Unusual Enemies - A LitRPG Adventure (The Whispering Crystals, #2)

by Mills, H. C.

  “I’m falling,” I finally answer earnestly.

  The birdwoman blinks owlishly, still steadily flying down next to me. “Is that fun?”

  I have to think about this for a moment. “Kinda,” I reply, looking down at the rapidly approaching forest. “But I’m not looking forward to landing.”

  The birdwoman cackles. “You’re funny! Will you play with me?”

  I perk up at this notion, but our fun is immediately cut short.

  [There you are,] Suri chimes in relief. [Honestly Emma, you can’t just run off like that.]

  “Suri!” I yell happily, spinning around mid-fall. “Look, I made a new friend! Though she’s not Kaitlynn like I thought at first...”

  Suri smiles warmly at me, before glancing at the birdwoman and intoning, [BEGONE.]

  The birdwoman shrieks and flies off in a burst of multi-coloured feathers. Some of them enter my mouth, and I end up hacking and coughing to get them out.

  Suri grasps onto me. The world around me warps, and the falling sensation disappears. Suddenly, I’m back up in the cloud.

  “Suri,” I ask frowning, “What was—”

  [Nothing important, dear, just a figment of the imagination. Now, where were we?] Suri chimes. [Ah, yes, do me a favour and watch carefully, Emma.]

  I close my mouth and sit in rapt attention as Suri conjures a laundromat a few feet above the cloud, which quickly bounces up comically high.

  I find the following notification hovering in front of me when I wake up, head still feeling a little blurry.

  “Ah, sweet!” I say, grinning happily. “It’s been a while. Status Window!”

  I nod happily. At seven and a half hours, this was my longest Skilldream yet. Guess that’s what it takes to raise it now.

  A vague memory comes unbidden. I frown. “Hey Suri, was Kait—no... was there some kind of blue birdwoman in that Dreamscape you made?”

  [Hmm? Oh yes, there was something like that. You must’ve conjured it subconsciously.]

  I blink. “Really? I can conjure not just physical objects, but living creatures as well?”

  [Of course. You can dream about living beings as well, can’t you?]

  Well, that’s true...

  [It was just a figment of your imagination, surely inspired by your own fantasies,] Suri chimes reassuringly. [Now do me a favour and try to gain Decrease Inertia before the effects of your Skilldream start fading, hmm?]

  Right, I need to stay focused on what matters: Decrease Inertia.

  If I can achieve a fraction of the freedom of movement I vaguely recall, this will have been more than worth basically half of my Trial Points.

  I start by inserting some Qi into my black Focus Crystal, causing its centre to glow blue. The minimum amount of Qi required to activate this Skill is 5 Onkh, so I can’t leisurely experiment. I need to make focused, dedicated attempts to gain this Skill. Best case scenario would be if I manage it in five attempts or less, so I don’t run out of Qi and am forced to wait for it to recover while the Skilldream keeps fading.

  I close my eyes and attempt to visualise, or rather conceptualise the energy I need to form. Inertial Energy is strange, and far more abstract than Toxic Energy. It has no explicit Purpose, but it does have a kind of shape, a sensation I now associate with it.

  It’s a kind of bounciness, the feeling of changing momentum you most clearly experience when you do something like hit a tennis ball with a racket. Or better yet, when you hit a bouncy ball with a stick.

  Those suckers take off.

  That’s the kind of feeling I’m trying to emulate and project onto my Qi: a tool to help rapidly change something’s momentum.

  Of course, that’s not the whole story of Inertial Energy, as it can also be used to Increase Inertia, but that’s not what I’m working on right now.

  It takes some effort, but after a while, I can feel the concept take hold over the Qi. The soft blue glow coming from my Focus Crystal turns into a bright pink. My conversion rate is not great, but I still turn every Onkh of Qi into several of Inertial Energy. Maintaining control over Qi is something I’m pretty used to by now, so I was able to take my time with this a little, which was nice.

  Unfortunately, I’m not used to Inertial Energy, so I lose control over it before I can figure out how to tell it what to do, and it leaks out of my Focus Crystal, dispersing harmlessly into the surroundings.

  I take a deep breath, go over the experience and the next step in my head, and try again.

  Boom baby! On the fourth try, I succeed in creating a draining, spiral-like effect around my Yin Focus Crystal. The spherical field covers a diameter of about three feet and sucks the inertial mass from everything it touches for as long as it’s active.

  [Well done, Emma,] Suri chimes. [You’re a natural!]

  Euphoric with my success, I jump up.

  My head slams softly into the ceiling, and I bounce back down thanks to the elasticity of my neck. The spiral collapses on the way down, causing me to land heavily on my feet.

  [I take it back,] Suri chimes. [Do be careful, you can easily hurt yourself with this Skill.]

  No shit, Sherlock.

  I look up, rubbing my neck. Thankfully, it feels fine.

  The ceiling is kinda low in here, but it should be high enough to practise some of the manoeuvres I envisioned with this Skill. The higher-ceilinged living room would be more suitable, but I’ll have to make do.

  I don’t want to tip Jacob off about my abilities, after all. That would just be no fun at all.

  And so, a pink swirl once more emanates from my Focus Crystal as I use the last of my Qi to attempt a standing backflip.

  It’s a moderate success. I get more air than I expect, which causes me to slightly overshoot the landing, so I transition into a backward roll, ending up back on my feet.

  I’ll have to come back and practise regularly whenever my Qi has refilled, but for now, I might as well head for the living room.

  “Ah, there you are,” Kaitlynn calls to me the moment I enter. “About time!”

  I raise a brow at her. “Miss me much?”

  “Always,” she jokes with a cheeky wink, before turning serious. “Actually, I need your help.”

  Turns out, Kaitlynn wants to learn Breath Control, a decision I wholeheartedly support. However, she only had 46 Trial Points left, so she couldn’t afford the full 50 Trial Point Skilldream, and wound up taking half a Skilldream instead.

  Unfortunately, that didn’t prove to be enough.

  “And now I’m stuck,” she says, a hint of irritation in her voice. “I’m pretty sure I’m doing something wrong, but I don’t remember enough from the Skilldream to figure out what. So, I was hoping you could take a look and help me figure it out?”

  She pouts at me and bats her lashes.

  Pssh, who needs Charm? Like I could say no to that.

  I open my mouth, but Alec is making a racket as he gets started on dinner, loudly conversing with Dave. Jacob heads off into his room as I watch, likely so he can continue practising his breathing in peace. He’s gunning for the second level of Respiration, I believe. That won’t help him much during our fight, but it’s definitely a worthwhile investment of his time.

  “Yeah, Jacob’s got the right idea. This isn’t a good place to focus,” I say. “Wanna find somewhere a little more... private?” I add with a teasing wink.

  She blushes and nods. Cute!

  Inside my room, Kaitlynn demonstrates her ability to expel a jet of Aether, and its power is definitely not lacking.

  “But I’m not gaining the Skill,” she complains. “What am I doing wrong?”

  I frown. “Hmm, I can’t really tell like this. Hold on, let me try something. Ehm, bear with me here.”

  I step behind her and work my hands up her sides beneath her shirt until my palms rest lightly beneath her bra.

  “W-what are you doing?” she squeaks.

  I grin. “Relax. I’m just trying to get a sense of what’s happening i
nside your lungs. Now take a deep breath...”

  I close my eyes as she breathes in, and attempt to sense what’s happening.

  Unfortunately, there’s too much interference from the rapid pulses of Lavi flowing beneath her skin. I make her breathe in and out some more, but I’m not getting much.

  “Hmm, this isn’t working,” I admit. “Time for plan B.”

  I remove my hands and the tension leaves her body. She turns around to face me, her pale skin flushed adorably pink.

  I stifle a snicker. This just makes me want to tease her more. Which works well with the plan B I just came up with.

  “All right, I’m going to try something else,” I say, stepping closer to her until I look slightly down on her face from inches away. Kaitlynn goes wide-eyed but doesn’t step away.

  “We’re going to synchronise our breathing,” I explain, the words sounding a little huskier than I intended for some reason. “But in such a way that you breathe in as I breathe out and vice versa. I’ll hopefully be able to tell what’s going on by controlling the Aether in your lungs directly.”

  What I don’t tell her, is that, frankly, I don’t really need to stand this close to do that. I just enjoy teasing her. All in good fun, of course.

  Kaitlynn swallows and nods, still bright pink.

  I take a deep breath and begin, closing my eyes as I gently push my breath over her lips and into her mouth. She takes it in further.

  It’s surprisingly intimate, with how much feedback I get back from the Aether, but I manage to maintain my concentration even as I abruptly get an in-depth sense of the shape of her lungs.

  The thought flashes through my head that this is an incredibly vulnerable position Kaitlynn has placed herself in. It would take very little effort on my part to do terrible damage to her lungs like this.

  Not that I would ever do that, but the trust she’s showing still makes my chest ache a little.

  We exchange breath a few times, and I’m starting to get a feeling for what is going on, so I step back, almost brushing against her lips in the process. Somehow our lips were closer together than I’d expected.

  I’m feeling a little flushed myself this time, but under the circumstances, I guess that’s pretty normal.

  “Right, I think I figured it out,” I say, my voice strangely hoarse.

  Kaitlynn’s eyes are half-lidded, but she shakes awake as I start speaking. “Right. Ehm, go on, tell me what I’m doing wrong.”

  “You’re too focused on the result,” I explain. “The key difference between Breath Control and Respiration isn’t in how hard you can expel Aether, but in how much control you have over the Lavi in the Aether.”

  She blinks and then facepalms. “Ah! I’ve been trying to make really powerful jets of Aether like you, but...”

  I nod, smiling kindly at her. “But that’s the wrong way to go about it. You’re probably trying to compensate with your muscles what you lack in control over the Aether. Remember, all Skills are only to do with energy manipulation, not with physical motions.”

  She nods along, scrunching her nose up in thought in a way that I can’t help but find adorable.

  “Actually, now that I think about it,” I continue, able to think a little more clearly now that the blood is draining back out of my face, “the difficulty in learning Breath Control is probably the fact that you have to take hold of Lavi that—while within the confines of your body—is not really in your body. It’s not your Lavi yet. Respiration is a Skill where you learn to take that Lavi into your body and make it your own, while Breath Control is about taking control over the Lavi you leave behind in the Aether and using it to control your exhale.”

  “I think I remember some more from my Skilldream,” Kaitlynn muses. “I better go practise this quickly.”

  I nod and start to turn around to give her some privacy when she tackles me in a side-hug.

  “Thank you so much!”

  She kisses my cheek.

  Despite myself, I leave the room with a little extra spring in my step.

  Kaitlynn succeeds shortly before dinner and comes running out of my room to excitedly hug me again, but without a kiss on the cheek this time.

  Somehow, I actually find myself disappointed about this. Sheesh, I must really be starved for attention after all that solitary training.

  Anyway, during dinner, we discuss the gains of the day.

  Jacob managed to gain the second level of Respiration shortly before dinner, while Dave attempted to follow in Kaitlynn’s footsteps and gain Breath Control. He’s been at the third level of Respiration for quite some time now, so it’s not unreasonable for him to try and evolve the Skill without a Skilldream, but so far he hasn’t succeeded.

  I guess the last Trial really drove home the potential of Breath Control. And they haven’t even seen level 2 yet.

  Alec’s gains were the most surprising, and also the most literal ‘gains.’

  He actually raised his Strength to 14, finally catching up to Dave and Jacob!

  Damn, I had this idle fantasy of beating him in an arm-wrestling contest without Boost Physical. That would’ve been hilarious.

  Guess I’ll have to train some more.

  After a sumptuous dinner and a relaxed evening mostly spent recovering and discussing plans for future training efforts, it’s time to go to bed.

  Like most nights spent in the preparation rooms since Hub Two, I take a hot shower in my private room before going to bed. Well, bed, let’s face it: I’m most likely going back out to sleep on the couch in a pile with everybody else.

  As I rinse out my hair this time, however, something unexpected comes loose.

  I only catch a glimpse of it before it flushes down the drain, but what I saw was unmistakably a small blue feather.

  CHAPTER 28

  Life’s a beach

  I STARE AT THE DRAIN, where the brightly coloured plumage just disappeared.

  My heart starts to race as a memory resurfaces of a bird-like woman with brightly coloured feathers.

  A woman Suri told me was just a figment of my imagination. Did I just imagine this, too?

  No. There’s clearly something else going on here.

  Suri hasn’t reacted at all yet, could it be that she didn’t notice? I had been staring at the wall for some time, so perhaps she wasn’t paying attention.

  [Your heartbeat has accelerated a lot. Is something the matter?]

  I nearly jump out of my skin.

  “Oh, ehm, it’s nothing,” I say, shooting for casual. Then I frown. “Hold up, you’re monitoring my heartbeat? Say, how much of what I sense do you actually experience?”

  [Hmm. I guess this could be considered a practical question. Very well, I’ll humour you.]

  I suppress a sigh of relief at Suri going along with my change of subject.

  [The Radiation Processing Crystal allows me to see and detect the flow of energies in and around your body, which also lets me monitor sounds by interpreting the changes in Vibration Energy. If you’re wondering if I experience your physical sensations, then no. Only when we are mind-melded. The acceleration of your heartbeat I detected through the resulting change in the flow of Lavi in your body.]

  Huh. This was actually pretty interesting. Go me?

  [Now, are you going to tell me what that weak attempt to deflect my question about your heartbeat was all about?]

  “What?” I say too quickly.

  Shit!

  [I’m not in the mood for games, Emma. Just do me a favour and—ah, of course, I should’ve known.]

  I blink. “Should’ve known what?”

  [Oh, come on, Emma. I’m no fool,] Suri scoffs.

  Oh god, she knows. She saw the feather, and was waiting for me to come forward and—

  [You’re naked in the shower, and then you ask how much of your physical sensations I can experience. If you wanted some privacy to have physical intimacy with yourself, all you had to do was ask.]

  I blink, then cover my face w
ith my hands.

  “Oh my god, we are so not discussing this,” I say, “I don’t—”

  My protestations die on my lips. This is all kinds of awkward, but frig, it’s the perfect lie, and she’s handing it to me on a silver platter.

  [Honestly, you humans and your hang-ups. Look, this doesn’t have to be a big deal. There’s nothing wrong with a little physicality. In fact, if it’ll help you get your baser drifts under control so you can focus on surviving, then I wholeheartedly recommend it. Just say the word and I’ll tune out for a bit.]

  I... but... damnit!

  I sigh. “Please do.”

  [Thought so,] Suri chimes smugly. [I’ll leave you be for about thirty minutes then. Bye for now!]

  I stand there for a moment, waiting for something to happen, but I don’t sense any change, no leaving of a presence, or anything like that.

  Is she actually gone? Damnit, I have no way to be sure!

  Because that’s one inevitable conclusion I have to draw here: Suri lied to me. And if she lied to me about the birdwoman, I can’t trust her to tell me the truth about other stuff.

  Now what? If she’s actually still keeping tabs on me... Oh god, I’m going to have to pretend, aren’t I?

  How the hell did I get myself into this mess?

  And so, with a head full of distracting thoughts and implications, for the first time in my life, I wind up faking it.

  Of all the weird shit that’s happened to me since I came here, this takes the cake.

  After my shower, I join the others on the couch and lie awake, staring at the ceiling while Kaitlynn uses my stomach as a pillow.

  Are Dreamscapes actually real? Are they even ‘Dreamscapes,’ or are we simply given drugs and taken to some other location?

  No, the Dreamscapes really do have a very different vibe, like anything’s possible. I distinctly remember conjuring objects in there, and if we were just high, it wouldn’t be such an effective method of teaching us Skills.