Beyond The System-Chapter 285: So Cute

My body felt like it was trapped in an internal quake, tremors rippling through me from the inside out.

This wasn’t an expected reaction. I’d sent Precursor Energy into my Inner World before, but this? Maybe the quantity was higher this time, or maybe it was because my avatar was nearly complete.

With that thought, I stepped into my Inner World.

“Peter, what’s going on?” Dryble called out the instant I arrived.

I didn’t answer. I raised my hand instead. My whole form was thrumming in here, vibrating so violently that my outline smeared into a blur. The fire of Precursor Energy had split: one portion feeding into my World Seed, mixing with the lightning of Beast Force, while another portion streamed directly into the avatar.

The two energies laced together, winding around each node of light.

Each node—steady and anchored—swelled the moment the power touched it, buzzing with a vitality that hadn’t existed over the past weeks. Then, under that new volume, they began to extend, spreading outward like patchwork being pulled taut, sewn into place by threads of violet and scarlet.

More and more, they drifted toward one another like approaching suns, and as the seconds slipped by, I could do nothing but watch.

Colors bled together, then pulled away, until only a deep void remained, dusted with tiny specks of white. The form turned cosmic as green, red, frost-blue, scarlet, and violet gathered into a slow spiral, hovering exactly where my Nexus would sit in my real body.

Then the rumbling stopped.

My avatar felt different now.

In a way that was almost frightening, like it was real.

If I fell asleep and woke up in this body, in a world shaped like my own… it might be hard to tell the difference. Well, other than the fact that it looked nothing like my body.

Still, when I lifted my hand again and stared into what seemed like endlessness, only one word escaped me. “Complete.”

“Complete?” Dryble repeated, then paused for a few moments, thinking. “Did you try… Hmmm. I suppose my intuition is quite good.”

His self-appreciation tugged a smile from me, and it reminded me of a worm that had been unusually silent these days.

I wonder when Luna and Wyrem will wake…

“It was a good idea, it seems,” I told him, stepping toward the ring—one band of solid energy wrapped around another that was less condensed.

My hand reached out.

And I closed it.

HMMM.

Both energies hummed in my grip solid and real.

They whipped around like live wires, snapping and flaring as the loop shifted under my hold, but it was manageable. I could keep my grip.

I squeezed tighter, trying to fuse the erratic Animora with the already converted Animora, but when I released, what had been in my hand simply returned to its original form, as if nothing had happened at all.

Unfortunately, I had no real context for what I was doing.

If only Sei had left something behind for me.

“Does keeping the new energy close to the old help in any way?” Dryble asked, clearly watching what I’d been doing a moment ago.

I shrugged, lifting my hand to my chin as I thought. “No idea. It just felt right… Honestly, it was just nice to feel like I’d grabbed something solid.”

A heartbeat passed before he spoke again. “Perhaps, if that’s the case, there is a more efficient way to bring them together.”

I pursed my lips to the side. “I’m sure there is. But like I said, I have no idea if any of this will even amount to anything.”

“Is there harm in trying?” he fired back.

I chuckled, reaching out again. “Could be, but I might as well try something.”

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“That’s the spirit.”

Once again, the powers flailed around wildly, and I brought my other hand up to grip each one. When I pulled, they refused to separate more than a few inches from each other, and when I stepped back, the strain increased dramatically.

“Seems like they’re drawn together naturally,” I said, thinking it was a good sign for our plan. “And either toward the World Seed… or the center of this place too.”

“Try putting them together again,” Drybel insisted.

I did as he asked, but just like before, there was no adhesion between them.

Could… I tie them together?

Even if it was a single loop, nothing stopped me from braiding them then tying a knot at one end. So… that’s what I did. I sat down, pulled the two strands down with me, and settled them across my lap.

The process was slow and methodical, but I was actually fairly decent at braiding, if I say so myself. Lacy and Lindsey enjoyed it as a background activity, and what can I say? I’m not a fan of being left out.

“Fascinating,” Drybel murmured, watching closely. “My village used to create small trinkets using methods like this.”

“Really?” I asked with a bemused smile. “Your memory is very impressive, considering your lifespan and experiences.”

“I try to hold on to what’s left of them,” he said so simply it startled me a bit, the words landing heavy in their quiet tone.

“Sorry,” I apologized despite his calmness, pulling more Animora down and letting the rest spill behind me. And during the process, a strange, comforting sensation began behind my ear, but since it wasn’t harmful—rather, quite nice—I dismissed it. Maybe a mild side effect of messing with the energy.

“No need to apologize,” he said, giving his usual reason for understanding. “Too much time has passed.”

I tilted my head at that. “You say that, but there are others who’ve lived just as long, and they hold a grudge against someone like me just for taking a little bit of power from them.” Of course, I meant the Great Ancestor. “Not to mention what he led Janus to…” I trailed off.

Did he complete what he set out to do?

Stabilizing that place so flickering souls wandering uncontrolled through that white void could meet, keep their sanity… until they lost whatever remaining Will they had left?

I shoved the thoughts away and forced my focus back onto the task. “You should give yourself more credit,” I said with a self-deprecating smile. “It’ll worry your friends if you keep handing the credit to something else.”

He didn’t answer immediately, or for a while, letting us both slip into a comfortable silence that revolved around the single task we shared.

One braiding.

The other feeding a dark energy into my World Seed while guiding the Elemental Essence’s energy to the same spot.

Man… that is so weird.

My ears were starting to feel a little sore.

Still, there was a comfort drawn from deep within, pulled up by the very sensation that was plaguing me. But seriously… enough is enough.

And something else.

It’s a little embarrassing, but… just below the small of my back, a less comfortable feeling surfaced. A kind of pressure that sent a tingle climbing up my spine.

Not unbearable, just… an undesirable side effect.

As minutes stretched on, more and more of the braid was finished. Then the final stretch approached, and I guided the two plasma-like bands of energy into a sailor’s knot, tying the two pieces together with careful, deliberate turns.

I pulled once.

Then twice.

And it held.

Satisfied, I let go.

It floated up without resistance, rising smoothly and settling back into place as if it had never been disturbed.

The effects were hard to tell, but it killed time, I suppose.

“Thank you, Peter,” Drybel said just as I stood.

I let out a quick breath through my nose. “I’ll be back soon. Just call if you need to chat.”

“Yes.”

I opened my eyes.

“Ummm,” I muttered. Not that I was complaining about the situation, but it was a little sudden. The moment the real world slid back into my awareness, Thea was on my lap, leaning over me.

Bristle was directly at my side now, an armored slime curled up next to him, both of them deep in sleep.

The view was nice, but again… strange. “Thea?”

I called out.

“Ah!” she squealed, stiffening.

She bolted downward. She didn’t move away, but dropped closer, meeting my face at an almost unreasonable distance.

“You’re red,” I said, catching the deep blush staining her cheeks.

“You’re red!” she snapped back without even a breath to spare.

I blinked. “What?”

“N—nothing… So, did anything happen?” she asked, in a tone that told me she already knew something. That, and her eyes still wouldn’t meet mine, stuck to the top of my head like it was the only thing in the world.

“What the heck are you—” My hands rose. Something was off.

There was something on my head.

Soft.

“Thea?”

“Hmm?” she sang out, eyes still glued to the spot I was touching, her expression openly wanting.

“What’s on my head?”

Wind blew by.

Chirping of insects.

“It’s so cute,” she finally said.

My eyes narrowed at her refusal to answer, but apparently, she didn’t care.

“Please tell me you can control it,” she pleaded.

I groaned. “I’ll tell you as soon as you tell me.”

Her head tilted cutely, and she finally met my eyes. “You can feel it, can’t you? You’ve got little… dog ears.”

So, my first transformation came by complete accident.