Chapter Three Hundred and Forty-Six — Fusion Mode
Chapter Three Hundred and Forty-Six — Fusion Mode After saying hello to everyone, sharing a whole heap of hugs, and then trading stories of what we’d all been doing over the past couple of weeks, we decided that we should find a way to get the Redemption onto the Beaver.That turned out to be a whole lot trickier to do than we initially thought.It was possible to do it. With a measuring tape and a few trips back and forth, we confirmed that the Redemption was thinner in the middle than the space between the Beaver’s two hulls. The Beaver was also more than long enough to overshadow the Redemption if it came to park in its middle.The problem was twofold. First, we had to secure the smaller ship, which wouldn’t be easy. The Beaver didn’t have anything in its middle designed to grab onto and hold on to a small boat.Second, the Redemption’s balloon would rub up against the Beaver’s in a way that would quickly wear a hole in the material. We couldn't deflate the Redemption's balloon, because the Beaver wasn't designed to carry the weight of an entire airboat, even if it was much lighter than the Beaver.In the end, Awen drew up quick plans to lengthen the Beaver's rigging, which would raise the balloons farther above the hull and essentially give us more headroom to fit in the Redemption. It would alter the Beaver's handling a bit, but she assured us it would be manageable. Additionally, she specified latch points that would be retrofitted to both vessels so they could lock together while dockedCurious sylph from the port noticed our plans, and by mid-afternoon we had a small crew of eager engineers and mechanics swarming over the two ships trying to get everything in place.I think Caprica showing up during a small break to see what we were up to really encouraged them too. Apparently she’d ridden aboard the Beaver on the way over (she took one of the spare bedrooms and her guards had plenty of space to stay on the other side of the ship, most of them came in a pair of smaller Sylph airforce ships anyway). Her riding on the ship made it a ‘princess’s’ ship in a way, which somehow translated to a bunch of honour for those working on improving the Beaver.I didn’t pretend to understand all of that, exactly, but I was glad for the help. I’d rarely seen Awen so excited to work on something before, and the idea was really cool.Unfortunately, I discovered that I was mostly in the way after a while.What they needed were mechanics and manual workers, not someone who was an expert hugger.So, instead of being in the way, I returned to the inn and had lunch with Caprica and Bastion, then I convinced Amaryllis to help me train my magic a little bit.“Huh,” Amaryllis said as I carefully touched her upper arm and turned a simple light spell she was trying to cast into a strange mix of light and cleaning mana that dispersed harmlessly next to me. “That... feels very strange.”I nodded along. I was practising my Way of the Mystic Bun on her, though only in small amounts and very carefully. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt a friend.“It feels rather intrusive. I can feel your mana pressing into my arm and fighting for control, then it subjugates my own.” She frowned, then went through the same motions with her hand. “Do it again.”“Okay!” I said. It cost a few points of mana to do the trick, but only a few. I could do it all day, really.Amaryllis had me repeat the move three more times. The last time, it failed outright. When I tried to push my own mana into her system through the contact I had on her arm, her magic... slipped by, then she cast her spell without any trouble.“I see,” she said. “So, it’s resistable. Easily, as well, you just need to actually try and know what to look for.”“How’d you manage that?” I asked.“Once I felt the intrusion, I shifted my mana around to avoid it. I’m pretty sure someone could brute force their way past your intrusion too. It’s likely not as strong as you think... except if your opponent doesn’t know what you’re doing.”“Oh.” I said. That made some sense. “It’s hard to grab a person’s mana, it’s kind of like... shoving your hand in a bowlful of spaghetti and trying to grab one strand in particular.”“That’s disgusting,” she said. “But yes, I imagine that some well-practised mages will learn to counter the intrusion in no time at all. It might add a hundredth of a second to their casting time, but that’ll be it. Someone who really knows what they’re doing might be able to steal your mana as well. Here, touch my talons again.”I grabbed her sorta-hand, then pushed mana in when she instructed me to. Amaryllis concentrated for nearly a full minute in silence, then I felt a strange tugging sensation in my arm, as if someone were slurping out the insides.“Oh, ew!” I said as I pulled my hand back.Amaryllis grinned. “So, that’s doable as well. Interesting.”“Did you just copy my skill?” I asked as I shook my hand.“No, no nothing of the sort. I don’t know how to do the intrusion that you can manage. But since your mana was in my system already, well, it wasn’t too hard to figure out how to steal it. And it seems as if I could keep pulling too. It's all Cleaning aspect though. Or... perhaps more accurately, it’s Broccoli-aspect magic, which is nearly indistinguishable.”“I guess that makes sense,” I said. “So should I continue to use it in a fight?”“Of course you should,” she huffed. “I didn’t know how to counter it without thinking about it for a couple of minutes. The average mage who’s never encountered that kind of ability won’t come up with a counter mid-battle. Even if they do, it’s a distraction, and the easier ways to counter the ability still require concentration.”“Cool!” I said. I mostly liked the ability because it made it harder for people to use offensive magic on me or my friends without harming them much. A fight would end a lot sooner if the person I was fighting ran out of mana early.“Have you been levelling well?” Amaryllis asked.I winced. “Ah, well, it’s been a few days since anything’s gone up in level,” I admitted.Amaryllis gave me a very flat look. “Broccoli, you’re aware that we’re all at very respectable levels for our age, right? It takes most people years to level most of their skills up.”“Yeah, but I was making such good progress before. Also, I still have a bunch of General Skill slots open.”“That’s normal, Broccoli,” Amaryllis said. “Unless you’ve been specifically training something new, you shouldn’t unlock a new General skill. Otherwise everyone would fill all of their free slots in a matter of hours just from...breathing and scratching themselves and hugging their family.”“But I got a hugging skill,” I pointed out.“Yes, exactly, because you’re bizarre and intentionally put a lot more effort and time into doing that kind of thing than normal people. I suggest you either practise a specific skill a lot more to gain it as a general skill, or that you just leave it be and allow yourself to gain skills as they come. They’ll usually be for things you’re doing already.”If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.I considered it, then shrugged. That seemed fair enough. I didn’t have many General Skill Points left to spend in any case. A couple of skills were nearing the spot where they were ready to level up, so that would be exciting!
Name
Broccoli Bunch
Race
Bun (Riftwalker)
First Class
Cinnamon Bun Bun
First Class Level
13
Second Class
Wonderlander
Second Class Level
4
Age
16
Health
150
Stamina
165
Mana
145
Resilience
65
Flexibility
85
Magic
30
Skills
Rank
Cinnamon Bun Bun Skills
Cleaning
S — 09%
Way of the Mystic Bun
C — 14%
Gardening
D — 39%
Adorable
D — 100%
Dancing
D — 100%
Wonderlander Skills
Tea Making
C — 16%
Mad Millinery
D — 94%
Proportion Distortion
C — 07%
General Skills
Insight
C — 99%
Makeshift Weapon Proficiency
C — 27%
Archeology
D — 49%
Friendmaking
C — 83%
Matchmaking
D — 69%
Hugging Proficiency
D — 89%
Captaining
E — 91%
Cinnamon Bun Bun Skill Points
1
Wonderlander Skill Points
2
General Skill Points
3
First Class Skill Slots
0
Second Class Skill Slots
0
General Skill Slots
3
I hummed as I looked over my skills. By the end of our next adventure, I was certain I’d be levelling up a couple of them.“Right, want to stand over there? I need to practise a few more spells. These are electric spells that track their target. I’ll make sure they’re weak enough that they only sting a little.”“Wait, what?” I asked.“Don’t worry, you can use it as dodging practice!”Caprica walked into the inn’s backyard an hour later while I was panting for all I was worth and Amaryllis was finally starting to run low on mana. It wasn’t fair how quickly her reserves refilled, but I guessed that was only normal since her main class was all about spellcasting.“Practising hard?” the princess asked.“Very!” I said. I tugged my shirt forward a bit and blew some air down the front. It was pretty warm out, despite being so far north.“Good! I got some news, you might want to come inside for this one. Awen just arrived as well, with your new catfolk friend.”We followed Caprica back inside and into the same dining room we’d been meeting in a lot lately. There were plates out already, so it looked like we were just in time for supper to be served.“So, how did the ship stuff go?” I asked Awen as I sat next to her.She grinned. “Well! It’ll take a while to finish everything, but we added fixed docking points to the Beaver and their opposites on the Redemption. It should be possible to undock the two in midair. But I wouldn’t want to try docking in mid-air,” Awen said. “It needs a lot more precision than I think we could manage if we’re fighting the wind and trying to pilot two ships at once.”“We can always fly the Redemption next to the Beaver until we reach a port if we ever need it.”Awen shook her head. “I’m working on it. But we don’t have all the facilities to build what I’m thinking of here.”“That might all come in handy sooner than you think,” Caprica said. She slapped a few pages down onto the table and grinned. “We have official denial to attempt a rescue.”“Official denial?” Amaryllis asked.“It means that if we try something, the government will deny it officially. Which is basically approval to actually try,” Caprica explained. “We’ve been looking for volunteers since the order came in. and I think we’ve found a couple of vessels with brave captains that wouldn’t mind acting as troop transports. Finally, we’ve chartered a merchant ship to fly close enough to the suspected pirate lair to entice them. We’ll be loading the ship full of soldiers disguised as sailors, of course.”“As a distraction?” I asked.She nodded. “Now, all we need is a flagship to lead this operation.”“You want to use the Beaver?” I asked.She nodded.“You’re aware that it’s not a warship, right?” Amaryllis asked.“Oh, yes, but if things go well, it should never have to fight at all. I have a whole plan drawn up. I’m certain it will work out just fine!”She sounded pretty sure of herself. I figured it was worth a shot! There were a whole heap of people that needed saving, so all we had to do was go out, fight off some pirates, and save the heck out of them!
* * *
Chapter Three Hundred and Forty-Seven — Provisioning
Chapter Three Hundred and Forty-Seven — Provisioning "We need more bolts!""Where's case 875 with the provisions?""Coming through! Pardon me, coming through."I stepped aside to let a pair of sylph soldiers stride by, they were carrying a case between them with a set of straps. They climbed the gangplank onto the Beaver, then brought the case next to the hatch in the top-deck leading into our main hold.I couldn't even begin to imagine what was in that case, but judging by all the other stuff being loaded aboard, it was probably weapons or supplies.The Beaver wasn't the only ship being loaded up, of course. Caprica had managed to 'borrow' two sylph frigates, the Model Twenty-Two Ship G and the Model Twenty-Four Ship C, which were, in my humble opinion, terrible names for ships.There were two more ships coming along as well, civilian vessels. The Lunch Box, which was an unsurprisingly boxy ship about as big as the Beaver. And a larger cargo ship called the Featherfall.And, of course, we had our big distraction, a large airship called the Royal Pride. It was one of the biggest ships I'd seen from up close, with three balloons, one huge one in the centre, and two smaller ones connected to nacelles that stuck out of the rear of the vessel. It was being armed up for the mission, and there were a lot of weapons going up on it, which made sense with how big it was.Now it was going to host a contingent of sylph soldiers in full gear, which I imagined would give any pirates trying to take her a nasty surprise.Every ship was being prepared to launch all at once, with sailors running along the decks with equipment, tugboats drawing near to guide the larger ships out of their berths, and hoses connected to every ship, replenishing their fuel.I imagined that this was all going to be very, very expensive, but Caprica had asked nicely and the people of Goldpass were more than eager to meet her demands.My friends and I were relegated to standing out of the way while the entire port buzzed like a kicked beehive. The metaphor was especially apt since the sylph could fly and were zipping through the air to carry stuff faster.I stood behind the Beaver's wheel on the poop deck where I wouldn't be in anyone's way, so I saw Caprica arriving with a contingent of guards and of course, Bastion by her side."Hey!" I called out."Hello, captain," she said from just off the gangplank. "Permission to come aboard?""Always!" I cheered.Caprica grinned and flew over to us, landing with a dainty step and accepting my hello-hug. Then I gave one to Bastion too, so that he wouldn't feel left out. "Things are coming along well," she said."There's a lot of motion here," Amaryllis said. "What did you set off here, exactly?""Hopefully, the sort of mission which will go down in the history books for all the right reasons," Caprica replied. "I am as surprised as you are at the numbers we're pulling. When I asked for volunteers I didn't expect literally every soldier to sign on."Bastion nodded. "It's not as surprising as you might think, Princess. In the minds of a sylph soldier, there is little more honourable than serving our country, but to be honest, most of us will never see much action unless things go terribly wrong. This is an opportunity to put their hard-earned training to work. Not to mention, the idea of fighting pirates, saving diplomats, and aiding a princess only make the venture more tempting.""I'm impressed," I said. "How many volunteers does all that add up to?""Enough that every ship will have as many sylph as they can safely carry," Caprica said. "We had to refuse people just on the basis that we can't fit them all aboard. Bastion and the local officers ended up drawing the requirements for who would and wouldn't be allowed to come.""We set the requirements to match age and time of service," Bastion said. "We'll be bringing the best with us. This is a small settlement, so we won't find as many high-quality soldiers as we might find in the capital, but so far they all seem perfectly competent."That was a big endorsement from Bastion."So, we're running straight towards trouble with an entire troop of overeager soldiers," Amaryllis said. "This will go well. Who's legally in charge of all of this?"Caprica froze up. "Ah, well. Technically, we needed someone of a certain rank to run an operation of this size. Not to mention an operation in foreign territory. It would have to be an admiral.""There's an admiral around?" I asked.Caprica nodded. "Yes. In a manner of speaking.""Uh oh," Awen muttered."See, when you first introduced my sister and me to Orange, you introduced her as a Grand Admiral, and my sister thought this was a great thing. She, might have, perhaps, officiated the rank. As a small joke."I blinked. "Wait, what?"Orange strutted onto the Beaver Cleaver Head and tail held high, and her chest fur puffed out luxuriously. She was wearing a tiny tricorne, with little feathers affixed to it. Actual Grand-Admiral of Mouse-Chasing Orange Bunch crossed the deck, slipping past feet and once stopping just long enough to send a young sailor tripping forwards with a box full of stuff which spilled across the ground.She jumped up the steps to the poop deck, then leapt up to take her place on the dias holding up the ship's wheel. "Mrow," she said.Stolen novel; please report.Calamity doffed his hat. "Ma'am," he said."Hi!" I said to the spirit cat. She lifted her head a bit, so I gave her chin some scritches. "So, you're the one in charge of all of this?""Technically, on paper," Caprica said. She cleared her throat. "Which is why we need to make sure this entire operation goes off without a hitch, because if it doesn't, then we're all going to have to answer a lot of really awkward questions.""You'd think they'd ask those regardless," Amaryllis said."Oh, they will, but success overshadows criticism in a very satisfactory way," Caprica said.Bastion seemed both amused and exasperated by it all. "We should be heading out. By the looks of it, the ships are almost ready to cast off."He was probably right. The hustle and bustle had died down. Now most of the sylph on the docks were only sitting back and waiting for us to take off."Oh, we're not leaving, Bastion," Caprica said. She smiled up at him. "We must stay. Your strength will be invaluable in this mission, and I want to see it through myself. Besides, I think the soldiers might fight harder for having me around.""Princess Caprica," Bastion said warningly."No, Bastion. I insist. I'm hardly incapable of taking care of myself. And I can't send people out to fight without being expected to lead them from the front. Besides, my presence there will reinvigorate things back home, I think.""What's that mean?" I asked."It means that it has been a while since a member of my family has stepped out and done anything truly impressive," Caprica said. "Noblesse oblige means that I must where I can, doesn't it?" She nodded to herself. "And on that note, permission to remain aboard your vessel, Captain Bunch?""Of course," I said. "I think you already had a room picked out for yourself?""Yes. Bastion's former room. I didn't want to bother any of yours," she said. There was a faint touch of red to her cheeks that I imagined meant something more, but it wasn't the time to go poking at that."That's fine by me. The Beaver Cleaver always has room for more friends. What about you, Calamity, did you want a room?""Ah, if nya don't mind, I'll use one of the bunks on the Redemption. They're comfortable enough for the likes of me," he said.I shrugged. If that was what he wanted, then sure. The airboat was currently fixed between the Beaver's twin hulls. It would take some finagling to detatch it, but with Awen aboard we'd manage.In the berth next to ours, the Model Twenty-Four Ship C unhooked itself from the docks and started to gently rise up. The frigate was one of those boxy sylph warships, which meant that it was probably way better in any sort of fight than we were. It was going to be handy to have, I suspected."I think we ought to get ready to take off ourselves," I said. I adjusted my captain's hat, making sure my bun ears didn't look too silly poking out of the brim, then I reached over and rang the bell next to the ship's wheel. "Everyone, to your positions! Clive, Awen, check the engines. Calamity, go join the Scallywags by the foredeck, we'll need to trim sails in a hurry. Amaryllis, keep an eye on the newbies. Caprica, Bastion... uh.""We'll stay out of the way," Caprica promised.I grinned. "Thanks!"Boots thudded across the deck as people took their positions in a hurry. The last of the troops came aboard and were directed to the sides where they wouldn't be in the way.The ropes holding us anchored to the docks were loosened, then coiled up, and the entire ship lurched as we were let loose. I noticed the problem right away. "Awen! We need to shift the anchoring on the balloon, we're pitching forwards more than we ought to.""On it!" Awen said before she ran ahead to the cables holding our balloon in place above. With the added weight of the Redemption being a little off-centre, we were tipping that way a little more than we should have. We'd have to do the opposite adjustment once that ship was loose.I cranked up the power to the gravity generator and felt a familiar hum under my feet. The Beaver was in fine form. The sylph that patched him up really knew what they were doing. The main engine started with a loud bark, and the prop at the back started to woosh-woosh as it cut through the air."Captain!" Gordon shouted from the side. "Dock tower gives us permission to depart. Heading three-fifty north. We're in the centre of the formation.""Aye!" I called back because that sounded way cooler than just 'okay.' I turned the wheel around a bit, then eased up on the gas. We weren't setting out yet, just forming up. We just had to hover up at an appropriate height. And, since we were the flagship, that meant that we'd be setting the pace. "Caprica, do you happen to know what kind of speed the other ships in our little fleet can manage?""About fifteen knots, Captain Bunch.""Alrighty, slow and steady it is. Do you know how to send signals to other ships?""I do," she said."Neat, want to tell the Model Twenty-Two Ship G and the Model Twenty-Four Ship C, that we'll be circling around Goldpass until the Lunch Box and the Featherfall have taken off?""You know, some people might object to you asking a Princess to work," she said."That's silly, you're here because you want to help, no? All are equal under my captainly authority."Caprica laughed. "It's fine. They'd be silly people to object anyway." She flashed me a quick salute. "I'll be right on it, Captain."
* * *
