fact Alisha just casually made a world-changing discovery gave her pause to what impact she would have on this world but those feelings quickly faded. She wasn’t interested in any kind of recognition for this and had no plans to introduce new technologies to this world. This new spell was an advantage she wouldn’t give up so willingly.

Alisha gave one for Guide to keep in the dungeon and she immediately went outside to test it.

“Guide, are you here?” She asked.

“Yes, Madam. I’m here. It seems your idea was a success.”

“Can you look around?”

“Allow me a second, Madam.” An orb of light came out of the gem and floated around. “Yes, Madam. I can see my surroundings.”

“And your voice is projecting. Can you use telepathy while in that form?”

It didn’t seem so. Guide couldn’t see if he wasn’t floating around in a glowing orb but it did while it was audio-only. It wasn’t that Guide was really here but he was controlling what the gem was emanating. How Black knew the spell formulation was beyond what Alisha knew.

***

It has been a week since she left the Altons and looking back at how much had happened, it felt far longer. Alisha renewed her resolve and was going to be friendly with humans. Her need to feed wanted the essences of humans the most but now that she knew what her hunger was, perhaps she could control it.

She had to resist the temptation and maintain her human will. It was a war against Black. Alisha was afraid more than ever now but she had to persevere and win.

It was a weekday morning when she came back walking down the road towards the manor. She was wearing a cloak over her head to conceal her face. Everyone was out in front porch just as Yuli and Reinold were leaving for the day. Yuli was the first to notice the young girl strolling up to them.

She jumped down from Reinold’s carriage and ran to her.

“Alisha!”

Yuli hugged Alisha tightly.

“Alisha! I have not seen you in seven days! Where have you gone?” Yuli was happy and concerned as she usually was.

“Nothing too dangerous. I was just dungeon raiding,” she said nonchalantly.

“D—Dungeon raiding?!” Yuli yelled in a whisper.

“Yeah! I raided a dungeon and made it my own. It’s like my own little underground house filled with monsters!”

“You took over a dungeon? I have so many questions!” Yuli exclaimed, her eyes sparkling.

Alisha greeted everyone and apologized for leaving suddenly and worrying them. Hans also apologized but she wouldn’t accept it, he was right after all but he still insisted. Sophia hugged her and Benas spoke,

“What I do for you isn’t something you should concern yourself with. I do it because I care for you. You remind me of how Reinold and Yuli when they were younger. A bit misguided but pure-hearted.”

Alisha was tearing up again and was smiling uncontrollably. She turned to Reinold, “Did you miss me, Reinold?”

Reinold smiled and said, “Not really. You’ve been a royal pain in my ass since you got here.”

“Liar, you missed me so much that you couldn’t even sleep~!”

“Oh, shut up you little brat,” he said and placed his hand on her head to soothe her. As he brushed her hair from side to side, a full tear ran down her cheek. She didn’t know why. The feeling of being caressed on the head as a human was different and it gave her an emotion she long since forgotten about and had lost the words to describe.

“O—Okay, t—that’s enough,” Alisha tried to play it off as she brushed him off. Reinold didn’t look very convinced and smiled mischievously.

This was why she wasn’t afraid anymore. She believed in this feeling which was love and believed that it will overcome Black. In this psychological battle, their true feelings would win in the end.

Alisha explained her plans. Essentially, the dungeon would allow her to do and test whatever she wanted without the Empire detecting her. Yuli was surprised that a dungeon was sitting so close to Riverside. Benas was taking the situation a little more seriously but there was nothing he could really do other than comment on the abnormality. As long as the dungeon was outside of Riverside, there was nothing he could complain about as Merchant Lord or as a father.

Alisha was now in her wolf form, riding together with Reinold and Yuli into Riverside, back to their routine.

“The dungeon is really coming together. Maybe you should come and visit, I’ll give you a tour.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Umm… No, thank you. Dungeons frighten me… a little,” Yuli said meekly.

She wasn’t fooling her. She was super scared.

“Does being underground make you claustrophobic?”

Yuli nodded. She explained it wasn’t trauma that made her afraid but being underground in general. Alisha understood the stigma. It was common on Earth too.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of. In my old world, there are trains that run exclusively underground. I used to ride them all the time. I remember when I was a child and I first rode them. I was really scared of the dark tunnels. But after a while, I understood that nothing bad was going to happen.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Okay. I will be brave…”

“Great! You will not regret it!”

The weekend just ended so no field trip for the next few days. That would give her and Guide more time to build up the place. Reinold didn’t seem interested in her offer.

Alisha then noticed something while being held by Yuli. She had scar tissue on her arm. For someone who traveled on dirt roads in a stagecoach and fought monsters, Yuli didn’t get many blemishes on her fair skin.

“Did something happen while I was gone?” Alisha asked in concern.

“Well, Tasha informed me the other day that the Imperials are setting up new traps for you in the forest.” Interesting, but that wasn’t what she was referring to so she tried again.

“Is someone bothering you at school?”

“Huh? Why would you say that?” Yuli said, pretending not to know.

“I noticed how uncomfortable you can be sometimes in school… I won’t force you but please tell me. Perhaps I can assist in some way.”

Alisha had learned a new skill in the last month: begging. Her cute exterior had the power to melt the fortitudes of the toughest men. While looking into the begging eyes of the baby wolf, she caved. “…There are some upper-level students picking on me after school,” Yuli explained.

Yuli Sune Alton, the daughter of the Merchant Lord Benas Alton, was a half-elf and an open secret in Riverside. The Empire forbade any interracial marriages and half-breeds and implemented capital punishment for the mothers and their children. This was part of the Vultis Church religion which was the main religion for humans. Although there were rumors about Yuli being a half-elf, there was no one with the audacity to confirm it with such malicious intent. The militia and townsfolk were on the Alton’s side. The Association’s influence also made the law unenforced in Riverside with many others like her roaming around.

However, there were no elf-human couples who would ever dare leave the relative safety of Riverside and venture into Imperial territory. The very few people in Riverside with anti-elven sentiments had become emboldened with the increased activity of the Imperial garrison at the fort.

Another open secret Alisha found with the freelancer tavern gossip was Benas’ bad reputation in family life despite the contrary. Benas only married once to Sophia and had a regular family dynamic. However, if that was true, that would mean…

Ever since Alisha put two and two together, she looked at Yuli with a little more sympathy. Her mother was killed. Yuli wanted to be strong and had a hard time asking for help.

“The bullies… are they mocking you?”

“They are just doing what boys do,” Yuli said with smile which was meant to be disarming.

“Don’t just take it! Whatever excuse they’re using to justify it, it is not justified. You need to stand up for yourself.”

“...”

“I never had the chance to face the people who tormented me before I died. Trust me, you will regret it if you don’t take action.”

This was a half-truth. Cayden did face his bullies in a way that lead him to physically beating them with his cane but that confrontation didn’t solve any long-term problems. They returned the next week in class, hoping to return the favor.

Alisha looked at Yuli who was lost to what she wanted. Perhaps being aggressive wasn’t something she could do… At least, not alone.

“Shouldn’t you ask your friends at school for help? Did you say anything to the teacher?”

“They only did it more when I went to the teacher… and I do not want to involve my friends. The upper-classmen are strong and they only hit me when I am alone.”

“…If that’s the case, you can leave those bullies to me!”

“Huh? What will you do?”

“I will intimidate them.”

“I do not think that is necessary,” Yuli responded nervously as she looked at Alisha’s sinister expression. “To intimidate them back will be reducing ourselves to their level.”

“No, it’s different,” Alisha was unwavering but then dipped her head. “Whatever! If you said you can handle yourself, you can. I bet you’re stronger than those guys anyway!”

Yuli wasn’t the least bit convinced by that statement and knew it was sarcasm. But she also sensed genuine pride when Alisha referred to her strength.

“Okay. I am glad that is settled. Let us sleep now,” Yuli said with a bright smile.

Alisha saw the seemingly innocent smile as a warning. Yuli was going to be mad at her if she does anything she didn’t like.

The next day came quickly as she slept through the night for the first time in a while. As she awoke on top of Yuli’s bed, she was greeted by Guide’s light orb,

“Good morning, Madam.”

“Morning, Guide. Are the equipment I’ve specified complete yet?”

“They’re on schedule but I’ll need your input on a few questions.”

“Okay, hit me with them.”

There were small details and preferences that Guide needed answers on and a few problems that arose. Guide was having trouble finding a good enough alloy for the centrifuges. Alisha suggested to just reinforce the rotor assembly with enchantments until a suitable alloy was found through their metallurgic experiments.

“Madam, if I may, why are you associating with humans? Are you not a monster, a being that consumes humans? Do your previous life’s memories prevent you from disassociating with them?”

“Humans have value and I believe you will understand more in time.”

Yuli then woke up with a yawn and saw Alisha talking to the light orb.

“Good morning, Alisha. What is that?” Yuli said as she rubbed her eyes in her morning daze.

“Good morning, Yuli. This is Guide. He is the Dungeon Master I talked about yesterday. Say your greetings, Guide.” The orb seemed reluctant to talk and looked to his mistress who was giving him a silent glare filled with daggers.

“It’s nice to meet you. My name is Guide, servant of Alisha and dungeon manager.”

Yuli bowed lightly while on her bed, “It is good to meet you, Guide. My name is Yuli. I hope we can friends.”

The two looked curiously at each other, not knowing what to say next. Alisha broke the silence, “Yuli, I’m going to give you this communication device. With this, as long as I’m here, you can communicate with either me or Guide in a moment’s notice.” Alisha produced the spell gem from her mouth and offered it to her.

“Like telepathy?”

“Well, not exactly. You don’t have to understand the formulation since it’s a static spell.” Alisha hadn’t mentioned the Network to any human so far. Anything concerning it was on a need-to-know basis. It was also troublesome to explain. “In any case, I want Yuli to be Guide’s guide and to show him around.”

Yuli smiled, “I would be delighted! A friend of Alisha will also be my friend! Guide, I suppose you will be with me today. I hope we can get along!”

“Madam…” He spoke through the channel only auditable to her and didn’t sound too keen on the idea of learning from a human.

“This will be a learning experience I have talked about before so no causing trouble for Yuli.”

“Understood, Madam.”

Having Guide and the device with Yuli would ensure her safety. Yuli didn’t want her help dealing with her bullies but Alisha still wanted to do something. She should also give one of these devices to everyone, Alisha thought.

With a few hours to kill, Alisha went back to the dungeon to work. Since the dungeon field was lining the underground, no aura would be emitted to the outside which made her dungeon a perfect place to test her abilities without being discovered. She first tested a theory in her mind about a soul’s essence and the Phone spell Black enchanted into the crystal. An essence of a soul was basically the expressive side of a soul, what made people individuals.

Taking a piece of essence wasn’t harmful to living beings but with those who were deceased, their souls were more vulnerable. Extracting the entire essence from a spirit would leaving them as hollow shells. In fact, she had a whole room of empty shells in her dungeon powering everything, curtesy of Guide.

So, yeah.

Alisha discovered she could transfer her consciousness through the Network if she had a Phone receiver on the other end with some of her essence. So, as long as the Channel she opened between herself and Guide stayed functional, she could use it to instantaneously transport to where Guide’s crystal was and back.

The combination of the Soul Contract with Guide and her Network Channel created long-range communication for her will. This surely had many applications.

This was one of many discoveries she hoped to make in her dungeon laboratories. Alisha built one for magic, material science, biology, and chemistry. She also built a workshop to test the various machines she wanted. All around, there were many monsters working towards constructing various things for scientific research. Making all of this equipment was going to take time.

Besides equipment, the largest roadblock was that she was unfamiliar with this world and had to reference the textbooks from the Guild House to find various salts and organic materials. She made Guide go out with monsters to gather samples. Verifying their molecular compositions within these materials was going to be complicated because she didn’t know how to without the machines back on Earth. Science in her previous world was quite easy when everything had already been analyzed and machines have built for ultra-convenient results. Alisha was sure she could formulate a spell or two for this.

The last thing she needed to gather was sulfur. However, the closest deposits were from a place west of the Margaris continent called the Waste that included a massive desert and chains of islands formed from active volcanos. This was going to be a journey she currently wasn’t prepared to take so she had to hold off on synthesizing those chemicals.

All of this preparation was to get a technological advantage over her enemies. As someone who was a scientist-in-training in her past life, Alisha knew how valuable this knowledge was. No matter what, she was going to advance through the tech tree!

After spending her time in the dungeon, it was time to end Yuli’s bullies. Alisha was in her wolf form and entered Riverside discreetly and jumping from rooftop to rooftop. This was her first time traveling into town alone. It was a fun occasion that saw her overlooking the bustling main streets. The Old District of Riverside was separated by two main streets just before the bridge and the train station in the northeast quadrant.

It seemed like a small event was happening in a shop across the street. A lot of the tourists seemed to be admired by someone using magic. It was an amazing light display produced by the hands of someone dressed like a circus magician. She never saw anything like it before but it seemed like commonplace entertainment telling by the reactions of people passing by the crowd. As she stood still on the rooftop watching the display, one of the children there spotted her. Her fur stood up on eye-contact. She was discovered! Alisha ran away.

More people were starting to notice her as they turned and looked to her running. How was she attracting attention?! Look at the performer! She was supposed to be inconspicuous. Although she didn’t acknowledge it, Alisha was a popular topic for the citizens of Riverside ever since her arrival.

The attention was too much and made her anxious. Suddenly, the exhaust from a steam pipe blew in her face. She misjudged one of her jumps to the next rooftop and fell to the alley. She fell a couple of stories and broke a bone or two.

“Madam, are you okay?” Guide asked out of concern.

“I’m fine,” Alisha spoke clearly and regenerated her body. However, a small crowd witnessed her fall and went to see if she was okay. She pushed herself into a small corner. The humans were tall compared to her small size and looked like good people wanting to help. But they were scary! She was trembling and whimpered as they came closer.

The boy appeared in front of her and looked concerned at Alisha’s condition. “I told you not to push yourself. Going into town alone, what were you thinking!? The tavern was bad enough. You have to stay in control!”

But Alisha couldn’t. Her mind was starting to spin and her breathing was becoming heavy. Everywhere she looked, she saw scary-looking figures of people. What was she going to do now?

Alisha was about to lose her composure and people were starting to notice her strange behavior. With the last of her strength, she ran away and hid away from the humans. She was scared of humans. After what happened in the forest, of course, she would be traumatized. Who wouldn’t be?

She had anxiety problems in her previous life and so being reincarnated and hunted pushed her over the edge. What was she doing? How could she help Yuli when she was like this? Why was this happening…

Alisha had a haggard breath as her wolf body cried and whimpered. She was having a panic attack. She felt like she was suffocating and she finally passed out.

“Was this what you wanted to happen, Black?” The boy asked contemptuously. Black smiled and looked down on the unconscious Alisha.

“Shall we begin?”