Chapter One Hundred and Ninety-Six - Matchmaking 101 With Momma

I wiped my brow and glanced at the message from Mister Menu about the wight. It wasn’t anything very interesting, but it did confirm that I’d won. Well, the wight turning to dust like all dead dungeon creatures did that, but it double-confirmed it.

“That was a workout,” I said.

“I suppose so,” Momma said. “You did very well though.”

“I have the impression that a lot of the buns in Hopsalot would be a lot stronger than me,” I said.

Momma nodded. “That would be a correct impression, but you can’t always judge yourself based on the standards of others. Rather, you need to be able to compare yourself to yourself first, to see the improvements you’re making, and strive for more, regardless of how others are improving faster or slower around you. Also, I suspect that Hopsalot is a very unique village.”

I thought about what she said. That sounded like a very nice philosophy to live by. “Have you travelled a lot?” I asked.

Momma smiled. “When I was a younger bun, yes. Now that I’m an old lady, I’ve found the desire to go out and explore has lessened somewhat.”

“So, you had a bunch of adventures?” I asked.

“Oh yes. Plenty. Though they were a little closer to home. I’ve been to the Trenten Flats, and through the Hoofbreaker woods, I traveled east and south too.” Momma stretched her back. “Should we continue?” she asked.

I nodded and stretched just like she did. It felt good to make my back pop-pop after moving so much. Most of the time though, there wasn’t... well, time, to stretch before a fight.

“Momma?” I asked as I thought of something. “Do you think I can become strong too? Like you.”

“Oh?” she asked. “Of course. It’s never too late to become stronger. Is there a reason you want to improve yourself?”

“Yeah, of course. I need to help my friends. I can’t do that if I’m weak. Well, that’s not entirely true. You don’t need to be strong to be a good friend. Hugs are hugs, after all, but if we’re going to be helping the World, and going on big adventures, then I need to be able to watch out for them, right?”

“That’s a good attitude to have,” Momma agreed. “And yes, I think you have plenty of chances to grow stronger. Just keep in mind that martial strength isn’t the greatest thing there is. I have a couple of more combat-orientated classes, but they’re not the ones I rely on the most.”

“They’re not?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Nope. That’s my Mom class.”

There was a Mom class? Wait, no, of course there was. “That sounds really nice,” I said.

“It's a good class to have,” she agreed. “I’ve evolved it once or twice, so now it’s at Greater Grand Mom, but it started a little simpler than that. Knowing how to kiss boo boos better, and how to give good hugs is invaluable.”

“I don’t think I want to be a mom just yet,” I said. “I couldn’t do that and adventure at the same time.”

She laughed. “No, I would hope not. Give yourself a few years to find a nice beau with good ears.”

Good ears? That was weird, but I chose not to comment. It was likely a bun thing.

“Alright,” I said. “So, we need to find this big sconce thing, right?”

Momma nodded. “That’s right. Do you feel up to taking the next wight we run across?”

“Sure,” I said. I probably needed a couple more minutes to rebuild my stamina, but as long as there was a pause between fights I’d likely be fine. “As long as you’re supervising, I think I should be okay.”

We pushed deeper into the foggy forest, and did run into a wight. The problem was, it wasn’t alone.

Momma hummed a discordant note that had me looking around until I spotted a wight crouching in the trees above. Then, with a slight rustle, a second appeared in a bush off to the side.

“I thought they only attacked one at a time,” I said.

“Perhaps they’re not entirely aware of each other. Or they intend to each go after one of us,” Momma said.

That made sense. “One each, then?” I asked.

“Certainly. I’ll take that one.” She pointed up in the tree where the undead monster seemed ready to leap down. “You get the other one, alright?”

I nodded and quickly dropped my pack and set my spade, ready for a fight.

The wight above jumped down with a hiss, shadows trailing after it like ghostly flames and clawed hands splayed wide.

Momma leapt up, spun around in mid-air, and punched the monster in the head with a fist that burned bright with roaring flames.

The wight sorta just exploded, and Momma landed a little ways away, shaking her hand to dispel the flames. “Ah, I’m not so young anymore,” she complained.

I think I had to disagree, and the wight, the very dead one, seemed to be on my side with that.

The second monster scampered out of the underbrush and scurried towards me on all fours. I set my spade, tucking it under my armpit and holding it in place while I brought my left hand to the side and hid it behind me a little. The monster wouldn’t be able to see me forming any spells.

I started to form the spell I’d practiced the most, the fire-aspect mana warming up my palm as I twisted the magic this way and that.

The monster stopped just out of spade-reach and slapped the ground.

Long, wriggling shadows formed in the air and lashed out at me.

I jumped to the side, kicked off a tree, then used that to jump back towards the wight while extending my arm out towards it with nine spinning fireballs hovering over it.

The fireballs launched with sounds like a hose when you jammed your thumb into the opening.

The wight tried to roll out of their path, but the spray was too wide. A pair of them caught the monster in the side, and clung onto the tattered clothes it wore.

The wight screeched, but instead of rolling to put off the flames, it charged right at me, arms swinging like mad.

I parried the first blow, then the second with the haft of my spade, then, as it pulled back to strike again, I saw an opening and bonked it on the head with the flat of my shovel.

The wight wiggled a bit, stunned by the blow, and still very much on fire. “Sorry!” I said as I swung hard and fast.

Ding! Congratulations, you have bonked ‘Wight of Newbining’s Forest, level 14! Bonus Exp was granted for thumping a monster above your level!

“Woo!” I cheered.

Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Matchmaking skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!
Rank D is a free rank!

“I got a rank up!” I cheered.

Momma clapped. “Well done! Which skill improved?”

I grinned over to her, a proud warmth in my tummy. “My Matchmaking skill.”

The older bun blinked. “Matchmaking? Did you... fancy the wight?”

“Huh?” I asked. “Matchmaking is for setting things on fire. Well, I guess you could use it for other things.”

Momma nodded. “I use it for matching up my grandbunnies with cute boys and girls, and as an excuse to meddle in other people’s business.”

I gave her a look.

She crossed her arms. “There’s very little to actually do in Hopsalot, I’ll have you know. Meddling is a perfectly acceptable pastime.”

“Hmph,” I said. “That doesn’t sound like a very nice thing to do.”

“Now now, I’m hardly meddling that much. Just nudging things along. You don’t get great-great grand buns without helping your shy great-grand buns find someone good for them.”

I shook my head. Momma had a bit of a mean side to her after all. Not that I could blame her that much, the little buns were very cute. “Should we keep going?” I asked.

“Certainly,” she replied.

We continued through the forest at a nice, decent clip. The brambles and bushes were hard to navigate around, and in some places trees had fallen, creating big, branchy barriers that we had to find ways around.

This forest was nothing like those in the movies I’d watched. The ground was all bumpy, and covered in roots and pits where you could easily twist an ankle. Fortunately, Momma and I were both pretty good at jumping over and around obstacles.

It took a few minutes, but at long last, we ran into what I suspected was a sconce.

The thing was like a big bowl made of cement or some sort of shaped stone. It was big enough around that I could have laid down in it and still have some room to spare. That was handy, I was afraid that we were looking for a really small thing that would be easily hidden.

“So, how do we light it?” I asked as I peeked over the top and looked in. There were some logs and such on the inside, with a layer of dried leaves under them and a few brambles here and there.

Momma snapped her fingers and a ball of fire hovered over her index. “I suppose like this?”

She flicked the tiny fireball into the stone basin and it smacked against the leaves and logs within. A moment later, the fire spread and a pillar of smoke rose out of the basin as the leaves all whooshed and burned.

It wouldn’t take long for that to transfer over to the logs.

“Nice!” I said. “Victory hug?”

Momma chuckled and opened her arms wide a moment before I crashed into her. I nestled my head in the crook of her neck while she did the same. I wanted it to be a quick hug, but Momma was warm, and she felt a lot like... well, like a mom.

I didn’t sniffle or anything, but Momma did tighten the hug and patted my back. “There, there, you’re a good bun, aren’t you?” she muttered.

I nodded a little.

Did it really have to take a hug for me to realize how much I missed my mom?

Ding! For doing a Special Action in line with your Class, you have unlocked the skill: Hugging!

I laughed and pulled out of the hug, with only a bit of reluctance. “Thanks, Momma,” I said.

“No problem,” she replied easily. “Should we keep going?”

“Yeah!” I said. I used a bit of Cleaning magic on my face, just to make sure it was nice and neat. “Let’s find the next brazier.”
Hugging, Rank F - 04%
The ability to hug. Your proficiency and instincts for hugging have improved! Hug harder, hug better.

I laughed and skipped ahead.

We only ran across one more wight in the following minutes, one that was tucked under a pile of leaves and who attacked us with shadow-y spears from every direction without coming out of hiding. Momma got tired of ducking and weaving around, so she ended up flipping over to it and crushing it with a stomp that made the trees rattle.

A minute or so later the fog started to lift and the woods lightened.

“It seems that our companions have lit the last of the fires,” Momma said.

She led us over to the far wall, where the entrance to the next area was supposed to be, without so much as hesitating. Her sense of direction had to be really good.

When I found my friends all gathering up near the gate to the next floor, I ran ahead and crashed into them with a happy hug.

I had to get grinding, of course!

“Get off me, you moron!” Amaryllis whined.

“I’m just getting better!” I said.

“That doesn’t make sense, you damned oaf!”

***