Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty-Two - Sizing Up the Future

I expected the meeting with the generals to be kind of boring, and I wasn’t wrong at all.

The generals, who had been drinking and smoking cigars earlier, decided to act a bit more professionally and so they met us in a meeting room where we all sat down. Lieutenant Petalwrought reported on our entire excursion through the dungeon in short, clipped sentences while sitting as if his back was locked in place.

Once he was done, Aria delivered a very preliminary report. There were lots of words used whose meanings I wasn’t sure of, and the generals spent a lot of time nodding even though I was pretty sure they didn’t understand any better than I did.

Then it was my turn. I bounced on my seat as I explained how I cleaned up the core. I used as many gestures and examples as I could. The generals seemed more confused than not when I was done, but Amaryllis and Awen were smiling, so I decided it probably didn’t matter.

“Well, that was... educational,” the Knight-Captain said. He stroked his moustache, then nodded. “I believe we are quite done here for the moment, gentlemen and ladies. I’m aware that the sun has set already, but our magnificent navy has no fear of flying in the dark! The generals and I will deliberate for some time still, but those of you who wish to return to the capital may prepare yourselves for the flight back.”

With that done, we left the meeting room.

My friends and I stayed back for a bit to say bye to our new friends. I hugged everyone, even Erin and Bron and Lucille, who seemed a bit worried about getting hugged (which was quite silly, but I kept the hugs short so that they wouldn’t be uncomfortable) and then Lieutenant Petalwrought insisted on shaking my hand, even after I offered him a hug.

“It was a pleasure working with all of you,” he said. “I’m genuinely glad that the dungeon has been cured of its ills. Hopefully it will be restored and in proper order soon enough.”

“I hope it feels better too,” I said.

We milled around for a bit, but eventually I think my friends and I all felt a little weary. Not tired; not sleepy. We’d taken some potions to keep awake and judging by how bouncy I felt I wasn’t going to be sleeping anytime soon.

We left the knight’s little castle and crossed the training yard back to the sylph warship which was still anchored in place. The sailors we crossed were mostly sitting back and relaxing, a few were even snoozing away next to the crates and boxes they’d unloaded when we arrived.

My friends and I climbed aboard the ship and when no one met us on the main deck, we went down a level back to the room where we’d waited on the way over.

I found the cot in the corner of the room, spun around, and flopped onto it. “Ah, that was a long day,” I said.

“It was,” Amaryllis agreed. She sat down to my right, scooted back, then folded her legs up under her.

Awen hopped onto the other side, then she squeezed herself closer to my side. I leaned to the side, ears flopping atop her head and chin on her shoulder. “It wasn’t a bad day,” she said. “The last couple of weeks have been... busy, but not bad.”

“Yeah, I guess so. I’m looking forward to getting back to adventuring though. Politics aren’t for me, I think.”

Amaryllis sniffed. “Yes, I suppose you’d say that. Perhaps we can take the long way back home. I’ve always wanted to visit the north.”

“Oh,” Awen said. “I’d like that. I... I would like to get stronger too. I only levelled up once in the last couple of weeks, and that was today.”

“Right!” I said. “We’ll get even stronger then. I need to level up my hugging skills, and... oh, I have a skill I want to put a point into as well.”

It had been a little bit since I’d looked at my growth.

Way of the Mystic Bun was proving to be a great skill at its new rank. Otherwise, not much had changed with my Cinnamon Bun Bun skills. Maybe I could put that spare point into one of them? Or was it cleverer to wait for Cleaning to be ready to become even more powerful?

My Wonderlander skills were coming along nicely too! I was going to get a new skill in a couple of levels. I couldn’t wait! I was definitely going to put more points into Proportion Distortion. Sure, it wasn’t the most useful of skills, but it sounded fun!

Mad Millinery was only growing slowly. Maybe I had to start trying on more hats? I’d try to remember to visit another hat store.

Insight was so close to its max that it was almost funny. Friendmaking was getting close too.. If there was ever a general skill I wouldn’t mind using some of my precious slots on, that was it. Hugging Proficiency too... I was really grinding that one.

But in any case

Congratulations! Proportion Distortion is now Rank C!

Proportion Distortion
Rank C - 00%
The ability to fit in and fit out. You can now use magic to help you grow up or grow down!

I tilted my head as I tried to figure out what that meant. The tilting moved me a bit away from Awen and made my ears flop in the other direction, onto Amaryllis.

I poked at the skill, the way it was phrased sounded like an ability that I could use on myself. Was it like when I had used Jumping to jump around?

Closing my eyes and pinching my tongue between my teeth, I felt around myself with my magic. It was something that I wasn’t too used to yet. I bet that to someone raised on Dirt it would be second nature.

I found a switch eventually. It was kind of buried in the pit of my tummy. I poked at it with some mana, and it sent a tingle across my entire body, like a shiver.

Interesting.

“Hey, Amaryllis?” I asked.

“Yes?” she asked.

“Can you hurt yourself with your own skills?”

Amaryllis thought about it for a moment. “Yes, but not usually directly. A light application of creativity could turn a harmless skill into a danger, of course. You had a skill that let you jump around. It didn’t harm you, but it didn’t prevent you from jumping off a cliff either.”

“Right,” I said. “I’m gonna try something,” I said.

Before Amaryllis could protest, I shoved a healthy heaping of mana into the swirly thingy in my tummy.

Everything around me shifted. I felt magic clinging to me and my clothes for a moment, then that tingly feeling returned, but way stronger.

And then my friends and the room around me became much, much bigger.

“Whoa!” I squeaked.

My friends jumped, both of them turning to look where I was, or rather, where I’d been. They both looked down at the same time.

Their expressions couldn’t be more different. Amaryllis stared in utter confusion before frowning. “You moron, what have you done now?”

Awen gasped, then reached down with hands that were very, very big. She grabbed me under my arms, her hands were big enough that her thumbs touched. Then she lifted me up before her and held me out at arm’s length.

I wiggled, especially when one of my ears flopped down before me and I had to shove it aside to see.

“Tiny,” Awen said.

When she hugged me, I laughed. It was weird being hugged when Awen was so much bigger.

When the hugging ended, Awen placed me on her lap. “What did you do?” she asked.

“I tried my new skill,” I squeaked while I worked to push my ear back. It seemed as if I’d made myself small, but my ears didn’t change in size at all. So they were as big as usual, but since I wasn’t, they were now about as long as I was tall.

That was going to be tricky to work with. Though maybe it had just been me using the skill wrong. I needed to practice!

I dropped off of Awen’s lap, then ran to the edge of the cot. Awen gasped and reached out for me, as if to stop me from falling off the edge. It was a bit further down that it had been before, but she didn’t need to worry. I stopped pouring mana into the thing in my tummy, and with a snap I returned to my normal size... probably. I was now standing on the edge of the cot, head almost banging against the ceiling.

I’d need to be careful not to bonk myself with the skill.

“Well, that was something,” Amaryllis said. “Why is it that you always end up with the most bizarre abilities?”

“I just say yes to anything I stumble onto,” I said.

She smacked herself in the face. “Broccoli,” she sighed with the same tone she usually used for calling people idiots.

“Let me try to do the opposite,” I said.

“The opposite?” Amaryllis asked. “You’ll make yourself bigger?”

“Yup,” I said.

“No,” she shot back.

I blinked. “No?”

She shook her head. “No. Not indoors. Certainly not onboard a ship, no matter how close to the ground we are.”

“Ah, right, that makes sense,” I said. “Whelp, in that case I’m going back to being small. I want to see if I can get small enough to fit into a pocket.”

“How about you don’t experiment with a new skill so carelessly?” Amaryllis asked instead.

“Could you keep it up all night?” Awen asked. “Like a plushie... but warm?”

“Uh, I don’t think I can,” I said. “It uses up a lot of mana. I’m not sure how much, but at least a point per second, maybe a bit more? I bet it’ll get better with practice though!”

“That’s unsustainable,” Amaryllis said.

“Yes, but it’s fun,” I shot back.

Amaryllis rolled her eyes. “Broccoli, you’re just so... Broccoli.”

“Hey! I’m not a noun you can just toss around like that,” I said.

And so we bickered, and we joked around, and we unwound ourselves after a hard day’s work.

I think we’d done a pretty good job in Goldenalden. We foiled Rainewts evil plans, helped people learn how to break Evil Roots, and hopefully stopped an entire war from happening.

I was pretty proud of what I’d done.

That pride wouldn’t distract me from more adventuring though! I couldn’t wait to hop back aboard the Beaver Cleaver, join up with some of my other friends and crewmates, and head off to the next great adventure!

***