«Alan, could you repeat that again?»

«I want you to get inside Anastasia’s body.»

«I commend your imagination, but what do you think will happen?»

«Well, you’re linked to me, right? So if you can act as a bridge, she’ll receive the mana Sloochie is providing us.»

The small spirit with a skull for a face stared at Alan for a couple of seconds, before sighing. «Sounds logical.»

Why do I feel like he’s acting condescendingly?»

Aaron flew towards Anastasia, who looked at the brink of collapsing at any moment.

«Just a heads up,» Aaron said, turning to Alan. «You have already reached your Skill limit cap, so you will not be able to learn a new one until you reach level 20. Do you still want to proceed?»

«Yes.»

«What should we call this new Skill?»

«Remote Possession.»

«Roger. Requesting Battlesys Program permission to create a new skill. Granted. Looking for compatible skills to use as a base. Found. Accessing ‘Puppet_Master.skl’ and File_Sharing.skl. Done. Removing User’s input. Adding new lines of code. Done. Attempting to install new skill into User’s Anima Avatar… Accesing User’s profile, Passeenger #29318, Alan_Warden/UT/Anima/Ghost_in_the_machine[Aaron].avt… Installation successful.»

«Whoah. This one was more difficult to create than the others, huh?»

«No, this is the standard procedure, Alan. This has to be done every time you create a new skill,» Aaron replied, in a business-like tone of voice.»

Now, he sounds angry.

«I’ll proceed, then,» Aaron said, entering Anastasia’s body. «Auto-Casting, Remote Possession.»

Alan expected a system notification or waited for his field of vision to split, but nothing.

«Did it work?»

«Yes. I’m in.»

«Neat! But why do you sound so upset?»

«Because this is something The Singular would do.»

«Oh! D-do you know about it?»

«Every Assistant AI inside The Novus has that knowledge, and it's programmed to abhor its methods.»

«S-sorry for forcing you to do this.»

«It’s okay. If I have infringed any rules, the System would have flagged me by now, and we would receive another call from Ricardo Silva. A notice, while I ‘possess’ Anastasia, you will not be able to use any of the Ghost in the Machine skills, not even Puppet Master.»

«Are you telling me that now?!»

«Attempting mana transfer.»

Alan anxiously gazed at Anastasia’s MP bar, slowly going up, as her knees faltered.

 

Warning: Minion’s HP at 3%

 

Oh… It may have been too late.

Dylak did not take the opportunity to finish her off and stared at her instead. “You fought well, for an NPC.”

Although Anastasia could not feel pain, her programming forced her to shake and pant. If Alan could see her face, he would see her sweat, blood, and a hard-to-watch, excruciating expression.

«It’s okay, Anastasia, we’ve done everything we could.»

«No. I can still keep going…»

«You don’t have to fight anymore. Amelia will reunite with us any moment now. Let her be the one to finish--»

«There’s a new surge of power inside me…» Anastasia interrupted him while emanating a fire aura. «We can’t let it go to waste…»

 

Notice: Minion is casting Overcharge.

 

«Woah! Hold on, Anastasia! Stop her, Aaron!»

«I cannot do it. That was not this skill’s purpose.»

 

Notice: Minion is casting Ice Crafting, Chill.

 

From his place, Alan could see the heat and steam caused by Overcharge, while at the same time a cold aura surrounded her body.

 

Notice: Minion is casting Overcharge+ Notice: Minion is casting Ice Crafting, Chill+ Notice: Minion is casting Overcharge++ Notice: Minion is casting Ice Crafting, Chill++

 

Suddenly, Alan’s body suffered from a hit of heat and cold, making his entire body contort in pain.

«A-Anastasia!» 

Such agony revived the memories of being burned by Amelia and being frozen by Marco Souza a month ago.

«Hang in there, Alan, this will not kill you. This is a byproduct of using Remote Possession. Trust me when I tell you I did not include this after-effect on purpose! I clarify: The Novus program in charge of Combat added this repercussion on its own.»

Everything has a cost, huh?

 

Notice: Minion is under ‘Bloodlust’.

 

“DYLAAAAAK!” Anastasia roared.

Alan had never heard her that way before. The always calm, collected maid was now forcing her legs to stand up. Trying her hardest to advance.

Meanwhile, Dylak stared at her without blinking or wincing. “Anastasia Blank, although you have not been updated in the same way as me, I can see that this dungeon has changed, regardless.”

«Why is she acting this way, Aaron?!»

«Alan, I don’t think you can stop her. Although rare to get triggered, ‘Bloodlust’ is programmed into every NPC, Boss, and monster in the Novus. Anastasia will not stop until killing the enemy, or dies trying.»

Dylak sighed and pointed her face upwards.

“My apologies, but this time I won’t keep up with this,”  the boss said, crossing eyes with Alan. “Many times I’ve seen human stubbornness. I know your kind all too well. If a Boss causes you trouble, you’ll find a way, by any means necessary, even if it involves dirty tricks. This is no different,” he said, glancing at the enraged NPC, emanating constant bursts of heat and cold. “Now that I can see it for what it really is, I can confidently say that your imagination to overcome any odds, is just too troublesome to deal with. I gain nothing from this.”

I never thought of being lectured by a vampiric boss…

Alan felt a quake before an entire building fell over their battlefield.

“What the hell is that?!” Alan cried out, unable to look up. The only thing inside his field of vision: A distorted amalgamation of bricks, windows, and chimneys.

Dylak glanced at it for a second before sprinting towards it.

“H-he’s escaping!”

“No, he won’t,” Anastasia said, taking a step forward.

 

Notice: Due to your Minion’s experience using the Overcharge skill, and thanks to her affinity with Ice Element, she has gained a new Passive Skill: ‘Self-Cooldown’. It negates the Overcharge heat downsides.

 

M-my body is no longer in pain, mostly… We could have never achieved this new Passive Skill without Amelia’s gifted mana, but--!

Anastasia started consuming all the mana inside her body and subtracting more from Alan and Sloochie. Even the slime’s body was getting warmer.

“Anastasia, stop it! You can’t move anymore! You’ll never reach Dylak in that state!”

“Help me evolve, then, Aaron!” she shouted, as the strange building in front of them got lifted and out of Alan’s view.

Was that some sort of giant foot--What did she say?!

«Should I proceed, Alan?» his Anima asked.

«Proceed? ‘Proceed’ what?»

«It seems that the requirements to force an evolution have been met, but only if we use all of Sloochie’s mana reserves,» Aaron replied.

«Force? Evo--? Could she do that?»

«Do you remember the Wereweasenox?»

«That thing still haunts my dreams from time to time, so yes.»

«You never knew how it evolved, right? I have a theory. Serenity may have infused the Weasenox with some of her mana. She was too injured to fight on her own, remember? So she improvised a guardian. And since that monster level was so low compared to her, it must have been an easy feat for her to tame it. Let’s attempt the same.»

«PLEASE, LET ME DO IT, MASTER!»

«For the record, this is NOT the same situation, but if what Serenity did serves you as inspiration, by all means, try it too. If this is the only way to prevent Dylak from escaping, do it!»

«It will work, I promise…» Aaron said.

In no time, Sloochie’s body fumed and its temperature increased dramatically, burning Alan’s hands. He endured it for a moment before the Slime got disinflated.

“A-are you okay, buddy? Don’t die on me or Amelia will kill me.”

“K-kyuuu…”

“Rest, little one, you did great tonight surviving all this--” Alan narrowed his eyes, watching Anastasia’s body glowing brightly.

What does an evolved NPC look like, anyway?

From his place, he could see her animal ears getting longer, and her skin growing fur. Suddenly, something fluffy crawled out from under her skirt.

A tail… She has a tail now, which means…

 

Congratulations: Your Minion has Ascended. Anastasia Blank can now access Beast Form.

 

“Beast Form,” Alan read, looking at a hybrid animal-humanoid in front of him, with platinum fur.

“Your orders, Master,” Anastasia said, turning to him, showing an elongated fox snout and crimson eyes.

Although her gaze looks savage, there’s also an elegant beauty to her appearance. Alan glanced at her status, noticing that the Bloodlust effect was still active. But she seems to be in control now.

“You look awesome Anastasia! Go get him, girl!”