Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

After adapting to his body, the weakened Shard lay in Miss Belindel’s arms, wanting to copy Mia and shake off the water by trembling, but he found himself soft and powerless, and he hadn’t mastered Mia’s technique despite both being cats. Fortunately, Miss Belindel noticed his intention, placed her hand on him, and dried his fur.

"What’s happened? Can’t you change back?"

She couldn’t care less about her own situation, still bowing her head with concern for the cat in her arms. The small silver cat lay pitifully in her lap, and even when she reached out to stroke him, Shard Cat had no strength to resist.

"Is this the price of using your power just now?"

"Yes, due to some unexpected circumstances, I transformed into a dragon. Now, I can’t change back. This isn’t just a simple Transformation Spell, it seems like my body structure has altered... I haven’t learned Human Transformation, but fortunately, I learned Cat Transformation. Maintaining the dragon form consumes too much, so I temporarily fixed my form as a cat."

The cat’s weary eyes glanced towards the distant direction of the harbor:

"At this distance, we should be out of the Church’s surveillance range. The night’s events are over; let’s go back."

The witch knelt on the ice plate, cradling the cat tenderly in her arms:

"I’ll take you back now, don’t worry, you will change back."

In the witch’s embrace, nearing sleep due to the "Divinity Overflow" state, Shard nodded gently and then squirmed, realizing that she was still drenched and not in good shape:

"How are you now? Earlier, you should have returned to the shore beforehand."

"Then how would you control the out-of-control Transformation Spell in the sea?"

She pulled her bracelet from the cat’s body, and although Shard couldn’t change back yet, the crisis of uncontrolled flesh transformation had subsided.

"And in your current state, even without my help to control the Transformation Spell, do you have the strength to go back? Swim back in cat form, or soak in the seawater for a night?"

She asked with pursed lips, though inappropriate, the thought of the silver cat swimming still made her want to laugh.

The end of the "Divinity Overflow" state wouldn’t typically cause excessive depletion of the Spirit, as it didn’t consume the Spirit. This exception was due to the need to maintain the "Dragon" form when unable to change back, and all that consumption came from Shard:

"You’re right. Without you, this would have been disastrous."

Silently, the silver cat spoke and then suddenly trembled in her arms. Miss Belindel thought he wanted to jump out of her embrace, but instead saw a small pink bottle "fly" out from the silver cat’s short fur—the flesh transfiguration had made new progress:

"Feed this to me, just a little. I’m a bit drowsy, sorry, I..."

"Don’t speak, we’re going back now."

With one arm hugging the cat, she took the peculiar perfume vial from her pocket with the other. Even without opening the cap, she could smell the pleasant scent of pink essence from inside. Seeing no response from the cat, she looked down again, only to find the silver cat already asleep in her arms.

Looking at Shard Cat’s sleeping face, the witch couldn’t help but smile, still feeling this night was surreal, like a dream. Tucking the bottle into her pocket for now, she planned to give it to him after they set off. Holding the cat, she stood up, gazing towards the barely visible distant coastline, only to be startled by a sudden sound from behind:

"The Church has blocked the port, and even if your Divination is impressive, you might get discovered going back this way."

"Who’s speaking?!"

Startled, the witch turned around to see a blue-eyed, black-haired girl appearing out of nowhere on the ice plate, just behind her. In the Moonlight, with a silver anchor ornament on her tilted hat and a graceful figure in a white long dress, under the Moonlight even Countess Bella Belindel, the witch, felt almost outshone.

Such Charm was far from ordinary, and the witch recognized her; she was the girl who had met Shard at the ship museum before her and spoke with Shard first.

"Angie Illustrious, may Moonlight bless you and me, Miss Belindel. Of course, you may also call me ’Miss Radiance’."

Her blue eyes glimmered in the Darkness, but without hostility, she gestured for the witch to look behind:

"Board my ship, and I’ll take you back."

The witch followed her gaze to the sea, and somehow, a luxurious cruise ship, even by this era’s standards absurdly large, had appeared not far from the ice plate, yet she hadn’t noticed it until now.

She quickly moved away from Miss Eles, holding the cat, unable to trust this strange girl under such circumstances.

Understanding the witch’s hesitation, the blue-eyed girl looked kindly at the cat in her embrace:

"He’s really worn out, take him back to rest. When he wakes, don’t tell him I appeared here for the time being, or, by his request, I would have to share some secrets of Moon Bay with him."

"Why are you helping us?"

The Great Witch of Fate cared little for what she had said.

"I am his friend... After returning, gather information on the Dragon Feast Cult’s ritual to summon the Evil of the Deep Sea - ’Seven-Tail Performer’, he needs this."

The floating ice slowly approached the cruise ship, Miss Eles slightly raised her hand, and the ice lifted off the surface, carrying them towards the deck. Bella Belindel, who had initially thought of jumping into the sea to escape, sensed the dense traces of the Miracle Element and ultimately chose not to flee with the cat.

"I will tell him you were here."

The Witch said with a cold face.

"You can certainly do that."

The blue-eyed girl walked from the floating ice to the deck, and as her black high heels touched the deck, the cruise ship set off for the distant coastline.

"Who exactly are you?"

Miss Belindel also stepped off the floating ice. Moon Bay was her city, yet she had never heard of the girl in front of her in Moon Bay. Although unaware of the girl’s strength, she was certainly not a weakling.

Standing at the very front of the bow of the ship, the blue-eyed and black-haired girl stood with her hands behind her back, gazing up at the sky’s Silvermoon without answering the question. The cruise ship silently cut through the silk-like black sea surface. If the Great Witch of Destiny were not so vigilant and preoccupied, she might have noticed that the figurehead of the cruise ship was unmistakably in the likeness of Angie Illustrious herself.

(Mia is running...)

Shard initially obtained his first drop of divinity at the Blood Feast in Tobesk’s Lakeside Manor and used the power of Divinity Overflow, merely kicking once and then being unconscious for an entire day. As he himself grew stronger, he gradually adapted to using the power of divinity, and the aftereffects of Divinity Overflow began to lessen.

This time, he did not immediately fall unconscious for an entire day. When he woke up, the surroundings were quite bright, and he was still lying in a lady’s arms. As for how he deduced it was a lady... that was naturally a feeling. Memories before the coma surfaced, and indeed, he was still in the form of a cat. But at least the surroundings were dry, and he could no longer hear the sound of waves and wind.

Feeling the cat in her arms squirming, the sitting Countess immediately looked down and then exhaled slightly:

"You’re finally awake."

The gas lamps were very bright. The Witch sat on the sofa, and having changed clothes and cleaned up, she watched as the cat in her arms squirmed and got up, its eyes cautiously scanning its surroundings. Although she had seen this man cautious more than once, the expression he wore now as a cat was not cool but rather amusing.

"What time is it now?"

"It’s been an hour since we returned; now it’s ten at night. Do you want to eat something? Hmm... can you eat human food in this form?"

Shard decided not to answer this question. He leaped from the Witch’s arms onto the coffee table, discovering that they were indeed back at Belindel Estate. Snow was still falling outside the window, making the warm and cozy indoors even more inviting. Miss Matilda was also in the study. When the cat looked at her, she met its gaze for two seconds before voluntarily looking away.

Miss Belindel knew Shard needed to sort out the current situation and did not immediately disturb him. Shard the cat was indeed questioning in his heart:

"What’s going on now? I used to devour divinity and didn’t turn into a Vampire Kind, Merman, or a stone person."

[Outlander, the piece of flesh attached to the Nameless Dragon’s divinity has altered your life form.]

[Your sorcery: Transformation Spell - Cat, ascended to Arcane Technique: Transformation Spell - Cat, corresponding to the ’Flesh’ Spirit Rune. During transformation, personal belongings can transform with you, but once removed, they cannot be carried again in cat form.]

[You have learned the Arcane Technique: Transformation Spell - Dragon, corresponding to the ’Flesh’ Spirit Rune.]

[Because you consumed ’Nameless Dragon’s Flesh’, your body strength and power have significantly increased.]

The silver cat flicked its tail. Even Miss Belindel could see his current frustration. Then Shard noticed the pink essence bottle placed at the edge of the coffee table, next to it, an empty milk bottle.

"Hmm, a bottle?"

[Forty-three minutes ago, Bella Belindel had her Head Maid fetch a bottle, diluted two drops of essence, and fed it to you with the bottle while holding you. Do you need a more detailed description?]

The voice was gentle, yet evidently "her" amused tone carried additional emotions.

"Don’t worry, it’s safe now. If there’s no immediate way to return to human form, you can stay here tonight. It’s chaotic outside, think of a solution after dawn."

The Witch reached out to stroke the soft back of the silver cat, and Shard the cat instinctively dodged immediately. Then, the cat on the coffee table turned to look at her, only to see her looking back. After several seconds of eye contact, Shard was the first to look away:

"I know someone who can solve my problem, I’m leaving now. If I’m lucky, I’ll be back in human form by morning."

With that, he shook his body vigorously, clink~ a crystal shoe was tossed out from the cat’s short fur.

The crystal shoe landed on the coffee table, its surface reflecting rainbow colors under the bright gas lamp in the study. Because during the Dice Story Collection, she knew the man had the ’Loved Crystal Shoes,’ the Countess pursed her lips, but she did not ask what it was:

"Are you leaving?"

For some reason, the tone became somewhat cold, and the golden eyes watching Shard the cat seemed to hold a hint of grievance... Shard hoped that in his cat form, he didn’t misinterpret others’ emotions.