Chapter 19: The Slaps And The Hellspawn.

Alex was lying on his side in his bed, listening to music and reading manga that Elara recreated from his memory. It was different than what Elara was reading. As for Elara, she was lying in her own bed, still reading the same manga. Alex's back was turned to Elara, while Elara was lying on her back.

The silence, previously only interrupted by flipping pages and outside noise, was broken by Alex, "…You're not doing anything, right?"

"Only reading." Elara responded, not bothering to look up from her manga.

"Really?" Alex asked.

"You can turn around and see for yourself if you don't believe me." Elara responded.

"I'm good." Alex replied.

"Then don't ask if you're not going to believe me." Elara said.

They both went quiet. The only noise in the room was noise from the outside. Horseshoes clopping against the hard pavement in the stable when the horses move, some people talking while standing next to the horses, birds chirping.

Suddenly, Elara sung in a quiet, melodic voice, "♪ You're counting all your sheep in disguise. ♪"

Alex's head turned almost immediately, nearly snapping his neck from the turn. Alex, however, didn't feel anything.

"What was that?" He asked, his face getting red the next instant as he recognized the song Elara sung.

Elara shot Alex a glare and said, "What? Got a problem? It's a catchy song, I don't care where it's from."

"That's true, I guess…" Alex responded.

"You should watch out. You almost snapped your neck." Elara said in a very casual tone despite what she said, and went back to reading her manga.

Alex felt scared and placed both his hands on his neck, looking for any damage, "What? How did I not feel anything?" He asked, looking at Elara with a fearful expression.

"You didn't feel anything because I made us unable to feel pain." Elara answered, not looking up at all.

Alex's hands stopped in their tracks as he heard Elara's words, "Huh?" He said, more confused than scared.

"You know, you sure are easily confused for a smart guy." Elara finally looked up at Alex. She sighed, "Instead of nerve endings sending signals to our brains, I made them more into a warning system. For example, when you turned your head so much, did you feel or maybe hear something?"

"Maybe? I don't know." Alex said.

"If we were to, for example, slap each other, instead of feeling pain, we would either hear a warning if the damage was serious, or feel a sense of pain without feeling actual pain if it's not that serious." Elara explained.

"For real?" Alex asked.

"For real. Wanna test it?" Elara suggested, putting her manga down and standing up.

"S-sure?" Alex agreed, unsure of if he actually should. He stood up and stood in front of Elara.

"Now, watch this." Elara said, extended her arm and immediately swung as hard as she could. Her open palm connected with Alex's cheek before he could even react. Alex's head turned as much to the right as it could, and he instinctively placed his hand on his cheek, expecting pain. But to Alex's surprise, he didn't feel any pain. Instead, just as Elara said, he both heard a quiet warning sound inside his mind, and felt a sense of pain.

Alex let out a sigh of relief, as he was fully expecting to feel pain earlier,"I-it works." He said.

"Of course it works, I made it, after all." Elara said proudly, "Now your turn, I wanna hear the warning myself, so you have to do it hard." She requested, preparing herself.

"Eh?" Alex asked, confused, before understanding what Elara meant a moment later, "Oh! Nah, I'm good." He replied.

"Don't be such a scaredy-cat. I won't feel it, anyway." Elara encouraged.

"You sure you want me to do it?" Alex asked, trying to get as much confirmation as possible.

"Yeah, so do it."

"Don't blame me if you get hurt." Alex said before extending his arm and swinging. Just as Elara's palm made contact with his cheek, so did his palm with her cheek. Elara didn't flinch or try to move away. Instead, she just took it and smiled after Alex slapped her, happy to hear a faint warning signal going off inside her mind, showing her where exactly she got hit.

"It works just as I intended." She said with a proud smile on her face. She then lied down on her bed, picked up the manga and went back to reading.

Alex sat down in his own bed, feeling bored out of his mind, "Don't you wanna do something?" He asked.

"Why do you have to be doing something all the time?" Elara asked back.

"I mean, look at all this! This is a world with magic, kings, queens, demihuman beings, a medieval scenery, and probably more! And we got reincarnated here! We have to do something and not waste time just sitting around!" Alex said as dramatically as he could, all on one breath, which he was almost out of by the end.

"I'm reading." Elara responded calmly.

"And stop reading smut when I'm talking to you!" Alex said before launching himself in Elara's direction and forcefully taking the manga from her hands.

"Hey! Give it back!" Elara said, trying to reach it but to no avail.

"You're barely a day old and you're already addicted!"

Elara sighed and stopped trying, her arms falling to her sides, "Sorry, reading while you were talking to me was kinda disrespectful and rude of me, I guess." She apologized, her head hanging low. Alex, seeing his friend appear to be genuinely remorseful, sighed and threw the manga on her bed.

She looked back up at him and said, "But just so you know, after reading through your memories, I'm the same mental age as you, so I'm not only a day old."

"You're not even denying being addicted. Got anything to say about that?" Alex asked.

"I'm not addicted to those one-off elements, just to the story as a whole." Elara answered.

"Whatever you say. Don't you wanna go somewhere, do something?" He asked, already putting on his boots.

"Alright, I guess." She responded, grabbing her own boots and putting them on. She also picked up the room key from the table.

"So, where to?" Elara asked, both of them ready to go.

"Just walk around?" Alex answered and walked out of their room, Elara following right behind him.

Elara closed and locked the door behind them, and hid the keys in her pocket.

A normal door would be easily destroyed by anyone with even the smallest amount of Xen. That's why the inn utilizes magic akin to magic used in 'Identification Crests'. The keys and the lock have traces of Xen inside them with matching vibrational frequencies. The doors are also reinforced with Xen and a barrier, which makes it almost indestructible. This ensures that the room cannot be broken into by anyone.

The duo strolled down the streets of the capital. They blended in almost perfectly, save for Elara's pure silver, relatively short hair, which got them some looks.

"You know, Alex, you sure were not that hesitant to hit me. What's up with that?" Elara asked.

"Neither were you." Alex responded.

They continued walking through the streets, passing several shops and some restaurants. They could hear some children laughing as they passed near the south wall. Carriages driving all around them. Some smaller, some bigger.

They were walking through one of the less busy streets, when Elara noticed a small bug that looked like a combination of a tarantula and a scorpion. Right after Elara did, Alex also noticed it.

"What the hell is this spawn from hell?" Alex asked, carefully watching the not moving bug's movements.

"That is a Chelicerant. They're actually not that harmful unless they feel threatened by you, then they're going to remember you and follow you, and when you're distracted they'll inject their very potent venom into your artery with their fangs and into your vein with the stinger at the tip of their tail. As most other creatures here, they have some amount of Xen within their bodies, which they also inject with their venom. The Xen will make you almost completely unable to use magic, and it'll also prevent most healing magic from working on you. You own body's regeneration will also not be quick enough to regenerate the area where the venom is." Elara explained.

"Then kill it!" Alex screamed, his hand already on the hilt of his sword.

Elara looked down at the Chelicerant and lifted her foot off the ground. With a bit of Xen manipulation, she created a sharp nail-like object on the sole of her boot. The Chelicerant have a simple barrier of Xen covering their body, which resists blunt attacks, and only something sharp and infused with Xen is able to get through.

Elara's foot flew down upon the Chelicerant with precision, the sharp point piercing through the barrier and it's brain with ease, killing it. The nail was getting dissolved once it hit the ground so that it wouldn't injure Elara's foot

"Kinda wish it was me." Alex muttered quietly, but unfortunately for him, the street was empty and quiet, which meant Elara heard him.

She looked at Alex, an awkward silence between the two before Elara asked, "What?"

"Nothing. Don't worry about it." Alex replied, "So, where to now?" He quickly asked, already walking away from Elara.