I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

She ended up waiting almost five minutes before Rossie left her room and sat at the dining table, the pink-haired girl was haggard and looked as if she hadn't slept at all. If not for the fact that she had seen it sleeping soundly before she would have thought that she had spent the night awake.

 

"Morning Eli-Eli...sorry for having you wake me up..." Said the pink-haired girl while sitting herself at the table. "...You even did the breakfast..." Added while scooping some of the fried eggs and giving it a taste. "...Or your skill did it anyway." Smiled Rossie while tasting the food.

 

How did she know?

 

Elizabeth gave it a test and...Did it taste good? Not as good as Rossie's food... But definitely better than what she could do... Her cooking...Wasn't the best as she liked simpler foods for ease of preparation and fast serving. It was a miracle she could keep her figure with how badly she used to eat while her mother and father were out for long-time missions...

 

"You feeling okay Rossie?" Asked the blonde while musing why the little girl was a better cook than herself. "You don't look too good" Worried Elizabeth.

 

For her part, her friend just smiled "You don't look too good either Eli-Eli." Pointed the pink-haired girl. Granted she indeed didn't feel that good and mainly was posturing...How had Rossie picked that up?

 

"I have passive magics that give me the health status of people around me. Standard [Healer] package." Said the girl while making visible a graphic that showcased her estimated health to mana status. "Also you did give me this [Identify]." Added the pink-haired girl while intoning the name of [Her Skill], she felt a mana wave suffice the air in front of Rossie as it traveled towards her and then back to the pink-haired girl.

 

And with that, a prompt surfaced in front of her while the world seemed to slow down.

 

She found it...Interesting, it was the first time her [Skill] was showing this much activity...And it was because of the pink-haired girl. This made her wonder if Selen could do the same...

 

Or was it because she had [Linked] with Rossie?

 

Either way, she willed her answers to the suggested options. The ones that called her more strongly...She wondered why the [High] level was shown like that. But for now, she would leave Rossie in [Medium]. Not because she wanted to hide information from her... But more because she didn't want for her friend to use the skill in herself only to find the stuff she had hidden from her.

 

About the state of her [Soul] and the reason why. She didn't want to risk it.

 

For better or worse, the time seemed to return to normal, and seeing the expectation face Rossie was making she said "So that's how it feels?" She didn't feel anything besides how the mana wave had resonated with her. And she could see the blue screen in front of Rossie.

 

It showed her basic information, the name of her skill, and her [Origin], but it didn't show the subset skills she had. Nor many of her skills now that she was seeing it closely...

 

"Oh right, sorry, let me see if I can make it visible for you too." Said the pink-haired girl.

 

But she could see it already..."There, it should be visible to all now." Said Rossie, the blue screen turned a little more solid in its color, while before it was almost translucid now it looked more as if a glass window.

 

Elizabeth wondered if she should point out that she was able to see the blue screen before...But her fog-addled mind couldn't focus on that as she saw her own status from the eyes of Rossie.

 

"Yikes..." That was all Elizabeth said, sure enough, her health, stamina, and stress were in dangerous states. "But you aren't better." Added Elizabeth while she also used her skill on the pink-haired girl "[Identify]. Yeah...While your mana isn't as low as mine, your health and stress are close..."

 

Rossie just shrugged "Stress did hit us hard, didn't it...The stress of moving to a new city and all of it...Maybe that is why we get a weekend to relax?"

She looked at Rossie's small window that only held the information she wanted. The pink-haired girl had better status overall than her, but she could feel a few spells working in the background. Probably regeneration-type spells to mend the problems.

 

She doubted Rossie's problem with her status was brought by mere [Stress]. But the pink-haired girl wasn't asking what the problems in her own health were. So it was only fair that she respected her privacy too.

 

"Probably for the better...I was going to ask you if you wanted to go out and play around in the mall or something...But yeah, maybe it would be better if we rest." Said the blonde girl sighing, she pretended to not notice how Rossie had flinched at the mention of playing around in the mall.

 

"Y...Yeah...W-we should rest." Said the pink-haired girl while playing with a strand of hair. "We can always go to the mall later when we feel better..." Added Rossie at the end. It was such an obvious telltale that she wanted to go but was being considerate for the blonde girl.

 

"It's a date then." Answered Elizabeth. "For today I will spend it in my room resting and messing around my [Soulscape] then...I need to check a problem with a few of my...Things..." Frowned the blonde girl.

 

There was something at the back of her head nagging her about something. But she couldn't remember quite well, she could however remember that she needed to go into her [Soulscape].

 

The pink-haired girl for her part answered quite fast "YES!" before adding "I wanted to fix some spells that aren't working as intended too. So I will be doing that too. See you at dinner Eli-Eli." And on that note Rossie walked to her room, only to exit it with a fresh towel and walked to the bathroom.

 

Was she taking a shower before going into her [Soulscape]. Elizabeth didn't have too much time to think about it as before going inside the bathroom her girlfriend winked at her playfully and went inside...

 

Without closing the door...After looking her up and down...

 

Was she implying that she was dirty or something? The blonde stood up and looked at herself up and down, she didn't look dirty...Then it hit her...She was...still only dressed up in the bathrobe...And that one didn't give much...[Defense]...Why she was flashing quite the amount of cleavage right now...

 

At least the vital parts were hidden...But the blonde girl still blushed at the thought of having spent almost 10-15 mins eating breakfast nonchalantly talking with her Rossie as if nothing while almost flashing the girl.

 

Maybe that was why her friend had acted so...Coy? That in itself made her smile a little. It felt good to be the reason why Rossie was flustered...Even if she stroke back in this manner that made her more flustered in return.

 

"You win this time Rossie...You win this time..." Said the blonde primarily to herself while glaring at the open door to the bathroom if she hadn't showered before she would have walked proudly into that bathroom to mess with Rossie for making her feel this flustered!

 

Sadly she had already showered, so it just couldn't be.

 

'What am I even thinking...I need to fix this problem with my [Skills]' Mused to herself Elizabeth while closing the door into her room behind her.

 

Before even starting to change herself she watched her mana, seeing how it was close to half she decided to summon the Little Maid. "[Did you enjoy your breakfast with Mother?]" Asked the little girl before looking around her. "[Where is mother?]" And continued asking the little girl.

 

"Rossie went to take a shower and then she is going to fix some spells in her [Soulscape]. I will also dive into mine...Make sure whatever happened in the night does [NOT] happen again...And if it does, record it." Said the blonde while seeing how her mana dipped once more as the little girl commanded a group of scouts from her shadow.

 

In a flash, the room held 10 shadow dragons with a sleek body and smaller than the usual shadow dragons she was used to seeing. It seemed that as time progressed the shadow dragons' caste was settling in different designs.

 

She was planning to go and grab a change of clothes from her wardrobe...When she remembered that there was a new skill awaiting for her use. So instead she stood in front of the mirror, seeing her reflection still dressed in the bathrobe and focused inwardly on "[Wardrobe]" and willed the new aspect of her skill to surface.

 

Sure enough, a blue screen showed in front of her, it depicted her body and it had an interface that showed [Slots] for where she could assign clothes and a group of tabs where the clothing was sorted. So she went ahead and first clicked [Unequip] on the bathrobe.

 

She couldn't dress while still having that on after all...Only to suddenly feel two different things.

 

First, she felt kinda chilly as the weight of the bathrobe disappeared, then her somewhat dispersed blush returned in full force as she screamed "Kyaaa!" while quickly covering her chest with one hand and covering her private parts with the other. And almost too quickly to be the movement of a human being she shrank in herself while hugging her legs and trying to be as small as possible while covering herself.

 

"[WHAT'S THE MATTER MISTRESS?!?]" Asked the little girl maid while having all the shadow dragon scouts rush around the room searching for something. The little girl was fussing over her trying to find what was wrong with her.

 

"IT'S OKAY GO OUTSIDE WITH EVERYONE ELSE WHILE I FIX IT!" Said Elizabeth in a dignified manner, totally not screaming while hiding her face trying to not be embarrassed for being suddenly naked in her room surrounded by the manifestations of one of her skills.

 

Totally.

 

After checking with her [Shadow Sense] that she was indeed alone in her room she stood and rushed her interface to put some clothes in the slots reserved for underwear. Sure enough after setting the things on it a pair of underwear materialized in her body with some holographic effect.

 

She would marvel at the effectiveness if not for the fact that she had flashed her [Minions]...At least it was in a private setting...Had she tried using it in public... The horror...

 

She didn't want to mess around too much and instead moved a pajama set from one of the tabs into the [Hud] that depicted her body and started walking toward her bed. At least the little maid had made her bed with a new set of clean sheets.

 

So she threw herself into the sweet embrace of a comfortable bed while the pajama pants and shirt materialized in her body. The material was silk, so it was fresh on her skin. She might feel tempted to try and discard her bra while being in her room...But since she would experiment with the skill in her [Soulscape]...She wanted the extra line of defense.

 

She would however do that in a private part of the [Laboratory] she wasn't sure what was the deal with Alexanders...But she would treat him as a living being till she could find how he ended there and if he was a [Thing] or not.

 

So closing her eyes and hugging one of the pillows she focused inwardly and dived into her [Soulscape]. She had questions to ask.

 

---

As usual, she landed in the reception, but unlike the usual, the place felt more...Desolated, she could see more and more [Cracks] in the flooring and walls, and from there [Shadow Essence] was leaking inside. But unlike the usual, this one felt...Ominous.

 

She didn't feel the usual connection she had, and before digging more into that someone grabbed her by the arm "[The Head scientist is waiting for you, come this way]" Said a blonde woman while grabbing her and guiding her towards the half that housed Alexanders.

 

Were there more people inside her [Soul]?

 

No...She had vague recollections of this woman...Wasn't she the receptionist? She felt like the woman resembled Alexanders somewhat, there were some differences here and there. It wasn't like Alexanders and Alexa that looked like twins at different ages. More like a distant cousin?

 

She guided Elizabeth to the laboratory where she had found Alexanders before, there she found the blonde man working in a station with several screens displaying information and a few extra holographic screens floating around him "[Here is the girl. Now stop complaining like a little kid, you aren't that young anymore Boss.]" Said the woman, while turning to point at Elizabeth.

 

It was at that point that the blonde girl gasped, for...That woman had no face. Not really, her face was a blur of static that made her head hurt the more she tried to focus on it.

 

"Thank you, Sarah, go and deal with your duties...Also, let me be. I'm on vacation anyway." Said Alexanders while ushering away the woman. It seemed that he noticed something on her face since he added "Don't think too much on Sarah. It will only make your headache worsen." And he made a beckoning motion while working on his station.

 

It seemed as if the blonde man was too busy fixing some kind of problem in several parts of a complex system...Without turning the thing off. She wasn't a programmer or anything of the sort, but that felt...Like a good way to complicate his work more than needed.

 

"I can't turn this off without messing with your [Skills] even more." Said the blonde man before she could even say anything. She turned towards him to complain only to stop short.

 

Alexanders...Was...Weird...

 

He was surrounded by the same kind of static that the woman's face had, but unlike her, she still could make sense of his features, he was also slowly shifting between the first appearance he had when she met him, one a slightly older and then the most recent one that was younger.

 

It was like seeing a fifty-year-old man turn into a forty...To then turn into a thirty old...And then shift among them for no reason. "I have no idea what the hell you did or found. But the next time you feel inclined to do it...Tell me first." He said while sending a floating blue screen her way.

 

It showed the emblem of the red bracelet "Also whatever weird patch you tried to use, next time send me a note at least. It would have been more helpful if I knew it wasn't malware. We almost lost half the laboratory trying to fight that stupid [Dog] and the noisy [Snake] that is trying to sneak in the [Base] at the same time!." Continued complaining the blonde man while furiously working in his station.

 

Elizabeth wasn't quite sure what to answer to that, for one she wasn't even aware that she had installed any [Software]? "What are you on about?" Asked the girl while looking at one of the screens the blonde man had sent her way.

 

It was full of code and a few [Barks] and [Woofs] here and there. What kind of programming language included barks? "And what the hell is happening to you?" Added to her question Elizabeth. "And what was with that receptionist?" So many questions.

 

For his part, the blonde man just shrugged and took back those screens backs to continue working "In that order...That stupid [Snake] is trying to inject corrupt malware...No wait, he is trying to [Corrupt your mana] yeah that is better." Said Alexanders using [Idea], but when he used it his form solidified and the static was gone...Only...His form was taking the form of the older man. There was something viscerally wrong in that appearance.

 

Alexanders didn't seem to take notice of her reaction, or if he did he just carried on "And that stupid [Dog] didn't say anything before starting nibbling at the [Corruption]. So of course, we thought...Oh great, [ANOTHER PROBLEM] comes right now, [OF COURSE IT DOES]." Said the blonde man throwing a keyboard at one of the screens where the [Cerberus] logo showed up, she almost could hear the whimpering of a dog in the background.

 

"If not for that little maid you got yourself." Added Alexanders while pointing with his left toward a corner, she could make up a little mansion, toy-sized..."Coming and screaming that the doggo was sent by her [Aunty] to help...I would have [Nuked] the thing and be done with it." Said Alexanders with a dangerous glint in his eyes. His figure was stopping to shift as much as before, but she saw a vicious look in him that worried her...

 

"Don't look at me like that...You wouldn't even notice it..." Added the man a little sheeply. She just glared at the man to see if he changed or added anything "Fineeeee...You might have to spend a few weeks in bed...." He said, she just kept glaring since it seemed to work"....In a coma..." She was getting scared but kept glaring and when it seemed as if it was all, she raised her hand and summoned a [Shadow Spear] and pointed it into the station. "....And perhaps you might have lost a few skills...Not yours but the loaned ones...." Finished saying the blonde man.

 

"You really are a piece of work...Why in the seven planes of hell did you think [Nuking] a part of where you live...More importantly...A PART OF MY SOUL WAS A GOOD IDEA?" Finished saying the blonde girl in a half scream.

 

She would go into full psycho mode if not for the fact that she noticed something...She wasn't losing control of her shadows. They all were acting normal. "You noticed?" Smirked the blonde man from behind one of the holoscreens.

 

"Explain," said the blonde girl, she found her tone of voice sounded somewhat off...Not quite turning into [Idea] but the language didn't seem her usual one.

 

"Whatever you got the [Dog] from he brought quite the novel way of using [Shadow] to form a [Firewall]...That is what I'm doing right now, but that stupid [Dog] doesn't know how it works so we are live patching the influence...And it seems the [Snake] is nurturing [Corrupted Mana] and that induces [Madness]..." He said the last part with a nostalgic feeling. "...Idiot." And mumbled the last part. Not sure if she heard it because of her stats or because she was close.

 

But at least it was good to know that the [Taint] or [Madness] wasn't affecting the interior of her [Soulscape]. At least she wasn't that gone, and if the [Bracelet] was the reason or origin of the [Firewall] that Alexanders was speaking...Then more reasons for her to go and check in with [Echidna] "If I get close to the source of the [Skill] that is helping with the [Madness]...Will you be able to deal with the [Taint] outside my [Soulscape]?" Asked the blonde girl.

 

At this, the sound of the keyboard being used stopped, and she could see the figure of Alexanders coalesce. Once more he was the same almost 30-year-old, no longer shifting into the same figure she met the first time...Nor the older man she saw vestiges a few minutes ago.

 

"If you get me a [Sample] of the [Skill]...I might be able to work something...And if you manage to get the [Skill's User] to work its skill on you..." He smiled and showed a buck-toothed smile with some madness shining in his eyes. "... Then I might just be able to make it so this annoying [Snake] regret ever getting within shooting distance of [The Saintsworth's Scion]."

 

It was a good thing that she was planning to do just that... It worried her that perhaps Alexanders might be getting affected by the [Madness] as he wasn't his usual annoying self and was actually working...And maybe acting as a [Villain]?

 

"Okay...Now...Am I missing Skills? I think I'm missing a [Skill]." Asked the blonde girl trying to derail the conversation away from finding out if the people living inside her [Soulscape] giving it maintenance were evil or not.

 

"What are you talking about?" Said the blonde man, starting to work once again in his station. "No? The [Skill List] wasn't affected...The only reason your [Shadows] are affected is because the [Madness] is using [Shadows] to propagate." Added the blonde while throwing a screen with her skill list her way.

 

She wasn't sure why but she felt that there was a missing skill...But the [Shadows] didn't propagate into her [Soulscape]...Wait..."Wasn't there a p̶͕̞͍̖̯̘̠̱͆̾͆͒̉͋͜͝ŗ̶̧̛̣͈̲̘͉̰̠̤͈͍̮͗̅̍̂̈́͋͂̎̀̋͌̌̑̓o̵̢̘̗̖̣͎̱̥̦͙̠̤̪̔̀̌͛͌̂̄p̴̢͍̯͙̦̺̱͓̻͔̪͖͇̈́͒̋̑̌̄͗͜ä̷̧̨̩͖͇̬̼̰̻̗́́͗̔͜ͅͅğ̵̨͙̈̔͌̿̓̆a̶̡̩͔̦̥͉̘͔̭̖̤̲͎̅̂̇͗̐̉̇̀̚̚͝ţ̷̥̳͕̫̦̙̯̻̣͈́̚͜į̶̧̛̜̳͖̤̜̩̰̌̾̊͊̈́̃̋̆̚̕͝o̶̙̮̞̱̘̣̘͈̱̼̱͎̟͒̌̅̔̉͊̎̋͜͝͝͝n̷̨̥͙͎̜̥̘͓̞̹͓̔̽̌̕ ̴͇̦͍̫̮̪͙̻̩̤͈̌͊̄̋̐̒͆̀̏̑̽̕͜͠ ͇ Skill?" Asked the blonde girl.

 

Only to see Alexanders stop moving, his screens stopped moving too. Even the shadow essence smoke also stopped moving, something was going on.

 

But sure enough, in this time-stopped world, her screen's shine stayed the same. And at the bottom of the list there it was.

Something called to her...Called to her to put her will into the [Y]...

 

She was even infusing her will into her mana to form [Idea] and make sure the skill could return to her glorious side...But before she could even say anything.

 

"[Worf]" The shadow of a three-headed dog ran towards her with its mouth open in an attempt to engulf her whole body.

 

"So that's where the slimy liquid came from...It was dog's saliva..." Was all the blonde girl could say before covering her whole body in shadows. And after she felt engulfed in the dog's mouth.

 

Only to wake up in her room, the first thing she did was to stand and run to the mirror and check herself to see if she was drenched in the dog's saliva again. "No saliva...Good." Said the girl while letting herself relax and return to the bed.

 

She had lost a few points in mana again, was the [Dog] he siphoning her mana to work?

 

"A little warning would have been appreciated...Imma field complaints tomorrow." Mumbled the blonde girl while looking at the red bracelet with the emblem of the three-headed dog. Whatever they did with these things...It somehow allowed that dog to visit her [Soulscape]...And drench her in saliva...

 

Why had it to be saliva...Couldn't it just nudge her awake or something?

 

At least she now knew the [Madness] was kept at bay by the dog...And that the missing skill in her [Status] somehow affected her mind...And that somehow Alexanders wasn't aware of the existence of this [Skill] so the first person that could answer her about stuff in her [Soulscape] and [Skills] couldn't help her...

 

"This is why I wanted nothing to do with the [Heroes] and [Magic Girls] World." Mumbled the blonde while closing her eyes.

 

If nothing else, she would try to sleep till it was time to eat again.