16: Tiny Times

Five days after mom called, I was on my third death at the hands of mushroom man when I arrived back at the arena to find someone else waiting. The figure sitting on a large fallen block quickly resolved itself into her.

Paisley sat watching me approach with an open, friendly smile, her legs kicking back and forth like she was splashing them in a pond.

“Hiya,” she waved, and the look in her eyes hurt. It was so kind, so open and guileless. It was also the smile of someone greeting a stranger.

“Hello?” I greeted her in turn, posing it as a question.

Her response was so like her. It was like she was only now realising what was happening. That she’d waited at the guild spot early to talk to a stranger. She blushed and glanced down at the cobblestones.

The tap tap tap of her feet on the stone went quiet. “I… uh, I wanted to say hello. You’ve been here for like, almost two weeks now, throwing yourself at that boss. I guess I just felt like… you know…”

“I’m sorry, but I really don’t,” I sighed, giving her a wan smile. I pointed past her towards the boss. “I’m going to get started, okay?”

Her hopeful, kindly expression deflated slightly, and she nodded wordlessly. I stepped onto the arena.

Another death later, and I had realised what was going on with the boss. Every time it got to fifty percent health, it went into an add phase, where a ton of tiny mushroom zombies would spring up out of the ground. They all had to die as quickly as possible, otherwise they would explode and create clouds of Sprite-seeking danger.

Previously, I’d been allowing them to explode and just adding the slow moving clouds to the list of shit I had to dodge, but as the fight wore on past that, they were just one small factor that could lead to a failed run. So, I needed to kill the little zombie bastards. Problem was, I couldn’t move fast enough to hit all of them.

That night, an epiphany came to me. I couldn’t wait for the game to hand my small form to me. I needed to force it, to learn the ability on my own. So, I practiced various mental commands in an attempt to jump start the process.

The next day, Paisley was there again. This time, she just gave me a shy, apologetic smile and watched me head forth to take on the boss. When I died before the fifty percent mark, I walked back up next to her and just sort of stared.

She gazed right back at me, her big doe eyes searching mine for the reason I’d stopped. God she was so pretty. The makeup was new, though, as was the hair colour. It had been bright pink before. She’d gone full goth on me since I’d been kicked from the guild.

“Why are you watching me?” I asked, but my tone wasn’t accusatory. It was just curious.

“A low level player fighting a max level boss and actually making progress?” she asked with a little smile. “Of course I’m interested.”

I grunted, except, from my new body the sound came out as a little huff. “Okay.”

Hesitating, I glanced around and worried at my bottom lip with my teeth. I needed to put the seed of the idea in her head. Even if there wasn’t any hope for me anymore, the least I could do was help Ethan. He deserved better.

“I have a question.”

“Shoot,” she said instantly.

“Your guild leader…” I began, flicking to meet her eyes for just a moment. “Do you know he’s cheating on his boyfriend?”

“What?” she croaked, voice suddenly strangled. “How do you know that?”

“You’re from Silver Ridge, right?” I asked carefully. “Aquilla used to be in my old guild before he joined yours. He’s fucking Marlon, or so my friends think.”

“That’s… t-that’s a lot to throw at me,” she finally murmured.

Ah, crud. It probably would have been better to tell Ethan. Paisley was a sweetheart and she wouldn’t know what to do with the information.

Without really thinking, I reached out and placed the tips of my fingers to the back of her hand. “Sorry. I know. I just, it isn’t right. I thought someone in your guild should know.”

“If you’re not lying… thanks,” she sighed, staring down at my small, dainty little hand.

I gave her my best smile. “And if I’m lying, you can cheer every time the boss splats me.”

She laughed, but the sound cut off when she looked back up at my smiling face. Her reaction was… strange. She sort of just, froze, and stared for several long seconds. Her mouth opened slightly, then closed, then opened again. Finally, she tilted her head and raised her other hand, meeting my eyes with a deep intensity. Confused, I watched as she flipped her hand down like it had gone floppy or something. It was a very odd gesture, but apparently it was important that I see it?

“Um…” I began, before trailing off, completely befuddled and at a loss for words.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, dropping the hand again. “Uh… yeah. If you do beat that boss… I’ll… well, it’ll be super impressive.”

“Hopefully I’ll impress you then,” I winked, and strode out onto the battlefield.

I pulled off the opening moves of the dance with practiced precision, and following that, began to build up the stacks of my buffs and debuffs. The mushroom slowed, my damage increased, and its health bar dropped.

Honestly, my biggest worry was that the skills I was learning here would not translate to other areas of the game. If I spent two weeks spamming this boss only to find that it was all exclusive to this boss I’d be so upset.

As the boss’ health neared half way, I began to imagine myself in a cone. My essence, my body, my soul, whatever the game version of that was, I imagined it in the wide end of the cone, and then I pushed. At first, nothing happened, but as I moved and dashed around the arena, performing my carefully choreographed dance, something began to change.

My perspective began to shift, the world growing larger with every step. Then, when I was forced to Ribbon Roll to avoid a devilishly quick swipe, there was a sort of popping sensation. Suddenly, the world was a lot bigger, and so was the mushroom boss.

That wasn’t the only change though. I felt so much more powerful, so much stronger, faster, better… unfortunately not harder, I felt much squishier, but still. Three out of four was good, right?

Time to see what my abilities could really do. At one foot tall, the boss was a behemoth, a titan, and I was davidette. I gripped the hilt of my sword with my index finger caressing the flower-shaped guard, and sighted the incoming juggernaut. Within me, fae magic sharpened and condensed into a thin line, and I unleashed the attack.

My blade tore a rift of vibrant pink energy into the air. It hung there in midair for the briefest moment, then leapt towards the boss like a hungry bird of prey. The slice cut deep into the shield arm of the mushroom, causing it to actually stagger. Its health dropped below fifty percent.

As the boss recovered from the blow, little mushroom zombies began to sprout from the ancient market square with hideous cries. It was a sound somewhere between a baby’s howl and the guttural moan of a zombie. Each one was almost twice as tall as me now, too. Creepy fucking things.

I cut down the nearest one with a single imbued attack, and hopped like five meters in a single wing-assisted bound. The second was just as quick to dispatch, and I laughed with glee as I fluttered and skipped towards the next. This was so fun! Another Spring Slash streaking through the air took out the fourth baby mushroom the moment before the tip of my sword pierced the fifth and final one.

I didn’t have time to celebrate, though, because I had approximately five seconds to reapply my damage buff or lose out on the almost three hundred percent damage multiplier. Thankfully, the boss was pretty pissed that I’d killed all his kids.

Or, I should say, worryingly, because he began to build into an attack that I did not recognise. A wave of gross turquoise light surged out from around him. The ring expanded rapidly, and I was caught by it, killing me instantly. When I arrived back, Silver Ridge was in the middle of killing the boss. I sighed and began to recall to my apartment. Still, I’d made significant progress today. That was exciting!

Stepping into the entryway, I pulled up my notifications and scanned through them. Two things jumped out at me, one that I’d been expecting, and one that I hadn’t.

Wee One Transformation Performed!

You have learned this ability without the use of a Fae Race Ascension point. This ability will begin with a penalty to its attribute boosts until you practice and refine your technique.

Wee One Transformation

You shrink to one quarter of your normal size, changing your attribute distribution in the process. (+30% Strength, +20% Athleticism, +20% Dexterity, -50% Constitution.) Note, these positive attribute buffs are halved until you have refined your technique.

Holy hell! That was incredibly powerful! So long as I could keep moving and dodge everything, I’d be a force of nature! The transformation itself wasn’t the most exciting notification, though, because I had another one waiting.

Congratulations! Through strength of will and pure fairy bull-headedness, you have improved your flight skills! As an activity linked to one of three Ascension paths, this has caused you to gain a Fae Race Ascension point!

I threw that point into my wings so fast I may as well have been digital already. I wanted to fly baby.

QuietValerie