I've Turned Into A Fox Girl?

Shaman had sat Elysia down on the bed and quickly opened her system to find whatever skill helped her break out of the trance. Shaman quickly found under the passive section a blessing of some kind that she never noticed before.

[Blessing of the fox]

[Any magic/items that influence the mind will be negated once the user starts to become aware of its effects]

[--hidden–]

[--hidden–]

The two hidden options piqued Shaman's interest but seeing as only one had been revealed due to certain conditions being met she assumed it would be the same for the others.

"So what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Elysia was still rather confused and began to worry a little.

"I'm going to get straight to the point, Himeko is manipulating us through magic or some sort of item and currently you are under her control." Shaman was still not sure what could have caused them to be under a trance but she did not want to find out as fighting Himeko was not on the list of things they wanted to do.

"What? How could you say that abou-." Elysia cut herself off as she began to have conflicting thoughts. Her will to believe whatever Shaman says was telling her to believe in her words but she could also feel another force telling her to stand up for Himeko.

Shaman also took this opportunity to hold Elysia's hand and see if the blessing would carry over.

[Influence has been detected and the person is aware of effects, removing all traces of it]

A notification rang out and Shaman was glad to see that she was able to remove it with physical touch.

Pain could be felt throughout Elysia's head as the influence over her mind began to fade. Just like Shaman, she felt her mind clear and it was no longer filled with fog.

After the pain, Elysia felt a wash of relief and laid down on the bed.

"Holy shit, never felt so clear headed before." Elysia took a moment to soak in the feeling.

"Glad you are back but we must hide from Himeko otherwise I'm afraid she might have more forceful ways." Shaman's leg started to shake a little since she was getting a little nervous.

"We need to get out of here but also the training could be valuable so it might be best to suck up all the information but I have to admit her way of training is not my favourite and I would rather not." Elysia saw that being taught by a tier 10 is invaluable but it may cost them their life.

"We could get one of her students as surely they would be able to teach us what they have been taught." Shaman instantly thought of Clara as she seemed to also be under Himeko's influence and is being taught by her. Elysia had also thought about Clara as they have yet to meet anyone else that is under Himeko.

"She does seem like the easiest one to get in contact with, just a matter of getting her alone with us." Elysia sat up from the bed

"We could definitely get Clara alone and she may even be able to help us clear the dungeon and beat that sk-skeleton knight." Shaman shivered and began to feel nauseous at the thought of the skeleton night.

Elysia quickly wrapped her hand around Shaman to comfort her and this reaction also reminded her of something they needed to do.

"We have to beat that damn thing otherwise this trauma is going to cause more problems." Elysia let out a sigh as she could see it becoming a huge nuisance as they may not be together all the time like they are now.

Shaman took deep breaths and calmed herself down and the nausea started to fade.

"I think you're right and let's hope we can beat it so we can leave." Shaman dreaded the thought but it had to be done before they could leave.

"Anyway We got some levels so we should probably use them." Shaman remembered the 500+ points she had to use which is a massive boost and could not wait to try out her new power.

Shaman and Elysia both opened their system menus and began to allocate their attribute points.

US: 520 -> 0

Vitality: 185 -> 220

Agility: 265 -> 400

Intelligence: 280 -> 400

Strength: 280 -> 330

Dexterity: 200 -> 300

Defense: 170 -> 270

Shaman once again felt the rush but this time it was a lot more potent as this was the most amount of points she has used at once.

'I am so glad the system takes care of adjusting my strength. Otherwise I feel like I might end up destroying a building.' Shaman could not imagine what damage she could do and was almost tempted to try it out.

Once they were finished Shaman had got a nagging feeling in her head to check something.

'Oh? Did I unlock more memoires.' Shaman quickly sifted through her mind and once again saw the foggy area but this time things were much more clear.

'I really need to check on these more but so much is happening, Rea can you remind me when we have a break to check on them.' Shaman figured she would forget again so she hoped Rea could help her remember.

[Sure thing o7]

Shaman smiled at the small text salute and was hoping this time she will get more information on what happened to her family.

'Oh well let's try to get out of this place before it's too late.' Shaman turned to Elysia and could see that she was done.

"Well since we are newly upgraded and don't have much to do, shall we try to meditate?" Shaman figured since it was actually helpful it would be good if they could do it more often.

"Well I still have not seen my core yet." Elysia was not very confident that she could do it this time since she failed last time.

"The only way to do it is if you keep trying, so don't worry about it and give it another shot." Shaman smiled causing Elysia's heart to flutter a little but this filled her with motivation to try once again.

"Wolfy, you should also try to do it but I don't know how you would go about doing it in a Wolf body." Shaman figured Wolfy could try but was unsure how he would do it. Wolfy raised his head as he was silently listening.

'I can give it a shot but yeah I don't know how to achieve it without using the same sitting position but surely that is not important.' Wolfy was rather eager as the last battle showed that anything more than single target skills drained him.

They all began to meditate and Shaman was once again able to achieve the same state as before. Although Himeko had yet to tell her tricks on how to make it easier to not lose track of time, Shaman tried her own ways.

Initially Shaman tried counting but was too bored and gave up on it. Then she tried to just focus on her body and how it was feeling which seemed to work as she was surprisingly able to feel when her body started to get fatigued.

[Mana efficiency increased]

[Max mana increased]

Notifications started popping up slowly but just like last time her body started to feel tired and exhausted. Without letting it go too far Shaman was able to break herself out of the meditation, not completely exhausted.

Elysia on the other hand was on the verge of seeing her core and was much closer than last time. She started to see the swirling colours within as it showed a vibrant orange showcasing her fire element. But due to Elysia getting too excited she broke out of the meditation and lost it.

'Dammit I am so close.' Elysia was making progress which fueled her to keep going.

Wolfy struggled to even begin as he was unsure how to go about getting the right position to sit in. He tried different ways of sitting but he was not able to get close to a meditative state.

'I must be missing something.' Wolfy tried racking his brain but was unable to think of a way to get it working.

The group would soon be cut off from their small training session as a knock on the door could be heard.

"Hey, it's me Clara, let me in before Himeko gets back." Clara whispered through the door making it just loud enough for them to hear.

Shaman and Elysia looked at each and thought that this was way too conveniently timed.

"We will let her in but we won't free her because this could be a trap and who knows she might have a stronger reaction to it going away because who knows what Himeko has done to her." Shaman wanted to take the opportunity to free her but could not help thinking that if Clara had been here for years who knows what sort of trauma that may awaken if she removes the influence.

Elysia nodded and so she went to the door to open it.