Sarah

The tigerkin woman and her three new elven friends sat around a table made of stone, on chairs also made of stone, courtesy of Amber. The stone walls surrounding their little camp were high enough that no one could see over them without using magic, though the exceptions were anyone with wings.

Sarah watched in fascination as Luna used her Gift for the first time.

The girl had her hands held out, and streams of water came out of them and formed into the shape of a small dog sitting on the table. It looked to be a shiba inu. The water turned into frosted ice as the form finalized, and when it was finished, it happily ran up to her just like an ordinary dog would.

“Is it real?” Michelle asked.

Having to take care of a dog suddenly will make traveling more difficult. We already know we’re going to head through at least the Kingdom, which is quite the distance by itself.

Luna smiled as she happily pet the animal. “The Gift I have feels like it only looks like a dog, but isn’t one for real.”

Aww, this is adorable. And that's a relief.

They each took turns petting the dog, which didn’t feel cold at all, even to herself and Amber, who didn’t have [Cold] modifiers.

It even feels soft… Amazing.

“So what was it that gave you such a strange reaction when you were done?” Sarah asked Michelle.

Looking at her happy daughter, she said, “My little girl suddenly tackled the goddess in a hug right before leaving.”

“O-Oh… That would do it. It seems like it turned out okay, though?”

She nodded. “The goddess said it was fine, and she even seemed amused. Still, I think I just about had a heart attack in there.”

With that explained, Sarah asked, “So what did everyone get again? My gift is basically an advanced version of my [Impact] modifier. I can hit things with a lot of force, but much more precisely now.”

Gesturing to her distracted daughter, Michelle said, “Hers is to create an animal out of ice, apparently even replicating its behavior. Mine allows me to create a motorcycle. I’ll start playing with it in a bit.”

Amber said, “My Gift allows me to alter weapons and armor, and I think I can probably do some real precise work with it. It’s a shame I don’t have anything to practice it with, though.”

Michelle suggested, “You know how a lot of games have armor slots that you can even put crappy clothes in? Maybe your Gift could still work on what you’ve got now?”

Her eyes opened wide. “Oh! Let me see!” She closed them and focused. Slowly, the tear on her left sleeve closed itself. She looked at it happily. “Okay, so I interpreted it wrong. It’s like… things intended to be worn. And I can’t make things stronger, I can only modify their shape, I think.
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“Hmm… Only weapons still count, though, for the other aspect of my Gift. I’m pretty sure about that one. So that means I can’t just modify whatever I want.”

Sarah commented, “It’s already wild that you can manipulate things outside your element in any way.”

She nodded in agreement. “Yeah, the gods did me a real favor, didn’t they? We’ll save a lot on repairs, though it would probably be a bad idea to rely solely on my Gift. From what I understand, most people get things within their element, though.” Looking at Michelle, she asked, “Unless your motorcycle is made of more than just ice?”

“Let’s see,” Michelle said. She got out of her seat and moved to a spot with enough room. She held out her hands the same way Luna had earlier. Water streamed from her hands and formed into a motorcycle made of frosted ice.

She immediately began circling around it and modifying it, getting lost in her own little world. The other two adults watched as Michelle got rid of everything unnecessary for a fantasy motorcycle that was powered by magic and not gasoline.

She got rid of the gas tank, the exhaust pipe, the now-pointless headlight—as it couldn’t emit any light—the license plate, the turn signals, and various other bits. She also experimented with changing the look from frosted to clear, but changed it back to frosted pretty quickly.

She sighed sadly.

“You back with us?” Amber asked her friend.

“Hm? Oh, sorry. I got really into it.”

“I could tell. You seem disappointed, though.”

“Well, it’s just that nearly all the things that make it a motorcycle are useless. Now it’s just a block of ice in the shape of one that I propel with my mana.
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“It’s still cool, but I can’t help but lament that there isn’t anything to disassemble and play around with. There isn’t even any challenge in changing how it looks.”

“Michelle, you’re looking at it entirely the wrong way. It’s a magic motorcycle. Don’t limit it to the design of an Earth one. I saw you change the shape so that all those parts were gone, but would could you add to it instead? What could you alter?”

“Oh…!” She looked back at it with new eyes.

Amber grabbed Michelle’s arm to keep her from wandering off. “It’s good that you’re excited, but stay with us in reality for a bit.”

Luna’s puppy suddenly vanished. “Aww, I couldn’t keep it out anymore. I’m tired.”

Michelle rubbed her head. “You just have to practice a bit. The more you use magic, the longer you’ll be able to keep it out.”

“Really? I want it here all the time!”

“Then you’ll be able to do that soon.”

“I can’t wait. I want to pet so many animals.”

It’s amazing that Michelle manages to look so caring despite the default angry expression she usually has. Though, I think that’s just her avatar, not her actual expression.

Michelle sat back down at the table, and Luna moved into her lap and made herself comfortable, where her mom hugged her from behind.

“Well, I guess that just leaves me,” Sarah said. “I have the [Impact] modifier, and my Gift enhances that. Uh, Michelle, can you make a few blocks of ice for me to demonstrate with?”

“Sure,” she replied, forming several large cubes of ice on the table.

Sarah grabbed one and said, “This is with just the modifier.” She crushed it, and it burst into a lot of smaller chunks.

She grabbed another, and said, “And this is with the Gift added.” She crushed it again, but focused on using her new ability as well. It crushed the cube quite finely, practically turning it into a powder.

Amber excitedly said, “That’s really cool! The two of you can make so many snow cones now!”

Sarah snorted. “Finally, my goal in life shall be fulfilled.”

She nodded. “Yep! Everyone needs a yummy cone.”

Getting back on topic, she said, “Mine doesn’t seem as flashy as everyone else’s, but I think it could have some interesting uses, even outside of fighting monsters.”

“I think so, too,” Michelle agreed. “If you’re interested in alchemy, there are a lot of ingredients that need to be ground up super finely. If you improve that skill, you could probably do that easily. And maybe other things in general that are difficult to turn into powder.”

“There’s an idea. I did think alchemy was interesting, but I never really bothered with it considering how little I actually played the game.”

The four of them spent the rest of the day playing with their Gifts. Because they didn’t want to show them off, and just in case the soldiers thought that they might make good additions to their army, they didn’t do anything with them outside of their little camp.

The three adults struggled with that, as they each wanted to dive into their Gifts on a much deeper level. And Luna was also struggling, but that was because she couldn’t fuel her Gift for long enough to have a pet to play with at all times.

At least this is fun. And distracts me from thinking about everyone I can’t see anymore…

 

———

 

Michelle

It was a week after their arrival that a group of soldiers returned to the base with several carriages—pulled by some rather gnarly-looking monster horses—loaded up with supplies. It was mostly food and clothing, and the then empty carriages would be used to transport the first group of 100 out into the world.

The new supplies didn’t seem like much, but having something else to wear beyond the single tunic they’d started out with was an immense relief to everyone. There was also salt and herbs that gave their bland meals a dramatic improvement in taste.

The new clothing items included flimsy shoes, underthings, pants, and various other bits of fabric, though all of it was of the cheapest quality possible. Amber’s Gift was a literal godsend for repairing their clothes and making everything fit better.

From Amber’s experiments, she had determined that it was impossible for her to create material from nothing, and neither could she change a material from one thing into another. She could only alter what was already there.

Also, the more difficult it was to work with a material, the more difficult it was for her to alter it. Clothes were easy, but if she had a knife or something to work with, it would require more effort.

She attempted altering things that weren’t weapons or armor, just in case her interpretation of her Gift was wrong, but it wasn’t. She also tried seeing if any random thing that could be used as a weapon could be altered with her Gift, but it didn’t work. It had to be something that was specifically made to be a weapon.

They did several experiments with magic to see how they could get them to work together. Amber created a bathtub, Luna filled it with water, and then Amber heated the tub to make the water warm. They were also able to create a shower, but that required a constant flow of water from Michelle, so they didn’t bother with it.

The mother/daughter pair created blocks of ice, and Sarah would then circulate a breeze to create rudimentary air conditioning. Amber was the only one who didn’t need it, as her [Heat] modifier meant the warmth of the summer sun was nothing to her.

There were many more results, such as Sarah being able to soften the ground they slept on beyond what Amber could manage, but nothing else had been very significant so far.

At least in the winter months, Luna and I will be perfectly fine.

Michelle was desperate to drive her motorcycle around already, but wasn’t comfortable with showing it off here. In its normal state, it could only carry one passenger, but she had discovered that she could put a sidecar on both sides. Like Luna’s animals, the ice of her motorcycle didn’t feel cold at all. She was quite glad about that, as she didn’t want her passengers constantly freezing and getting cold.

The sidecars were even large enough to fit two people each, meaning, altogether, Michelle could transport five people, or carry a lot of luggage. And from what she had seen of the carriages of this world so far, her motorcycle would be much faster.

It took some experimenting, but Michell managed to make the seats squishy and actually comfortable to sit on. She had to make a flexible film of ice that contained water within it. She wasn’t sure if it would be feasible with regular ice, but her Gift is what had made it possible.

She attempted making other vehicles with her Gift, but found that she could only make motorcycles. Thinking about it, she wondered if that might actually be an advantage. A car is one big shape, but because she has a motorcycle with two sidecars, she has three separate pieces that she can manipulate to conform to the terrain as she drives.

I’m not limited to keeping the design rigid, after all, but actually managing that will take some practice. The roads in this world aren’t paved, and we might even be off-road sometimes, so that will be for the best, I think.

Michelle thought about gear for herself to wear as she drove, but creating durable clothing out of ice proved to be impossible for her.

At least for now, anyway.

Finally, she made the interesting discovery that if she had all three sections covered in canopies, then everyone was able to talk to each other just fine, despite the separation.

As for Luna, her presence alone and seeing her playing with her ice animal was a source of healing for each of them. She could create any animal she wanted, and could even alter its size.

A larger animal took more mana to maintain, while a smaller one was more cost-effective, and could even fit in a pocket if she made it small enough.

Even though Michelle was still adjusting to her new body, she was actually glad to an extent that she matched Luna. In such a messed up situation, it was a source of comfort for both of them to be elves with ice magic. If she had been brought over here in her snakekin avatar, it wouldn’t be immediately obvious to anyone that they were related, and they wouldn’t have had the same magic to play around with.

The soldiers apparently had plans for the base once everyone from Earth was gone, but that didn’t make them rush to get everyone out. Currently, this was a pretty unimportant location in their war efforts.

So I guess we're just stuck here for a while, then... Great.