Phew!
Exhausted, I walk over to the large rock wall nearby, and take a bite out of one of the assorted fruits placed on a large leaf.
Pwah!! I’m so glad we took the time to check through all of these fruits. This blue, slightly bouncy one is so refreshing after a nice long training session.
It’s been a long day already, so I’d like to just head back home and take a rest, but I can’t be done for today just yet.
Recently, I’ve been focusing hard on improving my earth magic. I couldn’t use it much back when I was surrounded by that giant plant, feet deep on every side. But now that I’m somewhere with actual ground, I can get to work.
It’s taken a few days of non-stop practice, but I finally managed to get up to level three. Level one’s spell was earth movement, a pretty basic spell that just uses mana to move rocks and stuff. It’s not very powerful, but that’s to be expected from a low-level spell.
The second level gave me the spell solidify, which I haven’t quite figured out yet. I think it’s supposed to toughen up a targeted piece of rock, making it harder to break, but I couldn’t get it to have a noticeable difference.
Now, finally, here at level three, I’ve unlocked… Rock spike!
The name is decently self explanatory, so I think I’ll be able to get a hang of this pretty fast.
Actually, even without my prior knowledge of playing games with magic, the system seems to install the knowledge of the skill in my mind once I unlock it, even if it’s a rather basic understanding of it. It’s kinda creepy, suddenly knowing something I never learned…
But I guess that’s just what happens when you have a game-like skill system in the real world.
Now, let’s test this out. I should have some mana left, despite my training.
Focusing, mana flows out into the ground beneath me. I gently guide it forward, around three feet away, and concentrate it. Earth magic really does suite us. Because the spells are formed underground, the magic circle isn’t visible before the spell activates.
An excellent fit for someone who deals in traps, as we do.
In fact… If there were some way to delay the activation of this spell, or maybe even have it be triggered by something, it’d make a pretty good trap itself! Definitely something to look into!
Finally, I complete creating the magic circle under ground, and with a burst of mana, a shard of rock shoots up from the center of the magic circle, rapidly emerging from the ground.
Nice! The mana’s all mostly dispersed by now, so it looks like, as expected, the spike sticks around after the spell. So, after being used as an attack, or if it misses, it can also make a good obstacle during a fight in a pinch. Well, maybe if it weren’t so small.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
It’s only around a foot and a half tall maybe, which seems decent enough only because we’re small. If we were human size, it wouldn’t be much of an obstacle. It’s not very thick either, so while it’s a decent weapon, it’s probably not great as an obstacle unfortunately. Oh well, the spell’s only level one, it’ll get better as I keep training!
...though, maybe not today. Suddenly, I feel very light-headed.
Oh, yeah, that explains it. I gotta get some rest.
I step away from the spike of rock, walking over to my fruit platter and packing it up, dragging it in my mouth back in the direction of home.
Ugh, this always takes forever…
*fwomp*
I let go, and the large leaf unfurls open.
Finally, made it back. I gotta start bringing just one or two fruits, so I can just eat them there and leave the scraps.
I step over to the other side of the small chamber (which doesn’t take long, we didn’t out that big of a space), and lie down. I squeeze my eyes shut.
I really hate these moments. Having something to do distracts me from it, but when I’m laying here, I become acutely aware of this body. Every twist and turn of it feels wrong to my human mind. The eyes feel small, the neck too wide. Every night, this discomfort overwhelms me.
Then, a noise gets my attention.
I open my eyes.
In front of me, that Mushle Gloria kidnapped is struggling around, restricted by the small string she fashioned out of some kind of mushroom.
That almost feels… wrong, now that I think about it. She ripped apart a regular (as regular as a giant mushroom can be considered) mushroom and used it to restrain a walking mushroom.
How long is she gonna keep lugging that thing around…
I don’t know she even plans to keep feeding the thing.
Welp, not my problem. I can leave that to Gloria to figure out.
Yaa~awn…
Mornin’!
Ready to eat, Mushthew~?
Me and Fir worked out a schedule, he gets to do whatever he wants one day, which is usually his magic training or whatever, and I get to do what I want the next day.
It kinda sucks to lose complete control of the body, but Fir’s got stuff he wants to do, and it’s all too boring for me to care about.
So, my past few days, I’ve been planning out a route to head back up to the cave we were in before, so I can get some food for Mushthew!
Can’t let my little training partner starve, now can I?