Data collection ended after another 30 minutes of sitting around chatting about what activities and exercises they would get to do today. Cho banged the loud acorns together causing half of the nearly 800 Fairies in their group to jump or cover their ears, while the other half flinched momentarily before they poofed into motes and scattered. Pel, Liki, and Mat were among those that turned into motes.

“Those of you who failed to follow directions, fly down to the bottom of this limb, turn upside down, and give me squats until you reach half of your Stamina pool!” Cho shouted with a frown. “Group Protectors, go yell mean things about them!” Those that hadn’t failed to follow orders returned to the top of the limb and sat back down.

Cho looked over the recorded information on the tablets while several hundred Fairies were doing upside down flying squats to the sound of yelling which contained a hint of barely concealed amusement. Everyone was getting restless while waiting, and Pel could see many others like him that wanted nothing more than to fly down to The Glade for a closer look. The punished group returned after several minutes, faces drawn into either sad frowns or smiles depending on how they took the Protectors’ yelling. Nearly all of the Protectors were looking both apologetic and in good spirits, likely from getting to relive their own punishment experiences from the other end of the stick.

“Now, before I forget again, let me introduce you to your instructors for the next week,” Cho said. He pointed to a blue-haired, armored Protector, “This is Regi, a member of my personal Party, and an excellent long-range magic teacher. He will be assisting me with the combat classes and exercises you’ll be participating in later this week. Tell them a bit about yourself, Regi.”

Regi flew forward and waved happily. “Like Cho said, I’ll be helping with the combat exercises. I specialize in long, to extra range magic.”

“What’s extra range?” a voice called out from the crowd.

“Oh, that’s the range that’s longer than long,” Regi said.

“How long is that?” another voice asked.

“It’s the range of your Skill, plus some extra,” Regi explained.

“How much extra?” someone yelled.

“Depends on how you aim it,” Regi replied, becoming exasperated. “Look, all your Skills have a range. Projectile Skills will be a straight line shot within that range, but then act like thrown rocks beyond that. I specialize in precision aiming to make use of that extra range beyond the Skill’s description. That’s part of what I will be teaching you to do.”

“What if we don’t have a projectile Skill?” another person asked.

“Then you’re limited to the range in the Skill’s description,” Regi said.

“What about beams?”

“Wait, you have a beam Skill?”

“No, I wish!”

“That would be so cool!”

“I want eye beams!”

“Yea, well I want a b- “

Cho smashed his acorns together, silencing the distracted Fairies before they went too out-of-hand. Again, he caught a few hundred who didn’t immediately turn into motes. Well, I want finger beams, Pel thought to himself as he floated through the air.

“No more talking during introductions!” Cho shouted. “Those who failed to follow orders again will be doing squats once we finish. Thank you Regi. Our next instructor is Das, he will be teaching you forest navigation, and evasive flight. Say hello, Das.”

Das was likewise armored, and had the dark green hair of a Forest Fairy. He looks like a dirty hippy.

“M’name’s Das, nice to meet ya,” Das said. His hair was tangled, on the verge of matting in several places, and Pel was pretty sure he saw a few twigs in it. I haven’t bathed my whole life; how can a Fairy be so dirty? Pel thought. “I’m a scout in the forest mos’ days, so I know my way around. I’ll teach you some of what I know about navigatin’ the forest so nobody gets lost.

“I’m probably the best at runnin’ away from stuff, except for Gale. He’s real fast,” Das said before looking scared. “Don’t tell him I said he’s good at runnin’, that would make him mad.” Several people laughed, including Liki.

“I’ll be the one to train ya on improvin’ your Dexterity,” Das smiled really big, “it’ll be like a game of tag...” There were many cheers at that, Pel adding his voice to the sentiment as well. “…until your wings fall off.”

Oh, that makes it sound significantly less fun, Pel thought as Das gave them a wave and flew back from Cho’s side.

“Our third instructor is actually one of Das’s old teachers, and she’s been helping teach Protectors for a hundred years now,” Cho said. “This is Ino, you’ll all be learning about useful plants and flowers from her.”

Ino flew forward, a pink-haired Fairy wearing a pale, mint-green sundress with overlapping mandala patterns instead of armor. “Hi, I’m Ino. I quit official duty as a Protector a long time ago so I could spend more time teaching others and raising flowers! I’ll teach you all about which plants are good for medicine, which ones will ward off monsters and bugs, and which ones are good for alchemy! My main role nowadays aside from teaching is making potions for all the guard forces of The Mother Tree.”

So, this is who made those Stamina potions! I definitely need to pay attention during her training, thought Pel.

“Why would we need to make medicine when we have healers?” someone asked before quickly clamping a hand over their mouth, shooting a furtive glance at Cho.

“Good question!” Ino clapped. “It’s because we exchange medicine, among other things, with the Humans!

“There are Humans in The Glade?!” several Fairies shouted in excitement.

Cho immediately banged the acorns together, and looked surprised when all 700 something Fairies turned into motes as if they had been expecting it. Totally knew that was coming.

“There are no Humans in The Glade,” Cho announced. “However, the kingdom that surrounds this forest sends people to enter rather frequently to hunt monsters, cut down trees, and exchange metal, leather, and other goods for the things we make in The Glade.” Ino nodded to Cho’s words like a proud teacher, to which Cho just scratched his ear with a smile. “We have a dedicated trading hub in the forest to the South, far from the edge of The Glade.

“If you see Humans in the forest, you should leave them alone and come home. Sometimes bad Humans come to try stealing us, and it’s hard to tell which kind is which until they grab you,” Cho warned. “It’s always better to be safe, rather than sorry. Anyway, our fourth group instructor is Rini. Come introduce yourself.”

Rini was a perfect example of androgyny, identical to Pel and every other new Fairy who hadn’t spent any time changing the way they looked. Which reminds me… The only difference between them was that Rini’s hair was dangerously orange, and tied back into a bun resembling, well, an orange.

“Hi everyone! I’m Rini, and I’ll be teaching you about all the best tasting stuff in The Glade!” they announced. You could hear the collective intake of breath, feel the pressure of the excited energy teetering on the edge of hundreds of tongues. Cho raised his acorns threateningly behind Rini, and with a level of Willpower that defied the odds, everyone swallowed their cheers and questions with dissatisfied faces as if they had to sneeze when it suddenly went away at the last second.

Rini’s expectant look turned to disappointment, they sent a glare over their shoulder to Cho. “Aw, but I wanted to derail them!”

“No, we’re keeping this thing on schedule,” Cho denied. “Speaking of,” he swept his eyes across those present, “I’ve had the chance to look at the majority of the tablets, and I know where we’re starting today’s training. Across the board, your Dexterity is low, and for a Fairy this is unacceptable. I can tell you’ve all been training well in The Roots and improving your Vitality, but your foremost survival tool is your speed and maneuverability. Thus, we’ll be starting with Das. Go ahead and walk us through today’s exercise.”

Das flew forward with a grin, but Cho interrupted him, “Oh, I almost forgot. Those of you who failed to mote, time for your upside-down squats. Whatever you Stamina is currently, only use up half and then return.” Das puffed out his cheeks, his momentum halted. Hundreds moaned and groaned as they flew over the edge of the limb followed by a pack of Protectors already hounding them from behind.

“I’m glad I haven’t messed up yet,” Pel said quietly to Mat and Liki, both nodding to his words as they watched. “So…what kind of beam would you want if you count get a Skill for it? I’d pick finger beams!”

“Oh, I’d definitely want sparkly eye beams!” Liki whispered, still technically quiet enough to be considered a whisper.

Pel and Liki turned to Mat who looked pensive. “I’d want ear beams.”

“Ear beams? Pff! Why ear beams?” Pel asked, trying not to laugh too loudly.

“Just think about it. If you’re in a face-to-face fight with something and something else comes up beside you, or you look away for a moment you could blast them while looking in a different direction,” Mat explained. “They’d never expect it!”

“Ya know, that’s actually not the worst idea,” Pel considered. “It’d be pretty hard to aim, though.”

A thunderous collision broke the peacefully chatting Fairies sitting on the limb. Pel was startled out of his thoughts regarding beam placement on different body parts, failing to immediately turn into a mote.

“You’re never safe! Go join the others doing squats!” Cho shouted at the Fairies who hadn't moted.

Dang it! Pel sighed, flying over the edge of the branch. He kept his feet pointed toward the limb, forcing his perception to adjust quickly to being upside down. If I just imagine that I’m flying perpendicularly to a very cylindrical hill it’s not so bad. Pel flew into a gap in the line of Fairies, took a squat stance, and got to work. If we timed this right, with everyone squatting in sync I bet we’d look like a wiggly caterpillar.

The Protectors noticed the new arrivals, and unfortunately one of them came flying right-side up under Pel. Pel looked down at the Protector smiling up at him and made eye contact. Bring it on, angry yelling man.

“Is that as fast as you can squat? I’ve watched snails reproduce faster than this!” the Protector yelled.

Pel laughed. “Ew, why would you watch that?”

“I- I’m not very good at this, give me a second,” the Protector stammered. Pel continued squats as he waited for the Protector to think of something.

“Y-your clothes are dark and ugly! What Fairy wears black?” the Protector shouted up at Pel.

“Clover made these clothes; I’ll tell her you said that. What’s your name?” Pel asked with a smile.

“No, I take it back! Don’t tell her I said anything!” the Protector flew away quickly to find someone else to practice yelling at, leaving Pel alone. Guess he knows Clover, then.

Pel continued the exercise to half his Stamina before flying back up to join Mat and Liki on the other side of the limb. Everyone was silently watching Cho, waiting to see if he would crack his acorns together again.

“Alright. Back to you, Das,” Cho said.

“Right, so. Day one Dexterity exercise,” Das announced. “This will probably be the last time the whole group is together at once before we split you between the instructors, so let’s play a giant game of ‘Curse the Fairy’! It’s simple, I’ll pick ten of you to start off as ‘cursed’, and those ten will have to chase down the rest and tag them. If you get tagged, you also become cursed and have to start chasing the others too.

“This game is restricted to between this branch, and…” Das looked upward for a second spot, “the branch where that Protector is watching.” Das pointed up a branch roughly 50 meters above them. Probably. Pel was still having a terrible time telling distance. “You can fly anywhere between these two branches, all the way around the trunk outward to the furthest leaf. Think of it like a big disk of space with a hole in the center for The Mother Tree.

“You’re not allowed to turn into a mote to dodge getting tagged, and if you fly out of bounds a Protector will bring you back as cursed,” Das stated. “When you become cursed, one of the Protectors will tie a red scarf around your neck to identify you. The point of this exercise is to keep you moving, keep you dodging. In the beginning it will be easy to stay away from the cursed, but it will become harder and harder. The only time you’re allowed to land is if you’re in danger of running out of Stamina. If you stay still in the air for too long, a Protector will turn you into a cursed.

“Try to stay within the small branches and leaves as much as possible, since dodging the terrain will help boost the results of the exercise. We’ll repeat this exercise until everyone has gained a natural Dexterity point.” Das added. He singled out ten Fairies to start as cursed, handing out red scarves which they tied on. “Go.”

Everyone exploded into motion, Pel split up from Mat and Liki as he headed toward the trunk and then straight up toward the next limb. By the time he turned around, the number of cursed had doubled. From the expressions on some of their faces he could tell they had intentionally been turned to the other team. Staying in motion, he flew along the underside of the limb going toward the leaves to find better cover.

From above he had a better view of the taggers, and from this distance was removed from the immediate danger of being cursed. I’m going to be at a speed disadvantage against everyone higher Level than me. Being in the open is a good way to get tagged, I need to be able to weave and dodge between branches and leaves to keep obstacles between us.

Watching the growing number of cursed, Pel was most impressed by how quickly and accurately the Protectors were able to fly-by scarf the newly tagged. They moved so quickly that Pel couldn’t keep up with them. Fairy wings always had a faint glow to them, and the only way Pel could see their overall movement was by tracing the sparkling line each Protector made between one point and the next as they crossed several dozens of meters near instantly. How can they make such quick changes in direction, and then come to a sudden stop without hurting themselves?

There were now hundreds of cursed Fairies laughing maniacally as they chased after their screaming friends. The small branches and leaves were becoming crowded as the others figured out it was easier to evade around stuff than in the open air. It wasn’t long before Pel was fleeing through air, laughing his head off as a red scarfed Liki chased him.

The Perfect Flight of his [Fairy Wings] Skill was showing its importance more and more the longer he evaded pursuit. If Pel remembered correctly, Liki was likely Level 8 or 9 right now and definitely a little faster than he was. Being able to make instantaneous direction changes was the only reason he had remained untagged for so long. I don’t even feel the sudden changes! That’s how the Protectors are ok!

It also made sense now why Tina was so clear on not crashing into stuff while flying. Protectors have got to be moving at least twice the speed it would take to incur serious injury or death. I still don’t know how Vitality affects lethal damage. It seemed that as long as his direction changes and sudden stops were because of his flight Skill, he would remain physically unharmed.

Liki was joined by another red scarfed Fairy as they attempted to pincer Pel between them. The only advantage he had remaining was that the other two needed a split second to adjust to his direction changes, which led him to slip through their grasp and flee between the branches several times. Pel was suddenly tackled from above by Mat, losing control of his trajectory which sent them both crashing through some purple leaves. Before he knew what happened, a red scarf appeared around his neck with a gust of wind.

“Ouch, Mat,” Pel complained as they disentangled themselves. “You didn’t have to hit me so hard.” He rubbed his sore shoulder.

“Are you two okay?” Liki asked as she caught up to them with a worried look.

“Ow. Yea, just a few bumps,” Mat said, touching his chest gingerly.

Pel checked his Health, seeing five points knocked off from the collision. “You lose much Health, Mat?”

“Yea, just a few,” Mat confirmed.

“C’mere, I’ll heal you,” said Pel. Mat flew closer and Pel placed his hand on his chest.

Pel activated his [Gentle Touch] Skill, flooding his Pathway with pleasant heat from head to hand in an instant. The golden aura of his Skill coated his hand, throwing off light and a faint orange halo. Mat and Liki both oohed and aahed as they saw his Skill for the first time. Pel’s Mana didn’t drop and he didn’t feel the Skill taking affect on Mat. Oh, I’m touching his clothes. The skill requires physical contact with the target.

Pel used his other hand to open the front of Mat’s robe and placed his hand directly against his skin. After the familiar moment of resistance, Pel’s Mana dropped as the initial healing burst took effect. He instantly released the Skill as the initial heal restored Mat to full without need to channel additional healing.

“Oh, wow,” Mat said, rubbing his chest. “That’s way better than water healing.”

“How so?” Pel asked, never having been healed before.

“Water healing is kinda cold, but yours is like bathing in the sun,” Mat explained. “It also didn’t use up any of my Stamina.”

“Water healing uses up Stamina?”

“Yep. I think I mentioned it before, or maybe Ty did? Water healing uses the Mana of the caster to invigorate the natural healing of the body,” Mat said, “while it also uses up some the target’s Stamina, and drains a little bit of their Essence which leaves them feeling tired. Your healing is just that. Healing. Straight up, direct healing using only your Mana.”

Pel activated his Skill again after the cooldown period, and placed his hand against his own shoulder. Can I heal myself? Luckily, he could. Mat was right, his healing was like standing in the warmth of the sun.

“Hey you three, get moving!” a Protector yelled as he flew by. “Don’t slack off just because you’re already cursed!”

With everyone healed up, not that they really needed it, Pel joined his friends as they flew after those still running away. Each time he closed in on someone he tried to view their Level, to varying success. Flying as fast as he could while pulling instant aerial maneuvers was not conducive to the level of focus Pel still required to sense Presences.

More often that not he unintentionally slowed down and his target would leave his range. Still, their team of three managed to curse several fleeing Fairies before the tides eventually switched and running away became next to impossible. By the end, Pel had received his first ever natural Dexterity point.

Notification

Congratulations, your recent physical efforts have awarded you 1 natural Dexterity Point!

Everyone landed back on their meeting branch, and Pel was just taking a seat when the Protector who yelled at his team for staying still too long flew over.

“You’re a healer, right?”

“Sure am! Just one low level heal, though,” Pel confirmed.

“That’s fine, we have a group Fairies with light injuries that sure wouldn’t mind a fix,” the Protector said. “We’ve sent word for a Water Fairy with the Level 10 and up group, but they’re already down in The Glade.”

“Sure, no problem!” Pel said, quickly standing back up to follow the Protector. Why didn’t we have a healer on hand before we started zipping through tree branches? he thought. Pel was led to where the branch met the trunk of The Mother Tree, seeing a clump of 26 Fairies holding various parts of their bodies in pain. Only 26 out of 700 something? Not bad.

“Hi, I’m Apple!” Pel introduced himself to the closest wounded Fairy. “I’m here to heal you!” The wounded Fairy was holding their shoulder, much like he had after Mat’s flying tackle. Pel filled his hand with warmth and light, and placed it softly against their shoulder. After the initial heal, he had to reign in his Mana as he continued to channel for several seconds to fully heal whatever was wrong. Good thing I don’t need detailed medical knowledge. Hurray for magic! He could sense when his Skill wasn’t finished healing, but not what specific thing still needed to be healed. Maybe with more practice I’ll get better at knowing?

“Wow that feels good!” the no longer injured Fairy said, waving their arm in a circle. “Thanks!”

“My pleasure!” Pel waved and then scooted over to the next injury, waiting just long enough for his cooldown period to elapse before treating a blue, bruised hip. Celestial healing was new for everyone, and several Protectors gathered to watch as he pressed his glowing hand onto a double handful of patients, nearly bottoming out his Mana in the process. Pel received a notification right before a Water Fairy Protector with healing arrived to take over care of the rest of the wounded. The familiar rush of the Essence equivalent of dopamine rushed through him from head to toe, announcing the gain of a new Level.

Pel opened his Self Help interface and dumped his points into Clarity after briefly debating whether or not to put some into Willpower or Dexterity instead.

Self Help Interface Name: Errapel Class/Race: Lesser Celestial Fairy Level: 6 Free AP: 0 Health: 42 (0.52/hr) [0.62/hr S.T.] AP Used: 12 Stamina: 12/58 (0.68/min) [0.81/min S.T.] Secrets Discovered: 5 Mana: 16/242 (5.3/min) [6.4/min S.T.] Things Stolen: 0 Attributes Points Added Score Description Charisma 0 6 Influences persuasiveness, likeability, and chance to succeed with certain types of magic. Clarity 6 26 Influences perception, rational thought, Mana, Mana Regeneration, Magic Damage, and ability to resist certain magical mind-altering effects. Dexterity 0 10 Influences physical dexterity and overall agility. Increases flexibility, movement and attack speed, and also increases your physical efficiency and precision. Strength 0 1 Influences physical strength, lifting/carrying capacity, and Physical Damage. Vitality 6 10 Influences overall constitution and endurance, increases Health and Stamina and their respective Regeneration rates. Also increases Poison Resistance. Willpower 0 9 Influences ability to focus, and ignore distractions. Has other effects at high level. Passive Skills Fairy Racial Traits:

Pure Magic - You are a being born of pure Mana given physical form. The only sustenance you require is Mana. You may alter your physical appearance incrementally over time at will. You have an Unlimited Lifespan, but be careful, you can still die.

Ferrous Fear-ous - Ferrous materials burn you, and interfere with your ability to use magic, and magic-like abilities.

Magical Metabolism - Any food or drink consumed is quickly broken down completely, and a portion is directly converted into Mana.

Kleptocurious - You have a strong urge to know things, and to take things. Especially secret things!

Star Touched (Celestial) - While exposed to star light, increase all Regeneration rates by 20%, and all other Racial Skills are 10% stronger.

Fairy Intrusive [Racial]

By focusing on the Presence of a target, you may see their Level. Warning - The target might sense your snooping, reactions will vary!

Active Skills Name Cost Description & Effect Fairy Wings [Racial] 1.3 Stam/min

Summons a pair of Fairy Wings, granting Perfect Flight (omnidirectional control of flight path). Speed of flight is dependent upon your Level, and Dexterity Score.

Flight Speed: 7.3 Meters/sec (8 in star light)

Mote [Racial] - - Transforms you into a mote of light, granting Perfect Flight. You can fit through most openings, even really tiny ones! Flight speed is limited to 1/3 that of Fairy Wings. While in mote form, you cannot use or benefit from other Skills. The brightness of your mote form is variable from "tiny ember" to "lantern". Maximum brightness increases with Level. Gentle Touch [Racial]

21.2 Mana

3.6 Mana/sec

A weak, low-cost healing skill. After a small initial burst of healing, you may continue channeling Mana into the Skill for additional healing over time. You must be in physical contact with the target for this Skill to work.

Initial Healing: 6.5 Health (7.2 in star light)

Channeled Healing: 1.3 Health/sec (1.4 in star light)

Pel watched as the Water Fairy wrapped water tentacles around the wounds of 4 Fairies at a time. Blue lights pulsed through the watery limbs and their wounds healed in a matter of moments. Ranged multi-target heal. Gotta get one. Pel’s current advancement was driven by his desire to stay with his friends, and keep them safe. He didn’t want to be left behind while they were out doing dangerous things again. Level 6 was a small step in the right direction, but he still had a lot of hard work to do before catching up to Mat and Liki.

“Gather up everyone!” Cho called out. Pel rejoined his team on the limb and sat down to wait for the others to settle down. “Raise your hand if you got a Dexterity point during that exercise.” Pel and nearly 500 other Fairies raised their hands, including Mat and Liki.

“What if I’m Level 10 now?” someone asked.

“Anyone who reaches Level 10 needs to speak to either me, or another Protector,” Cho informed them. “You will be taken to join the advanced class for everyone Level 10 and up.” Four Fairies including the one who spoke out stood up from the group and were taken away by two Protectors leading them down toward The Glade.

“I want to go to The Glade, too,” someone spoke up.

Thunderous acorns crashed together again. Pel moted right away, still hopped up on Leveling energy. Everyone caught unawares looked at the empty-handed Cho with looks of betrayal before turning their heads to see Regi holding the acorns. A sudden flurry of Protectors dashed through the crowd, marking the hands of everyone who hadn’t transformed fast enough.

“Expect danger from unexpected directions,” Cho lectured. “Just because I had the acorns before, doesn’t mean I’m the only one who’s going to be using them. Since we’re in the middle of exercises right now, I won’t make you take your punishment right away. These marks represent one set of punishment exercises. At the end of every day, you will have a period of time to catch up on punishments. Look forward to it.

“Everyone who gained a Dexterity point, fly over to Ino,” Cho ordered. “She’ll be taking you down to one of the farms in the lower branches. Behave yourselves, and pay attention to Ino.”

This is the person who makes the Stamina potions! I wonder if that’s something we’ll be learning about? Pel and the other 500 Fairies flew over to Ino and followed her down the trunk of The Mother Tree escorted by nearly 100 Protectors.