“Careful, there’s one more step,” Melvia warned as Finn slowly descended the flight of stairs, finally arriving at the bottom.

The atmosphere down here was really different from the first floor. It felt cool but not cold, but there was no musty smell like many other basements and rather held the smell of pools — chlorine. If Finn could see, he would be surprised at the room he found himself in. It was unlike any other room in the house.

As a matter of fact, it was hardly a room at all — no, it was a laboratory. Clean white walls enclosed the room, lit up by a long light panel on the ceiling. A control panel lay before two large cylindrical chambers of some sort, each with a standing chair inside.

“… What is this place?” Finn asked, sensing the difference in environment.

“This, is my office,” Melvia replied with a smile as she led Finn into the lab. “You see, the Shapeshifter Angelica is different from most others, since it transforms your actual body. If anything, it’s more like a single Ability than a whole Angelica. Due to the nature of its power, however, on the off-chance that it fails, your body could be damaged — which is why we’re here in this lab.”

“I see… but how exactly will this lab help?”

“This is how I learned to use the Angelica,” Melvia replied. “You mentioned yesterday that you fought Jim inside Project: Simulacrum, correct?”

Finn nodded slowly.

“Yeah, this is kind of like that,” Melvia continued. “I’m going to send your consciousness into a virtual dimension, then join you there. This way, we can practice using the Angelica without any worry.”

“If it’s just a matter of how much mana I output, there’s no reason to worry about that,” Finn said. “I’m confident in my ability to control my mana.”

Correction: he was confident in Zelestria’s ability to control his mana. But Melvia sighed.

“It’s not just that simple. For other Angelicas, perhaps, but the Shapeshifter Angelica requires due preparation and isn’t all about controlling your mana. There are other factors involved too — you’ll see in a second.”

Last night, when reading through the book, Iris had said the Shapeshifter Angelica had a rarity rating of Rare and a difficulty rating of Extremely High. Finn had originally thought this just meant his control over his mana had to be more precise than usual, but now he knew there was much more to it.

“Turn right and walk forward five steps, then turn left and continue until I tell you to stop,” Melvia instructed, moving to the control panels to power up the system. Finn did as told.

“Alright, now, turn left again.”

Finn turned left and entered the right cylindrical chamber.

“Good. Now, if you reach behind, you should be able to feel some leather. I want you to lean your back into the leather. Careful, you have to pick up your feet and stand on the two ledges provided.”

Stepping up just as instructed, Finn turned his body around and leaned back into the leather ‘chair’. Melvia pressed a button, and immediately, metal straps locked him in place. He was already used to this, since Project: Simulacrum the day before had done the exact same thing. That said, he still kept his guard up, just as natural instinct.

“Perfect, everything’s in position. Now, I want you to relax your mind and muscles, Finn. You’ll be surrounded by a white light, but don’t be alarmed. I’ll join you very soon.”

Finn took a deep breath and relaxed, giving in to the comfort of the chair. Immediately, just as Melvia had said, his black surroundings were replaced by a pure white light, and he found himself able to see his own hands along with the rest of his body. He could also move his body freely, as if the metal locks from just now weren’t there at all.

Above all this, however, Finn noticed one important detail: he could still feel his link with Zelestria.

“Alright! Now that we’re both here, we can begin experimenting,” a familiar voice suddenly declared from behind Finn, and he turned around to see Melvia’s warm smile.

“You look different with opened eyes,” she remarked, laughing teasingly. “But that aside — first things first, take this.”

Melvia tossed what seemed like a playing cube of some sort to Finn, who caught it in his hands. It was red, and the dimensions were approximately 10cm x 10cm x 10cm.

“This is a cube from the real world that I brought in here. It’s not just a simulated object, since Shapeshifting wouldn’t work like that. But that aside, I want you to examine this closely. Yes, I know you’re thinking: ‘it’s just a cube, what’s there to examine?’ But trust me, the more detailed you can be here, the easier it will be for you in the near future.”

Finn began twirling the cube around in his hands, observing each of the six sides with utmost care and dedication. There was quite literally nothing on it, but Finn poured all of his mental energy into this task nonetheless.

He even went to the point of calculating the RGB of the cube’s color and deducing its HEX code. If he could, there was no doubt he would’ve counted the exact number of bacteria and germs on the cube’s surface as well.

After several minutes — which already was quite impressive — Finn really couldn’t find any more details to observe on the object and looked up at Melvia.

“… Done.”

“You sure?” Melvia teased with a playful grin. “Absolutely certain you don’t want to observe it a bit more?”

But Finn never was one to be easily swayed. He nodded firmly.

“I’m sure.”

“Good. In that case, we can proceed to the next step. Close your eyes, Finn.”

Finn did as told, pretending as if he was blind again.

“Now, activate your Shapeshifter Angelica’s mana sequence.”

Zelestria didn’t help here, letting Finn experience it for himself which he was grateful for, since he couldn’t rely on her forever. A silver glow surrounded his body, along with a near-transparent projection of a question mark above his head.

“Good. You’re getting there — picture the cube from just now inside your head,” Melvia said slowly. “Imagine every tiny detail, visualize everything you noted down when observing it, no matter how trivial. The more details you can muster — correct ones, of course — the easier your first Shapeshift will be.”