Crimson moonlight slithered through any gaps it could find from the moon directly above the dense trees. The bloody night of the fifth Staywes day was an offering to the Sky Giant, the fourth Divinity, ruling over strength and stature.

  Alira traversed beneath the leafy sky, cutting through the streams of natural spotlights with a destination in mind, though less of a direction.

  I should have brought a compass with me...

  She couldn't tell for sure whether she was heading east or west. She could only vaguely guess from the fact that she had been heading Northeast at first when she parted from the group. If her guess was correct, she should soon be reaching the lake that was apparently somewhere Southeast.

  The faded light of the butterfly resting atop her head bled from blue to a dangerous, muted purple, edging toward red.

  “You’re sure I’m getting closer? Like sure-sure?” Alira asked for the hundredth time. It was hard to tell whether she was getting screwed with no sight or sound of the body of water Xia had mentioned.

  { Your doubt wounds me, sweetie. You have the free will to turn around if you can’t trust me. }

  It didn’t help when that was the only answer he would give her, as if giving her any further reassurances at all would kill him or something. Still, the tone in which he spoke kept her going anyway—for better or worse.

  “At least tell me the lake is in the second circle,” Alira tried again. “You know I can’t go beyond that.”

  { Partially. You should instead place your worries on how to get it to come out of the lake. }

  “I have a clue, but you say the lake’s only partially within the circle... It’d be troublesome if it came out of the other side.” Alira took note of the butterfly’s light deepening with every step she took.

  { It likely wouldn’t. }

  Alira huffed. “How would you know that? It’s a deer, kind of. Right? Deer are skittish. I’m almost certain it will run away the moment it senses my presence.”

  { It’s not just a deer, sweetie. Loches are special little things, much like you. Imagine yourself in its hooves. What will you do? }

  Ugh.

  Goosebumps crept onto her arms as Alira grimaced hard. If she didn’t know from the novel he was barely past his twenties, Alira might have thought he was some perverted old man from the way he spoke. Does he have to speak like that? Sweetie was bad enough, and now he was crossing into the land of absolute cringe.

  He wasn’t like this with Raine. Acting like a mysterious mentor figure, he had a proper, pristine air. She could hardly tell whether he was serious about the Spirit Familiar called Loch being the perfect company for her, with a similar personality and attitude.

  Alira’s ears perked up as she caught a drip clearly.

  { You’re here. Aren’t you glad you trusted me? }

  Xia spoke before she could even register the sound of water properly. She turned toward where it came from, parting thick bushes and stepping through tall ferns. A serene lake came into view, smaller than what she had imagined in her worst-case scenario. The surface was calm, its stillness broken only occasionally by dew dripping from the branches hanging above.

  Alright, fine.

  Alira decided he’d earned the benefit of doubt for himself from now onward.

  Loch apparently acted like herself. If someone drove her out of the comfort of her home, Alira knew she wouldn’t let them win. She’d rejected a few prestigious universities simply because she didn’t want to leave her city and part with Jian. There must be a reason why it chose this lake as its home. Most likely, the reason was that outside wasn’t a better place.

  If something or someone kept persistently pushing her out of her comfort zone, Alira imagined she would most likely try to get rid of it once and for all.

  “So, I just have to make sure it can’t hide and keep bothering it until it decides to confront me,” Alira murmured to herself. She heard Xia hum unfeelingly, showing no support or disagreement.

  Alira mentally filtered through all the alchemist casts she had going for herself and crossed out the ones that were too high level for her to see any success. Especially when she was shooting for an invisible target that wasn’t entirely in reach. For Alchemic Fuse and Bind, both targets in question must be connected in some ways to work, with a few exceptions.

  She reached for the small velvet pouch tied to her belt, hidden beneath her coat. Despite knowing there were exactly fifteen vials full of blood within the pouch, Alira pulled at the string to recount yet again.

  On top of the vials, the pouch also contained a bunch of inscribed paper that could be ripped off and a stack of cards. Another pouch hung on her other side, packed full and heavy with foen coins and a couple of Lia crystals that could serve as an emergency mana supply.

  Ten coins on the top had already been precast with Position Exchange, and the casts were ready to kick in whenever.

  She was abusing her privileges as a noble to the max, knowing a commoner would see one or two Lia at most for their month's worth of hard work. She’d heard people boasting about making three Lia back in Astrail’s inn, demanding envy from the rest for their special luck that month. Alira did feel guilty about it, but she wouldn’t let guilt stop her from using what she was given.

  Alira gathered herself. This world’s unfairness and its social divide had nothing to do with her.

  She took out a blank sheet of paper and popped open a vial to sketch out a bloody alchemic circle in less than two minutes. It was a cast for On-surface Substance Exchange. The cast had an initial rank of five, and she didn’t need to draw it out, but doing so made it more stable and stronger.

  On-surface Substance Exchange cast didn’t put much burden on her, or she could use whatever little relief she could get from preparing in advance. She had to save her strength for any cast she might have to do when she was facing the Loch.

  “What would be a good target?” Alira muttered, glancing around.

  A more powerful cast could directly haul the beast out of the water, but since she couldn’t manage it, the only choice was for her to go in.

  If she cast On-surface Substance Exchange on an object hanging midair, she could essentially create an air bubble around her, which would, in theory, allow her to breathe underwater. Alira hadn’t tested it yet, not having expected to be diving in some lakes at midnight.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Fortunately, the test would last the entire night, giving her enough time to experiment around before the hunt.

  Unliving target had little to no resistance, so the cast should be able to last her some time. Preferably, she should choose a target that could absorb the substance on its surface well, which, in this case, would be air.

  Alira spotted a cluster of fist-sized fruits overhead. She traced the branches down to pinpoint the tree, taking it its wide trunk. She first took her coat off. Then, she removed her pouch, not before grabbing a few coins and pre-drawn casts. Finally, Alira rolled her sleeves up.

  Surely, as half a cat, tree climbing should be easy enough.

  { ...What are you doing? }

  “Ugh!” Alira groaned, too busy hugging a tree like a clingy ex to give him a reply. The gloves helped by improving her grip, while the hybrid characteristics gave her strength and balance she didn’t have before. Back on Earth, neverminded a tree, Alira could barely climb a few flights of stairs at the university without heaving like a drowning fish.

  It took some time and a few missteps that took her back down before she managed to grab the lowest branch. Things got easier from there, snatching the nearest branch to move higher. Alira settled on a thick, high branch where she could reach the fruits, alien-looking things that slightly resembled a crying baby’s face.

  “Oh.” Alira frowned a bit. She quickly placed the three Exchange casts on three of the nearest ones. From her past experience, she could roughly guess that the cast could last her an hour or a little more.

  Just when she was about to dust the fruits off to keep their surface clean, a rustle came from below. Alira froze. Shit. All of her vials and blank papers were down there. She didn’t expect herself to be unlucky enough to get approached by something in the few minutes.

  Alira listened hard to figure out where the sound had come from, praying it was away from her stuff. Another rustling came, closer, and fuck, it was exactly where her coat and pouch were.

  Should I ditch first and come later? Or wait until it leaves...

  Alira took out a precast coin and slid her finger on the coin’s smooth surface, feeling its ridged rim. She turned in the opposite direction, ready to flee.

  “...Alira?”

  The voice said, loud, clear, and familiar. Alira let go of the breath she was holding back. It was Raine.

  “Fuck, you scared me! Weren’t you heading in the literal opposite direction?”

  “...” Raine mumbled something Alira didn’t catch. Obviously, if even her cat ears missed them, he never meant for her to hear.

  “What are you doing up there?” he asked. “Did you get chased?”

  “It’s none of your business!” Alira yelled, still feeling agitated. She furiously rubbed the fruits squeaky clean before throwing a coin down. “Back off.” Alira gave a warning before she triggered Position Exchange on the coin.

  The next moment, she stood before Raine, blinking fast a few times to stabilize her vision while the coin sat on the branch she was at a moment ago. She regarded it as an offering to the forest.

  “Really. What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be on the other side of the forest?” Alira answered with more questions. She didn’t want the protagonist in the scene that was supposed to be hers. Why? Obviously, because he was bound to snatch up all good loot.

  “I suddenly had a feeling to take a turn, and before I knew it, I found myself almost stepping on some coat someone threw on the ground,” he said, handing said coat to her along with her pouch.

  Alira noticed neither had any dust or mud on them despite being placed on the ground.

  “Well, it graced you with my beautiful face. Now off you go somewhere else. Shoo!” Alira grabbed his sleeve to turn him around, but he didn’t budge an inch. “What now?”

  “I have a feeling—”

  “Nope. No, you don’t.” Alira pinched his lips shut without thinking. She quickly let it go when he glared, almost mentally hearing him say ‘off with her head’. “Anyways, I got here first. This is mine! You go find something else somewhere else!”

  Raine rubbed his lips with the back of his hand, brushing off what grime she’d tainted him with. “I’m not here to take anything. If it’s about Spirit Familiar, I’ve already gotten myself one, and I don’t plan on raising another.”

  Alira gave him the side eye.

  Yeah, dude. I believe the universe wouldn’t shove all the top-quality familiars into your arms just because you don’t want them.

  “A wouldn’t agree either,” Raine said.

  Alira unconsciously tilted her head slightly in confusion. A what?

  A sharp hiss came out from beneath Raine’s clothes, announcing its presence before making its appearance. A smooth-scaled beast slithered its way out of his sleeves, its white scales with prismatic shine reflecting off the merged light from the butterflies. Green fin-like horns flared at the side of its face. Bright green eyes glowed, challenging Alira’s own with similar slit pupils.

  “A snake?” Alira staggered a step backward.

  “Wyrm,” Raine corrected. Of course, a wyrm. It had to be a dragon of some kind because a normal snake wasn’t grand enough to be the protagonist’s familiar.

  But this wasn’t right. Raine didn’t have a wyrm as his familiar in the novel; it had been a griffin. This was somewhat unexpected, but then again, not totally, since he was getting a familiar an entire semester ahead of the original timeline.

  “Wait. It’s named ‘A’?” Alira asked. “Why?”

  Did the protagonist’s sense of naming also get distorted with the plot?

  Raine looked away from her peering eyes for a brief moment before immediately returning as if he had caught himself. “First thing that came to mind. I mean, it’s the first letter, isn’t it?”

  Alira narrowed her eyes. Were the plot changes affecting Raine as well? There was something off about him, but she just couldn’t place her hand on it.

  Well, as long as he could do his alchemic work, Alira wouldn’t mind even if he came out at this very moment about his true gender. Sure, she might narrow her eyes and freak out a bit, but that was it.

  “Whatever,” she said decisively. “I can’t make you leave, but you'd better promise not to snatch my victim away, or I might just find a way to get you to scram. Also, since you’re just going to stand here, hold these for me.”

  Alira shoved the coat and the pouch back to Raine. She turned with a flick of her tail, slapping at Raine, though unintentionally. Bending down, she rolled up her pants to make sure they wouldn’t float around and get in her way. Once everything was set, Alira headed straight to the water.

  She got out of her boots and socks and dipped a foot into the water, shivering as the chill crept up. She’d just placed her foot when Raine yanked her back from behind.

  “What are you doing?” Raine’s voice came out through gritted teeth. For a moment, she almost saw concern on his face.

  “Oh, I just suddenly felt like swimming.” Alira pulled her hand back and realized she couldn’t free herself from him. “Obviously, I’m trying to pass the test. There’s a Spirit Familiar down there. I’m testing whether I can breathe underwater with the On-surface Substance Exchange. Make sure the fruits above there don’t get damaged for whatever reason if you have nothing better to do.”

  Alira gave what she believed was a generous explanation. So she had no idea why Raine had yet to let her go.

  “I—You...” Raine pursed his lips, leaning in as if he hoped closing the distance would drive some revelation in Alira.

  “IU?”

  “You,” Raine said with a look of realization. “Aren’t you a prophet or whatever? Go ahead and try to ‘see’ something first before you do this.”

  Alira frowned. “I told you I need to wait some more. I can’t force it to come earlier.”

  Okay. This was definitely getting weird now. Raine was acting too antsy to be normal. Alira considered what got him this way, and the first thing that came to her mind was ‘Beloved of Divines’.

  Did he Pray using the Effect and get told something by the Gods? Would something dangerous happen? A terrible fate in store for her, or him, or the world itself if she kept pushing to have a Loch.

  How? Why?

  And more importantly, Alira wondered if she should give up. Was the risk worth it? Alira faltered a step toward Raine, who was just barely pulling her out of the water. The cold biting around her ankles, digging deep in her bones, snapped her out.

  Her life and soul were forfeited by simply being here. It was a matter of how she played that would decide whether she could keep what mattered.

  { Weak. Is that all it takes for you to waver? I guess the shitshow just now means nothing. }

  Xia’s voice was a rusty, blunt knife heated to a searing red, pointed at her. There was no hint of the usual jest.

  Well, screw you, too.

  Alira snatched herself out of Raine’s grasp, slipping out when he’d least expected.

  “I don’t care what the Gods said to you. Vision or not. That thing down there. I’m going to get it, and it’ll be mine if that’s the last thing I do on Staywes.”