Research and Discoveries

Since we had completed the triop's solstice project and follow-up sidequest well ahead of time, I’d decided to take a few days to rest before getting back to the daily grind. This involved lots of lounging around my apartment, lunch dates with the triop, and plenty of exercise. But even with the one job we needed to complete officially done, there was still work that I had to do. A task that included assisting one particularly frustrated cat-girl. 

While Rionriv and I hadn't quite made amends after the great Fearnemyst question fiasco and subsequent potion problem, my goal was still to continue to help her get to the bottom of her lycanthropic transformative issues. So, working together, we spent much of our free time leading up to and the beginning of the second semester scouring the Al’magi libraries for information on lycanthropy. And, luckily for us, there were plenty of books that explained werewolves and other were-beasties across the world.

This meant we spent a lot of time in the library, something I, of course, hated. The silver lining of these moments, though, came in the form of being able to enjoy more time alongside the cute cat-girl. This, unfortunately, often led to plenty of objects being thrown at my face, like books, quills and spells, followed by lengthy lectures condemning me for not taking the research seriously. But with every book I finished, it became harder to concentrate. None of the tomes we found contained the information we searched for. In fact, transformations resulting in residual ears and tail post-cursed state were unheard of in core species. As a result, the more we researched, the more it seemed that what had afflicted Rionriv turned out to be one of those truly novel things that I hadn’t written. It was simply another weird world quirk generated by the cosmos that directly affected the sorceress.

One day, in a moment of desperation to solve Rionriv's problem, I even went to ask this world's form of Yahoogle for help: Phyllis. And, of course, much like the search engine, it was mostly advertisements with no help. Her responses were mainly perverted, leaving Rionriv and me with comments like: ‘Accept it. Be a lady on the streets and a tigress in the sheets, mwahahaha!’ Or things like, ‘Have I mentioned he has a thing for cat girls? Go mew and lap your tongue against his wand.'

I appreciated the second comment even less, especially as Rionriv hit me for Phyllis' perversion.

But, on one fateful day, when we were all eating in the mall, Phyllis did inadvertently point us in the direction of the restricted library in the School of Procedural Disorder. The heavily guarded collection of arcane grimoires, deemed too dangerous or fragile for regular circulation, allegedly had texts from before the cataclysm that could be of assistance. This library, the same that I had found the Magicis Carta within, had allowed me to get the triop a passing grade and may now also hold the answer to our problems. 

Unfortunately, not just anyone was allowed access, and when they were, it most certainly was not unwatched. But, fortunately, I had already broken in once before and knew where to go. And even though they now knew my face and were a bit more eager to stop me with questions, our group had the one other person capable of a heist as difficult as this one. So, after much discussion and planning, Rionriv gave her blessing, and Sharzin was left to do what she did best. Be invisible.

—ooo—

Once the semester had officially gotten underway and students had returned to their classes, our group transitioned back into the groove we had built in the previous semester. Jumping into combat training at the first sign of monsters beginning to roam the alleyways, we worked on new strategies we had developed after our real world experiences together. We even began training our animals to be vital components in combat, and, much to my surprise, they quickly grew accustomed to it over the few days we trained them. But that was when it happened. An unexpected change that shifted how we would continue to do things in this world.

Having just gotten out of the shower after a late morning exercise, I lounged in bed reading one of the lycanthropy tomes I had taken from the library. It had become a habit of our group that whenever we found a book we were interested in keeping, we used Phyllis's copy script scrolls to duplicate the tome. Leaving the copy behind, we'd steal the original and add it to our slowly growing personal library, which currently consisted mainly of lycanthropy books.

I ran a finger over the part of the tome discussing werebeast lore and the proposed origins of the Beast Master. This loosely named figure was one I had added into my story world and was important to the world lore. In fact, defeating this ancient being was one of the only ways that I believed we could cure Rionriv—something I currently kept secret. This wasn't because I wanted to keep her a cute tiger-girl forever, but because I knew she'd immediately make it her mission to hunt down the Beast Master. And while this could be in the cards for us in the future, at current, it would only spell our demise. 

This being was older than the Emerald Pantheon and nearly as old as the ancient Caering Pantheon. It was a powerful Demon Lord, living well beyond our realm of existence and the first werebeast. To kill it would be to free every creature afflicted with lycanthropy in an instant. And though I knew its origins and roughly which fragmented plane of existence it resided, I had no clue how to kill the beast without an armament of celestinium weapons.

"I should redact this," I muttered to myself, patting my bedsheets for a ye olde' permanent marker. "If Rionriv notices that name, she'll have too many questions."

That was when the downstairs door opened and closed before a pair of footsteps that quickly raced up the stairs. Slamming the tome closed, I quickly sat up in bed and looked over my body. I was still in my towel, giving me mere moments to grab my clothes and dress myself before I was reprimanded for being a lecherous pervert.

I can't let the trop see me like this! I thought, hesitating for a brief moment as the lechery did indeed creep into my mind. Well...

The steps were almost upon me when I made up my mind. With a lunge towards the open door that led downstairs, I swung a foot and kicked it shut. There was a loud thud as the girl at the front of the charge ran face-first into the sudden, unexpected barrier.

"Owww!" Rionriv growled angrily. "Iz!"

Oh shit, I didn't think that through. I thought, quickly jumping into my shorts before throwing a shirt over my shoulder.

The doorknob twisted as I slipped my arms through the short sleeves and gave my still-wet hair a shake. Turning my head to meet her gaze, I saw Rionriv standing at the entrance to my room. She grabbed at her forehead where a welt had begun to form as static had begun to spark from her lifting hair.

"Iz, I'm going to fuggin' fry you!" She cursed at me, holding her electrified fingers towards me.

"I'm sorry!" I replied quickly, my hands raised in surrender. "I panicked, I was naked!"

"Eeep." Aesandoral gasped softly from behind her, the elf's face flushing as she looked away from me. "Sorry, we didn't mean to intrude."

"And it's my fault you were naked?!" Rionriv continued. "Keep your clothes on, pervert!"

"I was showering! Who showers with clothes on?!"

The sorceress forced her way to the opposite side of the small room, where she flicked the switch summoning her papasan chair before plopping down into the seat. With a cross of her arms, she shot me a glance, her eyes taking me in quickly before she turned her face from me. And, even though she hid it, I could see the faintest bit of colour kissing her cheeks as she fought against the smirk that had begun to cross her lips.

"Oooh!" I pointed towards her before glancing at Aesandoral. "Your sister is a hypocrite!"

"What?" Aesandoral responded to me. "What do you mean?"

"Yeah! Explain yourself!"

"I mean, that smirk. Ri was thinking dirty thoughts about me. About my body."

"I was not!" The sorceress bellowed from her seat, shifting into a better position to accuse me directly. "You're putting words into my mouth!"

I'd like to put something in your mouth. I thought to myself, my heart racing at the idea, as a smile crossed my lips.

"Now who's being a perv!" She immediately attacked. "Sister, look at him! He's being gross, I can see it on his face."

"Can you two stop?" Aesandoral sighed as she kicked off her boots and leapt onto my bed. "Ever since you became a lycanthrope, you've both been at each other's throats. It's exhausting! And I'm too tired to deal with it after that assembly."

I watched as Aesandoral rested her face into my pillow and sighed. Her tense body relaxed, collapsing deeper into the bed before reaching under the pillow and withdrawing the lycanthrope book. With a sigh, she pushed it to the side, replacing the tome with her head as she groaned.

"Assembly?" I asked, looking between the two, confused by this sudden shift in the story. "What assembly? What's going on?"

"Oh? You don't know, oracle?" Rionriv shot back, rolling her eyes as I glanced at her.

"Iz," Aesandoral spoke to me, shifting her head from beneath the feathery cushion. "We have a problem."

Man, they're making this sound really bad! 

My anxiety began to flare as the suspense took hold of my mind. I wondered if it had to do with the concert or if there was an issue that resulted from our conquering the dungeon. A worst-case scenario flooded my thoughts as I feared the school had decided to overrule the ancient documents that had allowed the triop to perform trials by combat. But luckily, it was none of the above.

"Yeah, apparently, someone went a little too far." Rionriv continued on her sister's behalf. "They pushed the boundaries of what was an acceptable usage of the on-campus combat scenarios to push up their adventuring rank. But no names were mentioned."

"They were looking at us the entire time." Aesandoral groaned, hiding her face beneath the pillow.

Oh crap, that is kind of bad. I thought as I stared down Rionriv's agitated glare. That means no farming vermin traps, and LARPer X-P anymore. That'll slow down advancement this semester, but also—Ri looks pissed. Guess I shouldn’t have bitten the hand…

"Oh shit, that sucks," I replied, my gaze shifting between them. "Sorry to have put you both in that position. And you too, Sharzin...if you're here."

"She's not," Aesandoral mumbled from beneath the pillow. "She's off to the library."

"And it does suck, Iz!" Rionriv snapped at me. "You said there were no rules that prevented what we were doing! You got us in trouble!"

With a shake of my head, I looked back at Rionriv. Luckily, I knew her disappointed voice well enough to know that she wasn't feeling hurt or wronged. On top of this, her folded back ears and a firm scowl only further confirmed that she was angry with me. And while an upset Rionriv was bad, a betrayed one would have been worse. At least this way, I could still work with her, seeing as she was already mad at me before this.

"Hey, I'm sorry, okay," I began promptly, looking between the two of them once again. "But you said they were just looking at you the whole time, right? Did they speak with you?"

"No," Rionriv grumbled. "But—"

"And you said they didn't call you out, right?"

"No," Aesandoral spoke from under her pillow. "They didn't name anyone in particular."

"But—"

"So," I cut Rionriv off, addressing them both. "If they didn't call you out or speak with you afterwards, then you're fine. There wasn't any rule against it then, and as a result, there is one now. But that's okay, we'll figure something out."

With this, Rionriv jumped from her seat and approached me. As she placed an electrified finger to my chest, I felt her magic surge through my body. Choosing not to recoil from the attack, I accepted it as penance and allowed it to fill me as she protested my cavalier attitude. Each poke against me sent another jolt through my body as I held my ground, listening to her lecture me about bending the rules and jeopardizing the triop's standing.

To this, I didn't argue. After all, she wasn't wrong. My understanding of the cosmos of Esseria was based on what I had written, and unlike in my story, where I could add new chapters to make something okay or make sense, every time I poked at the lore of this world, I ran the risk of breaking something.

Crap, I need to be a bit more careful. I thought at one point as Petal's warning flashed into my mind. I'll try to think these things through a bit better. The last thing I want is to break everything before we even get to doomsday. At least the heroic triop never used the LARPer levelling hack. So no worries there.

"Hey, I'm sorry." I finally answered Rionriv as her protest died down. "I'm just happy none of you got in trouble. I'll be more mindful going forward, okay? Meaning we won't abuse the campus monster system anymore."

"But, weren't you planning our whole semester off of that?" Aesandoral now asked as she sat up in bed. "Like, you were just saying last week that we were going to be doing much the same this semester."

Placing a hand to my chin, I thought for a moment before snapping my fingers.

"Maybe we start doing some weekend adventures through the Magosdromes and slay actual monsters?"

"That is a terrible idea!" Rionriv shot back. "Wow, Iz. What a great way to get us all killed!"

"Killed? What do you mean? I can heal you."

"And if you get knocked out? What? We're supposed to drag your dying ass back to the portal and hope you don't bleed out on the way?"

"That's what potions are for," I replied to this, crossing the room and grabbing my bag before gently shaking it. "We should be through most of the duds now. So I'm sure it's fine. And for everything else, just use your trauma kits."

With this, both Rionriv and Aesandoral looked at each other before glancing back at me. Confusion plastered their faces as they stared at me silently, wearing an expression that told me everything I needed to know.

"You know," I continued with a confused look of my own forming. "Those bags you got in your first year? During the Healers Symposium? Why are you both looking so confused? All First Years take the course in their first week of classes."

"Yeah, our boat got hit by a storm," Aesandoral grumbled, her face contorting at the memory. "We arrived two weeks late."

"Wait, so—" With a shaky voice, I began to realize that over our adventure, none of my companions had been first aid certified or even carried the materials in the event magic couldn't heal my wounds. "Wait! You're telling me none of you know any other way than potions to stabilize each other?"

"Obviously." Rionriv shrugged. "Until your faulty potions started popping up, it was the only proper way to do things. That and the teachers with healing spells."

"Okay, that's it!" I demanded, reaching for my temple and pressing the gem that would allow me to connect with Sharzin. "Sharzin. Could you come back to the apartment?"

"Iz?" Sharzin's confused voice replied. "What's up?"

"We-We're having a sit-down, now!" I demanded, reaching into my bag and withdrawing the large trauma kit that I had purchased as part of my adventuring gear with my initial Phyllis coupon. "I'm going to run all of you through the basics of first aid!"