Chapter Four Hundred and Eighty-Three - The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Buns

"I don't think I've ever actually seen you angry," Caprica said as she stood across from me, a small mug of tea in hand. She took her tea with six spoonfuls of sugar, so I actually wasn't sure if it entirely counted as tea anymore.

"I'm not angry," I said, angrily.

It was mostly true, I was just... miffed. We were about a day away from Port Royal. The wind had shifted a bit, and we were having to fight it. The air currents here were pretty strong, and they'd been at our back when moving away from the city. It was making for a somewhat turbulent flight, but nothing too bad. It was just a teeny-tiny annoyance, but I was already in a foul mood and it wasn't helping.

I took an angry sip of my own tea. It was delicious, and hot, and sank down to my tummy as a soothing warmth.

Okay, so I wasn't good at being angry.

"Did you at least sleep well?" Caprica asked.

I puffed my cheeks out. "I never slept better," I admitted, which only annoyed me more.

When I fell asleep last morning, Mister Menu's warning about that new skill had felt like the start of a dream. I had been way too sleepy to really register it. It wasn't until I woke up this morning with Mister Menu hovering nearby that it really sank in. Worse, he was hovering to deliver some important news.

Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Snoozing skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!

Rank E is a free rank!

I had had plans for which skill to pick up next. Sure, those plans weren't fixed yet, but I wanted something useful to grab, not Snoozing. What kind of skill was that?

Sure, I woke up feeling refreshed, and well-rested, and like I was one big stretch away from the start of a perfect day, but that wasn't what I had wanted.

The skill's description didn't help overly much either.

Snoozing

Rank E - 00%

The ability to sleep well. As you practice this skill, your sleep will improve. You can fall asleep at the drop of a hat and awaken when you will it.

"You know, it's not the worst skill I've ever seen," Caprica said as she took another sip. "In fact, I know a lot of people that would love something like it. My father complains at length about how little sleep he gets. And I imagine that the skill will only make it better as it levels up."

"Do you know anything about this kind of skill?" I asked.

"A little," she said. "Most people avoid them, I think, but as you know, Slyphfree is the world's leader in medicine and magical healing, and a lot of our healers suggest that everyone keep at least one skill related to self-healing."

I blinked at that. "Self-healing? Do I need a special skill for that? I... noticed that I heal from bruises and stuff a lot faster than I should here already, but I thought that was just levelling up and getting better stats."

"Oh, yes, the higher your level the faster your body heals from minor ailments," Caprica said with a dismissive wave from her free hand. "It's a confluence of your Health and Resilience stats. There are entire papers on the subject. Of course, both will increase as you level up, though the rate depends on what kind of class you have, of course."

I nodded. More physical classes increased the more physical stats, more magical classes the more magical stats. I was pretty sure Cinnamon Bun Bun and Wonderlander were both more or less balanced, however, which was also fine.

"Okay, so what's self-healing then?"

"It's what it says on the cover," Caprica replied. "Skills that empower your healing of yourself. Usually they're passive skills. Ah, I think some evolutions of the Meditation skills have it. Some tanks like myself have Health Regeneration as a skill. But mostly our healers mean stuff like Meditative Gardening, or Second Wind, there are some Symbiosis skills for people who tend to animals that can spread shared healing. And then there are skills that help you sleep. It might not be a self-healing skill just yet, but I suspect that given a rank up or two you might find that Snoozing will help you heal."

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"Well, that does sound nice, I guess," I said.

I was just sixteen though, I didn't need to worry about waking up with ache-y knees or anything like that yet.

"It's still not the kind of skill that I want," I said.

"Well, you could get rid of it," Caprica said.

"How?" I asked.

"Merge it, for one, or just get rid of the class the skill comes from. If it's a dungeon class, then you can just re-pick it, and then re-rank all the same skills in that class."

"That sounds like a lot of work," I said. "And I'd need to re-level Wonderlander, no?" That's where Snooze had snuck itself, right into the open slot on Wonderlander.

Caprica shrugged, then downed the last of her tea. "It's an option. Besides, I've heard that re-levelling the same class a second time is significantly easier than doing it the first time."

I worked my jaw, considering it. But... well, that sounded like a lot of work just to get rid of one skill. Besides, I was happy with my other Wonderlander skills, and doing all of this didn't mean that I'd necessarily regain the same ones. And I would have to sleep, so there was a good chance I'd just end up getting Snooze again.

That would really blow, so I wasn't gonna risk it.

"Oh well," I said with a sigh. "I guess I can just live with it. It's not that bad of a skill, I guess. Maybe I can combine it with something cool?" Hugging Proficiency would be so cool if I turned it into Snuggling Proficiency. Maybe I could combine it with Friendmaking to get a Slumber Party skill?

It wasn't like me to be so grumpy about something. When I started my adventure on Dirt, I was happy with whatever skill I got... well, with the exception of Cute, but that was just the world being a mean-spirited bully.

"Okay!" I said as I smacked my cheeks to wake up properly. "That's enough moping!"

"You've only been moping for an hour or so, at most," Caprica said. "You can probably afford to mope a little longer. As a princess I've had to mope for days, on occasion."

"Maybe, but I don't like this mood, so I'm going to change it! I do have other skills I want, and I've decided on a short-list. Now I just need to figure out how to get all of them."

"Oh?" Caprica asked. "What are you aiming for now?"

"I've shortened it to just six!" I said proudly.

"For four remaining slots?" she asked.

"Yeah. I think that some of them might be too hard to get, though."

I pulled out my list paper, which now had a lot of choices scratched out. Only six of them were intact:

- Mana Regeneration

- Laugh in the Face of Death

- Never Miss

- Thick Skin

- Graceful Under Pressure

- Flight

"Do you think I can get most of these?"

"Mana Regeneration is a well-known skill," Caprica said. "You won't have a hard time getting that one. Thick Skin is also easy to obtain, I have it myself, I can show you the basics. The rest of these, however... Flight is going to be hard unless you grow wings. Laugh in the Face of Death? I don't even know where to start with that. Never Miss and Graceful Under Pressure are tricky, but doable under the right circumstances."

"I'm sure I can do it," I said. "For the Laugh one, I just need to find Death and then we can laugh about something together, right?"

"Broccoli, do you intend to somehow meet the metaphysical representation of the concept of death merely to tell it a joke?" Caprica asked.

"Or make friends," I said.

She gazed at her mug. "I need more tea."

"I'll ask Desiree about Graceful Under Pressure. She suggested that one, and I think she knows how to get it."

"That's not a bad idea," Caprica said. "I can coach you through Thick Skin, if you want."

"You'd do that for me?" I asked.

Caprica smiled. "Of course. I don't mind at all. I'm sure Amaryllis would instruct you on Mana Regeneration as well, though to be honest, that one's very easy."

"Yeah, I can kinda guess how to pick that one up. Just use up all my mana and let it regenerate a lot?"

She nodded. "Pretty much. There might be a trick to it, but I suspect that just using your entire reserve over and over will do it. I'm sure you can figure out a spell or two to practice that."

I grinned. I could do that, no problem!

***