The breeze gently ruffled through my hair as I looked up at the dragon girl carrying me in her arms as we glided easily over the jungle. Unlike the previous floor, the jungle had an illusory sky overhead, with a sun sinking into golden hour towards the horizon. The light glinted across her black and silver kimono as I held onto her, gazing up into her flawless face in awe.
Something was wrong inside of me. My blood thrummed hot as if power was coursing through my veins, and I felt oddly distant and floaty as if everything around me was happening to someone else rather than me. As if I was watching my own life rather than living it. Alarmed, I tried to move one of my hands to my face to examine it, but I found to my shock that I had lost all control over my body.
Instead I watched helplessly as I buried my face further into Riviera's chest, closing my eyes as I felt the soft silk and warm heartbeat underneath the fabric. My blood thrummed hotter and my head seemed to be filled with a dreamy fog that continuously sapped my will to stay conscious. I fought powerlessly against it as a sweet sense of content began flooding my senses, my will to fight to stay conscious slowly fading and blending into the rest of my mind.
Z-ZAP! FZ-z-z. Crackle. Crackle.
I woke suddenly and painfully as black sparks shot through my body and mind.
"AAAGHH!!" I arched my body in pain, the pain seemingly burning through every inch of my body and soul.
"Silvie! What's wrong! Silvie!" Rivi's voice felt distant and strangely muted as burning pain racketed through my whole system.
"AGHHHHHH!!!" My body twisted and bucked uncontrollably in Riviera's arms. Black sparks leaping off my body to bite into Rivi as well.
"Silvie! No! Silvie!!"
All I could see as my consciousness once again began to fade was a revolving horizon line as my body flipped through the air, still twisting in agony as the ground began to grow closer.
Where…am I? My eyes fluttered open, and I tried to sit up, my whole body groaning in agony. Japan? I looked around. Futon, Tatami mats, sliding doors leafed with beautiful illustrations of stone lions.
I looked down at myself. Black skeleton hands, strange silver bracelets on both wrists, wearing a lounge yukata. What happened? Is this…a dream? I looked around again trying to remember what I'd been doing before I found myself in this room. I was with Rivi, and then…something happened? Did someone attack us?
"Status." I called, hoping to confirm that I was at least still in the isekai world.
[Name: Silvie]
[Race: Night Skeleton]
[Sex: F] [Age: 17 (Current form: 1)]
[Lvl. 9]
[HP: 464/675] [MP: 450/450] [SP: 403/550]
[Skills: Dark Slash lvl. 7, Dark Vision lvl. 10, Spirit Sight lv. 4, Dark Magic lvl. 8, Improved Balance lvl. 10, Improved Reactions lvl. 10, Corrupting Touch lvl. 10, Corruption Magic lvl. 3, Evernight Touch lvl. 3, Evernight Well lvl. 1, Summon Weapon lvl. 5, Living Form lvl. 5, Read Memories lvl. 3, Ice Magic lvl. 2, Drain Energy lvl. 1, Wind Magic lvl. 4, Mind Numbing lvl. 2, Cold Resistance lvl. 2, Mental Resistance lvl. 2, Pain Resistance lvl. 1]
[Titles: Undead, Blessed of Melphinoe, Dragon-Slayer, Infused Knowledge, Survivor of Arthuss, the Immortal Storm, Suppressed Crimson Wraith Blood Awakening, Contracted Familiar: Rufi, Last System Backup: Night Skeleton lvl. 9]
Pain Resistance, huh. And what's this Suppressed Crimson Wraith Blood Awakening about? What exactly happened?
[Suppressed Crimson Wraith Blood Awakening]
[The blood of the Crimson Wraith awakening inside of you has been forcefully suppressed by the power of death. Enter into a contract with the goddess Melphinoe to release the suppression and gain access to further evolutions.]
Is that what happened then? I tried to think back to the blurry memories after Riviera took me in her arms, but couldn't really make heads or tails of it.
I looked back at my status screen. Oh, crap, I never evolved Improved Reactions or Improved Balance, did I? I clicked on [Improved Reactions] to see my options.
[Improved Reactions lvl. 10 -> 2 evolution paths available, please select evolved skill pathway]
[Instinctual Dodge: Your body reacts automatically to perceived threats, capable of dodging or blocking attacks without conscious input.]
[Improved Processing Speed: Increases the speed at which the mind is capable of processing and reacting to stimuli]
Hmmm…both are pretty good. I guess the question is how confident I feel in manning my own defenses, so to speak…Instinctual dodge feels really good, but I just don't like the idea of giving up control over myself that much, I guess. I'd rather be more able to handle them myself. I hit [Improved Processing Speed], then moved my attention to [Improved Balance]
[Improved Balance lvl. 10 -> 2 evolution paths available, please select evolved skill pathway]
[Acrobatics: Increases flexibility and body awareness to allow for feats of great dexterity.]
[Unshakable: Increases stability and power of footwork, making it much harder to be knocked off one's feet as well as giving more power for strikes.]
So a straightforward STR or DEX choice, huh? That's pretty easy. I hit [Acrobatics]. I may have once been a swordsman, but my build feels more and more grounded in magic now. And [Improved Processing Speed] feels like it will be a great help to that as well.
"Alright." I closed all my system windows and looked around the cozy Japanese-style room again. "Time to figure out what's going on here."
"Ruf! Ruf!" I heard a pawing at one of the sliding doors, then saw Rufi gradually nudging it open until she finally had enough space to make it through. "Ruf!" She chirped happily, rushing towards me.
"Hey girl," I laughed, and wrapped her up in my arms when she got close enough. "Glad to see nothing happened to you while I was out." I massaged her head, scritching just a little under her chin.
"Mistress Silvie," A silver-eared wolf girl entered from the door Rufi had made her way through, carrying a tray of tea.
I looked around for a moment before remembering that that was my name. "Mm?"
"We're glad to see you're feeling better. Would you like some tea? I'm sure Mistress Riviera will be here soon."