The morning after her little ‘playdate’ with Morra, Isse woke up in her hammock, for once without a book lying by her side. She felt more refreshed than usual.
Huh, maybe we shouldn’t read until two in the morning. We’d feel more well rested, and our eyes wouldn’t itch so much.
They stayed silent a moment, then, in a chorus, thought: Naaah.
They were [Readers]. [Nocturnal Readers], actually, since their Class had evolved around two weeks ago. They’d reached and surpassed Level 10, getting some neat Skills all the while like [Reading: Increased Stamina] and [Ignore Fatigue] and, best of all, [Remember Chapter]. The last, and latest, Skill allowed them to perfectly recall exactly one, short, chapter of any book they’d read recently. So Isse could be working on building a clock and, all the while, Siidi would be there, in the back of her mind, reading seemingly perfectly by memory their latest favorite moment in a story.
It was, in their modest opinion, one of the greatest Skills she’d gotten recently. That is, until last night, when she’d obtained two new much more practical Skills for her job: [Nimble Fingers] and [Fast Assemblage (Components)], together with an upgrade to her [Tinkerer] Class.
“Albert, I finally evolved my Class into [Clockworker]!” she said with a smile as she waltzed into the kitchen, surprising him as he was lighting the fire in the stove. Usually he had to come to her room to wake her up.
Still, the surprise quickly faded and he smiled: “Congratulations dear! We’re going to have to celebrate!”
He carelessly threw the flint he was using to light the fire over his shoulder, where it landed exceedingly close to the open cupboard holding their plates.
“How about breakfast at the Dancer? On me, naturally. You can get anything you want.”
She chuckled, nodding: “So long as you’re offering. I think I’ll buy the most expensive thing they have. Also, you just don’t want to cook today, don’t use me as an excuse.”
Albert chuckled, having the decency to look abashed: “What can I say, it’s a day like that. But upgrading your Class is indeed cause for celebration, so I get to hit two birds with one arrow.”
They chuckled and she could hear Siidi sigh in exasperation and happiness in the back of her mind in a rare moment of ‘being the actual adult in the room’.
Whatever will I do with yall?
Get to taste great food?
…Yeah, fair enough.
And out they went. The walk to the Boneless Dancer was short and lively and, all the while, Isse hummed a song from her life back on Earth, ‘Lili Marlene’, a̵̻͠ ̸̙͌ṛ̶̿å̶̘ẗ̵̯́h̷̻́e̷̙̎r̷̭̀ ̸͉͛r̵̖͋ę̶̐c̶̱̽e̴̬̊n̶̟̈t̶̠͆ ̶̫̋ṡ̷̺o̵̔͜ņ̵̎g̸͓͝.
She blinked, shook her head, then went back to humming.
“Everything alright?” asked Albert.
“Yeah, just had this strange sense of… I’d say dejavu, but wrong somehow? Whatever, it was just a strange feeling.”
He nodded, and they kept on walking, at some point Albert joining in with her humming and following her lead. He didn’t recognize the song, and he didn’t ask her about it: he guessed it was something the arachne sang.
Finally they reached Creanza’s bar, which was just beginning to open, a steady stream of clients walking inside the entrance like many ants going back inside their anthill. Sometimes the place really did feel like one, with Creanza being the Queen, her workers some kind of princesses and princes and the people her little worker drones. Other times to Albert it seemed like the one place in this world where true peace existed.
The moment they walked in Lavia appeared by their side, seemingly out of nowhere (probably actually out of nowhere now that Isse had seen her work. She had some pretty incredible Skills) and greeted them with a slight bow of her head: “Welcome to the Boneless Dancer. Would you like to seat at a table or at the counter?”
Albert greeted her with a smile and a bow himself as he answered: “A table, if you would. We’re celebrating today.”
“Certainly. Follow me,” and she turned around, motioning them with a winged arm to follow her.
The crowd parted in front of her life the waters of the Red Sea for Moses and she lead them to a small table for two in a cozy corner of the main room. How nobody had claimed it was a bit of a mystery to Isse, but she’d become used to sights like this one in the few days she’d worked here. It was probably the work of Skills, ones she didn’t know of. Creanza, like most sane people, was very cagey about the Skills she’d gotten and her Level, as were all her other employees.
They sat down and Lavia handed them two menus, bowing again as she turned around and went to serve another customer, giving them the time to read through the pages and choose something to eat.
As they read Isse felt something tugging at the back of her mind, a Skill she’d used rarely after… after that night: [Perceive Emotions]. One of the Skills she’d obtained after her main Class had changed from [Soul Mage] to [Soul Shaper]. Although, was it still her main Class? These days she had so many of them, all with their own small amount of Levels. These days though her main Class was becoming [Spy] because there was no one there to teach her how to, well, use her magic. She had the basics, Grandmother had taught her well, but… she didn’t know the full potential of Soul Magic. Only some Spells. She didn’t even really know how to use it in combat.
Still, she had it and, if all else failed, she could try to teach herself some Spells. After all, she did know how to weave magic, and she knew how important intent was when doing so. She wouldn’t allow the knowledge of her Class to disappear with Grandmother! She’d carry it on and, if necessary, learn everything by herself.
Anyways: her Skill spoke to her, if that was even the right word for it. More like it gave her an impression of what Albert was feeling now: like a snake moving in his stomach, with a hint of anxiety, sadness and a pinch of fear. A mix that reminded her tremendously of… guilt.
As she thought of that emotion her Skill seemed to blink and she understood she’d gotten it right.
“Albert, why do you feel guilty?” she asked out of the blue as she put down her menu and looked up at him with her piercing brown eyes, so simple yet, sometimes, so deep.
He looked up himself, putting down his menu, and sighing deeply: “Couldn’t hide it from you eh? Your people are far too perceptive for things like this.”
For a moment she thought about telling him that she had a Skill that allowed her to get a feel for what other people felt, but then she remembered both Grandmother and Master’s words, their warnings that, no matter who, it was better never to reveal the full extent of one’s abilities and Skills. Better to always have a trump card at the ready, and not necessarily because the person on the other side would betray you: after all, torture was still a thing in this world.
“I’m pretty perceptive.”
Albert chuckled: “That’s a lie, I can tell.”
“And you’re trying to change the subject.”
He sighed, then nodded: “Yes, well, I feel a bit guilty, because today I was going to propose to you to start your first exam for your… new Class.”
“You mean [Clockworker]?”
He shook his head: “The other new Class then.”
Oh, he meant [Spy]. And now she understood why he felt guilty: she’d just received a shiny new upgrade to her Class, something to be happy about, and he was going to ask her to undergo some kind of trial.
“Why now?”
Albert sighed: “Do you remember the [Lady] we visited a while ago, Madame Serafia?”
She nodded, suppressing a chuckle: “She’s hard to forget. Quite charming too.”
“Yes, well, today we have to visit her. She requested my help in repairing a broken clock that’s apparently as old as her great grandfather. It had some enchantments as well from what she told me and she decided to ask the best person in town for help with fixing it up.”
Isse frowned: “And where do I come in in all of this?”
Albert half smiled at her, a bit of bitterness in the motion: “The exam will be simple: you’ll have to find out some information about the Lady. Or her husband. Anything will do. You’ll come with me to the mansion today, and what you do with that afterwards is up to you. Know that this will be all the help I’ll give you. That is, again, if you wish to take on this challenge now. It can wait. We have lots of time.”
She looked at him, cocking her head to the sight, but before she could answer anything Acria, the half-devil [Server], arrived at their table, cheerful smile on her face as she asked with a bubbly voice if they were ready to order. They did, and then went back to their pseudo staring contest.
All the while, Isse thought.
Should we? asked Isse.
I mean, we don’t have many applicable Skills, but we do have some skills of our own. We could certainly try.
Yeah, but this isn’t like magic lessons with Grandmother. If I fuck this up I’m, for lack of better word, fucked.
Maybe. But if we don’t challenge ourselves there’s no way we can Level Up. I say you do it.
Isse looked up from Albert’s face and around the bar, her eyes subconsciously searching for her new friend, Morra. But she wasn’t there, and even had she been, what use would she have been? Could she have helped her make a decision? Knowing the girl a bit better now… maybe? Her job wasn’t that much different from a spy’s, but she was much less at risk of being hunted down and killed, or worse, if she was found out.
In the end, she sighed and nodded: Alright, let’s do this.
She needed the Levels. If she hesitated now, how long would it take her to get her revenge on the King? Years. Many more years than it already would.
“I’ll come with you.”
Albert nodded, his usual smile returning: “Very well. We have one hour. Prepare yourself in whichever way you consider necessary.”
And then their food arrived.
----------------------------------------
Isse’s exam started the moment they walked back in the workshop and she started packing what she would take with her. She let her hands wander over the items she’d probably need: her set of lockpicks, her small belt containing all the items a [Clockworker] could use, a book (because one could never go wrong with books) and a small collection of coins numbering three gold coins, some silvers and a few dozen coppers.
When she skittered back down Albert looked at her getup and ordered: “Show me your bag of holding.”
She did, and he immediately began taking out the coins and book.
“What else did you bring?” he asked as he carefully put everything back inside, nodding approvingly.
“The lockpicks and the belt.”
He looked up at her, examining every single square inch of her body, his eyes sharper than a mithril razor. Then, again, he nodded, a hint of a smile appearing on his face: “Clever trick that one: hiding the lockpicks in a fold of that changing dress of yours. Nobody would think about it.”
And then he turned around and began walking out, where a small, unadorned, wooden, carriage was already waiting for them.
As they say inside he snapped his fingers and Isse felt the air around them become more… actually, less. Of what? She couldn’t tell. It just felt like less than what it should be.
“Privacy Skill. Now, I will repeat this again once and no more. After I put an end to this conversation by saying the word ‘Clock’ I will not intervene in any way or form to help you. I will judge your actions though, so keep that in mind.”
Isse opened her mouth to ask him what his judgment would mean for her but he put a finger on her lips, shushing her, and continued to talk as if he hadn’t just put an appendage in front of a bite-prone arachne’s mouth.
“Your objective for this exam is simple: you will have to gather some kind of information of value from [Lady] Serafia’s villa. The more interesting the information the better you will have gone in this exam. You will have seven days from the moment we walk through those gates to obtain everything you can. At any moment during those seven days you will be allowed to give up or end the exam, in which case I will judge your performance using what you have done up until then. You will not receive help. You will be allowed to request help from others, but you will have to find your own way to keep their loyalty and silence, be it money or blackmail or magic or deals sanctioned by the First Dealmaker, I do not care. Although the last one will net you a good amount of extra points during the exam.
“Is this all understood?”
She nodded, fighting the instinct that told her to bite Albert’s finger, not necessarily to inject it with something, but just for the sensation of doing it.
He moved his hand back and nodded, before he said: “- As I was saying, the clock is…”
The absence disappeared and Albert started talking about the job he had been hired to do as if he hadn’t just done a video-game style introduction to a mission.
A small, childish, part of her that had recently re-emerged thanks to Siidi’s hard work stared gleefully at the man with wonder in her eyes, while her soul half tried to put her back in the ‘safe-place’, whispering that this wasn’t a safe game and why didn’t she go with her to play some D&D? She was a facet of Isse that rarely came out these days and who, for a very long time, had disappeared, fallen asleep, possibly never to wake up again.
The time spent healing with Albert, Creanza and her crew, and Morra, with the rare appearances of Tobias, who always tried to flirt with her and sometimes actually managed to say cute things, had helped. It would still take him a long time to get anywhere with it. If ever he’d manage to get anywhere. She was an arachne, and she was a lesbian now. The two things didn’t mesh well with ‘white, handsome, half elf, male’.
She stayed silent and listened to Albert drone on about clocks and whatnot, thinking about how her life had changed.
----------------------------------------
“Welcome, mister Albert, miss Isse. I am glad you managed to come on such a short notice.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
That was Gregory, the house’s [Butler]. He opened the main door for them when they were at the bottom of the entrance’s stairs and patiently waited in the slight cold that was a lot mellower in this city than it was outside.
The two of them had arrived nearly ten minutes ago and had taken their sweet time getting there, mostly because of Isse. She had spent a lot of time gazing at the statues decorating the yard and at the frozen over fish pond and -
Ok, alright, I’ll stop. She hadn’t been actually looking at the statues. What she had been doing was looking at the whole place through her [Mana Sight].
She may not have someone to teach her new magic anymore, sure, but she still had a strong base thanks to Grandmother, and the knowledge on how to work with pre-cast Spells. And this whole place was filled with Spells. She could see them all: a grand web that hung all over the villa, ready to spring around anyone attempting to enter uninvited and sound alarms and trap or outright kill them. The statues held [Lightning] Spells carved inside the stone of their heads, the iron fence was enchanted with [Freeze] and overcharged [Stoneskin] Spells. There were also many warding spells that did things she couldn’t understand because she had never seen them.
All in all, this wasn’t a mansion: it was a fortress in disguise.
Luckily for her she was a [Soul Shaper] and she could visualize and, if necessary, interact with the Spells.
But that wouldn’t happen, not anytime soon.
“Hello Gregory,” said Isse with a small bow.
“Good morning Gregory,” said Albert, being much more formal.
They were let into the house entrance hall, where the [Butler] took their coats and quickly brought them into a side room that probably contained coats enough to dress a tenth of the city. How he would recognize theirs was a mystery to Isse. Or maybe he wouldn’t and he’d just get a random coat that would fit their clothes and give it to them. It was a most improbable thought, but Isse liked the idea.
Then they reached the main entrance, and there stood the one, the only, the unique, the fantastic and definitely the strange, [Lady] of the house: Madame Serafia. For once without her husband by her side.
“Ah, Albert! Such a pleasure that you could come at such a short notice. And you brought your delightful apprentice! Come in, come in, I’ll show you the way.”
She motioned for them to follow her up the stairs, but was interrupted by Gregory coughing gently in his fist. The woman turned around at that and raised an eyebrow, receiving in answer only an even more raised eyebrow.
“My Lady, I believe that would be my job. Please, allow me,” and he stepped forwards, opening the way for the short convoy.
In answer Serafia huffed: “Oh come on! There’s nothing wrong with being a good host! Why are all of you such stuck up… butts?!”
Isse couldn’t contain herself and snorted, causing the woman to turn her way and smile like a naughty child who’d just stolen the cookie jar.
They fell in a… the word ‘companionable’ didn’t seem to fit quite right to use in the presence of a noblewoman, but it was the best one to describe that absence of sound. Companionable, warm, kind and welcoming. Like standing in a field covered in snow after a stormy night, a few stray clouds left in the sky sometimes hiding the sun that, otherwise, reflected off the white expanse. It made her feel at home.
“My lady, do you have anything more to tell me in regards to the clock I’m supposed to be working on?”
The [Lady] shrugged: “I told you all I could find out on such a short notice. It is a grandfather clock that was owned, unironically, by my grandfather. The old piece of shit -”
Gregory coughed, but Serafia waved him off: “- loved that clock more than he loved the rest of his family. Supposedly he had it enchanted to do some amazing spectacles every hour, but as you can well imagine by your presence here, it stopped working.”
At that Albert finally spoke: “Madame, I appreciate your trust in my and my apprentice’s abilities, but I am no [Enchanter]. I am a mere [Clocksmith]: if the magic is damaged, I won’t be able to repair it.”
The [Lady] waved him off: “Oh, I have no interest in the enchantments. I only desire the clock repaired and working. I’ll put it in my study, gods know I should have one or else I’ll always end up wasting time, which is fun, but sadly not useful.”
For a moment Isse wanted to say that, if that was the case, she could’ve just bought a new clock, but then she thought better of it: this was awfully convenient.
Finally, after going up another set of stair, they reached a more dusty looking door, as if someone hadn’t been up here in a very long time. The only sign that showed otherwise was the absence of dust on the doorknob, which still looked oxidized by the passage of time.
“My husband suggested we do not move the clock from where we found it, ‘less we somehow damage it more.”
Albert nodded: “That was a good idea. Now, let us see.”
The door was opened, and Isse found herself in a little slice of heaven. The room was your typical dusty old attic, only where on earth people would have piles of boxes (or just piles of stuff they didn’t need), this place had actual crates. Wooden, big, crates that were filled with things just waiting to be seen, tired memories that hadn’t seen the light of day for who knows how long. Oh what she wouldn’t have given to be left alone with free reign in this room.
“You like it eh?” asked the [Lady].
Isse turned to look at her, ready to nod, only to notice the absence of her usual smile, in its place a kind of melancholy brimming in her eyes, her mouth set in a thin line with little dimples at the corners from smiling a lot (but never too much. One could never be too happy).
That sight sobered Isse up in a moment and she nodded as she stutteringly tried to explain her sudden lack of manners: “Ah, y-yes, madame. I - Ever since I can remember, as a child, I loved exploring my house’s attic.”
The woman’s smile returned at that, although the melancholy didn’t leave her: “Ah, I’m sorry, I didn’t want to sound scorbutic. You know, I was like that too, once upon a time. Now though… this place is just filled with regrets.”
Isse nodded in understanding, before she decided to ask a question that had appeared in the back of her mind: “Madame, if I may be so bold -”
“Oh, you absolutely can my dear,” interrupted the woman, her smile turning a little playful upon seeing Isse trying to be formal but also not too much because she knew the [Lady] really didn’t like it, the two sides of her fighting over what should be done.
“Ah, yes, thank you, then, could I ask: why do you want the clock repaired? Wouldn’t it bring you as much pain seeing it in your study every day?”
And at that, the woman chuckled, then breathed in a second, and exploded in laughter for no reason, making Isse feel rather awkward while Gregory, who’d been standing nearby all this time after showing Albert the grandfather clock, sighed and shook his head in fake desperation.
When she finally stopped, [Lady] Serafia took a deep breath and smiled, this time a true smile: “Ah, I’m sorry dear, it’s just that I remembered my plans for the clock and couldn’t help but notice how silly they would sound to an outsider of this house.”
At that the [Butler] spoke up for the first time since he had stopped the woman from leading the way through the house: “I believe, madame, that they sound silly even to insiders of the house.”
“Oh shut up Gregory, I know, but you have to admit it’s funny.”
“I never said otherwise my lady.”
“And stop mocking me with the ‘my ladies’. You know I detest that.”
“Certainly, your ladyship.”
Serafia opened her mouth to probably tell her butler to fuck off, then closed it, narrowed her eyes, and said: “Well played Gregory, well played.”
He bowed: “I thank you for the compliment, madame.”
And then silence reigned over the room, except for the distant noise of Albert probably fiddling with the clock behind a stack of crates. Noise that reminded Isse she should be at least faking to help him.
Skittering with grace between the boxes she reached him (after bowing and saying that she should reach Albert) and was met with a sight both majestic and sad: in front of her, standing proudly at two and a half meters and as large as her spider half was, was a grandfather clock made of a dark wood that had become pale as ruined birch from the amount of dust that had settled not just on but at this point inside it. The face was faded, the numbers having fallen off long ago, and Albert had opened a cleverly disguised door on the front that showed the insides were missing several components. Overall, this would be a nightmare to repair.
“What’s the verdict?” she asked him.
He shook his head: “This will take a whole lot of work. Work you won’t be able to help me with.”
Isse frowned: “Why?”
“This is beyond you. You only know how pocket watches work. This though? This is much more complex.”
Isse’s frown deepened as she used [Detect Truth] and saw he was lying. But why?
“Oh,” chimed in Serafia, “In that case, mister Albert, would you mind it if I stole your apprentice for a while?”
He shrugged, not even turning back, his free hand already moving towards a screwdriver.
“No problem with me, madame. If Isse doesn’t have any problem with this, then I sure don’t.”
Was he… setting her up? He was definitely trying to help her. But hadn’t he said that he would leave it all to her?
I don’t know. Maybe he’s gone soft on you? Or he wants to make things just a bit simpler for you? In my opinion we should just go with it and take advantage of this situation, said Siidi.
She nodded to herself, before she remembered that she wasn’t in her Mind Palace and that the [Lady] had seen the movement.
“Wonderful! Come dear, let’s go somewhere less gloomy.”
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Turns out that walking while looking at the world with [Mana Sight] was a bad idea. Why? Because there was simply too much to be seen.
Even when she attempted to isolate as many threads as she could there still remained hundreds. And since she couldn’t be quite certain about whether a thread was bound to a Spell or not, she had to slowly follow them to their probable source.
Twenty seconds into doing that while she was walking and she decided she liked her neck where it was, stopping and paying more attention to the madame’s idle chatter about local politics (“I swear to the gods, that woman’s just flirting with me. There’s no reason for someone to hate me that much and attempt to be a stick in the mud all the time without wanting to bed me!”), trade agreements (“The winter’s making the ice cream shipments easier to bring, yay!”) and probably enough spicy gossip to pass the exam alone on that. We shall not write down anything said during those moments for fear of repercussion.
Finally, they reached a finely decorated white door with a golden doorknob, which Gregory opened for them as they arrived. She hadn’t even seen him arrive.
“Come in dear. We’ll be able to talk freely here.”
In they walked, and Isse found herself in the woman’s office.
Ok, this is convenient, she thought.
Too convenient.
The room was… decorated. And that was a very diminutive word to describe the amount of ostentation. The walls were covered in fine looking white and gray wallpaper with snowflakes dispersed here and there in blue; a single, big, wooden, deck that was probably crafted out of yew sat on the opposite side of the room from the entrance with neat stacks of papers and, she guessed, documents. A giant painting hung over it all, showing a family of seven standing primply and properly in line, the two parents standing behind the five children with their hands behind their backs. All in all, it looked like someone had stuck a stick up each of the people’s asses.
The left wall was covered by a giant library filled with books, the different colors of the leather covers the room’s only permission to color.
There were exactly three chairs in the room: one behind the desk, another in front, and a third placed facing towards a finely decorated fireplace built out of off-white stone.
“Welcome to my office Isse. Don’t mind the pomp, I usually spend most of my time here throwing stuff at the walls in a futile attempt to ruin the wallpaper. Or rather, making it more interesting. But my parents enchanted them to self repair so it’s useless. Very cathartic though.”
She went and sat down with practiced ease at the desk, putting her legs up on the table, dress shoes and all, hands resting carelessly on her tummy.
I bet she tried to do many things to ruin those walls, said Siidi.
Isse had to control herself to make sure she wouldn’t frown and questioned: What kind of things?
Oh, you know. That kind of thing girls do when they feel lonely and there’s nobody around to help them.
It took Isse a whole three seconds to get the not-so-subtle innuendo, before she nearly flinched.
Siidi!
What? I’m sure she did!
I didn’t need the mental image!
You do have to admit that it’s sexy though.
Siidiiiii!
“Everything alright dear?” asked Serafia.
Isse snapped out of her bantering with her soul half and nodded: “Ah - yes, madame, I was just curious about the room.”
She scrambled for something else to say, to help make her excuse more believable, and received a helping hand by her soul half: “It doesn’t suit you much.”
The [Lady] chuckled and nodded: “No, it does not. At all. But I can’t change it, both because of the Spells keeping the study in this condition and because I still feel a bit sentimental.”
Isse tilted her head to the side, sitting down on the floor in front of the chair opposite the [Lady], her dress bending her figure to make it look as if she’d just sat down on the chair.
“Then why don’t you work in another room?”
Serafia batted her eyes a moment upon seeing her sit down, as if her brain was attempting to catch up to her, then shook her head slightly and closed her eyes, opening them back up again as she answered: “Because it would be inconvenient. This room holds all the important things, moving them out would just be a waste of time and resources.”
Isse frowned, looking around, then back at the door they’d come in from: “Doesn’t look like you’d care much for that.”
The [Lady] snorted: “Caught bloody handed. I’m just lazy is all.”
I’m seriously starting to wonder how it’s possible that this place hasn’t gone bankrupt yet.
She’s putting up a front, Isse dear.
If it’s just a front, then it’s extremely well rehearsed.
And that was when Gregory knocked on the door: “May I come in, madame?”
“Come right in Gregory!” she hollered back.
The man walked in, sighing: “Madame, there is no need to shout in such an unladylike manner, especially in front of a guest.”
“Oh, come off it Gregory, she watched me and my hubby eat and has talked with me once already: she knows I’m free spirited.”
The [Butler] sighed and gave up: this wasn’t a lost battle. It was a war that had been lost before it had even begun.
“About your husband, he has returned from his trip.”
[Lady] Serafia lit up like a firework and shot out of her chair: “Why didn’t you start with that Greg? I’m going to meet him!”
She stopped a moment later, turning to Isse: “You don’t mind Isse, right? It won’t take long.”
She immediately shook her head: “Don’t worry madame, I can wait here.”
“Perfect! Thank you very much. Gregory, would you be a dear and get us some tea for when I get back?”
“Certainly, my [Lady].”
Serafia put a hand to her chest and acted as if she’d been struck by an arrow, before giggling and turning back to the door, swiftly walking out, Gregory following suit.
And she was alone.
So, time to start looking for stuff? asked Siidi, the mental image of her rubbing her hands together appearing.
No, not yet. Let me first look for any Spells around here.
She activated her [Mana Sight] another time and went back to looking at the world through the eyes of the gods, or at least that’s what she imagined the gods saw all the time. Threads formed in her sight in all the colors of the rainbow and, she thought, in some cases, even colors that humans shouldn’t be able to see, flickering into existence at the edges of her sight and disappearing the moment she realized that something was there.
Slowly, but not too much, especially now that she knew her time alone was limited, she began picking out the threads of connections between people that went through the place, making them disappear from her sight. It was a long and laborious process which required concentration and attention to detail: after all, who knew if the thread she was deciding to ignore was in truth an alarm Spell that made a sound in a distant room? She had to be careful like that. Hopefully one day she’d get a Skill for that
“I’ve seen soul magic in use many times in my life, but this is novel,” said a voice by her side.
Isse shrieked and jumped to her feet, turning around, ready to fire her main (and only) attack spell at whoever had just talked.
What greeted her was… a gnome? With little horns? No, wait, it was a dog? With ahorn… why did it keep changing?
“Who the fuck are you? What the fuck are you doing?”
Siidi?
I have no idea. Shoot it!
Without thinking she activated her Skill and felt a small amount of her mana being drained out of her, changing and reshaping itself in the form of a very thin football that shot out towards the thing.
The man-dog-gnome didn’t even flinch as the arrow went right through where his heart should’ve been had his form finally decided to stay the same right to the other side.
“You done?” he asked, his tone slightly mocking.
She shot another arrow, only to watch the thing sidestep it.
“Now?”
“What the fu -”
“Yes yes, ‘what the fuck are you’ and ‘how did you get there without me noticing’ and probably a dozen other questions like that. So hello, my name is Kaminskyi and I’m this house’s domovoi. Pleasure to meet one of your kind again, little arachne.”