Dave found himself standing in Sherlock's office, but something was terribly wrong. The familiar surroundings seemed to be fading away in places, with ominous cracks running up the walls. Dark roots and violet crystals reminiscent of the void tree he had encountered were growing through these fissures, giving the room an unsettling, alien appearance.

The metal desk, once a symbol of order and rationality, was now overrun with blooming void lotuses. Their inky black petals, dotted with pinpricks of violet light, seemed to pulse with starlight from within.

Dave's eyes were drawn to the figure of Sherlock, and he felt a chill run down his spine. Dark cracks were spreading across the detective's form, as if he was a porcelain figurine on the verge of shattering.

"Sherlock?" Dave stammered, looking around. "What's happening here?"

“A fragmentation of sorts,” Sherlock replied, scratching his burned neck. “What your Healer friends called Vexirium aka Skill Psychosis.”

"Is this because of the dungeon? The souls I absorbed?"

Sherlock nodded slowly, wincing slightly. "Your Phantomancy... has grown considerably, but at a cost. The excessive Void-aligned memories are taking over, drowning out what I am. And not just those.”

Sherlock turned around revealing his face. His face featured bits of gray that belonged to Oraniss, Stellaris. Some parts of his semi-shattered body seemingly belonged to Sir Wabbor, while others reminded Dave of Voidmancer Zolish Yaslor.

Dave looked at his own hands and choked. His entire body from top to bottom was fragmented, sheared by random otherness he had absorbed recently, covered in Void cracks.

“Shit,” Dave said. “How do we fix this?”

Sherlock pointed at something on Dave’s head.

Dave recognized the familiar slight weight. Healy twinkled and jumped off Dave’s head onto the Void Lotus covered table, settling between the flowers like a kitten.

Dave stared at Healy. The Vitalix Kitlix seemed out of place as if she was simply painted into existence in this fragmented dreamscape, yet her presence felt reassuring.

"How can she help?" Dave asked, looking up at the fractured form of Sherlock.

The detective steepled his fingers, his movements jerky. "The Kitlix is a magical tool bonded to your soul, one capable of growing in power in a specific direction. You must Understand how to wield her more effectively. Notice that she is unaffected by Vexirium.”

"Right, she's... whole," Dave commented. He reached out and gently picked up Healy. The Kitlix felt warm and solid in his hands and twinkled at him.

“Any idea as to what I can do with her?” Dave asked.

“Your use of her is ineffective,” Sherlock pointed out.

“How so?” Dave asked.

“One of the greatest human inventions is the microscope,” Sherlock said. “Consider this - what if you had a magical device that could identify things for you, allowing you to target healing of specific bits of yourself more effectively? She is bound to you as your familiar, yes… but what if she had more of you in her?”

“Hrm, right,” Dave rubbed his chin that didn’t feel exactly his. “What if I inject pure Intelligence and Wisdom into her… could that make her better at Identification of maladies?”

“Perhaps it would make some kind of an Infoscope tool,” Sherlock nodded. “Why don’t you try it?”

Dave took a deep breath and focused. He imagined his Intelligence and Wisdom as streams of light, flowing from his hands into Healy.

To his surprise, he felt a slight drain, as if something was indeed being transferred. Cyan and magenta sparks ignited across the body of Kitlix, adding to the green.

“Holy shit,” Dave grinned. “It’s working!”

[Level 6 Phantomancy Skill Unlocked: Familiar Attribute Transfer. You are now able to transfer your Attributes to your Kitlix familiar.] A message flashed atop of his wrist.

He stared at the stats on his bracelet. The number there was falling rapidly. He let go of Healy as his total soul bits fell down to exactly [34] points.

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Suddenly, a new view came into existence like a third eye opening in his forehead. He saw a fragmented, messed up Dave standing in the ruined office through Healy’s eyes.

Dave sputtered, feeling like now he had an entire extra body to work with. He moved what felt like an extra leg, no… a crystalline paw and watched as Healy lifted one of her paws up.

Dave stared at Healy’s paw with Healy’s eyes.

[Healy: Vitalix-Infix-Vestix. Soul-Bonded Kitlix LV 34]

[Primary Alignment] - [Vitality: 34]

[Secondary Alignments] - [Intelligence: 6.1976] [Wisdom: 6.1976]

“Hrm,” Sherlock contemplated. “Healy gained your Attributes. Try pulling them back now?”

Dave tried to pull his soul bits back. The attributes refused to flow back into him, seemingly burned into the Kitlix. Healy swatted at Dave’s hand, making what looked like a mildly annoyed face.

“I think they’re stuck in her,” Dave muttered with a frown.

“Yes,” Sherlock nodded. “Seems like she doesn’t want to give them up or once crystallized the souls cannot be returned. Curious. Maybe she does not wish to surrender her Understanding of reality.”

The Kitlix animatedly tilted her head at Dave and then at Sherlock.

“I think that she’s… smarter?” Dave commented.

“Yes,” Sherlock affirmed. “Her face does seem less blank now. Perhaps if more intelligence was added she could even learn to speak as Dumpich speculates.”

The Kitlix’s crystalline face suddenly split, looking like a kitten’s mouth that was opening wide. She pointed a paw at her newly formed mouth.

“Shit. She’s…” Dave sputtered.

“Hungry,” Sherlock concluded.

“You want… Mana crystals, right?” Dave asked, feeling an odd, irritating, pulsating fifth sense in the back of his head that was bothering him.

Healy nodded, making a chiming sound.

“Definitely hungry. The additional Attributes most likely require more magic to run.” Dave tried to look at the world through Healy’s eyes again but was instantly booted out, getting a more intense pulse of migraine. Healy twinkle-hissed, crystalline tail swishing almost like that of an annoyed cat.

Then she curled into herself on the Void lotus covered table, sending Dave an annoyed glare.

“Right,” Dave said, sitting down onto the Void-root covered chair. “Going to get mana crystals first thing in the morning. Looks like healing is on hold until I feed her.”

“Hrm, she’s got more colors in her now,” Sherlock pointed out.

“Is this… bad?” Dave asked.

“Not necessarily,” Sherlock shrugged. “The Kitlix in Healer’s Hall weren’t all pure green, some had sparks of other colors. I reckon that Kitlix can evolve with their Master into a particular direction as their partner levels up. The difference is that you’re not leveling up slowly like the locals do and so neither is Healy. Get some sleep, David… tomorrow you can experiment with your vastly improved familiar.”

----------------------------------------

Dave awoke with a start, his heart racing as the remnants of the dream faded away. Something jagged and also soft and warm was poking him awake.

Dave blinked.

Healy was sitting on his chest, her crystalline body pulsing with soft green, cyan and magenta sparks. Her crystalline paw smacked his face again.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m getting up,” He took a deep breath, trying to shake off the lingering unease from his dream. “Ugh. Feels like I got a cat.”

Healy made a chime-like sound in response and rushed to the top of his head, pawing at his hair for him to hurry and feed her.

Sunlight filtered through the cracks in the steel shutters that were sliding open with clicks. Dave sat up. His gaze fell on the stained glass portrait of Lari propped up on the desk. In the morning light, her smile seemed even more radiant, almost lifelike. He found himself staring at her, wishing that he had the platinum necessary to call her.

Healy smacked his head again with greater insistence. Dave sighed, packed up the portrait and went to the bathroom and headed downstairs.

The trio of Healers were already there, waiting for him at the pub.

“Morning sleepyhead,” Terri waved at him.

“Oy mate! Join the breakfast gang!” Dumpich grinned.

Leon simply stared at Healy.

Dave sat down on the bench next to Terri, looking over the breakfast menu burned into a wooden board.

Terri’s emerald eyes examined Healy.

“Did… your Kitlix get bigger overnight?” She asked.

“Uhhh…” Dave said as Healy pawed at his head.

“You owe me a lucky copper,” Dumpich grinned at Leon.

“Fine, fine,” Leon slid a copper coin depicting the face of a princess wearing a nine-gem crown to the victorious-looking Dumpich. “He does have a green over thirty. Except she is not entirely green is she? I’m seeing sprinkles of other colors there.”

“Kitlix do evolve,” Dumpich commented. “Since Dave beat an entire dungeon, I don’t see why Healy wouldn’t get some benefits.”

“Overnight?” Terri asked.

“I’m not a Kitlix expert, don't look at me,” Dumpich shrugged. “Go bug our resident breeder.”

“Yeah, I think I burned that bridge,” Terri sighed.

“Why is she pawing at your head like that?” Terri asked.

“She’s starving,” Dave sighed. “Dumpich, uh, could you order me the, uhh… Champions breakfast? I’m going to buy this beastie mana crystals before she gives me a haircut.”

“Mrrrrrnnn,” Healy outputted, smacking Dave’s head again with sharp crystalline claws.

“What,” the trio of healers stared at Dave’s familiar.

“Mate, how did you make her make that noise?” Dumpich demanded. “That is not a normal Kitlix noise.”