"Just like I said on Momotalk, as a genius, I am currently researching an elixir of immortality."
While speaking, Saya led me to a refrigerated cabinet against the wall, muttering as she went, "Of course, during this process I might coincidentally invent other secret medicines as well. But the ultimate goal of the Alchemy Research Club is still to develop an elixir of immortality. Hahahaha!"
Come to think of it, immortality has always been one of the highest pursuits of alchemists since ancient times, so it was hardly surprising that this was the club's ultimate goal.
Still, I could not help feeling a little curious about why Saya, who was in the prime of her youth, would pursue immortality.
"Hm? Isn't that obvious?" Saya looked at me strangely. "Of course it's because I want to live forever in the form of a young girl, continuing my research endlessly…"
A perfectly logical idea. And after that?
Saya spoke with smug confidence, mixed with a hint of longing. "Then I'll be revered by people and bask in their praise…"
Given Saya's talent, if she really did invent an elixir of immortality and gained endless life, she would indeed either be remembered for generations or reviled forever.
So what comes after that?
"Uh, then…"
Saya wrinkled her delicate nose and said impatiently, "Ugh, this is so annoying! Sensei, you just need to quietly cooperate with my experiments!"
In other words, she had not seriously thought about what came after. It was simply pure passion and dreams, setting an unreachable goal and striving toward it tirelessly.
At least in that regard, this mouse-eared genius girl was actually quite cute.
"Hehe, found it!"
As she spoke, Saya turned back around, holding a vial filled with a suspicious-looking unknown liquid, presenting it to me proudly as she introduced it.
"Look! This is the elixir of immortality I developed before! Just looking at it, you can tell it works, right?"
"Wait a second," I asked in confusion. "Didn't the advertisement say it was a medicine that lets you freely control dreams after taking it?"
Saya seemed to have expected this and burst into loud laughter. "Hahahaha! I knew you'd ask that! Listen carefully. With my medicine, if you can control the flow of time in dreams, then develop another drug that freezes bodily functions, wouldn't that essentially achieve immortality?"
"Even if it's only in a virtual world, that would give you nearly infinite time to research a more perfect elixir of immortality, right? I really am a genius! Hahahaha!"
Listening to her laughter echo through the laboratory, I could not help but wonder whether her inspiration came from some movie, but after thinking about it, I did not dare ask.
I asked again, "Since you say this drug was developed earlier, you must have tested its effects already, right?"
As soon as I said that, Saya's laughter stopped abruptly.
"Tsk… because no one was willing to cooperate with me…"
Saya complained to me indignantly. "Since the prerequisite is that they have to dream, they must first fall asleep naturally. Regular sedatives just won't work!"
"And if I use milder drugs, even if the underclassmen agree on the surface out of courtesy, they all find excuses. After taking the medicine, they stubbornly insist they're not sleepy and refuse to fall asleep in front of me before the effects wear off!"
Well… I was not particularly surprised this happened…
At this point, Saya's eyes glistened with tears. "What the heck! So far, this drug has only had one test subject, Nezusuke, but Nezusuke isn't even human…"
"Squeak, squeak!"
A small mouse with glossy gray-white fur and a very cute appearance poked its head out of Saya's bag, stretching its front paws to pat Saya's back as if to comfort her.
"Ha… I'm fine, Nezusuke."
Saya pinched the scruff of the mouse named Nezusuke and placed it on her shoulder.
Nezusuke nodded at me in a very human-like way, probably greeting me. But I did not know if it was just my imagination, I somehow felt that its eyes were filled with tears, carrying boundless tenderness.
And Saya's gloomy mood from just now seemed to have vanished completely, as if it had never existed.
"Hehe, since Sensei here volunteered to participate in the experiment, I don't need them anymore. Come on, let's begin!"
Then she led me to a futon laid out on the floor in advance, patterned with cheese. "This is what I usually use when I have to stay overnight in the lab. Just use it however you like."
What? Can I really use it however I like?
I vaguely thought of some rather constructive uses.
"…W-what's wrong? Is there something strange?" Saya misunderstood something, her expression turning awkward as she blushed and snapped, "What are you thinking about! I wash it properly every time after using it, there's absolutely no strange smell, okay!"
Tch, treating me without even leaving behind her body scent. How discourteous.
I instantly lost interest.
However, after I tried to ignore the color and any lingering smell, downed the bottle of so-called dream-controlling potion in one go, took the mild sleeping aid as well, and lay down in Saya's futon, I still caught a faint, subtle fragrance that made my spirits lift.
Was it detergent? Or maybe Saya was always busy with experiments and usually used it alone, so it had not been completely washed out?
If I ever got the chance, I would really like to investigate properly.
Speaking of which, inviting me into bed on our first meeting…
Although my mind immediately went to a certain pink-haired counterexample, Saya is not pink-haired. Maybe it was love at first sight, and she wanted to use bedding that would carry my scent after I used it.
I projected my own thoughts onto her like that.
"All right, for the medicine to take effect, please fall asleep within half an hour. Nezusuke will keep you company too!"
As she spoke, Saya placed Nezusuke, who had also been given the medicine, beside me.
That saved me the trouble of asking. With a dreaming animal next to me, I could conveniently test whether I could properly use the authority of [Dream Entry].
I exchanged a glance with the mouse and finally understood the true meaning of the emotion in its eyes.
It was heartfelt emotion and sympathy upon meeting a fellow sufferer.
Brother Mouse… no, Miss Mouse, you and I should encourage each other.
But things did not go entirely as planned.
Nezusuke beside me was already sleeping soundly. I closed my eyes and relaxed my whole body as much as possible, yet I still could not fall asleep.
The sleeping aid seemed to have no effect on me at all…
It could not be that I was too excited from sleeping in the bedding of a white-haired, red-eyed, beast-eared girl, right? I am not that despicable!
Although I did not know exactly how much time had passed, I only had about half an hour to fall asleep for the dream-controlling medicine to work. It should be almost up now.
I could not help feeling anxious, and the more anxious I became, the harder it was to sleep.
At this point, there was probably only one solution left.
I steeled my resolve and opened my eyes, just in time to meet Saya's gaze as she stared blankly at my sleeping face, apparently lost in thought.
She seemed startled by my sudden movement.
Etching her adorable expression into my memory, I was about to use [Mind Transmission] on Saya to forcibly knock myself unconscious, when I suddenly changed my mind. Not because I gave up, but because I switched to a target that might be more appropriate.
Using it on humans causes instant unconsciousness. Then if I use it on an animal, would the consumption be lighter, resulting only in mental fatigue and allowing me to fall asleep quickly?
With that thought, I aimed at Nezusuke, who was sleeping soundly.
The next moment, my vision went black.
When I regained consciousness, I found myself in an incomparably vast, strangely familiar space.
The mysterious, deep blue night sky dotted with stars had not yet fully faded. Above the low mountain range on the horizon, a gentle whiteness had already emerged, weaving rosy clouds at the boundary where sky and land met.
Beneath my feet stretched a clear surface of water, its end nowhere in sight, reflecting the sky above like a mirror. I looked down and naturally saw myself, just as usual, wearing the Schale uniform.
Then, almost instinctively, I took a step forward. Ripples spread outward from where my foot landed, yet I felt as if I were walking on solid ground.
So this is… my dream?
Why does this damn authority knock me out even when used on a mouse?
After the initial confusion, my thoughts gradually became clear, and I remembered when and where I had seen this strange, dazzling, unforgettable scenery before.
Why would I dream of the scene I saw during the forging of a divine name? What connection does this have to the credit card I hold, the memories I lost, and that mysterious girl?
I scanned my surroundings but found no living beings besides myself. I shouted with all my strength, yet received no response…
After trying everything I could think of and getting nowhere, I finally gave up.
Perhaps this scene had simply been etched into my subconscious, so it was reflected in my dream.
No matter what, one day I would unravel all these unresolved mysteries.
So that I could live more at ease in Kivotos… and even…
Whether I would ever have a chance to go back "home", and permanently escape all of this…
…
Sigh.
I will think about it later.
Burying those tiny, faint, unrealistic wishes back into the deepest part of my heart, I knew this was not the time for sentimentality.
There were more important things waiting for me to accomplish, and I had already wasted a lot of time.
Without further delay, I tried using the authority of [Dream Entry].
In an instant, a wave of barely tolerable weakness and fatigue swept over my body and mind, and everything I saw became blurry.
It seemed to have worked. At the very least, the authority activated smoothly and consumed a large amount of my focus.
Then the next question was, how do I enter someone else's dream?
Just when I had finally overcome one obstacle, another appeared right after it. When would this ever end…
As I was thinking this, a trace of doubt suddenly arose.
What was wrong with me? Why did my mindset seem much more negative than usual, with feelings of sorrow and confusion still lingering?
…Wait, this is not my own emotion…
Could it be from Nezusuke?
I finally noticed something was off, but immediately another question followed.
Why was this emotion still here after so long? In the previous uses, didn't it disappear quickly once I regained consciousness?
No, not regaining consciousness, but waking up?
Thinking this, I formed a bold hypothesis.
Next, I tentatively focused my attention as much as possible on this foreign "inner voice".
Soon, the blur before my eyes was completely swallowed by darkness, then a completely different scene gradually emerged.
I looked around at this laboratory, almost identical to the one outside, and the figure working busily not far away, then took a deep breath.
O card…
Even though I already knew.
How outrageously awful the description section is.
But this time, isn't it taking things a bit too far?
The gains from conquering Mimori and Tsubaki, two authorities that seemed completely unrelated on the surface, were actually part of a single set?
Fine, fine, so that's how you want to play it. Impressive, really.
I gritted my teeth and cursed the garbage cheat ability in my heart.
After calming myself down, I walked up behind the figure who was fully focused on preparing a potion and patted her shoulder.
"Squeak!" Wearing a white lab coat, her body enlarged dozens of times and standing upright, Nezusuke let out a startled cry, turned around, pushed up her glasses with the paw not holding a vial, and shouted angrily, "Hey! Sensei, don't interrupt me all of a sudden. If I weren't a great genius, this elixir of immortality would have been ruined!"
…What?
I stared at Nezusuke, who was speaking in a clear female voice, and fell silent.
Nezusuke continued in a very rude tone, "So, what do you want with me?"
"Uh… nothing, I just wanted to ask what you're doing right now…"
"Didn't I already say it! I'm preparing a new elixir of immortality! How inexplicable!"
Nezusuke cursed as she turned back to the workbench and continued her work.
So this is Nezusuke's dream?
Seeing her busy, I thought for a moment and began exploring the surroundings on my own, quickly making some discoveries.
The overall structure of this laboratory matched reality, yet there were many differences.
For example, the door did not lead to a corridor but to nothingness. Most of the books on the shelves were blank or missing pages. The texture of many objects also felt strange.
It seemed this truly was Nezusuke's dream, largely constructed from her memories.
By the way, the smells of various medicines here were exceptionally realistic. Thinking about the reason behind that was, honestly, a rather sad story.
"Finished!"
Suddenly, Nezusuke held up a bottle of suspicious liquid and let out a manic laugh. "Now then, let's have a delightful experiment!"
As she spoke, she opened her side pouch and pulled out a struggling… miniature Saya?
"Hahaha!"
Nezusuke's triumphant laughter echoed through the dream.
But why did I feel the atmosphere had grown even more desolate?
I did not stop her. I watched silently and continued exploring until the dream finally ended.