This hotel is quite a bit more expensive than the bed&breakfast I used in Randers. This wonderful bed, soft enough that you feel like you’re lying on a cloud, but not so soft you really sink into it and become uncomfortable, is worth it, though. I flick my tail, enjoying the softness and early summer light hitting my serpentkin body through the window while I continue working on an project I started before going to sleep yesterday.

Using the mana crystal I took from the spider thing I defeated and [Illusion Magic], the goal is to project mental images into the air. At first it proved to be a real challenge, the ‘mental image’ part, that is. While I can make projections, adding details is hard, and I can’t even animate the projection. So instead I recalled Tåke as clearly as I could, trying to use magic to translate whatever signals my brain use to something the Projection Crystal can use. When I finally succeeded, I got the familiar feeling of having learnt a new ability.

Ability learned: [Mind Magic]

‘Magic pertaining to the mind, thoughts and memories.’ is the description that comes up if I try to describe it in few words. The name is a bit worrisome, because as with all magic, if I can learn it, other people can. Well, anything like mind reading or control oughta be difficult, if just actively projecting an image is this hard. Either way, that’s another form of magical defence I should learn. I should probably also mention it in the hearing. The list of things I should mention is getting rather long, tomorrow I will have to go through it all, making a concise presentation of each point. Sigh.

I stretch, reaching from the corner with the bed to the door to the room. For now, though, I should get up, eat breakfast and check out. The Projection Crystal works, if not terribly well. I should try to see if I can read thoughts or something if I get close to people. But first, return to my usual form. I’m getting pretty familiar with the wolfkin, drider and serpentkin forms, and decided just yesterday to spend nights in my forms to increase my familiarity even further.

Mind reading is far away, then. At most, I could detect if someone was thinking a lot. Or maybe I just detected stress or worry or something. Either way, a slight feeling of something is all I could glean from anyone, and even that was only from a few people. Mostly just from one very stressed-looking businessman, though. Travel to Eagle world from here should take less than thirty minutes, so if I leave an hour before the show, I should have enough time. That leaves a bit more than four hours in the oceanarium, and I can return there afterwards if I want to, perhaps even in birdkin form V2.

Well that was a show. Being able to freely fly in the sky like that might’ve made it less awesome, but that’s not to say it was boring to see these magnificent animals in their element. If anything, looking forward to taking on their aspects made me more excited than I’d openly admit. I could return to the oceanarium for a couple hours, but I don’t think I can really improve my aquatic aspects, not from more of the same, anyway.

Some people remain where they sat, excitedly discussing the show or trying to calm their kids and get ready to leave but most people are making their way out. A minor group have, like me, questions for the handlers, and have want over to some of the crew. The largest of this group, some seven people plus me, went towards the handler still -err- handling a falcon. They are outside the area spectators are allowed, but there is a crewmember here who is answering questions while referring to the falcon.

I decided to wait for these people to satisfy their curiosity, but it looks like that won’t happen for a while, and they might tell us to leave before that, so I grab a chance. “The falcon, is it territorial? Like, if another falcon came here, would it attack it?”

“In the wild, gyrfalcons will often chase away animals, even bears, from their nests, but they rarely attack other gyrfalcons.”

Since that sounds safe enough, I take a step back and finish the puppet I’m working on. A few more questions are answered, which I halfway listen to, before the puppet is fully formed. Based on the gyrfalcon in front of me, a species literally called ‘hunting falcon’ in the scandinavian languages, as an arctic species it has a beautiful white coat of feathers, with black coloration of varying intensity, especially on the wings.

When I summon it, however, a third color is added to the mix: A fiery red. I should probably have at least said I would do this, if not asked if I could, but ehh. Hindsight is 20/20. Should I say 60/20? My vision, thanks to magic, especially the bird aspects, is significantly better than before, probably better than most people’s.

I explain what I just did, how (magic), and why I’m on this little trip. Really, I’m looking forward to whenever magic is accepted as a thing that just is, probably in a couple months’ time, once news has gone around and almost everyone have unlocked the [System]. Then again, back home most people might bat an eye so to speak, but at least I don’t have to explain things all the time. Wait, does that mean Oslo have a fairly advanced magic/[System]/adventurer culture already? That bodes well for the hearing at least. Maybe I don’t have to explain things there.

I try to answer most questions now directed at me, focusing on those from the crewmember. I Eventually, I am allowed to come near the various birds, as long as I listen to instructions and don’t summon my little phoenix, and on the condition that I teach the handlers [Aspect Magic]. At least most of the crew have unlocked the [System] and/or tried using magic. Up this close… Birds are usually pretty small, but these raptors are as big as my upper leg with their wings folded, and seem even bigger with spread wings.

They ended up buying me dinner. I don’t mind that, but teaching someone [Aspect Magic], from knowing no magic… I compromised by giving the handler of the gyrfalcon a mana stone and teaching them how to use the magic teaching trick. That way, they can teach the others [Aspect Magic]. At least I managed to get them all [Proto-mage], which together with [Falconry] and [Bird Care] fully unlocked the [System]. Except one person, but I told them to cook some pasta or something for [Cooking], or to just wait for [Aspect Magic], for that last ability.

In other words, with the problem hoisted onto someone else, and a now ‘Mediocre’ affinity for both Falcon and Eagle aspects, it’s time to head home. And this time I’m confident in my ability to fly, so I’ll head straight north, then navigate using the terrain when back over land.

With a suitably open area, I take of my T-shirt, ignore the reactions of the two part-timer girls from Eagle World, then shift to my new birdkin form. I debated which of the new aspects to base it around, but in the end went with Falcon, because the arctic white color and size made it look truly magnificent.

I spread my arms, which are shortly covered in small, fluffy light gray feathers. Then comes longer feathers, and my shoulders and hands lock into position. The three outer fingers on each hand merges together and lengthens to become outer wings, and white-feathered flesh forms the wings themselves, as my body and legs shrink, feet turning to talons. The bones in my neck seem fluid for a moment before realigning my head to face forty-five degrees upwards.

Then the [Aspect of Ice] flush over my body, crystallizing the water in the air around me, making a crystalline mist, and more importantly, cooling me down. I wish them luck in gettings their aspects and ability to use them, then, after crouching and swapping Ice for Air, leap skywards with a blast of air, quickly finding wind over my wings, and I fly northwards.

When my mind clears enough to call myself awake, I feel a gentle rocking. As something hits my side, I stretch my forelegs. And then I flop against the floor, the impact truly waking me up. Did I… Just kick myself off the bed? Am I on the floor? Oh, wait. I’m in the direwolf form and have the mistwolf puppet summoned. I get my bigger body off the simple hammock I made for forms that either don’t fit or shouldn’t be in my bed, landing much more gently than the little puppet did.

That dream- dreams were strange. Did I dream with both bodies? I’m pretty sure I was two beings at the same time. Sex dream, huh? Been a while. My two bodies nuzzle each other. Getting along quite well with myself, aren’t I… Maybe I should stay away from the wolf puppet. If the dream was anything to go by, she’s about to enter heat. Then again, the subspaces for [Shapechanger] are in near-stasis, and I can probably un-heat her. Or just turn her male, but that seems a bit, I don’t know. Unfair? Drastic?

After eating breakfast in my normal form, I sit down by the computer to organize all the things I should bring up in the hearing. Assuming I even get the chance to, I think my role is supposed to be ‘answer questions’. Pfft. If nothing else it will be good preparation, and I can sidetrack into the important things. In that case I oughta make things concise so that I can get the important points across before they stop me, at least. And it doesn’t hurt to prepare a few examples of exactly why it’s important.

I push my chair away from my desk. So much writing… Three hours? Dang, I need a break. The weather seems so-so, but dry. Good enough. I stand up and walk over to the wolf puppet. I’ve been walking it around the apartment to get some training with that body, take in smells and testing how far away I can still control a puppet, but mainly to improve the [Multi-body Control] ability.

At level six I can make it walk and other basic functions with little more concentration than when walking with my main body, even while I busy typing and googling and whatnot. Similarly, I can take in its sensory impressions without breaking my concentration, but only at a basic level. To really take them in, however, I need to focus on it, but that’s no different from my main body, anyway.

I stretch, then head out to the lawn. Except, when I enter the stairways I am faced with a challenge: using stairs with four legs. Diverting my focus to the puppet, I take a few experimental steps, then some more. Finding it much easier than I had feared, I am outside in no time. The ground is damp, probably from drizzle. Happy that I can just absorb the puppet instead of dragging a possibly dirty and wet dog- wolf indoors, I run over to the lawn with both my bodies.

Scratching the puppet behind the ears or under the muzzle is very pleasant. Mmmm. Enough of that (even though I want more of it). The range limit for puppet control seems to be similar to my general magic range; I get worse control and must expend more mana past a certain distance, around fifteen meters. Then, I fully lose control of magic about forty-ish meters away.

For controlling the puppet I lose all meaningful control before that, between thirty and thirty-five meters. Interestingly, the puppet can still do basic things like walking, depending on what I had it doing, but giving it new ‘orders’ so to speak becomes the only way to use it, and even then it’s simple things like ‘Stop’, ‘Come’ or other simple commands. At the magic cutoff mark it becomes impossible to communicate with it, though if I was walking to a given point before that it can continue.

This worries me a bit, because it implies that the puppet has some autonomy, which is fine, but also some intelligence, which raises ethical questions. Again, I decide not to think to hard about it. The puppet could be considered a part of me, and merely surviving does not require much in the way of intelligence. Besides, it does have a full brain, so no reason why it should not be able to.

The implications of me being able control it, and the brain making it intelligent does suggest that all thoughts and what one might call the spark of a human is just signals in a fleshy computer, a thought many would vehemently shy away from. Considering [Mind magic]… I push away such thoughts, after making a mental note to mention it in the hearing. I should go back inside, but before that I want to test the limits of controlling the falcon puppet.