Chapter 25: Chapter 24: public wings

As we walk through the atrium, I ask Jo “So, want to go back to the park to get lunch? And you can continue with practice afterwards? Or do you want to meet up with your friends?”

“Yes” she answers absentmindedly, not seeming to fully register my question as she seems to be lost in thoughts.

Leaving the academy turns out to be pretty straight forward, despite the spiral staircase. I am approached by a few students asking about my wings since I decided to not put them away. Having them in an environment were people sort of know what they are seems like a good idea to gauge how much attention they garner me. Turns out quite a few turn to observe me and more than a few conversations pertain to them, but for the most part I am left to my own devices. A couple teachers approach me and offer their condolences before asking if I would like to join their discussions. I politely decline them before continuing on my way out of the academy. Jo is silently following along. I’m not sure if these people would be more or less inclined to interact with me because of my wings than the general populace, so for now I remove them before I fully leave the academy. Honestly I would prefer to have them present, but having swarms of people trying to get to you is bound to be annoying. It’s not like I’m afraid of them, it would just be inconvenient. If push comes to shove, I’m sure I would come out on top, unless someone as powerful as James comes along. Actually, let’s test it. I re-enable my wings as we walk towards the park. It doesn’t take long before I realize that the students were more interested than the general populace, though a lot still turns to look. Luckily nobody tries to engage in conversation with me. In fact, people seem to make way when I walk. 

We get to the park mostly unhindered. A particularly eager merchant was determined to get me to buy something. He never explained what it was, only that it would be great for me to have. In the end I shoved him away from me with a mana barrier before he got the message.

By the time we sit down on one of the grassy fields, Jo seems to have figured out her thoughts. She starts by apologizing for asking to teach her to make her own wings. I had no problem with her asking, but her apology is appreciated. I decide to eat another of the mystery wraps, and she gets something out of her own inventory. This one has most of the same vegetables, and a slightly different sauce. It tastes slightly worse than the previous one, but still alright.

Once we are done eating, she dons her leather armor and starts to practice her thrusting. She seems to be close to achieving the first step up from the basic one. It doesn’t leave you dizzy, but still kicks like a horse. I join her in practicing, though I am more interested in making a spell that lets me fly continuously. I thought a lot about it yesterday when I was watching her, and I came to the conclusion that ‘Dimension Impulse’ would be the best starting point. As the name implies, it’s an impulse of force applied uniformly on my body. I want to change it to a continuous force. 

As the afternoon goes on, I try a lot of different methods in between helping Jo. Keth also shows up sometime and joins Jo in practicing. I don’t make any meaningful progress on my flight spell, and as the evening comes, I am pretty sure that the spell I chose as the baseline was the wrong choice, since it is fundamentally an impulse. Jo on the other hand has managed to cast the new spell a couple times and is quite happy about it. I don’t know about Keth though, as I have more or less ignored him. I think he was surprised when he first saw my wings, but I’m pretty sure Jo took care of whatever his reaction was at the time, because I was deep in focus at altering my spell.

Back at the inn, James seems to be in a good mood. He is sitting with an ale in his hand and a hat on his head. It looks like a robin hood style hat, feather and all. I compliment him on his choice of hat, and ask if it’s new or from his inventory. It’s new, and apparently enchanted for a small increase in agility. I don’t see any enchantments on it, but maybe it’s a stamina enchantment. In the game it was never specified if enchantments was mana or stamina, just a separate thing, though since coming here I have been able to see enchantments the same way I see mana. Asking him about it reveals that it is indeed a stamina enchantment. Turns out he can see stamina the same way I see mana and can judge a person's strength based on it. About half of the people in town have some stamina, but James describes it as a small amount, the same way I would describe people’s mana. Makes sense, since I only see mana in about half of the people as well.

Honestly calling it stamina has been odd. It made perfect sense in the game, since stamina was the fuel for physical abilities and mana the fuel for magic, though now everyone has some stamina, which is the ability to endure activities for a duration and half of them has ‘stamina’ which is the magic fuel for physical characters in the game. I’m sure we will continue to use the words out of habit though.

Our meal goes on for a while, with the inn serving a rather good stew. We share what we found out during the day. James learns that the academy headmaster knew of my identity, and I learn of a few cool spots in the city.

Afterwards I head to my room and lock the door behind me. I see my reflection in the triple mirror I have left standing here over the days and see my wings. They bring a smile to my face yet again. I smile both because they are beautiful and that they remind me of her. I can’t thank her enough for this gift. I do still miss her, but I fall asleep with a smile on my face.