While Cori was busy figuring out the configuration of the sofa, a diminutive figure, standing only seven inches tall, skulked across the room skillfully evading Cori's detection. Due to the last mishap, Sam had become hypervigilant and sensitive to her surroundings. Despite this, her discernment failed to identify the mysterious professional stalker. Dismissing her unease, she ventured into the kitchen for sustenance, only to catch a fleeting glimpse of a small form out of the corner of her eye.
"What the fuck..," Sam whispered under her breath in the white minimalistic kitchen. "Ewwww," said the eerie voice echoing beside her ear. She turned her head in the direction of the voice but nothing was there. Despite the goosebumps crawling up her arms, she pushed aside her unease and eventually decided that her hunger was more concerning than an imaginary ectoplasm.
As the stalker continued spying on her every move, it locked up all the food storage ensuring its contents remained inaccessible and left the chiller room's door ajar. "Why can't I get this open? Argh!" Sam complained at the absurd idea of a locked larder until she heard the creaking sound behind her. She turned around, bright eyes widened with disbelief at her good luck. "That Cori, a hidden chiller room with fresh meat! Don't blame me if I finish them all!" thought Sam to herself as she entered the room.
With bated breath, it waited until the naive girl unwittingly entered the room.
"Bang!" The door slammed shut and locked the naive halfling in the room, whilst the gleeful perpetrator danced happily, celebrating its successful attempt to trap the pest. "Got you!" it cheered and transformed back into its backpack form like an autobot.
"Oh my god! What a beautiful spread of delicacies!" Sam said, fully absorbed in the world of food, and picked up a fresh container of sliced sashimi completely oblivious to her situation.
Just as Cori finished his massage, he abruptly recalled leaving his backpack behind in the other dorm room. Faced with several questions on his mind, he wondered if he could just summon Kareem to bring his bag to him. Challenged by the possibility, he let loose his invasive thoughts, "Kareem, if you can hear me teleport my backpack to me!"
Kareem, who was already asleep felt a powerful surge of electrical energy jolting him up and suddenly felt compelled to look for Cori. Begrudgingly, he opened a portal to the Hall of Ogmios and arrived at Cori's doorstep. Cori who heard the doorbell ringing, felt a sinking emotion, fearing that he had inconvenient the grand wizard.
"You!" the dragon-kin fumed, pointing his indexed finger at the slightly golden slime. Cori was surprised at the efficiency of the master and servant bond, "Sorry Kareem, I just need a bit of help looking for my bag."
"You woke me up for a bag!" Kareem said angrily, his arms up in the air.
"Hostile force detected!" Alice said to itself and ran to the door, transforming back into the backpack behind Cori.
Kareem who was mad at his interrupted sleep looked down at Cori, "You must be joking! Are you toying with me? Do you think it is fun to hide your backpack thinking I wouldn't spot it behind you?"
"What!?" Cori exclaimed.
"There! There's your backpack! Anyway, I found it for you. I have to go back to sleep, I have a long lesson tomorrow," Kareem bitterly complained before leaping into the air and flying back, leaving a speechless Cori behind.
"Alice! Are you in there? How did you get here?" Cori asked.
"MASTER! Why did you abandon me, boohoo!" cried Alice.
"I'm so sorry, I was busy today. So how did you get here?" Cori asked a second time.
"Hmph! Don't tell you. You've been so mean ever since we reached here. You have changed!" it complained.
"What? No, I was about to fetch you and introduce you to a new friend," Cori said apologetically.
"Friend?" Alice said, her system puzzled with a pending guilt.
"Ya, a friend," Cori said and explained to Alice his eventful day. As Alice listened, she realised with horror that she had mistaken a friend for a foe. To cover up her mistake, she secretly unlocked the chiller room and the rest of the stocks. Thanks to Sam's lack of awareness, Alice narrowly escaped Cori's wrath.
"So Alice, are you a backpack now?" Cori questioned.
"No Master, I'm in here!" a black and sleek rectangular glass block peeked out of the bag, greeting its master.
"So you are a smartphone!" Cori marvelled.
"A smartphone? What's that?" Alice asked.
"It's a communication device which also connects to the internet, much like the system," Cori explained.
"Do you think I will be able to be like a smartphone and connect to the system one day?" Alice asked innocently.
"Well, I am not sure. Maybe," Cori answered.
"Cori! Where are you? Are you hungry?" shouted Sam, carrying a bunch of snacks. "Have you seen your kitchen?! It's amazing! Look at all this food! You don't even need to go to the hall, I can just cook for you!" Sam added.
Upon hearing Sam, Alice popped back into the backpack. "Sam, I want you to meet Alice. Alice this is Sam."
Sam: "Oh my deities! So I wasn't imagining it. Your backpack is haunted!"
Cori: "What? No, she's inside."
Sam: "Inside? Like a fae? Hiding in the backpack? This makes so much sense!"
Cori: "Erm, something like that..."
"You owe me one Alice!" Sam remarked, always ready to make full use of the situation to strike a deal.
Alice: "..."
"As long as I don't get scolded by Master... and she's my Master's friend too. So it should be fine," Alice thought to herself and transformed the backpack into a small humanoid machine. "Fine, just once," Alice conceded to Sam.
"Wow, this is so cool! I didn't know you could do that Alice!" Cori responded with amazement. Sam equally awestruck, nudged Cori, "Hey, can I get an Alice too?"