Chapter 31: Please begin your performance: Why can fairies grow bigger...?

In the little square, every Fairy cub had brought over a small stool and was sitting in neat rows. Aisha and several other adult Fairies sat around a small table covered with fruit and snacks, chatting leisurely.

Several adolescent Fairies sat to one side of the cubs. Each held a quill, with a notebook spread across their knees, looking ready to take notes at any moment.

When they saw Shu Li return, the cubs waved excitedly.

“Sperien, come here! Hurry—”

The corner of Shu Li’s mouth twitched.

Could he refuse?

He had already suffered social death once in the commercial district. Did he really have to suffer it all over again the moment he got back?

Wahhh—

He had originally intended to give the cubs a simple account of what had happened last night, satisfy their curiosity, and be done with it.

After all, his Elven was only average. With the quiet little top student’s help, he could just barely manage everyday conversation fluently, but asking him to tell an entire story—

Sorry. He could not do it!

Especially not in front of adult and adolescent Fairies. This was no different from a public execution!

Shu Li timidly fluttered his wings and tried to escape, but the quiet little top student was behind him, blocking his retreat.

As though seeing through his intentions, Kumandi said earnestly, “This is a good opportunity to practice speaking. You should not miss it.”

“Uh...” Shu Li stared blankly.

“The more difficult something is, the more you must overcome it. Running away will never solve the problem.” Kumandi lightly beat his dark purple wings and flew toward the adolescent Fairies with the teapot in hand.

Shu Li frowned in conflict. Hearing the cubs calling to him expectantly, he hesitated.

“Sperien, aren’t we going over?” Disio asked.

“They saved seats for us.” Angel pointed at the empty stools in the front row.

“There are little fruits too!” Sharp-eyed Budeno had noticed the tasty snacks in every cub’s hands.

Shu Li took a deep breath and clenched his tiny fists. “Let’s go!”

It was only telling a story in Elven, right?

He would do it even if it killed him!

The four cubs quickly flew into the little square and sat in their respective places.

Shu Li steeled himself and sat alone on a chair at the front, facing all the Fairies.

He was only telling them about something that had happened to him. Did they really need to make it this formal?

“Um... Aisha... why are all of you here?” Shu Li asked the Fairy teachers hesitantly.

Had they not come, this “discussion meeting” would never have become such a grand affair!

Aisha pointed her fairy wand at the black-haired adolescent Fairy and smiled brightly. “Kumandi said you were going to tell everyone about your adventure in the forest last night. We were very interested, so we all came.”

The other Fairy teachers nodded with smiles.

Shu Li turned a resentful gaze toward the quiet little top student.

Without changing expression, Kumandi said, “I thought it would be a good learning opportunity.”

Shu Li covered his forehead.

As expected of a top student. He never forgot about studying, no matter the occasion.

It was just... Shu Li could not understand what there was to learn from hearing about his adventure.

The quiet little top student and his classmates had even brought notebooks and quills with perfectly serious expressions.

Shu Li glanced at Siet, strongly suspecting that he had assigned the adolescent Fairies extra homework.

Siet noticed his suspicious look, his deep blue eyes gleaming. “Sperien, do not worry about your spoken Elven. If you do not know how to express something, I will help you.”

Lia, who was sitting beside him, took out her harp and smiled gently. “I’ll provide the music.”

Her slender white fingers plucked the strings, and pleasant background music began to play.

Every Fairy teacher gazed benevolently at the blond cub. All they lacked was the line: Please begin your performance.

What else could Shu Li do?

Naturally, he could only charge ahead as though marching to his death.

Clearing his throat, he began haltingly recounting last night’s perilous adventure with his limited vocabulary.

He started with picking fruit.

“...We found a kind of pear-shaped fruit growing near the safe area. It looked especially tempting, so we couldn’t resist flying over to taste it.”

“Was it good?” a cub in the front row asked.

“It smelled really good, so it must be delicious!” Budeno immediately said. “And each one was this big!”

Silently, Shu Li took four pear-shaped fruits from the storage ring and lined them up on the ground. The cubs’ eyes went wide.

“Wow! Sperien, why do you have the fruits?” Budeno pounced forward, hugged one, and sniffed it from every direction, drooling heavily. “It smells so good, so good~~~~~~~”

Dosia and Aisha exchanged a glance.

The Sekern bird had stolen the fruit-laden branch, yet had actually resisted eating it?

Although Sperien had returned, they knew nothing about what he had experienced in the Faerie Forest. The Elven King had brought him back to the divine tree without telling them any details, and naturally, they had not felt it appropriate to ask.

The moment they heard that Sperien planned to tell the cubs what had happened the previous night, they had hurried over to listen.

The cubs were the future of the Fairy Clan. Every single one was immensely precious, and the adults had both a responsibility and an obligation to ensure that they grew up healthy and strong.

“Sperien, did the stupid bird give you those fruits?” Angel asked.

“Of course not!” Shu Li shook his head indignantly. “The stupid bird’s claws snagged my clothes, and suddenly I was carried into the sky... I was terrified! All I could do was cling to a... a leaf. There was nothing else I could do!”

He described in detail how he had been carried into the air. Although some of the words he used were not entirely accurate, he conveyed his helplessness and fear at the time with perfect clarity.

The cubs listened with complete empathy, repeatedly gasping in shock. The more timid ones hugged each other for comfort.

They could not imagine how terrifying it would be to be carried thousands of meters into the air by a giant bird, with nothing but a leaf that might be blown away at any moment to cling to.

Kumandi listened while taking notes. When he heard that the little cub had survived with only a leaf, his grip on the quill tightened. After pausing, he turned to ask one of the adult Fairies.

“Dosia, have you found out the Sekern bird’s name?”

Dosia sneered. “That Sekern bird is called Deklet. It is a seventh-rank magical beast and quite notorious in the Faerie Forest.”

Kumandi’s face tightened. His quill scratched rapidly across the notebook as he drew a lifelike picture of the Sekern bird and labeled it with its name.

Siet asked Aisha, “Where is Chris?”

“He left the forest early this morning,” Aisha replied.

“Oh.” Siet nodded. “No wonder I haven’t seen him all day. Where did he go first?”

Oress elegantly held a tiny red fruit between his fingers. “I heard his first destination was the magical beast forest in the north.”

Siet understood.

The moment the Sekern bird carried Sperien away, the Fairies had found its nest in the Faerie Forest, but unfortunately, it was empty.

They had then searched several of its temporary nests, but found nothing there either.

From this, they guessed that the Sekern bird had realized it had accidentally carried away a Fairy cub and fled out of guilt.

Where could it have gone?

There was no need to guess. It had surely fled to a magical beast forest.

Unfortunately, it had made the wrong calculation. Fairies were never merciful toward those who harmed their cubs.

Chris had chosen the magical beast forest as the first stop on his journey precisely so he could settle the score with it. Normally, secretly stealing a few fruits caused no real harm, so they would merely chase it away.

But yesterday, it had stolen a cub, failed to bring him back, and then casually abandoned him in the forest.

That was utterly unforgivable!

Shu Li had no idea that Chris was now hunting the stupid bird. He had already reached the part where he woke groggily in the enormous tree and found the untouched fruit-laden branch and a furry mother squirrel.

“Wow, a squirrel! Was she cute?” the cubs asked curiously.

Shu Li scratched his head and said awkwardly, “She was cute, but I was so frightened at the time that I pulled out my dagger and pointed it at her.”

“Did you fight?” Disio asked nervously. “Did you win?”

“No, no.” Shu Li took out the dagger hanging at his waist and said regretfully, “This... is only a decoration. It can’t do anything against animals larger than us.”

Fairy weapons were all miniature. Their designs were exquisite, but their destructive power was effectively zero.

“That’s not true!” Aisha rose and flew lightly to Shu Li’s side, holding out her hand.

Shu Li froze for a moment, then passed her the dagger.

Aisha flew about two meters upward and looked down at the cub below. “A Fairy’s weapon is never merely decorative.”

She raised the dagger high and solemnly chanted, “Great Light God Laient Freis, please grant me the power of my origin—”

As the incantation ended, dazzling light erupted from the silver-haired, silver-eyed Fairy godmother’s entire body.

The cubs simultaneously covered their eyes. Only Shu Li continued staring up at Aisha without blinking, even at the risk of hurting his eyes.

His little heart pounded, and his entire body trembled with excitement.

Yesterday, he had been astonished when Chris transformed from a miniature person into a full-sized figure. Had the stupid bird not carried him away, he would have asked about the mechanics of becoming larger long ago.

Now that he was seeing Aisha chant and transform before his eyes, he stared without blinking, wishing desperately that he could record the whole process.

Unfortunately, he did not have a phone.

The light was too dazzling for his eyes to endure. Shu Li finally had no choice but to raise a hand and shield them.

When the light disappeared, an enlarged Aisha hovered in midair. The dagger in her hand had also expanded dozens of times.

Every cub stared with their mouths hanging open.

The adolescent Fairies remained relatively calm. From their very first day of studying magic, they had known that once Fairies obtained the Light God’s power of origin, they could freely alter their size.

Aisha flew to one side, putting some distance between herself and the branch where the little square stood. She descended by about a meter so the cubs could see the dagger in her hand more clearly.

To the cubs, the enlarged Aisha resembled a giant. Although her features were perfectly familiar, she somehow inspired awe.

Shu Li’s green eyes sparkled as he stared at the enlarged dagger.

So the weapon shop owner had not fooled him. This really was a high-rank weapon.

Aisha slowly drew the dagger. The snow-white blade gleamed sharply beneath the sunlight.

Shu Li widened his eyes. He could faintly see a complicated magical sigil flash across the blade.

“This is an eighth-rank weapon,” Aisha told Shu Li with a smile. “It seems the weapon shop owner sold you the finest item he had kept hidden away.”

On the Austin Continent, the highest weapon rank was nine. However, there were very few people capable of using a ninth-rank weapon. An ordinary person who possessed an eighth-rank weapon could already dominate an entire region.

Although the dwarves excelled at forging, crafting a single ninth-rank weapon might consume a lifetime of effort.

The rare materials alone were nearly impossible to obtain.

Fairies and Elves were talented in many fields. In addition to languages, art, and magic, they were also skilled at forging. However, since they could not bear spending long periods beside a forge and ending up drenched in foul-smelling sweat, most Fairies and Elves chose to provide their own materials and commission the dwarves to make their weapons.

Sperien’s dagger was so exquisitely and lavishly crafted that it had obviously been made by a Fairy.

Only Fairies would add so many unnecessary ornaments while forging a weapon.

The dagger’s sheath was so beautiful and embedded with so many valuable gems that it was no wonder the little cub had mistaken it for a decoration.

Of course, before it transformed, it truly was only ornamental.

Shu Li was stunned after hearing Aisha’s explanation.

Huh?

So his dagger was actually an exceedingly rare eighth-rank weapon?

Wasn’t the weapon shop owner afraid of suffering a loss by selling him something so valuable?

Aisha slid the dagger back into its sheath and looked at the shocked cub. “You do not need to worry that he suffered a loss. The item you traded him came from the Fairy Nursery. Its value was at least equal to the dagger’s, if not greater.”

Having his thoughts exposed, Shu Li rubbed his face in embarrassment.

The other cubs who had also bought daggers excitedly removed them from their waists and asked, “Aisha, Aisha, is mine eighth-rank too?”

Aisha looked over them and shook her head. “Yours are seventh-rank.”

Although Fairies and Elves were long-lived peoples, forging a single eighth-rank weapon required at least fifty years. The weapon shop owner was only a little over five hundred years old. There was no way he could have made that many eighth-rank daggers.

“Oh~~~~” The cubs were a little disappointed.

Aisha comforted them. “Seventh-rank weapons are excellent too.”

The cubs immediately brightened, each one beaming with delight.

After calming himself, Shu Li lifted his little face and asked, “Aisha, why... can Fairies become bigger?”

“Yeah, yeah! Why?” Disio chimed in.

“Chris became really big yesterday too,” Angel said.

“If we get bigger, we can fight the stupid bird!” Budeno’s eyes sparkled, having completely forgotten that he had cried in terror the previous day.

Twang—

A rapid chord rang out. The cubs jolted and turned around together, looking toward Siet, who held a harp in his arms.

At some point, Lia had stopped playing.

“I’ll answer that question!” Siet’s long, well-defined fingers plucked the strings as he began singing an ancient legend in a deep, magnetic voice.

“When the first pure flower of early spring bloomed, the first Fairies were born beneath the Light God’s blessing. The Fairies were tiny, with thin, delicate wings upon their backs, entirely unlike the tall Elves. And so, the Little Fairies prayed to the Light God—”

“Ah, great Light God Laient Freis, please grant us the power to change our size! We shall praise you and follow you forever!”

“The Light God replied, My beloved children, if you gather the ice crystal flower from the summit of the snowy mountain, I shall bestow upon you the source of light.”

To become true children of the Light God like the Elves, the fragile Little Fairies endured countless hardships, climbed to the peak of the snowy mountain, and found the one and only ice crystal flower.

The instant their fingers touched the ice crystal flower, the Light God descended and bestowed the source of light upon them.

From that day onward, the Fairies possessed the ability to change their size.

After hearing the legend, the cubs’ faces glowed with excitement and yearning.

“Siet, Siet, will all of us be able to grow bigger?” Angel asked eagerly.

“Not yet.” Siet stopped playing and raised a finger. “You must increase your magical rank before you can awaken the power of your origin!”

Shu Li asked, “What level do we need to reach?”

Siet winked. “You must become a Senior Mage.”

Shu Li tilted his little head and asked hesitantly, “What level is a Senior Mage?”

Two minutes later, he was looking at a diagram of the magical ranks.

The ranks of magic users progressed as follows:

Mage Apprentice—Initiate Mage—Mage—Archmage—Grand Mage—Saint Mage—Mage Sovereign.

Each rank contained nine levels.

Those nine levels were divided by strength into Junior, levels one through three; Intermediate, levels four through six; and Senior, levels seven through nine.

In other words, to become a Senior Mage, starting from a level-one Mage Apprentice, he would need to reach at least level twenty-five.

Shu Li: ...