“You have been looking a little ill.” Aarav couldn’t contain the laugh. He had gained a lot of weight over the last few days to the point that it was hard to say he looked like a regular fairy. “Are you sure you are okay?”

“No, you are right, actually I have been feeling a little under the weather. Do you think it would be possible to inform the rest f the professors that I won’t be able to make the classes for the rest of the day, not sure what happened but I really need to recover some.” That was enough for Lucile it seemed and Aarav almost broke character with a sigh of relief. They nodded to each other again and then Lucile stepped out while Aarav stepped into his room.

With the door closed he could finally relax a little. Keeping up a façade was exhausting, he honestly didn’t know how much longer he could keep this up. It was fine he only needed to deceive a few people but this was everywhere, all the time and from every angle.

Regardless, his current problems came first. He needed to work on Intense Consolidate immediately or he would miss tomorrow’s lessons as well. That would not go down well.

Consolidating 9.423kg of Weight and 1682.6cm3 of Volume and 5.6g/cm3 into 2,733g and 448.03cm3 and 6.1g/cm3 would take 22hr 26min. Would you like to Intense Consolidate now?

Yes.

He didn’t have another choice at the moment. Then, belatedly he had a fleeting though. It would have been good to leave a message for Boren. Nothing I can do about it now. Will have remember that for next time. That was the last thought he had before the darkness gradually claimed his senses.

************************************************

Aarav woke exactly 22 hours and 26 minutes later to banging on his door. “What! I am up, I’m UP!”

Your Skill Intense Consolidate has increased to Level 30!

…

Your Skill Intense Consolidate has increased to Level 33!

You have Intense Consolidated to 2.733kg and 448.03cm3­. Density increased to 6.1g/cm3. You have gained the following stats! +1 Resistance, +3 Charisma, +3 Speed, +3 Endurance, +2 Dexterity, +1 Accuracy, +2 Reaction, +1 Fortitude!

He couldn’t help but smile at the gains despite the rude awakening. Making sure his form was appropriate he straightened his makeshift clothes and moved to the door, he felt decidedly lighter and moving was much easier. He would need to maintain this as a nightly ritual. He honestly hadn’t felt this great since before the last forced Intense Consolidation!

Not only that but the levels in the Skill meant that he was closer to the next plateau, and that likely would speed things up even more.

Wrenching open the door he shoved his head through. At a quarter of the weight he was the day before his appearance had changed significantly. Even he, with his ability to change his shape and to a certain degree size, was not able to morph enough that people would not tell the difference. He had wondered how he would explain the situation but it didn’t seem like there was much of a plausible explanation that would work, given the circumstances.

He was going to have come up with something soon and it had better be good. “What?!” Aarav said the shock of almost knocking into Lucile making him blurt out the first thing that came to mind.

“What happened to you!?” Lucile exclaimed once she got over the initial shock of Aarav nearly barrelling into her.

Aarav blinked and played dumb. “Uhh, what do you mean?” He asked lamely. Nice one Aarav, way to think on your feet buddy.

“That is an unusual question to ask me when it is obvious what I am talking about!” Lucile said excitedly. “You changed your appearance completely! Have you been experimenting with Illusion magic? You didn’t tell me you were had already mastered so much. Your illusion yesterday was exceptional! If I didn’t know any better I would have said you were actually a massively fat fairy! I knew that you must have been doing something like that! I have never seen a fairy the same size as you were yesterday, of course it was illusion magic! And that explains the lack of Fairy Rapport as well! Your illusion covered it up! Of course!”

Lucile had come up with her own bizarre explanation for what she had seen and experienced and Aarav was only too happy to go along with it. He couldn’t think of a better excuse. If Illusion magic is a thing then I will have to use that. I can’t believe Haemish didn’t tell me about it!

“It makes so much sense! After all Illusion magic can only really be used by fairies! But for me to find someone my own age that already has such mastery over it! Is that how you fooled the machine yesterday? Or did you through an illusion over that as well!? Oh my Ursa! That’s why you were so exhausted after the lesson! I don’t know why I didn’t see it. I completely understand now!”Lucile gave that dazzlingly brilliant smile and Aarav smiled weakly back at her.

Wow, this girl really took the explanation to the next level. Thank you Lucile for that incredibly plausible and detailed explanation for why my appearance has changed so drastically! Aarav could have hugged the small creature. It was the most helpful thing anyone had done for him in the last week.

“Oh my Ursa!” She gasped in realisation. “I am so sorry. I forgot the reason I was trying to find you so urgently!” Annoyingly she paused here for a moment, maybe for dramatic effect, maybe to gather her thoughts. Aarav could only guess.

Aarav motioned with his hand for her to go on. “Yes, your friend is waiting outside, he didn’t see you the whole day yesterday and then today morning for breakfast and so was concerned. Truth be told this isn’t the first time he has come here. He was here last night and in the afternoon but you wouldn’t answer your door and they are magically shut so no one but faculty can open the door. If you hadn’t answered today I would have called them but I did inform him that you were tired and sent to the headmaster’s office because of the test malfunction. I didn’t tell him about what happened with the test; wasn’t sure if you would want him to know, even if it is likely to be public knowledge by now.” She finished.

Even though a part of Aarav had been expecting this it put him on edge. It would be more accurate to say he had feared this. So, upon hearing those words he quick muttered thanks to Lucile and rushed down the stairs, taking them three at a time with his lighter and quicker body. Even though his maximum speed stayed the same when he was big or small his natural speed did change based on his weight and encumbrance of the moment.

Aarav, determined to get to Boren as fast as possible expended Stamina to make it so. As he skidded to a halt near the small boy he yelled out. “Hey! I am okay! Was just tired and the testing must have taken a lot out of me!” Then as he approached and saw that there wasn’t anyone else around he said more quietly. “I had to Consolidate otherwise the Weight was going to become too much and we would have had a repeat of the situation at the palace.” Aarav looked pointedly at Boren who simply nodded in reply.

“So the fairy that I asked to check on you said something happened in the Magic Theory class yesterday morning and you got sent to the Headmaster! What exactly happened?” Boren asked eagerly.

“I don’t have a clue.” Aarav answered honestly but something in his tone prompted Boren next question.

“But you think you have an idea?” Aarav nodded and volunteered all he knew of the situation and what happened with the Headmaster as well. “Oh and the headmaster told me that you should have your room situation sorted before the end of the week. He is handling it personally.”

Boren sighed in obvious relief and they started walking swiftly towards the cafeteria, both able to maintain a decent clip and Aarav especially enjoying the improvement to his natural speed after shedding the weight. “Oh and by the way, have you heard of Illusion Magic?” Aarav asked as they approached the cafeteria.

“Shh!” Boren quickly hushed Aarav. “Don’t talk too loud about that! Hardly anyone knows about it, my father said I should learn what it is but never speak about it or learn it myself. It is the tool of thieves and liars. We must know how to counter it but never to use it!” The way Boren said the last part in almost a sing-song way told Aarav he might have learned that early.