[Warning: This chapter contains gore. You have been warned. Please don't eat anything while reading this chapter.]

  With the newfound peace, Izzy finally allowed herself the chance to test and familiarize herself further with her powers. Exploring their potential would not only help her grow stronger but also provide ways to protect themselves from harm in future encounters.

  So right now, she began to tap into their Possession ability, which she had not been able to check earlier–

  ‘Uh?’

  ‘Isa?!’

  To Izzy’s shock, their Possession had undergone a drastic transformation. Isa had managed to do the impossible: she was now controlling Benjamin’s corpse.

  ‘I… Isa can move now!’

  In the attic, the old man’s body slowly stood up by his own limbs. His stiff and awkward posture slouched like a marionette barely strung together. With a staggering effort, the corpse used the chair for balance. Using its own bloodied arms for leverage, the corpse pushed itself to a standing position.

  As he straightened, a chunk of brain matter slipped down from his fractured skull, landing wetly on his shoulder. Blood seeped through the tatters of his coat, dripping into the lining of his inner clothes.

  ‘That’s quite…’

  ‘…Right.’

  Was this a horror movie? Watching Benjamin’s body upright, despite the irreparable damage to his skull and brain, was enough to send shivers through both of their consciousnesses. It seemed like something straight out of a horror movie from Izzy’s past life.

  The corpse looked deeply unsettling. Where the left side of his head had collapsed, it revealed fragmented bits of skull alongside dangling flesh and exposed brain matter.

  Even his left eyeball, unsupported by the destroyed tissue around it, began to slide grotesquely down the side of his ruined face, hanging from the optic nerve before plopping to the floor.

  Despite the horror, Izzy’s curiosity kicked in, and she shifted her focus to align with Isa’s perspective.

  Unlike living possessions, they couldn’t see through the corpse’s eyes. Controlling a living body had always allowed them to connect to the host’s own sensory systems: their eyes, their hearing, and their physical perception.

  Instead, with a corpse, they had to rely entirely on their own Field Vision. Without functioning sensory organs, their sight, sound, and touch were entirely cut off.

  This meant they couldn’t sense anything outside the range of her Field Vision. Without real eyes, the world outside that range was nothing but blackness, making possession of a corpse far more limited in perception when compared to a living host. This was a minus point when possessing a dead being.

  Additionally, reanimating Benjamin’s corpse didn’t mean raising him back to life. His blood no longer flowed, his heart was still, and his brain was beyond repair. Even if they could force his blood flow and his heart to resume, Benjamin’s destroyed brain would make that effort futile. He would die instantly again.

  Though, the upgrade of their Possession did grant some advantages. While their Field Vision and their Psychokinesis were initially limited to a 5-meter radius around the possessed objects or corpses, it now covered a solid 15 meters, giving her more control and awareness in its vicinity.

  However, this extension also came with an energy cost, and any attempt to use their long-distance Psychokinesis, at a maximum of 15 meters, would drain her further.

  At the moment, the energy expenditure from possessing Benjamin was only a noticeable dip. As long as they didn’t push too hard, they could manage.

  ‘Can you make him talk, old man Isajamin?’

  ‘...That’s not funny. Let me try.’

  “Grrr…graaw…”

  ‘As expected.’

  Benjamin's brain was already destroyed, and his vocal cord was a mess; it wasn't capable of forming coherent words.

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  Still, Izzy filed this detail away for later consideration. She could tell that if the vocal cords were intact, they could expend energy to simulate speech.

  There was a trade-off. Controlling the dead consumed energy in every action, since their natural functions had long since ceased.

  By contrast, when they possessed the living, they could tap into their brain, their mind, and their heart to move naturally without spending energy.

  This was a drawback when controlling the death, she supposed so. This effectively crushed the idea of commanding a horde of dead beings; her dream of being a general of the undead vanished in an instant.

  Izzy thought for a moment. Is this really one of their usages of the Possession ability? By the look of it, it looked like Control Corpse rather than Possession. Maybe she should split these two apart to make it easy to remember.

  In this state, she presumed they could control at maximum 5 corpses. However, right now, controlling even 3 corpses simultaneously would demand an extreme multitasking ability, effectively leaving them drained.

  The heavy energy costs and the mental strain of micromanaging multiple dead beings made such a feat an impractical fantasy.

  ‘It’s… very multitasking-demanding.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What about using Benjamin to move the painting?’

  As soon as the idea landed, Isa grabbed a cloth nearby and used it to wrap Benjamin’s head securely. The goal was to stabilize the mess that was his shattered skull and prevent bits of brains or dangling flesh from causing more chaos.

  After ensuring old Benjamin looked somewhat less grotesque, Isa walked him over to the painting. Carefully, the corpse raised its stiff arms and gripped the golden-framed portrait.

  ‘It’s heavy.’

  It was heavier than Isa thought. While the canvas itself was light, the golden frame hefted most of the load, making the task more demanding.

  Moving the painting not only consumed more energy for the actual motion, but they also had to expend extra energy to enhance their haptic senses within the corpse. Without it, she couldn’t accurately feel the portrait’s weight or balance, and a mistake could send the painting crashing to the floor.

  After much effort, she managed to haul the painting to the attic window. Benjamin’s pale fingers fumbled with the latch, pushing it open. The chilly night air poured into the attic, carrying the faint tang of earth and leaves.

  For the first time, Isidora gazed outward directly from her frame. In the darkness beyond, the full expanse of the world beyond the attic unfolded.

  Even when it was still nighttime, the sight was still breathtaking. Moonlight fractured across the forest canopy, silver strands weaving through the black spires of trees. Seeing the outside so clearly for the first time in forever gave Izzy a pang of longing.

  Yet for all its beauty, their vision ended abruptly at the 150-meter limit of her Field Vision, beyond which only darkness pressed against her awareness.

  This was also one of their limitations. Without actual, functioning eyes, all they could sense outside the attic was what fell within their Field Vision’s 150-meter range. Everything beyond that boundary was a blind spot.

  ‘So that’s it.’

  The realization frustrated them. Isidora had spent so much time being restricted to the attic that it hadn’t fully hit them until now just how much they relied on their Field Vision.

  Their lack of traditional eyesight, in combination with their fixed range, was a glaring vulnerability they hadn’t had the luxury to think about before.

  On the bright side, however, it seemed their Field Vision wasn’t dependent on light at all. They could see clearly even in complete darkness, distinguishing all things in fine detail, their colors, and their shapes just as vividly as if it were daytime.

  How was that possible? It made no sense. But Izzy, ever pragmatic, decided not to dwell on it. It wasn’t a bad thing, after all, so why waste time questioning it?

  After a moment of savoring the night view, Isa decided it was time to move on. Using Benjamin’s corpse, she returned the painting to its original position.

  And the real tidying work began. Benjamin’s awkward motions weren’t graceful, but they were efficient enough to get the job done. The corpse bent to gather scraps of brain and flesh that had littered the attic floor and tossed them one by one out the open window.

  ‘Ew,’

  The sight of the grotesque bits of meat jiggling and vibrating in Benjamin’s hand would’ve been enough to unsettle anyone. Thankfully, Isa had cut off the corpse’s haptic perception to spare herself the sensation.

  Even so, the scene wasn’t any less revolting to watch.

  Satisfied with the clean-up, Isa used Benjamin’s corpse to fetch a water bucket and cleaning supplies from downstairs. While doing so, she even had the corpse take a quick bath in one of the mansion’s rooms.

  Meanwhile, Izzy herself lay lazily within their shared mindscape, sprawled across a velvet theatre seat, one leg crossed over the other, clearly unconcerned about the menial labor Isa was enduring.

  ‘Hey! At least help a little!’ Straining to wring out a rag with Benjamin’s hands, Isa shouted to her mature self.

  ‘You are me; stop complaining. I have stuff to think about,’ Izzy shot back nonchalantly, ‘Or you could do the thinking for me.’ she scoffed, before retracting her mind from Benjamin’s perspective.

  “Grrrghhh.”

  ‘Stop using that guy to express your annoyance; that’s a waste of energy!’

  ‘Then help me!’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Hmph! Who’s the babysitter now?’

  ‘...’

  ‘This girl…’ Izzy was at a loss for words.