Chapter Four Hundred and Eighty-Three — The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Buns
Chapter Four Hundred and Eighty-Three — The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Buns "I don't think I've ever actually seen you angry," Caprica said as she stood across from me, a small mug of tea in hand. She took her tea with six spoonfuls of sugar, so I actually wasn't sure if it entirely counted as tea anymore."I'm not angry," I said, angrily.It was mostly true, I was just... miffed. We were about a day away from Port Royal. The wind had shifted a bit, and we were having to fight it. The air currents here were pretty strong, and they'd been at our back when moving away from the city. It was making for a somewhat turbulent flight, but nothing too bad. It was just a teeny-tiny annoyance, but I was already in a foul mood and it wasn't helping.I took an angry sip of my own tea. It was delicious, and hot, and sank down to my tummy as a soothing warmth.Okay, so I wasn't good at being angry."Did you at least sleep well?" Caprica asked.I puffed my cheeks out. "I never slept better," I admitted, which only annoyed me more.When I fell asleep last morning, Mister Menu's warning about that new skill had felt like the start of a dream. I had been way too sleepy to really register it. It wasn't until I woke up this morning with Mister Menu hovering nearby that it really sank in. Worse, he was hovering to deliver some important news.Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Snoozing skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!Rank E is a free rank!I had had plans for which skill to pick up next. Sure, those plans weren't fixed yet, but I wanted something useful to grab, not Snoozing. What kind of skill was that?Sure, I woke up feeling refreshed, and well-rested, and like I was one big stretch away from the start of a perfect day, but that wasn't what I had wanted.The skill's description didn't help overly much either.SnoozingRank E — 00%The ability to sleep well. As you practice this skill, your sleep will improve. You can fall asleep at the drop of a hat and awaken when you will it."You know, it's not the worst skill I've ever seen," Caprica said as she took another sip. "In fact, I know a lot of people that would love something like it. My father complains at length about how little sleep he gets. And I imagine that the skill will only make it better as it levels up.""Do you know anything about this kind of skill?" I asked."A little," she said. "Most people avoid them, I think, but as you know, Slyphfree is the world's leader in medicine and magical healing, and a lot of our healers suggest that everyone keep at least one skill related to self-healing."I blinked at that. "Self-healing? Do I need a special skill for that? I... noticed that I heal from bruises and stuff a lot faster than I should here already, but I thought that was just levelling up and getting better stats.""Oh, yes, the higher your level the faster your body heals from minor ailments," Caprica said with a dismissive wave from her free hand. "It's a confluence of your Health and Resilience stats. There are entire papers on the subject. Of course, both will increase as you level up, though the rate depends on what kind of class you have, of course."I nodded. More physical classes increased the more physical stats, more magical classes the more magical stats. I was pretty sure Cinnamon Bun Bun and Wonderlander were both more or less balanced, however, which was also fine."Okay, so what's self-healing then?""It's what it says on the cover," Caprica replied. "Skills that empower your healing of yourself. Usually they're passive skills. Ah, I think some evolutions of the Meditation skills have it. Some tanks like myself have Health Regeneration as a skill. But mostly our healers mean stuff like Meditative Gardening, or Second Wind, there are some Symbiosis skills for people who tend to animals that can spread shared healing. And then there are skills that help you sleep. It might not be a self-healing skill just yet, but I suspect that given a rank up or two you might find that Snoozing will help you heal."Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon."Well, that does sound nice, I guess," I said.I was just sixteen though, I didn't need to worry about waking up with ache-y knees or anything like that yet."It's still not the kind of skill that I want," I said."Well, you could get rid of it," Caprica said."How?" I asked."Merge it, for one, or just get rid of the class the skill comes from. If it's a dungeon class, then you can just re-pick it, and then re-rank all the same skills in that class.""That sounds like a lot of work," I said. "And I'd need to re-level Wonderlander, no?" That's where Snooze had snuck itself, right into the open slot on Wonderlander.Caprica shrugged, then downed the last of her tea. "It's an option. Besides, I've heard that re-levelling the same class a second time is significantly easier than doing it the first time."I worked my jaw, considering it. But... well, that sounded like a lot of work just to get rid of one skill. Besides, I was happy with my other Wonderlander skills, and doing all of this didn't mean that I'd necessarily regain the same ones. And I would have to sleep, so there was a good chance I'd just end up getting Snooze again.That would really blow, so I wasn't gonna risk it."Oh well," I said with a sigh. "I guess I can just live with it. It's not that bad of a skill, I guess. Maybe I can combine it with something cool?" Hugging Proficiency would be so cool if I turned it into Snuggling Proficiency. Maybe I could combine it with Friendmaking to get a Slumber Party skill?It wasn't like me to be so grumpy about something. When I started my adventure on Dirt, I was happy with whatever skill I got... well, with the exception of Cute, but that was just the world being a mean-spirited bully."Okay!" I said as I smacked my cheeks to wake up properly. "That's enough moping!""You've only been moping for an hour or so, at most," Caprica said. "You can probably afford to mope a little longer. As a princess I've had to mope for days, on occasion.""Maybe, but I don't like this mood, so I'm going to change it! I do have other skills I want, and I've decided on a short-list. Now I just need to figure out how to get all of them.""Oh?" Caprica asked. "What are you aiming for now?""I've shortened it to just six!" I said proudly."For four remaining slots?" she asked."Yeah. I think that some of them might be too hard to get, though."I pulled out my list paper, which now had a lot of choices scratched out. Only six of them were intact:— Mana Regeneration— Laugh in the Face of Death— Never Miss— Thick Skin— Graceful Under Pressure— Flight"Do you think I can get most of these?""Mana Regeneration is a well-known skill," Caprica said. "You won't have a hard time getting that one. Thick Skin is also easy to obtain, I have it myself, I can show you the basics. The rest of these, however... Flight is going to be hard unless you grow wings. Laugh in the Face of Death? I don't even know where to start with that. Never Miss and Graceful Under Pressure are tricky, but doable under the right circumstances.""I'm sure I can do it," I said. "For the Laugh one, I just need to find Death and then we can laugh about something together, right?""Broccoli, do you intend to somehow meet the metaphysical representation of the concept of death merely to tell it a joke?" Caprica asked."Or make friends," I said.She gazed at her mug. "I need more tea.""I'll ask Desiree about Graceful Under Pressure. She suggested that one, and I think she knows how to get it.""That's not a bad idea," Caprica said. "I can coach you through Thick Skin, if you want.""You'd do that for me?" I asked.Caprica smiled. "Of course. I don't mind at all. I'm sure Amaryllis would instruct you on Mana Regeneration as well, though to be honest, that one's very easy.""Yeah, I can kinda guess how to pick that one up. Just use up all my mana and let it regenerate a lot?"She nodded. "Pretty much. There might be a trick to it, but I suspect that just using your entire reserve over and over will do it. I'm sure you can figure out a spell or two to practice that."I grinned. I could do that, no problem!
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Chapter Four Hundred and Eighty-Four — Zap Zap
Chapter Four Hundred and Eighty-Four — Zap Zap "Yowch!" I said with a hiss before I shook my arm. That had stung!Caprica's method for training Thick Skin as a skill involved, unsurprisingly, hurting my skin until it became thicker. Or at least, metaphorically thicker.That sounded all nice and easy on paper, but the training method Caprica had me using was a lot less fun.First, I had to get rid of one of the arms of my gambeson. That wasn't too hard, since the arms were just laced onto the torso, so they were removable. Probably to make it easier to repair and clean. There were lots of nifty little things like that with the clothing and such, I found.Then, I had to wrap a thick rubber band around my forearm. Every few minutes, when the stinging stopped hurting, I'd pull the band back, then let it snap back down.I wasn't sure if I was going to get Thick Skin as a skill after all."Don't be a cry-bunny," Caprica said. "I did that for a week before I earned the skill. I even had one of my ladies maids come into my room at night to snap my skin.""But this hurts," I complained before I dabbed some tears out of my eyes."I think that there's a common human expression that applies here," Caprica said. "One you might be familiar with, on account of having been one. It's 'no pain, no gain.'""I've heard of that before, but I really don't like it," I admitted. "Pain hurts. Why can't we have gains without it? Besides, it's not always true. When you gain friends it doesn't hurt at all. Actually, there's a lot of things you can gain that don't hurt. Nice memories, a good nap, what about stuff like spending a day looking at something pret— Ow!"I rubbed my arm where a sneaky Amaryllis had come around and snapped the band. "The expression is rather foolish," she agreed with a smug smile. "But I find the situation amusing enough that I don't think it matters. You haven't gained the skill yet, I take it?"I shook my head. "I'm reconsidering it as we speak.""Don't be a baby," Amaryllis said.I glared as hard as I could. "I'm not a baby. Not liking being hurt isn't a baby trait, it's a perfectly natural thing to want. Or not want, I guess.""Come now, I've never known you to be the sort of woman that gives up on things so easily," Amaryllis said. That warmed my heart a little. "Now, let's get started on that Mana Regeneration training?""Okay," I said.We made our way up to the top deck, where we had some room to practice without interruptions. We were only half a day out from Port Royal, so this would be my last chance to really practice stuff before we arrived."The basics of gaining the skill is quite simple," Amaryllis said. "You need to regenerate mana, over and over again. I think it's best done if you completely deplete yourself then build your stores all the way back up to your maximum.""I can do that," I said. The ship was about to be very clean. More so than usual, even."You might want to use up all of your mana practising a spell that you want to improve on," Amaryllis said. "Or using a mana-intensive skill that hasn't reached its peak. There's no point in practising if you can't do it efficiently."I frowned at that. She might not be wrong. I could spend all of my mana on huge Cleaning moves, or I could use it up on other things. I was getting pretty good with my mini fireballs, but more practice couldn't hurt. Making them faster and bigger could help.On the other hand, they tended to pop when I made them wrong, and if I was pumping a fireball full with all of my mana and then it destabilised, I wouldn't be dealing with a small pop but a big boom.Big fiery explosions were an absolute no-go aboard an airship.I glanced at my skills list, in case I could find something else to practice on, when I noticed a skill I'd been neglecting, and it was one that happened to be pretty mana-intensive too. "Proportion Distortion!" I said."Your size-changing spell?" Amaryllis asked. "You haven't capped that one, right?""Yup! Still have a ways to go before it hits one hundred percent," I said with a grin. "What about you, do you have anything to practice?"If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.Amaryllis smiled. It was a smile that made me instantly nervous. "As a matter of fact, I do, Broccoli.""Amaryllis, why am I feeling afraid?" I asked."That's likely a similar reaction to what small prey animals feel when they notice their natural predator around," Amaryllis said. It wasn't very reassuring. "I happen to have a general skills called Precision Magic. It's still got some ways to go before it becomes a truly useful skill. The best way to practice it is, of course, to use magic very precisely. For example, I could use it to hit a small, quick-moving target."I felt my ears wilt. "Amaryllis," I said.She smiled and raised a hand. There was a snap-snap-snap as little electrical sparks flew between her talons. "It'll even double as Thick Skin practice!""Amy!" I said. I could feel tears stinging my eyes. I didn't wanna be zapped!Amaryllis huffed, it was a 'oh fine,' sort of huff, and I felt myself calming down a little. "I won't actually hurt you. Come on, I'm not a brute. Although, it would be nice to practice together.""As long as you're not making it hurt, I guess it can't be that bad. It'll be dodging practice too," I said.She smiled again. "That's the spirit! Now, get dodging!"I eeped, jumping up and pushing some mana to activate Proportion Distortion. Between one hop and the next, I felt like the entire world had grown to twice the size it had been just moments before. The rails on the edge of the deck no longer stopped at my thigh, but at my chest, then they were a smidge taller than I was.My ears flopped behind me, and I felt my tail straining at the hole in my skirt. I still hadn't gotten the knack to make them shrink along with the rest of me, so both my ears and tail stayed at the same size while the rest of me shrunk. It was a little awkward because my ears now trailed on the floor behind me as I ran.A small zap-hiss sounded out, and I hopped up just in time to dodge a teeny-tiny bolt of electrical energy that singed the deck.I ducked another the next, then dove forwards to avoid a trio of little zaps. Amaryllis really did have to work on her aim if she wasn't able to hit me from so close up. Or maybe her aim would be a lot better if she wasn't cackling and laughing maniacally."How's your mana holding up?" Caprica asked from where she sat on a rail. She let her fairy wings spread out behind her to soak in the sun a little."It's not tha-ouch!" I hopped forwards a few times and rubbed at my behind where Amaryllis had scored a hit. It didn't hurt that much, less than the rubber band, but it was still painful. "It's holding," I said.My mana was dropping steadily as I continued to round around the deck and tried to use whatever I came across as cover from Amaryllis. She was at least staying stationary, so it made it easier to tell where her attacks were coming from.If I loosened my hold on the skill, I'd start to revert back to my normal size, which was handy because having longer legs made running so much easier.I had never really used Proportion Distortion seriously as a skill in fights and such. It was nice for grabbing things in the cabinets that were too tall, or for fetching something under my bed, but otherwise it didn't come up very often, but it had some really good potential as a skill to unbalance an opponent.As long as the opponent didn't have armoured shins, then this skill might actually be a lot stronger than I'd given it credit.After running around for a couple of minutes, I started to run out of breath and mana at about the same time. "O-okay," I said through some panting. I let go of the skill, and allowed myself to flop onto the deck. "Urgh... everything is spinny.""That's mana exhaustion," Amaryllis said as she walked over. "It's a right pain in the rear. Let me know if you feel like you're going to vomit. The least I can do is turn you onto your side.""Amaryllis," I said as I looked up to her. "I don't know if I like training. It's hard."She huffed. There was no pity there.
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