“Ladies and- well it’s just you two and me. Leda, do you think I’m a gentleman?”

“No, don’t be gentle, I want it to be hard!”

“I don’t mean the race, silly. Wait, do you know what ‘gentleman’ means?”

“A man that is gentle?”

“Oh, I guess it would need some explanation. You know lords and counts and marquis-es? And stuff? In medieval stuff, you have peasants and nobles, right?”

“Yeah! Vampires are counts! And the peasants do stuff and the nobles are fat and evil.”

“…Okay this might be a bit too complex topic for you. How to put this… Okay, so first, remember that movies and such often simplify thing, and most of them aren’t real.”

“I know that! In the anime, the humans always kill the dragons and monsters and also wyverns. But you don’t do that, except when we’re hunting. And this one video with wyvern made them fly all weird, like sideways, they would just fall down.”

“Remember synonyms, the same-words? Gentleman is a synonym for ‘nobleman’. Well, now we don’t really have nobles, so it’s used for someone who is like a noble. For example courteous.”

“Oh. But I like you, so you’re not a gentleman.”

I sigh with a defeated smile. “All right, all right. So I’m not a gentleman. But nobles aren’t -weren’t all bad. Just like you’re not evil or something just because you are a wyvern and wyverns are often monsters.”

“Yeah, I’m not a monster! You said animals who are not human but can use magic are called beasts, except if they attack and kill humans. So I’m a beast! Rawr!”

I let out a laugh at her pose. “Yes yes, very terrifying. Your main body, that is. Your puppet body is just adorable.” I pet her head,. “Anyway, do you want to race or not?”

“I do!”

“Alright! Let’s start over, then. Girls and me! Beasts and humans! Prepare yourself, for the very first race with an actual course!”

I look to the other racers, then walk to the line of pebbles serving as the starting line. “Take your positioooons!”

Leda jumps over to the line, a big grin on her face, and Tåke follows suit after a quick mental command. I’ve described this as a ‘play-hunt’, which is my go-to term (concept? mental term?) to get her to join in on my games.

“Take on your forms.” ｢Tåke, wolf form, runner.｣

Leda leans forwards and her form shifts forwards and her enchanted clothes shift with it, allowed her to grow a tail. The ‘runner’ form is one of a few I’ve taught her, and she’s fully shapeshifted before her front paws even hit the ground.

“On my left side with have Tåke, which in her sleek ‘runner’ form combine the aspect of Mist innate to her kind with Air, her other strong suit. Together these changes let her reach incredible speeds with the silent grace of Mist and agility of Air.”

I smile at my announcer-voice, and through the bond I notice Tåke is starting to feel some of the delightful hype Leda has infected me with. “And on my right hand side we have the one, the only: Leda the wyverrrrrn! Currently in her raptor form, this dragonoid might not be bringing her main body, but that’s not to say she’s a weak competitor!”

At this point Leda is literally jumping up and down with a both adorable and unsettling smile, and I give her a wink. “With a dextrous tail to balance the long strides of a biped mixed with a the strongest mana physique of any competitor, this mana laden raptor might stand shorter than a human, but she stands a good chance of winning.”

“And then we have the final competitor. Against natural grace with an enchanted touch and raw power in a powerful package we have Lars, the human!” That sounds kinda dumb when I say it out loud.

“While not naturally exceptional in any way except intellect, that very intellect might prove a worthwhile foe, as he has learned tricks from animals, beasts, nature, science and magic! Through magic and a solid understanding of the natural, and now the magical world, this competitor brings versatility to the table.”

“Noooow!” I yell, voice boosted by my recently acquired [Sonic Magic]. Magic for sound. It wasn’t that hard to figure out how to make air vibrate to make a sound, but going from a single tone to something useful (I mean, I don’t really need to be louder than I normally am) took a lot more effort. It comes in handy right now, though.

“Are the competitors ready?”

“Yeah!” “Woof!” “Yep.”

“Then get ready!” I shout, my voice echoing over the hills. Maybe a bit too much? No matter. “On the flare!” I activate said flare by dropping a mana-infused drop of mana into a small tube. Once that reaches the magic circuit at the bot-

Fwoosh!

…Then the tube will fire a flare, like that yes.

Leda has already kicked off, with Tåke hesitating for a moment before bounding after her. Magically pushing off the ground and tree behind me, I dash after them. Leda, having the benefit of not only knowing the area, but her main body acting as a radar of sorts and also having started first is already popping in and out of sight behind trees, far ahead of me.

On the other hand, Tåke’s Mist-shrouded form is quickly catching up with her, looking like a ghost practically flying across the forest floor. It’s a bit frustrating to see them blaze ahead like that, but the human form isn’t that fast. Well, I guess I shouldn’t be talking, I don’t think a human can run this fast through a forest without magical assistance.

On the other hand, I was very specific that this is a ground race, so our legs should at least hit the ground every now and then. Well, what limits my speed is the possibility of slamming into a tree going who knows how fast. As I said in my announcer impersonation, raw speed or power isn’t what’s gonna win the race for me.

I sense the first checkpoint (really just an enchanted band around a tree) and homing in on it, I quickly turn in the direction marked with a non-enchanted band. The next portion of the course goes downhill, which is somewhat scary as the branches of the spruce trees form a roof to the forest’s floor.

As soon as I sense the next checkpoint I know I will soon get a chance to catch up, and surely enough, as I go past the marker and then straight off the cliff I can see Leda, still in front of me but off to the side, having gone the less steep route. She seems to be catching up on Tåke, beating her in sheer speed in the more open area in front.

I dampen my landing the same way I usually do, though keep my forwards speed. Then I spring into much higher and longer steps than I used between the trees. There is a wall of tree ahead, but I spot an opening and aim for that.

Past the trees I can spot the next checkpoint, and Leda is just passing it, having overtaken Tåke, who rounds the corner a moment later. This next stretch is along the dirt road that goes through the forest for hikers and the occasional service or forestry vehicle. Leda is practically already fading into the distance, the even ground perfect for the little velociraptor.

I catch up to Tåke by the time the road does a slight turn, and flash a grin as I pass her. I continue along the while for a while, but whereas Leda continues the long way area, I push through the wall of trees and out onto the water for a shortcut.

Off to my side is Tåke, who has taken my example and is running across the surface of the water. The shortcut pays off, and we reach land on the other side as Leda turns around the sharp corner along the much drier road.

I manage to gain some distance on Tåke, but Leda quickly runs past. She stops as she reaches the checkpoint, looking across the lake towards the next checkpoint. And then she turns on her heel, returning the way she came. “UNFAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIR!”

I reach the checkpoint and having no aversion to water, cross this part of the lake the same way as the other. When I again hit land, I can’t see my annoyed companion past the slight turns of the road, whereas Tåke will catch up if I slow down.

But no quarter is given, and I continue along the road, taking a shortcut where the road takes an unnecessarily snakey path. After the shortcut is a long straight stretch, but before I get even a quarter of the way Leda barrels past with an odd, but rather non-threatening, laughter.

Her laughter continues as she leaves me behind, and getting close to the finish I increase my speed a bit more. I round the next checkpoint’s corner, almost crashing into a group of four. I regret for a moment not being able to look at their expressions, yelling a “Sorry!” as I continue past them.

We go off the road for a short while, before taking a sharp left turn into the forest and up towards Leda’s hilltop fortress. It feels faster to go fast now that I’m climbing instead of going down, but I fail to catch up to Leda. Halfways up Tåke zooms past me, dodging trees like a lazy person dodging responsibilities.

I crest the top of the hill, coming to a halt and flopping on the ground, leaning onto Leda’s main body. “Man, I gotta go faster if I want to defeat you guys in a mixed race.”

“Haha! I am the fastest!”

“Sure you are, you little speed demon. Except when there’s water. Or many trees.”

“I would if I could fly!”

“Oh yeah? Don’t think I can keep up in the air?”

“No, you’re slow.” She says unsympathetically.

“Wow, r00d.”

“But you are! I bet I you can’t catch up to me.” She says, before preparing to take off.

“Woah, wait. I’m tired from running all over the place, it’s no fair for you to use your main body.”

“But the human-puppet flies so slow!”

Right now I wish I had a mirror so that I could see my expression. “Ahh, whatever. We can have a flying race later. But let me rest a bit first. And what kind of race? Sprint? Tag? Anyway, come over here and I’ll pet you.”

I pat the ground next to me and give her head a good rub when she sits down. “Good job.” A moment later Tåke sits down from the other side. I don’t need the mind bond to tell what she wants, and soon find myself dual-wielding the almighty [Petting] ability.

…there are some really mundane abilities. You usually need a bit more skill than what you’ll naturally do. Simply running isn’t enough to get [Running]. However, sprinting or running for a longer distance (lil’bro got it from the 1km run during PE in school) can. Well, most of those kinda abilities are kinda… meh.

[Flying] and its [ - : Thermal Riding] sub-ability is pretty nice at least, though I question the need to ever equip it. Hmm, flying huh. I gotta figure out how to price those flying packages I want to sell. I guess I’ll price my time consistent with that of tutoring. As for other ‘costs’…

Unless they’re into that they probably don’t want to fly around with a bare chest, so I’ll need some wing-friendly clothes to lend. Then there is the assisted shapeshifting back and forth, or tutoring for the Full Package. I guess the package can also be spread over multiple days, with ‘homework’.

On the note of temporary shapeshifting I should figure out how to price that. Heck, even the other prices feel iffy to me. On one hand they seem pretty high to me, though that might just be because I don’t like spending money. On the other hand, the ramping of prices seems about right to me, and the Full Body Remake is downright cheap compared to plastic surgery.

That’s not even considering the fact that I can do so much more than any surgical procedure, and with less risk. Well, as far as I know there is no risk, unless in remove the brain or some other vital organs. But I don’t think you can do such a large error by mistake. Ah well. I can increase the prices if there’s demand.

But for now… I stand up and stretch, taking on my flight form. “So, aerial race?”

Leda retrieves her puppet and grins at me.