Hearing that Nephis was coming, I got up.
I turned to Cassie, who was still steaming smoke from her head.
I smiled. The smile was for many reasons—one, it was for myself, the pride of helping someone escape their troubles; and second... It's better to keep that to myself for now.
I informed Cassie that Nephis would be arriving anytime now. That seemed to catch her off guard, as she hastened to prepare herself.
Although she didn't need to, she insisted it was important.
I simply chalked it up to girl behavior. They all seemed to have things that mattered to them in ways I couldn't quite understand.
She asked for a comb and several other things. The situation wasn't exactly bizarre, at least not anymore. After arriving in the Dark City and settling down, she had started asking for a lot of basic items.
Things like combs, toiletries, portable showers, hair ties, wipes, blankets.
It wasn't anything extravagant, but it was a lot to keep track of, especially in a place like this.
But I envisioned them for her regardless, of course, I made sure, she promised to keep this herself and never mention it outside.
It would have been a nightmare in a nightmare, if the others were to hear of this.
The forgotten shore has its fair share of female sleepers, and if they were to hear of this luxury, it wouldn't be long before they start marching to this room to capture me and forcing me to envision all sorts of things for them.
And that would simply be the start of the nightmare, if word got out to the bright castle, Gunlag himself might jump into action, using every bit of strength and resources at his disposal to get his hands on my abilities.
Naturally, I would be able to defend myself, but the problem would be Cassie, I didn't bother to hide the fact that I show a lot of fondness for Cassie, so for someone like seishan figuring this out would be an easy task.
And if they were to target her, even with all my capabilities, I would not be able to handle them all and inevitably lose.
My envisioning as it is now, is nowhere near as powerful as it should be for a battle of that scale. Not only does my flaw get worse the more envisioned, it gets even more worse, if I try to envision something powerful.
There is also the limited number of envisionings I can use…
That's the most frustrating part. I have 7 envisionings, yet of those, I can use at most 5, and even that pushes me to my limit.
Any more, and I can feel my flesh writhing, as though worms and insects were crawling under my skin.
I tried pushing it to my limit, but that was only partially successful.
To use my envisionings to their maximum capacity, I would have to allocate 4 of them to elevate my [Telepatist] attribute to sequence 6 [Hypnotist], and my [Bard] attribute to sequence 7 [Solar High Priest].
This combination ensures that I wouldn't succumb to the madness brought about by my flaw, but it's also incredibly risky.
It's like connecting the power plug of a multi-plug extension... but instead of plugging it into a wall socket, you're plugging it into the extension itself, which is powered only by some magical force and my willpower.
If I were to falter, even just slightly, it would all come crashing down on me. I would turn into a monster.
Runes appeared before eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[ Would you like to envision A comb ]
[ Would you like to envision A wet Towel]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With a bitter expression I replied mentally.
Yes.
Just then a wave of inexplicable emotion washed over my mind, my body did not feel like my own, I had the sudden urge to destroy everything around me.
I simply shook my head, and endured it, by now I was already used to this much maddened ravings.
A new set of runes appeared before my eyes as the madness only became background noise in my head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Attempts: [ 5/7 ]
Currently Envisioned: [ Light Armour ], [ Comb & Wet Towel ]
Timer: [ 4:56 ]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Regardless, I decided to keep the matter in the back of my mind for now.
Handing the envisioned items to Cassie, I sat back down and closed my eyes for a moment while she took care of her business.
Before long, she was finished, and I ended the envisioning—though I couldn't help but watch her with a touch of awe.
She had tied her hair into a low bun with a ribbon, draped herself in a blue cloak, and wore a black blindfold.
Despite the blindfold, she exuded a striking, almost otherworldly beauty.
Even after all this time, it's still hard to get used to.
Not even the Forgotten Shore could dull that extraterrestrial grace.
Just then, I noticed a presence at the doorway.
It was a woman with silver white hair, and greyish white eyes, wearing a name-less armour. A tier 6 awakened armour that should have been given to Cassie, early in the story.
Of course it was none other than the Glorified Autistic Blowtorch.
Nephis of the Immortal Flame.
Pretending to be mildly surprised, I waved at Nephis who was just standing at the door way.
"Oh! Hey neph! When did you arrive? Come in, come in"
I gestured for her to come into the room.
She didn't immediately enter, she first scanned the room for a short moment only then did she enter.
Hmm? She is a bit more distrustful than usual..
Then I remembered… Han li caster..
She is still being pursued by that assassin from the Hanli clan.
I don't think she distrusts Cassie, but rather she distrusts me.
She looked around the room, which was much cleaner than any other available in these ruins. It was also well-hidden, so nightmare creatures didn't appear very often—an ideal place to take refuge.
Then she gave me a nod and turned to Cassie.
"How do you feel?" she asked, wearing her usual nonchalant expression.
"Oh? I'm doing great. How have things been on your end?" Cassie replied with a smile.
"There have been… a lot of setbacks. But we should be able to proceed."
Cassie nodded in response.
Setbacks—as in rallying all the Slum Sleepers while simultaneously watching for the assassin hunting her.
By now, she should have an idea on who her assassin is supposed to be.
Reading the meaning behind her words, I spoke up.
"You're planning to take Cassie along on the expedition, aren't you?" I asked, despite already knowing the answer.
She turned to me, held my gaze for a moment, then nodded.
"Yes. I—"
"I'm sorry," I interrupted, cutting her off.
"But I can't let you take her."