The next morning started with Sheeno sequestering an isolated room in the outpost, and closing me in it with her. Now, I wasn’t against the idea of being in an enclosed space with her, and for a brief moment I even found the idea of her shark-like teeth being involved appealing, but when she pulled out her [Artifact] that created a ‘bubble of privacy’ things got quickly much more serious.

The room was made of the same packed earth the rest of the tower was grown from, and the only notable things in it were the absence of windows, the steel door that led into the room, and the two chairs sitting at opposite sides of a table, which all looked like they were made of hardened clay.

Sitting on one of the chairs, Sheeno placed the device on the table, and gestured for me to sit opposite of her.

Not finding a reason for why I shouldn’t comply, I obeyed, but when I had just begun to feel my but hitting the chairs she immediately hit me with a “we need to talk”.

I stared at her, and with firm, but unfelt, calmness said “you do know that nothing good comes from a discussion started like that, right?”

She rapidly blinked for a moment, but then a frown appeared on her face.

“True, but I’ve been holding back from asking about some things for long enough, and after that awful adventure I can’t hold it in any longer.”

Nodding at her, to show that I understood, I gestured for her to continue, still without uttering another word, since I was afraid of what I would inadvertently reveal if I were to try and dig myself out of this hole.

“First of all, what do you mean when you say that you ‘created your [familiar]?” She was one to start strong, it seems.

“Well… that cat’s already out of the bag, I guess; so I’ll reiterate that I literally [Created] it, [Soul] and all”, I responded, fidgeting all the while.

“That… That is not possible… and yet all proofs point at it being the truth”, and with that she place her second [Artifact], the [Spire of Truth], on the table, showing that it was completely white, marking that what had been said until now was the undeniable truth.

I was a bit miffed that she had used it without my knowing, but besides a quick glance at it, I tried to show no other signs of distress; at least outwardly, since, on the inside, I was sweating.

“But how!?” She suddenly exclaimed, after looking like she was debating with herself about what the best way forward would be.

“I dunno, [Kenny] was literally my first [Spell], and I never tried making anything else of ‘alive’ since, so I can’t even tell if it was a fluke, or not.”

“How could you not- No, ok, I see the problem: Since you didn’t know anything about magic before, you didn’t have the knowledge that would have pushed you to look into this any further… but still! You never tried to [Create] another [familiar]- ohcrapthat’san[Ability]…” and then Sheeno went weirdly quiet, with her porcelain-like skin maybe getting imperceptibly paler.

“Ok, yeah. I don’t understand why that has shocked you so much, but that [Ability] comes from one of my [Aberrant Affinties]-“, I started saying, but was rudely interrupted.

“ ‘One of’!? Just how many do you have!?” She shouted, while slamming two of her first on the table.

“Did I forget to mention that?”

It would appear so.

“Two?” I responded, now worried by her reaction.

That seemed to calm her down a little, and with a big sigh, she sent her remaining hands to massage her temples.

“O-ok, two isn’t unheard of, but is so rare that it’s practically a one in a trillion chance… yeah, you wouldn’t know that either: You saw me being [Anomalous] and probably thought that you had found your ‘destined one’, or some romantical bullshit like that-“ at that point, I frantically tried to deny her accusation, but she waved my protests away, “don’t try to deny it, your crush on me, while cute, is anything but subtle”.

I was rendered speechless, and all I could do was squirm uncomfortably in my seat, blushing furiously.

Seeing how her words seemed to affect me, Sheeno tried to defuse the situation, “don’t worry, to tell you the truth, the attraction is reciprocal…”

And then I had the pleasant surprise of seeing the [Spyre of Truth] remain white, while Sheeno’s cheeks gained a bit of color, seemingly not immune to her own words.

The blushing giantess forcefully cleared her throat and then continued in her line of questioning: “In any case, I think it’s time there was more transparency between us, and on that note, I want to come clean first, in a show of good faith: While me having the [Aberrant Water: Ice Affinity] was pretty obvious at this point, I’m considered [Anomalous] mostly for my pigmentation, which is a result of an [inborn Trait] that causes me to absorb any kind of energy faster than normal, which also ended up accelerating my growth above my peers”.

After she had finished speaking Sheeno kept sending me weird glances, but not seeing whatever she was expecting from my expression, she moderately relaxed again.

“Now, I’m not one to beg, quite the opposite actually, especially in be-ehem! I’ll still ask you, though, to please match the trust that I offered you”, she finished with, almost letting her inner thoughts slip.

Now, those inner thoughts did make me blush harder, but I had something more serious to worry about.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Should I tell her about my inner companion too?”

The question was directed at [Buddy], but it wasn’t who answered me.

Oh, please do.

I can’t wait for the [Nexus] to recognize just how loony you are!

Well, I would have answered with a “maybe”, and left the decision up to you, but since the [Gods] don’t seem to know about me just yet I say that we keep my existence a secret.

At least until it either becomes too relevant to gloss over, or the secret gets out on its own.

“Sure.”

Who was I to refuse its decisions regarding its own life?

“Well, you know that I can somehow create souls, right?” I asked to break the ice, pun intended, “what you might not know is that my [Anomalous]-ness is from my eyes, which only displayed heterochromatism on Earth, but turned into a [Trait] that lets me see [Mana] and [Aether] once integrated into the [Nexus]”.

“That explains a lot, like how you kept talking as if you could see the [Matrixes] while [Spell-Weaving], or how you immediately saw the button in the [Dungeon] that would have led us directly to the [Mini-Boss]… not that it would have been the same- actually, it would have definitely been an easier fight if we had just rushed into the ‘incomplete’ room”, Sheeno thought out loud, to which I could only nod.

“And for my [Affinities], my [Aberrant] ones are [Divinity] and [Building], and while the first one seems to just be a more concentrated version of the original, the second one completely bypasses the need for materials, removing any limits on my creation bar my [MP]-“, I started saying, but was interrupted once again.

“Wait, do you really not have a [Spatial Bag] stashed somewhere on your person, where you’re hiding all your material? Were you only being genuinely envious about mine?” Apparently, Sheeno thought that my skit about not having an [Inventory] was only meant to be some kind of inside joke, and then she finished with “also, what you described should be extremely [Mana] heavy, completely negating the apparent benefits”.

“That would be the case, if I didn’t make it so the very [Matrixes] I use mimicked the effects of [Syphon], absorbing the surrounding [Mana] to power themselves, drastically reducing the costs of both their casting and sustainability”, I explained.

“That is… absurd. Are you trying to tell me that every [Skill] and [Spell] you have been using had [Syphon] running in the background this whole time!?”

“Of course not, that would be too easy for others to find out! What I did only mimics the desired effects, and I worked really hard to make it so my [constructs] especially didn’t have a real [Syphon]: If my creation were to noticeably deplete an area of mana, just how quickly would people figure out what I was doing, and hound me for my secrets!?”

Now, while a bit melodramatic, I had already explained that I was terrorized that influential people would find out about me and orchestrate my capture, making the rest of my life a living hell… if they didn’t decide to just kill me from the get-go.

But Sheeno, instead of understanding my plight, was just staring at me with a blank look on her face.

“Let me get this straight: You modified the very nature of a [Matrix] so it wouldn’t draw mana only from you, but also in equal part from everything it could find around, and you did so in a way that made you relatively inconspicuous while you were doing it?” She simply asked.

I bounced the idea in my head for a couple of seconds, and while it felt reductive, it was pretty accurate.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

Sheeno let her face fall upon her upturned hands, which had been previously slammed on the table, and let out a groan of defeat.

“You might just be more dangerous to have around than me with my [Royal Assassins]…” she whispered between her fingers and, if it wasn’t for my inflated [Stats], I wouldn’t normally have been able to hear her.

“I’m sorry, but did you just say [Royal Assassins]? Do you have something else to say to me?” I asked, while craning my head so I was looking at her face.

She opened up her fingers a bit more, meeting my eyes, and then used her remaining right hand to gesture dismissively in the air, “I’m a [Banished Princess], and my younger brother, the current [King] of my [Race], is a religious zealot that stands against everything I represent. Of course I have [Assassins] after me, I thought that was obvious, and it's only a matter of time until they find me”.

“Well… ok, in hindsight it was kind of obvious, but it would have still been nice of you to mention it sooner”, I stated.

“Fine, when you’re right you’re right, sorry. But I don’t think I forgot to say anything else about myself, what about you?”

I thought about it, bringing one hand to rub my chin, feeling the smooth texture of my skin even through the glove-

“Oh, right.”

“I can apparently alter directly the [Properties] of things, and that includes everything except other people, without the need to [Enchant] it first, ”, I slowly explained.

I was very nervous about revealing this tidbit of information, since it was another reason serious enough for which someone would either want to abduct me, or kill me.

“Mh, that’s not too ‘unique’, most [Master Craftsmans] can do it. Now, if you had said you could alter living beings, that would have been another-“, I was both relieved and disappointed to hear Sheeno say that, but I had to interrupt her.

“Wait, wait. I can alter living beings, just not other people. Didn’t you see how I changed my [familiar]?”

She paused to mull over my words, and when the look of realization crossed her face she dropped her mouth open and pointed right at my face with one of her arms.

“H-how…. How can someone with your powers even exist!? You’re basically a [Demi-God] with a flesh and bones’ body!” And while saying that Sheeno stood up and started pacing around the room.

Now, I’m not an expert in body language, but that didn’t look good. But before I could find a way to calm her down, she stopped right beside where I sat, dropped to a knee, and grabbed one of my shoulders in her surprisingly delicate grip.

“I appreciate you telling me about your secrets, and now I understand better your paranoia of being persecuted, which now sounds totally legit to have. Let me just say that I will do everything in my power to keep you safe, and I hope that you will reciprocate the promise”, she solemnly stated while staring right into my eyes.

Maybe it was because we were just too close, maybe it was because I was more attracted to Sheeno than I thought, or maybe it was because hearing that she still accepted me after learning about my secrets lifted a weight the size of a boulder off my shoulders that I didn’t know I even had, but at that moment I really wanted to kiss her.

And since I feared that it would have made me look like a creep, I did the next best thing.

I enveloped Sheeno’s neck in a tight hug, which resulted in me getting a faceful of violet hairs, and her stiffening for a moment.

“Thank you. You have no idea how much I feared that you would have a more negative reaction after learning more about me”, I whispered right next to her ear.

And that was the moment when Sheeno hugged me back with all four of her arms, “Don’t be stupid: We’re [Teammates], aren’t we?”.

I snorted at that, “yeah, two weirdos against the [Worlds]”.

“Hey!” She exclaimed, bringing us back to my arm-length, “you’re definitely weirder than me, so, if anything, I could pass per ‘normal’ next to you”.

I mock glared at her, “Jerk”.

“Grump”, she responded.

“Meathead.”

“Noodle-arms.”

We stared at each other in fake anger, but the stare-off was quickly broken when we both broke into an uncontrollable fit of giggling.

For once, the future actually looked pretty promising.