Reborn as a Succubus: Time To Live My Best Life!-Chapter 310: The Artifact, Part Six

Melisa spread her collection of random items across her bed, examining each one with the intensity of a general planning a decisive battle.

"Okay, so here's what I've got: leather gloves, silk gloves, wool gloves, cotton gloves—"

"Why do you have so many gloves?" Raven asked from her desk, where she was methodically sharpening one of her daggers.

"I don't. I borrowed them from literally everyone I know." Melisa held up a particularly fancy pair with embroidered lace. "These are Isabella's. She said, and I quote, 'I usually only wear these when I want to feel fancy while I'm stroking my dick.'"

Raven's expression didn't change, but she set down her whetstone just a bit more firmly than necessary.

"That's more information than I asked for."

"Yeah, that's kind of the whole problem, isn't it?" Melisa sighed, flopping back on her bed. "Too much information flooding into my brain every time I accidentally brush against someone."

After their late-night trip to retrieve the artifact, Javir had, of course, retreated to her private study at the academy, promising to research the disc thoroughly. In the meantime, Melisa was left to her own devices, which meant trying to figure out how to exist in a world where skin contact resulted in getting a detailed replay of their latest plowing session.

"Perhaps you should stay in the room until Professor Folden figures it out?" Raven asked, picking up her dagger again. "Less risk?"

"I can't just hide in here forever," Melisa protested. "I have classes. And food. And, you know, a life." Melisa sat up, grabbing a pair of thick leather gloves. "These should work, right? I mean, the memories seem to transfer through skin contact, so if there's a barrier..."

"Logical assumption," Raven agreed.

"Let's test it right now," Melisa said, pulling on the thick leather gloves with determination. "Ready to be my guinea pig?"

Raven set down her whetstone, her expression unchanged.

"I'm not sure what a 'guinea pig' is, but if it means you'll stop pacing around the room, fine."

"Great! Operation No-Touchy begins now." Melisa approached Raven with the caution of someone handling volatile alchemical compounds. She extended one gloved hand. "Here goes nothing."

She poked Raven's bare arm with one leather-clad finger.

The world tilted immediately.

Melisa was suddenly seeing through Raven's eyes as she sat alone in the academy library, reading a thick tome on combat spellcraft. The memory was oddly muted. No inner thoughts, no emotional overtones, just Raven turning pages in silence.

The vision ended as quickly as it had begun. Melisa blinked, finding herself back in their dorm room with her finger still touching Raven's arm.

"Shit," she muttered, pulling her hand back. "That didn't work at all."

"What did you see?" Raven asked, her voice carefully neutral.

"You. Reading in the library." Melisa yanked off the leather gloves with a frustrated sigh. "Super exciting stuff."

"So the leather is ineffective," Raven observed clinically.

"Let's try the silk ones." Melisa grabbed the delicate gloves Isabella had lent her, slipping them on with exaggerated care. "These are thinner, but maybe it's about the material, not the thickness."

She tapped Raven's shoulder.

The world tilted again.

This time, she was watching through Raven's eyes as she jogged around the academy grounds at dawn, her breathing steady, her gaze methodically scanning the perimeter as she ran. Again, no thoughts. She was just jogging.

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"Nope," Melisa said when the vision cleared. "Silk's a bust too."

She cycled through every barrier she'd collected. Wool gloves (Raven sitting on a bench), cotton gloves (Raven polishing a blade), even the silk scarf wrapped around her hand (Raven staring out a window).

"This is hopeless," Melisa groaned, flopping back onto her bed as she unwound the scarf. "Nothing works!"

"You could try multiple layers," Raven suggested.

"Worth a shot."

Melisa layered the leather gloves over the silk ones, then wrapped the scarf around both for good measure. The result was a comically bulky appendage that barely resembled a hand.

"I look like I'm wearing a small animal," she complained, but dutifully poked Raven again.

The world tilted.

Raven walking down a corridor, alone.

"SERIOUSLY?" Melisa yanked off the entire handwear contraption in disgust. "Nothing stops it! Not leather, not silk, not... whatever the hell that monstrosity was!"

"Perhaps direct contact isn't the mechanism after all," Raven suggested. "The effect might work through some other means. Magical resonance, perhaps."

"Great," Melisa muttered. "So unless Javir figures something out, I'm stuck experiencing everyone's private memories whenever I accidentally brush against them." She draped her arm dramatically over her eyes. "This is a nightmare."

"Was it that bad?" Raven asked.

Melisa peeked out from under her arm.

"Do you really want the list? Isabella and her creative wand usage? Jaylin's extremely disturbing fantasy about Margaret? The random memories I got from people in the hallway on the way back from Javir's?"

"I did not need that information, no."

"Neither did I!" Melisa sat up, throwing her hands in the air. "And that's not even the worst part. The worst part is that I can't stop thinking about what memories I'm leaving in other people's heads when they touch me."

Raven's expression turned thoughtful.

"Ah... You're concerned about privacy."

"Well, yeah!" Melisa gestured wildly. "Jaylin now knows... intimate details about me and Armia. Who knows what everyone else might see? My life isn't exactly... tame."

"True," Raven conceded. "You do engage in sexual activities with unusual frequency and variety."

"Thanks for the reminder," Melisa muttered. Then she sighed. "The weirdest thing, though? Every time I touch you, I just see... normal stuff. You reading. You sitting. You walking."

Raven stiffened almost imperceptibly.

"What were you expecting?"

"I don't know. Secret assassin training? Hidden blade collections? At least some emotion?"

"You know I don't waste time on frivolous activities," Raven said flatly. "Though... I do enjoy sex with the Summers. Should I do that more?" She asked, completely serious.

Melisa stared at Raven wryly.

[Raven... I really need to get you a hobby or something.]

Aloud, she sighed and said:

"Well, at least touching you isn't traumatizing. That's more than I can say for most people."

"High praise indeed," Raven deadpanned.

Melisa flopped back onto her bed again.

"I just hope Javir figures this out soon. I cannot live like this."

Raven was quiet for a moment, her head tilted slightly in that way she had when she was considering a problem.

"Have you considered," she said finally, "that the disc might have a specific purpose?"

Melisa propped herself up on her elbows.

"What do you mean?"

"Magical artifacts, especially ancient ones, I would imagine were created for a reason," Raven explained. "They're tools, not toys. If this disc facilitates memory sharing, perhaps it was designed for a particular use case."

"Like what?"

"Information gathering. Training. Possibly even punishment." Raven set aside her dagger. "The point is, if you can determine its intended purpose and fulfill it, it might deactivate on its own."

Melisa sat up fully, her interest piqued.

"Wait... That sounds reasonable, actually. So like... it might have a built-in off switch that triggers when it's completed its job?"

"Essentially, yes."

Melisa chewed her lower lip, considering.

"But we have no idea what that purpose might be. It could be anything."

"True," Raven acknowledged. "But it's a possibility worth exploring."

"Hmm." Melisa laid back down, staring up at the ceiling. "You know, we all felt nothing when we first touched the disc. Me, Jaylin, Javir... nothing happened immediately. But something must have happened, right? Some effect we couldn't feel or see."

"A delayed reaction?" Raven suggested.

"Or something more subtle," Melisa mused. "What if the disc wasn't just transferring memories between people who touched it, but actually... collecting them somehow? Storing them?"

"For what purpose?"

Melisa's mind was racing now, piecing together a theory.

"I don't know, but what if it was designed to preserve memories? Important ones, from important people. Like, like a magical archive that somehow got... activated or corrupted over time."

Raven considered this.

"Possible. But that still doesn't explain why the memory sharing triggers through touch instead of touching the disc."

"Unless you don't want the memories you share to be readily available, right?"

"Ah, so if you wish to share secrets?" Raven asked, nodding. "That makes sense to me. It would also explain why, out of all memories, the ones you saw when you touched others were their sexual memories."

"Those were their 'secrets'!" Melisa got excited. "Though... Then..."

[Why were Raven's memories so mundane?]

She didn't say that though, mainly because she wanted to believe she was on the right track.

"This is a good starting point."

She rolled onto her side, facing Raven.

"I'll tell Javir my theory tomorrow. Maybe it'll help with her research."