Chapter Five Hundred and Sixty - Social Skills

"Are you going to level up those other two skills?" Desiree asked.

We were done with lunch, so now it was time for drinks. Mostly it was more hot cocoa. Real hot chocolate, made by warming up dark chocolate and mixing it with some milk and then sprinkling a bit of nutmeg on top. All it was missing was some whipped cream and it would be perfect.

It was actually getting a smidge colder out. Not actually cold. We weren't that high up and I was pretty sure we were on the same latitude as a literal desert, so it wasn't a chilly place, but it was still... not that hot out anymore. A few clouds had rolled in, and it was the last day of the old year, so we were smack in the middle of winter.

"I don't know," I said, answering her question. "Should I? I've upgraded two skills. Isn't that a lot?"

Desiree gave me a rather flat look. "Captain Bunch," she said.

"We're friends," I said. "You hardly need to call me by my title."

"I'm invoking it as emphasis of my mild displeasure," Desiree said with a tilt of her head. "Does it not come through? I thought that your translation was nearly perfect."

"Oh," I said. "I guess it does. I just didn't catch it. Sorry, go on!"

"Yes, well, as I was saying, Captain Bunch, you seem very reluctant to grow more powerful, by level or by practice. This is well and good if your intent is to live a simple and pastoral life, but those who seek out simplicity rarely find themselves captaining an exploratory mission out on the frontier."

I pouted, but it wasn't like she was wrong. "Yeah, I guess. Okay. Mister Menu, can I see my stats again, please?"

Name Broccoli Bunch Race Bun (Riftwalker) First Class Cinnamon Bun Bun First Class Level 18​ Second Class Wonderlander Second Class Level 7​ Age 16​ Health 165​ Stamina 185​ Mana 170​ Resilience 80​ Flexibility 95​ Magic 40​ Skills Rank Cinnamon Bun Bun Skills Cleaning S - 32% Way of the Mystic Bun C - 100% Gardening D - 59% Adorable D - 100% Chivalry D - 48% Wonderlander Skills Mad Millinery D - 100% Proportion Distortion C - 45% Social Butterfly D - 100% Snoozing D - 100% General Skills Insight C - 100% Makeshift Weapon Proficiency C - 100% Archeology D - 100% Friendmaking B - 02% Hugging Proficiency C - 100% Captaining B - 00% Cinnamon Bun Bun Skill Points 5​ Wonderlander Skill Points 7​ General Skill Points 2​

Seeing my General Skill Points sitting at two instead of six was painful. I'd worked hard for those! We'd cleared entire dungeons of Evil Roots just for a few points like that. It hurt a smidge to see them gone.

At the same time... being able to feel the Beaver more clearly was nice, and Friendmaking was already at 2%!

It wouldn't be long before it was maxed out. Not that that should be any reason to be a lazy bun and give up on the hard work of making even more friends!

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"Alright," I said. "Let's do a Wonderlander skill next, right Mister Menu? Can you put a point into Social Butterfly, please?"

Congratulations! Social Butterfly is now Rank C!

Social Butterfly Rank C - 00% The ability to flit from conversation to conversation and make the best of any social situation. By expanding some magical energy, you can summon magical wings to dazzle and flit about with greater ease.

I blinked. "Huh?"

That didn't make sense! A social butterfly wasn't an actual kind of butterfly, it was a metaphor for someone that was good at being social!

"Is something the matter?" Desiree asked rather rhetorically. She sat up in her seat, tails swishing nervously.

"Social Butterfly says that it gives me wings," I said.

"Wings? Truly?" Desiree asked. She shifted to the side and looked past me, or at my back.

"I haven't summoned them yet."

"Why not?"

"Um," I said. "I don't know? I feel like Amaryllis would be upset with me if I used a skill like that without testing it first? Maybe we should go back to the Beaver and test it there? Besides, if they're able to make me fly, I'll want to talk with Bastion and Caprica!"

They had pretty wings and would know how they work!

"Does the text elucidate any other details of the skill's function?" Desiree asked.

I shook my head. "No, that's the only new part, I think. The rest sounds like what I remember."

Desiree reached up and pinched her chin in thought. "Well, I would certainly be inclined to unfurl my new wings immediately, but I'm hardly known as a bastion of longstanding patience. Waiting until a more appropriate time is a respectable enough choice, I suppose."

"Thanks," I replied. "It's only a short walk back, and we were heading that way anyway, right?"

"As soon as you get that last skill ranked up, yes," Desiree replied.

I pouted harder.

"Fine," I said. I wasn't sure why I was so reluctant to spend my upgrade points. Maybe it was like spending money. I'd grown up without much of it, so I was always afraid that if I spent it all, I wouldn't get any more, and that usually meant keeping as much of it on hand as possible. "Mister Menu? Can... ah, can we do one last skill level up?"

The stat screen stood there... agreeably.

"Thanks! Okay, last one for today. And it's Hugging Proficiency."

Congratulations! Hugging Proficiency is now Rank C!

Hugging Proficiency Rank C - 00% The ability to hug. Your proficiency and instincts for hugging have improved! Hug harder, hug better. Your hugs now allow you to share your magical energy with others, warming their minds and souls.

"Oh! This one's going to be very fun to test," I said. "C'mere, Mister Menu!"

I hopped up, wrapping my arms around the menu, and I was pretty sure I succeeded in giving him a bit of a hug, then he popped away.

Aww, was he shy? Maybe I shouldn't have been pushing his boundaries so much?

"What skill was that?" Desiree asked. "I believe you listed them, but I've likely forgotten. Forgive me."

"Oh, this one is Hugging Proficiency. Now rank C! I think I can give people mana now?"

"Truly? That's an interesting ability. There's a skill from my home country that is frequently used by single-tailed apprentice magi and their ilk that allows them to donate magical energy to others. It's seen as a fair trade for an apprentice to serve as a battery to feed the growth of a superior mage while being allowed to learn from them."

"That's neat. Though I'd be worried about exploitation or something."

"Hmm, yes, I suppose it is a worry," she replied. "Imagine someone like our erstwhile Amaryllis, only with two or three lesser mages feeding her more mana. Already, she is a harbinger of havoc and devastation. With others feeding her ambitions, she may well be able to send forth destruction sufficient to rival someone with three or more tails."

I considered it, but then shrugged. Amaryllis would never use me that way, right? Besides, if she came to me asking for more hugs, even magical ones, I'd be hard-pressed to refuse.

"Ah, should we test it?" I asked.

"If we're returning to the ship already, we might as well make some time to test both this and your other new acquisition at the same time," Desiree said. "Ah, and didn't you want to pick up a few goods on the way?"

"Oh, shoot, you're right," I said.

I hopped to my feet, used a smidge of Cleaning magic on myself and then the table and such to leave it even nicer than we'd come, then I squared away the bill with the nice waitress who'd served us.

That all done, Desiree and I headed out.

I ended up asking some locals along the way for some advice. Mostly about what the usual New Years meals were, and where we could find some to-go. I wasn't sure how the rest of the crew celebrated, but in my time on Dirt I'd come to realize that just about every culture celebrated things with at least some commonalities.

Good food and good company was never something that people complained about, and my crew supplied one of those two already!

We ended up stopping by a small grocer for some fresh produce, a restaurant for a few cooked, warm meals, and then a bakery for a few loaves of fresh, still over-warm bread that smelled so good I was hard pressed not to drool.

Soon enough, we were within sight of the Beaver Cleaver, and as soon as I saw it, I could feel my new and improved Captaining skill snapping into place.

***

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