Is the Cheat Inception?

In the chaotic dream, Carl suddenly felt her mind clear.

She clearly realized that she was dreaming, yet she could control the dream and make it display whatever scenes she wished to see.

With a thought, golden wheat fields, flaming red maple woods, a fragrant barbecue grill, and Hopp wearing nothing but a tube top and low-rise shorts appeared around her.

"Huh?"

Carl was startled when she saw Hopp.

But the Hopp before her merely maintained the half-kneeling pose from when they had first met. She neither moved nor showed any awareness, clearly nothing more than a fantasy Carl had created.

"Looks like that scene left quite an impression on me. But shouldn't the Mind Flayer Tadpole parasitizing me have been more memorable? The moment there was a gap in my thoughts, I thought of something like this. Is this adolescence affecting me?"

Gathering her thoughts, the scantily clad phantom of Hopp vanished from the dream.

As Carl gradually focused her attention, information began surfacing in her mind.

That Mind Flayer Tadpole suffered brain death? Because it couldn't process the information in my head? I'm absorbing its psionic power now, and its body has become an implanted organ assisting my brain? Is that where this dream came from?

Through psionic power, Carl swiftly figured out her current condition.

She was certain this was not an environment fabricated by the Mind Flayer Tadpole, because she really was slowly gaining control of the psionic power, even if there was not much of it in total.

Feeling this power, so different from magic, Carl calmed herself and tried to uncover more of its uses.

Gradually, Carl sensed her psionic power interacting with her spirituality. Then, an illusory status panel suddenly appeared in the dream.

Name: Karl Ares

Age: 14

Race: Human (?)

Class: Artificer Level 2

Attributes

Strength: 11

Dexterity: 11

Constitution: 12

Intelligence: 14

Wisdom: 12

Charisma: 13

Feats: Artificer Apprentice, Ritual Caster, Telekinesis, Telepathy

Spells

Cantrip: Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Lightning Bolt

1st Level: Identify (Ritual), Feather Fall, Longstrider Spell

Looking at the status panel displaying her information, Carl focused mainly on the two feats, Telekinesis and Telepathy.

According to the textbooks of the Magic Academy Carl attended, feats were things born from the fusion and sublimation of spirituality and skill.

As a spellcaster, Carl could use her own mental power to understand which feats she had acquired.

Before this, she had possessed only the Artificer Apprentice and Ritual Caster feats.

"Did I gain these two feats because I completely obtained the Mind Flayer Tadpole's body and psionic power?"

Just as she was about to study the matter carefully, Carl suddenly remembered that she and Hopp were still running for their lives. This was not the time to delay over her curiosity.

With a thought, Carl's dream dissipated, and she woke from her unconsciousness.

Before even opening her eyes, she sensed Hopp's concern.

Looks like my Telepathy can currently only sense other people's emotions. I still can't accurately read or transmit thoughts.

Thinking this, Carl opened her eyes.

"Phew... thank goodness, you're finally awake."

Seeing Carl awaken, Hopp, who had been sitting on the ground with Carl in her arms, let out a long breath.

"How long was I unconscious?"

As she asked, Carl rose from Hopp's embrace.

Although resting on Hopp's thighs had been quite comfortable, Carl knew this was not the time to indulge in it.

"Maybe five or six minutes? Or... ten minutes? Sorry, I'm not very precise when it comes to judging the passage of time."

Tucking her hair behind her ear, Hopp thought for a moment before giving a less-than-precise answer.

But Carl had not expected an exact figure. She had only asked to hide her awkwardness over not being used to close contact with girls.

"All right. Then we need to pick up the pace. These stone pillars are covered in Mind Flayer Script. I touched them earlier, triggered the psionic power, and passed out."

"With the help of psionic power, these stone pillars place psychological suggestions on intelligent creatures who see them, preventing them from noticing anything unusual."

After vaguely explaining why she had passed out, Carl picked up one of Hopp's Hand Axes and swung it at the stone pillar she had touched earlier.

With a clang, Carl's blow destroyed most of the Illithid Script on the pillar. At the center of the formerly empty room, a Trapdoor made of Wire Mesh appeared.

This was where the airflow had been heading.

"Quick! There should be a passage leading outside down there. We..."

Excitedly arriving beside the Trapdoor, Carl had barely lifted it when a powerful suction force suddenly dragged her toward the space below.

Caught off guard, she fell straight in.

Seeing that something was wrong, Hopp leaped forward, trying to grab Carl and pull her away.

But the suction rapidly intensified, and the raging airflow surged into the passage below.

The wind pressure pushed her ever closer to the passage. Hopp went from standing to lying prone, yet she still could not prevent the two of them from being sucked down by whatever the hell was below.

"Forget about me! Escape if you can!"

Seeing that they were both about to be sucked underground, Carl tried to make Hopp abandon her.

But Hopp's mind responded before her mouth did.

I'm not the kind of person who forgets a favor!

The intense thought was caught by Carl's psionic Telepathy. At that moment, Hopp also overexerted herself in a burst of strength, trying to pull Carl back up from the other side of the Trapdoor.

But just then, an unprecedented violent shaking came from the surface.

Countless chunks of rubble fell from above, and one fist-sized stone landed squarely on Hopp's head.

Her eyes rolled back, and she immediately lost consciousness.

Before Carl could learn what had happened above, she and Hopp fell together into deeper darkness.

As she fell, Carl tried to find a pinch of fluff among her bag of classic fashionable little junk and cast Feather Fall again. But before she could do anything, she suddenly felt herself and Hopp pass through some sort of "boundary."

At the same time, the pitch-black cave was illuminated by blue-violet light.

Carl struggled to turn her head and look back. A slowly rotating Energy Vortex sat at the bottom of the pit, endlessly sucking in air.

Carl recognized it.

The adventurer's handbook compiled by the Magic Academy had mentioned it more than once. Even children of eight or nine knew it well.

It was a Portal leading to the Dungeon Demiplane, and beyond it lay the domain of the Underworld Dragon Kaibor.

Why was there a Dungeon Portal here of all places?!

As the thought arose, Carl and Hopp fell into the Portal.

The rocky cave above collapsed amid the violent tremors, completely burying this Portal passage.