Fascinating.

For some reason, I had simply assumed I could only store items inside my pocket space. I had no idea I could store living beings inside… much less myself. This ability of mine had way more potential than I’d initially thought. Heck, if I could store people in here, wouldn’t that make me a top-tier kidnapper? Not that that was my first pick for a potential career path or anything.

Anyway, I would have imagined my pocket dimension as some kind of void with items floating around and whatnot. But no, my pocket space was more like a bubble smushed down into a dome shape. And only outside of the bubble could I see the expansive void. Although there were also some other bubbles around. Some blue, some red, some green… one of them black. What could those be? Other people’s personal spaces? Could I invade them and -- permanently -- borrow their stuff? Maybe. Something to try out later if I could figure out how to drive my bubble, or if I can move through the between-bubble space.

Also, the edge of my cute little bubble was like a mirror. I could see my beautiful elf face inside. The elven village didn’t have mirrors, and at most, I would see my reflection in the water. But this bubble was something else.

I looked… really cute, to be honest. Way cuter than a guy should. I didn’t really mind, though. Looking cute was a nice change of pace from my previous life. Heck, looking like this, and with my voice still being untouched by elven puberty, I could probably pass as a girl if I wanted to.

…

Well, with nobody here telling me no, I was free to do whatever I wanted! So yes, if I ever met a person who wouldn’t want to instantly see me dead for my hair color, I would totally pretend to be a girl!

Just the thought of that made me grin.

Ahem, anyway…

I was inside my storage space now. As fascinating as this was, it also felt kind of weird. See, I could sort of feel and move all the items I’d put into this place. And apparently, that also included me! Flying around the bubble was great! Even though it was more like levitating since the speed was so slow. Walking was way faster.

But as I’d said, it was also weird. Or rather, reaaaaally uncomfortable. I could feel everything inside the pocket space. Everything. God, my body felt so icky and slimy. Especially in certain places. I guess that was the price I had to pay for literally removing my hitbox from the real world.

Still, I had to try really hard not to focus on these sensations. In the meantime, I thought about the possibilities I had with my ability.

I could dodge attacks by phasing out of existence, couldn’t I? Except that I wouldn’t see what was going on back in the real world until I decided to come back. And what if there just happened to be a sharp sword going through the space I would materialize in?

I shuddered thinking about it.

Okay, but surely, the wyvern must have been gone by now, right? Yeah, I’d spent a fair amount of time being astonished by the bubble space. There was no way he wouldn’t have left in the meantime… right? I wouldn’t just conveniently spawn back right inside its stomach, right?

…

Well, as they said, you only live twice.

So… Just like dispensing other items from here… Let’s do this.

I focused on my power and dispensed myself out of my pocket dimension. Rather than a gradual fade as one might have expected, the scenery snapped from a bubble to a forest in an instant.

Right after appearing back in the forest, I spotted my companion still doing his pose a short way away. I felt relieved for a split moment before I heard the annoying roar from the side once again.

I didn’t even spare the jerk a glance and dashed at Chad. As soon as I’d gotten close enough, I used my ability on both of us and found myself inside the bubble space once again.

While I was on the ground, breathing heavily after such an adrenaline rush, Chad kept standing around, with his usual smug Chad face.

“Yeah, yeah. An invincible hero. You could have at least done something!”

The smugness didn’t disappear. What a jerk.

Anyway… Even though it was quite uncomfortable being here, it was at least infinitely safer for sleeping purposes than inside that forest. The ground wasn’t the softest, but my collection of herbs and leaves I kept borrowing from the village’s alchemist would make for some okay bedding.

Well, since the fake dragon was stubborn and refused to leave, I would just go to sleep. That’s what I’d wanted to do before scaleface outside interrupted me anyway.

And thus, after preparing my wonderful hundred percent natural bed without any additives or preservatives, I went to sleep under the watchful eye of the legendary elven hero.

…

Okay, maybe that was a bit awkward. I kindly asked him to not watch me sleep and instead stare out into the void. Much better that way.

With me being dead tired, it didn’t take long for me to drift off to sleep.

…

When I woke up, I was greeted by the same old void with the exact same light levels as when I’d gone to sleep. Yeah, it was sort of impossible to tell the time when in here. For all I knew, I could have slept an hour, or five months, or fifty thousand years. There was no way to tell.

Putting that aside, I got up and looked around my bubble. Everything was as I had left it, even Chad looking out into the distance.

After some light exercise and eating whatever berries I still had around, I had a strategy meeting with my companion.

“So what do you think, Chad? Is the fake dragon gone yet?”

Chad floated in mid-air and made a motion of looking left, then right, then he looked at me and his entire figure tilted to the side.

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s kinda hard to tell from inside here.”

With my luck, the wyvern had decided to stay in that place and camp me. As soon as I came out, I would be a goner.

“Still, we can’t stay here forever! We have an adventure waiting for us!”

And also, I would run out of food. Not to mention my discomfort with staying in this place.

Chad nodded before floating next to me without saying a word. I fully understood what he meant, though. Even if there was a spawncamping jerk outside, I could snap back here as soon as it seemed even remotely dangerous.

“Okay, then. Guess I’ll have to be a ninja for now. Hey, that’s not a bad image. A cool elven ninja girl! That’s me.” I smiled to myself.

Chad tilted to the side, showing his confusion as to why I’d called myself a girl.

“Hmm? Well, think of it as a prank… or maybe an experiment for now! I mean, I look pretty girly already, don’t I?”

Chad nodded.

“So if anyone asks, I’m a girl. It will be funny when they find out I was only pretending!”

Chad nodded again.

“Alright. Now then. Let’s do this! Something something jutsu!”

I snapped back into the real world and instantly scanned my surroundings for any potential flying lizards with sniper rifles. I was ready to go back as soon as I saw him.

But just to thwart my expectations, that wyvern was nowhere to be found. No roars, no nothing. It seemed like he had moved on.

I relaxed, half relieved, half disappointed.

“Well, I guess I’ll go full ninja next time then.”

With those words, I continued my adventure through the forest.

BottledChaos

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