Slimes & Magic

11. I believe I can fly!

Come the following morning Alex takes out their board to explain to May that they would like to travel on her shoulders. "**Elvan said to practice magic while traveling today. Want to sit on your shoulders, is that ok?**" Showing the board to May she happily accepts and puts Alex on her shoulders when they packed up their things ready to go on the road again.

Alex looks around as they start walking again, with nothing immediately in sight to practice attack magic on, they think about what kind of magic they could try instead. "***Hmm, I like the idea of creating something with magic that Elvan gave me yesterday. Lets see... maybe something that can be of use to the others. Maybe arrows for May since she looses some every so often.***" Wondering how to go about making arrows, Alex first tries making a simple arrow matching those that May already has. Sticking the end of their tail out to the front Alex creates a small stone with the same shape and size of the arrowheads may is carrying with her. Thinking ahead Alex shapes the butt end of the arrowhead to have two small hook shapes in the middle, around which they then form a wooden arrow shaft with a notch on its end. With an additional bit of magic they also create and embed a set of feathers on to the end, looking at May's arrows for reference. With the arrow done Alex grabs it with the end of their tail and ends their magic. Sensing their own magic power Alex notices this craft taking a bunch more magic than they were expecting, though not really enough to leave much of a dent in their reserves. [skill aquired: Creation] "***oh-ho-ho, it seems I stumbled upon something very useful here. 'Improving the user's ability to create objects using magic, simplifying the process to simple imagination of the final product.' And it will even tell me if I don't have enough magic for it, very nice.***" Impressed by their new skill Alex imagines a duplicate of the arrow they had just previously created and activates the skill. Feeling the magic leaving their flow the arrow is formed before them in just a few moments. The magic gets cut off before Alex can free up their tail still holding the arrow, luckily May was watching and is able to catch the arrow before it falls to far. "*That second one you made was a lot faster*" She says as she takes a closer look at the two arrows, comparing them to her own arrows. "*These two look good compared to my own arrows, thanks Alex, I'll try them out on something later.*" She says putting them away with her other arrows. "***How much of a difference would it make to create something that would normally only take one crafting skill?***" Alex wonders. Instead of making a normal arrow they decide to create one simply out of wood. Imagining an arrow made entirely out of wood, including the tail feathers, activating the skill again results in a smaller draw on their magic capacity. This time being able to catch the arrow themselves Alex shows it to May, "*Hmm, a simple wooden arrow like this is probably too light to be able to shoot properly. If you want to go for a single material then something heavier would be better for arrows.*" She says as feedback. "***Something heavier you say... Lets try aluminium, should still be common enough to not take too much magic.***" Creating a simple arrow out of aluminium turns out to only cost slightly more that the original arrow craft, presumably due to the increase in material cost, but keeping it low by only needing to know the blacksmithing crafting skill. "*Oh well that's nice*" May comments as she takes a closer look again. "*It's definitely a bit heftier than your usual arrow, will probably be good on something with a thicker skin. Could you actually make me like, 5 more of these?*" She asks looking at Alex. Nodding they activate the creation skill to make 5 identical arrows at the same time. May grabs the finished arrows out of the air and stashes them with her other arrows, reaching up to pet Alex she says "*Thanks for looking out for me.*"

After an hour or two of walking and looking around Alex spots a falcon flying low over the plains ahead of them. Quickly tapping May and indicating the bird Alex nods as she asks "*Do you want to use magic against it?*" She quickly steps to the front of the group saying "*Alex want to try and shoot that bird down with his magic, I'll go in front with him so you guys don't get hit.*" Taking aim at the bird Alex decides to use ice bullet against it, knowing it will probably try to fly away if they miss Alex first tries to direct it to fly closer towards them. They aim a small sharp point of ice to fly directly ahead of the bird to make it change direction towards them. Quickly building up the air pressure behind the ice it shoots of at a high speed with the desired results. With the bird now heading to cross the path in front of them Alex creates several ice shards in front of them and building up the pressure in the air. Hoping to be able to hit the bird with one of the many shards due to their lack in accuracy Alex sends them off with a burst of air just as the falcon flies over the path. The bird was able to see the incoming attack as it tried to evade the shot, however one of the upper shards of ice was able to hit it. With a small thud the bird crashes to the ground next to the path and Alex jumps down turning in to the wolf to jump on top of the bird and kill it before it tries to get away. Proudly carrying the bird back to the others Alex puts it down as they all crouch down. "*Good bit of magic there Alex, good thinking to shoot multiple shards at a time*" Compliments Elvan, "*Pretty damn impressive if you ask me*" Carl adds. "*I think this bird should be yours to absorb Alex since its your first magic kill.*" May says as the others nod in agreement. "*Have at it, and fly us a round will you?*" Alex absorbs the falcon without a second thought, ready to take to the skies. Taking a short run as a wolf Alex jumps up as high as they can transforming midway in to the bird sticking to its original size. [skills aquired; Flying, far-sight]. With the new skill; flying Alex immediately takes off high up in to the sky circling upwards over the heads of the others. At an altitude of 200 meters Alex levels out and starts gliding. Trying out the skill; far-sight that they just got from the falcon they are able to zoom in on anything in the far distance without loosing any detail. Looking down at the trio under them Alex sees as they all watch them flying. "***Lets try something, I wonder how big I can get and how fast I can go.***" Growing the falcon transformation to its biggest possible with their slime size Alex is now as big as an eagle. Flapping twice they close their wings and go in for a steep dive back down to the ground. "***OOOH YEAH that's it.***" They think as the dopamine rushes through their system, screeching as loud as they can out of pure joy. Coming closer to the ground Alex pulls out of the dive maintaining most of their speed to fly a circle around the group without batting their wings once. Coming close to the ground Alex pulls back and slows down flapping their wings to come in front of the group. "*Looks like you are having the time of your life there Alex*" May says with a wide smile as she crouches down next to Alex. Showing off a bit Alex flaps their wings open and hops around in a circle looking up at her. "*Looking mighty fine there*" Carl comments, "*He's right, this time your feathers are a bit more of a golden colour, and on your stomach here you have a bit of your green mixed in too.*" May adds as she checks out Alex. "*I've got to add, your transformation is quite big, is this as big as you can go at the moment?*" Elvan asks, nodding in response Alex hops excitedly, flapping their wings, in the direction they are traveling. "*I agree Alex, lets keep going. When you get tired just hop on to my shoulder again yes?*" Squawking in reply to May, Alex takes off in to the skies again as the others start walking. They enjoy the freedom in the air for a couple hours, flying high and low around their friends. Landing back down to on to May's shoulder in their smaller form they make it to a fork in the road in no time at all. The large jungle trees that Alex had spotted while flying are now well in sight as they take the road along the west side of the jungle.

Come nightfall the path they are following is surrounded by a thin jungle forest, only a couple of bigger trees and mostly bushes around the place. Having settled down for dinner Alex has an idea while he waits for the others to prepare dinner. Taking out their chalkboard from their stomach Alex writes: "**I have idea, pick one type of accessory you want each**". Sliding up to May who's standing closest to them Alex taps her on the leg to get her attention. She crouches down and mumbles as she reads what they wrote, "*What kind of accessory we want?*" Alex nods and she says to the two guys "*Guys, Alex is asking what what kind of accessories we each want, says they has an idea. I'd love a necklace myself.*" Both guys take a moment to think, "*For me a chain I can put on my belt maybe.*" replies Carl. "*I'll take a ring, as long as its not too flashy.*" Elvan adds finally. Alex nods to each of them, erases their board writing;"**ok now no looking at what I'm doing**". Sliding over to the far corner of the tarp they share with May, Alex turns their back on the group and gets to work. "***I have plenty of magic capacity left for today, so I think I can use some rarer materials to make these guys something special. Titanium for Elvan, silver for Carl, and gold for May, I think I'll add a matching feature on each too.***" Starting with Elvan's ring, Alex imagines a ring made out of titanium, with on the top a slightly flattened and rounded surface. On this surface a small slime depicted with thin golden outlines, on the inside of the ring band Alex imagines a inscription of Elvan's name. "***A ring to fit on Elvan's hand***" Alex thinks as they cast the skill; creation and release the magic. As expected the outflow of magic is much greater than it was while practicing magic during the day. Right in front of them forms the ring exactly as Alex had imagined it, dropping down on to the tarp. Moving on to Carl's, Alex pictures a silver chain made of bigger links. On the link in the middle of the chain an extra chain hangs down and goes through a flat circular plate of silver, with an identical depiction of a slime in gold. On each end of the chain Alex adds an extra bent hook like link that would be able to go around the belt loops on pants. Once again activating creation it forms in front of Alex and drops down on to the ground next to the ring. For the final piece for May, Alex imagines a similar link of chains made out of gold, this time much smaller links. On one end of the chain a bigger loop, and on the other a longer bar on the end, so that it could be connected by putting the bar through the loop. Again in the middle of the chain a plate made of silver attached with the same slime depiction in gold. With that final activation of creation Alex can sense that their magic reserves have significantly decreased by more than 50% for the three pieces combined together. [Skill levelled up: Magic]. "***Oh I guess I've used enough magic to level it up. I do feel that my magic capacity has gone up. Alright, I'm done.***" Alex absorbs and stores the three pieces that they made and turns in to the biggest dire-wolf they can. "***I feel like I can better give these to them if I have arms.***" Turning around Alex walks back to the group waiting around the campfire. First going up to Elvan, Alex lifts up their paw and nudges his hand. "*what's up, do you want my hand?*" Alex nods as they put their paw on Elvan's hand and drop out the ring on to it through their paw. Going over to Carl lifting their paw again, Carl already puts out his hand and receives the chain. Finally giving the necklace for May to her as well Alex sits down next to her. Ooh's and Ah's were heard as Alex went around, "*These are very well made Alex, I'm impressed once again.*" Elvan says as he looks at all the pieces. "*Oh look we each have a little slime too, thanks Alex!*" May says as the other two also say their thanks as well. "*Did you make anything for yourself?*" May asks them, Alex shakes their head no. "*Hmm then I think you should make yourself a collar for your wolf form. Next time we kill something like a boar you should use some of the leather for it.*"
"*I agree with May, we should all be matching, not just the three of us.*" Says Carl. "*A collar would probably also help for when we walk in to villages, then they would be able to recognize that you aren't a wild animal.*" Adds Elvan in agreement. Alex thinks for a moment, then writes on their board as a snake, "**I think I have enough magic to try now**".
"*Oh wow, you still have magic left after making these three. If you can then go ahead.*" Elvan comments after reading Alex's board. Back in their wolf form Alex sticks out their paw in front of them and creates a mental image of the collar. The collar itself made out of boar hide, with a metal clasp and holes just like a belt. On a ring of leather that can slide around the collar Alex adds the same plate and slime depiction as for the others. This time activating creation drains Alex's magic reserves much more than with the other pieces as the magic flows out creating the collar. Once it falls on the ground May picks it up and puts it around Alex's neck. "*Now we are all matching!*" May says with a big smile. "*You know that was a lot of magic that you had flowing out, looked like your capacity was bigger than last time I checked.*" Elvan comments. As Alex turns in to a snake again to write they absorb and store away the collar, "**Yes my magic skill levelled up just now.**"
"*Oh that's great, only took you a couple days for the first level.*" Elvan replies. "*Alright guys, our dinner looks like it's done, lets eat.*"