As I had expected after hearing from Annie about the changes to the Great Plains area, the zones of my mind palace were changing alongside my cute spirits. It seemed like each area was truly associated with one of them.

  Just as Annie had told me, the Great Plains could now manifest all sorts of obstacles if she wanted them to. My first thought had been just stone-like structures–Something simplistic, but turns out it could create things more complex than that.

  For example, she could have a house rise from the ground if she wanted to train her speed inside a more cramped space. Under my suggestion, we even found out that she could make the terrain cave and fill it up with water.

  We could create a beach

  Nara made a suggestion, and indeed, it seemed like the terrain of the Great Plains was very malleable, and it was easy to control it as well. All changes were temporary as they would revert once Annie decided to stop or leave the area… Maintaining something while she trained was as easy as pie, however.

  Mmh. A beach means swimsuits

  Swimwhats?

  Do they not exist? Do they go by another name?

  …According to my research, it seems like they aren’t a well-known item–Hold on, did you not tell me that you won a swimming competition once? What were you wearing while swimming?

  Just regular clothes.

  Ah. Well, you see, a swimsuit is something I think you’ll find very cute, basically…

  Nara launched herself into a lengthy explanation. I could tell that she definitely thought it was cute and wanted to know if I agreed. She even provided depictions. I hadn’t expected the little sister in my head to have such a strong interest in something like this.

  Once the explanation was over, I looked over at my ghostly cuties, trying to visualise it.

  Alright, I agree. That’s adorable. I really–REALLY–Need to figure out how to give them a proper change in wardrobe. If I can figure out how to do that, my life will quite literally get far better. It is just too cruel for me to have such adorable little sisters and be unable to play dress-up with them.

  It was my right and duty as the big sister to put them in cute dresses and give them new haircuts… The next equipment in the furnace room better be something that allowed me to do just that. I guess calling that place the furnace room doesn’t fit anymore…

  The forge? The craft corner? I don’t have a clue.

  In any case, I asked everyone if they knew how to swim, and the answer was a resounding no from everyone.

  It was rather bizarre to see ghosts sink in water like they had boulders tied to their ankles. After a little while, Annie was the first to figure it out.

  …I think this has awakened something inside of her.

  “Swimming… Is… Like… Running… But… In… Water…”

  She muttered to herself halfway through–The plains were definitely going to see a lot of bodies of water in the future, I could predict it.

  Next, we moved over to the Flower Field. The only change was a single, large tree providing shade in the center of the field, firmly rooted upon a small hill that overlooked the rest of the field.

  Apparently, this change had come alongside the addition of a room inside the manor. Namely, a library containing what I believed to be every book and such I had ever read in my entire life.

  Ever since this tree had appeared not long ago, Poppy had been picking up books and reading them under its shade, sitting against its trunk and upon the soft grass. She really had that ‘noble girl about to be unexpectedly swept off her feet in a romance novel’ aesthetic while doing that.

  It was absolutely adorable when Ophelie and Gigi would sit with her, Poppy would start reading aloud for them to follow along.

  Good thing I couldn’t have a heart attack because these sisters of mine were pulling on my heartstrings with the strength of a thousand giants.

  The effects of this tree seemed to be merely to promote a better understanding when one was beneath it, or so Poppy told me. The blonde was not quite certain if that was really the case. The changes to the Flower Field weren’t as obvious as those of the Great Plains.

  Gigi’s Hide-And-Seek Forest was not changed much, much like with the Great Plains, the changes required one to will them. Here, the point was all about altering the environment in a random manner, or adding a little quirk to the hide-and-seek session.

  Namely, she could make it rain, make it foggy, or make the forest dark like it was nighttime. The point was to diversify each game. It wasn’t fun to play once everyone knew the best spots to hide in.

  It had to be said, though, Gigi was a real master at hiding. Her short stature allowed her to hide in cramped places without even having to phase through solid obstacles, seeing her wiggle under roots like some sort of snake was as impressive as it was adorable.

  Nessa’s Stalk Town had received a slight expansion in the form of underground tunnels–I strongly approve of that–And also some shadowy figures that mimicked people going about their daily lives. They were here so that Nessa actually had things to avoid and stalk whilst practising.

  I had no clue how these things worked, as they weren’t spirits at all, but they worked very well, and the way they moved and behaved was not completely fixed, and would change every once in a while.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Stalk Town had truly become a great place for my timid girl to hone her talent to avoid all social interactions.

  If she weren’t a ghost, I would have encouraged her to grow out of that extreme shyness–But since she was a spirit and had me and the others, I reckon it is perfectly fine to let her be as she is.

  Especially since she is so adorable like this.

  The Training Hall, or Colosseum, had received a similar update as the Great Plains. Various pieces of training equipment could be spawned out of thin air now, and different sorts of arenas as well. There were no shadowy figures to fight, though, so it seemed like I would get to teach Elowen myself.

  Right now, my tomboy has good fighting instincts, but she lacks good technique in how she delivers blows and fights in general. Due to her ghostly nature and the fact that she was part of a cohesive group, she did not get to actually fight properly.

  Naturally, that made her stagnate in her training progress as she didn’t receive much pushback in a fight. I would show her the ropes extensively. I remembered my own training in the past… Just a few adjustments, and I was certain Elowen would see much progress.

  As for the Animal Farm… It hadn’t changed at all just yet. It was associated with Ophelie, so I presumed the same things I believed about how she would progress also applied to the farm.

  The animal spirits were wandering around peacefully as per usual. They behaved as I would expect them to do if they were alive, except with Ophelie she could just walk right over a mean-looking rooster and pick it up like a big plush without the animal resisting.

  When I tried to touch it, the chicken just stared at me. Ready to peck.

  Why so mad, Buddy–Oh, yes. I did murder you… Since when can chicken hold grudges? Hold onto it, Big Guy. I am certain that it will help you be a better spirit.

  During my little tour, I noticed that two new areas had appeared–Or rather, were in the process of manifesting. They weren’t whole, and it wasn’t obvious what they were at just a glance.

  One of them was a big room with a cosy ambience and a wooden floorboard, which didn’t tell me much at all.

  The other was even less comprehensible, as it was just a square-shaped room that was completely white, the walls covered with what felt like mattresses. Considering the fact that there were two, I presumed that they were intended for the broken soul, Faelan, and the adorable little curse, Anathema.

  I wondered whether it meant anything, or if these places were present because this was my mindscape, and I had subconsciously already made them into spirits–Like, I was expecting them to show up eventually, so my mind palace had responded by preparing their own areas.

  “Alright, Girls. This was nice, but we need to keep on moving. That poorly-named, ugly lump of steel is probably already following our tracks”

  With these words, I exited the mindscape and stood up inside a cave, feeling bold and hasty. I leapt off the side of a cliff, landing on my feet with surprising ease.

  ‘Shock Dampeners’ was indeed efficient. I definitely would have fallen in a disgraceful manner before.

  With the confirmation that I had a good resistance to falling damage and a now upgraded frame, I moved through the rugged terrain without worrying about falling and turning into a pile of scraps.

  It also gave me time to actually think about what had happened when all of these upgrades had been activated after I had gone into my ‘Base Form’ in my fight against SHLAD. I had felt a tingling sensation stronger than usual.

  I was certain that ‘Silver Wires’ had counted toward acquiring a form, but the strength of the tingle told me that progressing closer might cause a stronger tingle, or another one of the upgrades I had picked had counted toward something, so as I ran through the wilderness, I decided to speak with Nara.

  Is there something new in the list of forms I have unlocked something for?

  There has indeed been a change

  Mascot Form

  Nightmare Form

  Revenant Jack-Out-Of-The-Box

  Wire Mess Form

  Pure Spirit Form

  Rusted Plague Form

  Biobot Form

  Biobot? What does that even mean? I had learned the term ‘bot’ from Nara just recently, but I didn’t have the faintest clue what ‘bio’ meant.

  In this case, ‘bio’ should refer to something alive, made of living tissue–Flesh

  Oh, so I really can get value out of all that flesh I ate and stocked up, huh? Isn’t a ‘Biobot’ kind of what that SHLAD is?

  He certainly fits closely with the bill since the steel he is made out of seems to truly be alive in some bizarre way, but I do not think the form you can unlock has that much in common with him

  I do wonder which of the upgrades you picked triggered this, however… None of them was even remotely related to flesh or living tissue. I suppose the ‘Biobot Form’ has a lot of flesh, but that its abilities aren’t that closely related to that fact? I lack intel on locked forms

  I see that the ‘Pure Spirit Form’ is listed, but no traces of a ‘Pure Curse Form’. I am fairly certain that I got a taste of it when I first talked with Anathema. I would have figured that this little encounter would have caused the form to appear here, but I guess not.

  For hours on end, I ran and ran. Any time I spotted a city, town, or village in the distance, I would make sure to avoid it. The goal was to get as far away as possible and find a good spot that SHLAD would find troublesome to get to.

  He had been made by my brother, so I knew well that this thing was littered with restrictions for the sake of upholding some pesky morals, and Leton was a rather high-ranking member of the kingdom as well, so if I could cross a border into another nation, then his murder robot would certainly get nervous.

  If the connection between SHLAD and Leton was established, it would be very bad for him and could cause a diplomatic incident.

  After all, everyone would see a clearly combat-oriented automaton running amok in a foreign nation.

  Thus, I was heading west. If my geography memories weren’t betraying me, then I should end up in Malkazert, a kingdom mostly populated by demonkind. Demons were a diverse group of people similar to beastfolks. The term ‘demon’ regrouped many species that could look nothing like one another, but all in all, a demon was usually stronger than a human, or had some sort of innate physiology granting them some sort of quirk.

  Now, if my history classes were also not treacherous, then last I checked, relations between Malkazert and Rootriska were rather good. I believe I heard that the current king had married a demon princess after his first wife had passed away.

  I remember the information. The marriage was about two years ago. There are often rumours that the new queen is somehow pregnant with a human-demon hybrid… Something apparently impossible due to the complete incompatibility of her specific demon species with humans

  Yes, I remember now… So certainly, SHLAD–Or Leton–Wouldn’t want to strain relationships when they were so good.

  On the way there, though, I stumbled across a peculiar scene whilst trying to traverse a rocky range of mountains.

  Mmh… I smell a conspiracy.