Chapter 120: A Magical Bracelet

Blanche woke up smiling, the last image from her dream lingering in her mind—a magnificent smile that made her blush.

It was the first time Fenrir had ever looked at her like that.

By Babylon... he was gorgeous.

"Oh, I know someone who had a naughty dream!" a voice exclaimed.

Still half-buried beneath her blanket, Blanche lazily raised a hand.

Without even turning toward Eva, she grabbed her pillow and tossed it in her direction with the perfectly reasonable intention of shutting her up.

At least...

That was what she thought she was doing.

The pillow left her hand like an arrow.

The air cracked.

It shot across the room at such an absurd speed that it produced a deep sonic boom, as though space itself had briefly compressed around it.

Eva didn't have the slightest chance to react.

The impact hurled her backward onto her bed, arms spread wide, the breath knocked clean out of her.

"...Oops."

Blanche bolted upright.

"Eva!"

She immediately tried to run over to her—

Then froze.

The world...

Had changed.

Or rather...

She had.

For a brief instant, everything around her seemed to slow to a crawl. Eva's dazed movements looked almost unreal in their sluggishness, while Blanche's own body felt ready to spring in any direction with effortless ease.

Then the wave hit.

Sudden.

Overwhelming.

An avalanche of scents flooded her senses all at once.

Eva's fruity shampoo.

The wax on the wooden floor.

The sandalwood desk.

Coffee someone was brewing two floors below.

The unopened bar of soap in the communal bathroom.

The faint metallic scent of the radiators.

Even the dry-erase marker forgotten inside Eva's pencil case now possessed its own unmistakable signature.

Blanche inhaled instinctively.

A terrible mistake.

Her brain was instantly overwhelmed.

Then came the sounds.

All of them.

At once.

A toilet flushing somewhere down the hallway.

The rustle of a page turning in a neighboring room.

A zipper being pulled shut.

Someone putting on their shoes.

Two students chatting several doors away.

The steady ticking of a clock she'd never noticed before.

And, stranger still...

She could almost hear Eva's heartbeat.

Blanche instinctively pressed a hand against her temple.

"...Good grief."

Her eyes swept across the room.

Every detail possessed supernatural clarity.

The fibers of the rug.

The tiny imperfections in the paint covering the walls.

Dust floating through a ray of sunlight.

Even the stitching in her comforter stood out with almost uncomfortable precision.

Her mind was processing everything.

Far too quickly.

Far too efficiently.

Then she understood.

It wasn't just her stats that had increased.

Her entire body was now functioning on a level far beyond that of any human.

As though becoming the Queen of Players had shattered every natural limit governing her senses.

"Whoa!" Eva exclaimed. "I never thought my shield bracelet would actually block an attack from my best friend! What on earth did you eat last night?"

The brunette's voice echoed through Blanche's head with ridiculous intensity.

She winced.

It sounded as though Eva were shouting directly into her ears.

Taking a slow breath to regain control of her new senses, Blanche approached this time with extreme caution, as though even the slightest movement might now cause a disaster.

That was when she finally realized what had really happened.

Her pillow had never reached Eva.

It remained suspended just a few inches from her face, perfectly motionless, stopped by a thin, translucent membrane that subtly distorted the light around her.

The bracelet.

The small gleaming band around Eva's wrist still shimmered with faint ripples before the protective barrier slowly faded away.

Blanche stared in fascination.

Given the speed at which she'd thrown the pillow...

Without that shield, Eva probably would have ended up with a broken nose.

At the very least.

She carefully picked up her comforter.

Or rather...

She tried to.

The pillow now felt so light that it was like lifting a cloud. She nearly launched it across the room again after completely misjudging the strength of her own arms.

"You're really going to have to explain this to me," Blanche muttered as she retrieved it.

As though Eva were somehow the one at fault.

The sound of her own voice surprised her even more.

She hadn't spoken any louder than usual.

Yet every vibration rang with astonishing clarity. Her voice, once soft and calm, now sounded deeper, richer, almost regal—as though every word naturally carried greater authority than before.

A few moments later, the invisible barrier dissolved on its own with a faint shimmer.

Blanche stared at the bracelet...

Then at her own hands.

She hadn't merely gained a title.

Her entire body had entered a completely different league.

And judging by nothing more than a tossed pillow, she was going to have to relearn every single movement before she accidentally hurt someone.

After all...

Knocking out your best friend before breakfast probably wasn't the ideal way to begin your reign.

"After the accident, Dad gave me this bracelet," Eva explained, showing off the piece of jewelry. "He said it was a shield that would protect me."

Blanche stepped closer to examine it, taking care this time.

Eva seemed incredibly slow beside her. She could distinguish every one of her movements, no matter how slight.

It looked like a thin copper bracelet twisted into elegant arabesques, its surface coated in a delicate layer of pearly dust.

Something about it felt familiar.

And it carried a gentle scent.

She had smelled that fragrance before...

Blanche inhaled deeply, earning a bewildered look from Eva.

It was her own scent.

Jasmine dominated it, with a subtle hint of orange blossom.

It didn't take her long to figure it out.

The bracelet belonged to her...

In a way.

It had been crafted from one of her scales.

"That was a good idea," Blanche said, trying not to whisper, since even her own voice assaulted her heightened hearing.

"Really?" Eva asked suspiciously. "I actually asked Dad why he didn't give it to you instead."

"It wouldn't have been nearly as useful for me. After all, I'm a drakion," Blanche improvised, still trying to come to terms with what she had become. "Besides, it matches your complexion much better than mine. And considering it just saved you, I'd say it found the right owner."

Not entirely convinced, Eva smiled anyway.

"Still... you've gotten insanely strong. Something tells me you're not far from transforming."

Blanche dodged the subject.

Her best friend still didn't know the conditions of her transformation...

In fact, she was the only one who didn't.

Rather ironic.

But before Blanche could explain anything, Eva's eyes gleamed with mischief.