Users: Wandering Magus - Selina Ristal, White-Winged Fiary - Felis

“Hoo~ Looks like the two of us got stronger again, Felis.”

[Appraisal] is vital in a world of sword and magic. To understand the unknown on adventures, distinguish the value of treasures one finds, and gather information of one’s surroundings as one explores, a skill that grants its user details and knowledge about what they are looking at is necessary.

“Ooh. Look! Look! Master! A new skill! A new skill! Felis learned something new!”

Treasure appraisers could determine an appropriate grade and value of the various mysterious items that could be fine in the labyrinths and dungeons littered around the land. Travelling appraisers could distinguish poisonous and non-poisonous mushrooms and herbs, making it easier to survive or find medicinal herbs. Ruin researcher appraisers could even use the skill to uncover secret passages and solve ancient puzzles.

“Hoo~! That’s good, Fel. Looks like I did too. It might be another [Shared Skill]. C’mon, let’s keep moving. We can see how it works after finding a place to set up camp. There should be a clearing somewhere in this forest.”

As valuable as [Appraisal] was, however, very few individuals in the world had yet to use it to its full potential. While it was true that the higher one’s level was, the more detailed and successful [Appraisal] could be, the majority of the humans, elves, and dwarves who knew the skill used [Appraisal] only for its observational purpose.

“Okay, Master! Hehehehe~! I wonder what it is! It sounds super weird!”

In truth, if various conditions were met, the sister skill to [Appraisal] could also be learned. The newest individual who had learned such a skill was the magus and familiar pair of the wandering magus, Selina Ristal, and the White-Winged Fairy, Felis. Though they weren’t seasoned travellers, being only level 15 according to their status boards, they were making their way back to town from investigating some mountain ruins. Despite not having fought any creatures along the way, the two had somehow unlocked a new skill which Selina could appraise and see properly on her [Skill Board].

“Hoo~? How interesting,” the blue eyed magus sat on a log while using her [Appraisal] skill on her fairy familiar. The winged creature, no more than 30 elven centimeters tall, rested on the young magus’s bare lap, enjoying a sweet red Tolberry. It was a sticky berry, so she hoped Felis wouldn’t make a mess on her thighs or her Scholar’s Silk Robe which she had taken off to sit on comfortably. “Looks like it was another [Shared Skill] that we learned together because we have a familiar contract.”

“[Edit]? That’s a stupid name,” snickered the redheaded fairy. 

“I wonder how we learned it… or what it does...,” mumbled the curious magus. She also joined her familiar in eating some Tolberries. “... It doesn’t seem to consume any mana, oddly. How is it supposed to be used?”

Selina was a scholar at heart. Things she did not know, she wanted to research. That was why she and her fairy familiar scoured the lands instead of cooping themselves up at the Imperial Academy. It was probably odd to see a 166 cm half-elf girl traveling alone, slaying beasts and monsters along her travels, but this was actually the reason why the two had picked up a variety of skills more specialized magi would never have heard of. This time, [Edit] was that very skill they had picked up.

[Edit], according to its description when Selina appraised it, was a skill that was meant to be used in tandem with [Appraisal]. It was a word that was unfamiliar to Selina, but the explanation gave her the context she needed.

“Allows its user to change details on an appraised [Skill Board]...” she read. “Is this like a falsification skill? It sounds criminal to forge a false status.”

“Eh? But Master’s super nice. Why would we learn something like this?” Felis used her two wings to flutter off of her Master’s lap and hovered in front of her face.

“Maybe it’s because fairies like you can be tricksters,” Selina mumbled a possible reason. “Hoo... Maybe we should test this ou-”

Snap!

Before the young magus could finish her sentence, the master-familiar duo heard the sound of a twig snapping. Immediately, the travelling pair tensed up and glanced at one another.

“Felis.”

“Yes, Master,” the fairy nodded, knowing her contractor’s worries.

A traveller always had to be prepared for the unexpected. In a world of abundant mana, creatures of all kinds could pass by on short notice, and many were feral. Ruffians such as thieves and bandits were also known to sneak up on and take advantage of weak, susceptible travellers. In the end, the wandering magus was not an adventurer. She wandered alone, something which was never advised for travellers to do, because she did not have the money necessary to hire adventurer or mercenary guards. As such, she knew that any sudden sound was something to be mindful of.

And according to her [Appraisal] skill, the two of them were right to have been wary.

Name: ???

Level: 31

Height: 177 cm

Occupation: Bandit

Weapon: Iron Dagger x8

Skill...

Name: ???

Level: 28

Height: 183 cm

Occupation: Bandit

Weapon: Iron Axe

Skill…

Name: ???

Level: 33

Height: 174 cm

Occupation: Bandit

Weapon: Iron Sword, Rope, Leather Whip

Skill…

Three status boards of condensed mana hovered in front of Selina’s eyes as she scanned the woods. Her [Appraisal] skill was at a high enough level that she could see numerous details about the bandits. Though it wasn’t strong enough to see their names, it gave her proper details on the weapons they were brandishing as well as the fact that they were, indeed, bandits.

“L-Level thirty?”  The worst part of it all, though, were the trio’s levels. If they were level thirty, they were at least twice as strong as them.

“We’ve been spotted? Well, guess there goes the stealth approach,” a cocky laugh came from behind a bush. Arrogantly, the bandit covering his face with a mask stepped out holding two daggers. “Hey, missy. It’s dangerous to be out on your own. You might get attacked, don’tcha know? All bad types of people have been around these parts here lately.”

Selina took a step back fearfully. Though she could hold her own with various spells thanks to the support of Felis, it would be suicide to combat three bandits so suddenly, especially three who were a much higher level than her. Magi were powerhouses who could turn the tables in most situations, but they needed preparation to cast spells. Even with Felis supporting her, they were outnumbered. 

“Of all my luck to run into trouble here,” frowned the woman. It was kill or be killed. She reached for her staff, but before she could, one of the man’s knives flew right at her hand, brushing across the back of it and causing it to bleed. “Ngk!”

“Hey now, no need to get all hostile. We just want to talk about that stuff you have,” out stepped a hulking bandit with an axe. He held the hefty weapon with just one hand. “Though you are a pretty fine looking lady. Hey Boss, can we nab her along with the stuff?”

“Master!” Felis shouted in shock. She was angry to see her contractor had been attacked and was now being threatened. “Why you-! Take this!”

Gathering magic power as quickly as she could, the White-Winged fairy swung her arm. A gust of wind flew from it and sharpened, becoming a blade that was aimed at the axe wielding man. However, the attack did not land as a sword swing cleaved the air and disrupted the magic Wind Sickle.

“Sounds like a good idea,” the sword wielding bandit boss with a scar running down his mouth agreed with his subordinates. “Looks like this girl belongs to the Imperial Academy. We might be able to get a good ransom for her, boys.”

This wasn’t good. Selina was well aware of that. If Felis’s Wind Sickle could be brushed aside so easily and she was unable to pick up her staff, they were in any position to fight. And they would have to do so just to make an opening if they wanted to escape. 

“Magi are so helpless when they’re caught unawares, aren’t they?” cackled the dagger wielding bandit.

That was the truth. How could a level fifteen magus and her fairy familiar win against an ambush of bandits practically twice their level? The only thing Selina could do at that moment without her staff was just look at their statuses.

‘Spells are out without my staff, Felis’s magic is too weak if it can be cut, and the smoke bombs I bought from the guild are in my bag…’ she grimaced. The only other thing the two had was [Edit]. What were they going to do with that? Change the bandits’ names?

“Master, look out!” Felis shot out another Wind Sickle just in time to protect the girl-deep in-thought from another dagger aimed at her leg.

“Wah!” Selina stumbled back, her hand sweeping across the axe wielder’s status screen.

Name: ???

Level: 28

Height: 183 cm

Occupation: Bandit

Weapon: -----------

Skill…

All of a sudden, the bandit’s axe vanished from his hands. “What the- Where’d it go?”

“Huh? What’d you do?” the man’s boss was smart enough to raise his guard.

“Huh?” Selina and Felis blinked, just as confused as the bandits. They looked down at the status screen together to see Selina’s finger had swept over the man’s weapon and removed it. Considering both of them were well aware enough of the other’s Skills, there was only one thing they were aware of that could have disarmed the man.

[Edit]. It wasn’t a skill that just changed how a status appeared. It actually altered whatever was appraised to match.

“Master!” Felis was quick to follow up with what had happened and swept her hands over another status screen. 

...

Occupation: Bandit

Weapon: ----------

...

It was just in time as a dagger that was thrown again at them vanished immediately.

“No way!” the mask wearing bandit was in disbelief at seeing his weapons disappear before his eyes. “Hey Boss!”

The bandit boss was about to approach with his sword, but Selina flicked her finger across the status boards again.

...

Occupation: Bandit

Weapon: ----------------

…

“Disarmed!” the magus confidently declared as the man’s weapons disappeared.

“Back up! Looks like this brat is more than we thought,” the bandit boss was quick to prioritize his men’s safety especially after losing his weapon.

It was a surprise to both Selina and Felis. Thanks to the [Edit] skill it seemed as though the momentum of the encounter had shifted towards them. Was it possible that they could win? But how could they do that? They may have removed the men’s weapons, but considering they still had greater numbers and strength than them, the three bandits could still overpower them.

“Master, I have an idea,” Selina’s fairy partner shared her thoughts and had a proposal. She didn’t wait for an answer not trusting the bandits to be hesitating for much longer. 

“Hey, what do you think you’re pla-”

The White-Winged fay swiftly rushed over each status board with her hand. Selina watched before her very eyes as the numbers on each screen changed, and with those numbers, so did the bandits. 

...

Level: 1

Height: 1 cm

...

Selina blinked. There was no sound. No light. It was instantaneous just like the disappearance of the weapons. The bandits who had surrounded her vanished before her very eyes.

“Phew!” Felis wiped the sweat off her brow as she flew back to Selina’s head level. “That was close. We were almost goners, Master.”

“T-They’re gone,” the magus was astonished at what had just happened. Had they just easily taken out three strong bandits? All she and Felis had done was just swipe their fingers across the magic status boards a few times. Had she been hallucinating?

No. Selina was not hallucinating in the slightest. The encounter did happen and was still on going. She could still see the status screens of the three bandits. She had to read over them multiple times for her mind to process the numbers she was seeing.

“Level 1… 1 centimeter…?” The young woman lowered her head. Did that mean what she thought she meant? To be able to remove a person’s weapon was one thing. To lower their level was another, but how was it even possible to alter their height?

This was the power of the [Edit] skill. Completely disoriented and unable to keep up with what had just happened, the three bandits were at her feet by her boots, no larger than the pebbles in 

the dirt.

“Urk! Just what did that girly do?”

“Uh… Boss, look up.”

“W-W-What the heck?”

No bigger than insects, the three ruffians who had tried to ambush Selina were unable to comprehend the sudden change in surroundings. The forest clearing they were in had become a barren land of only dirt and boulders. They could see what they thought were trees in the distance, but it was actually just the grass.

Most prominently however, were the titanic figures that now stood over them.

Rumble. Rumble.

“Ah, there they are. Found them!” a fairy as large as a dragon floated above them. At 30 times their height, Felis’s swift and light flying caused the wind itself to stir. The red haired, White-Winged Fairy slowly lowered herself to the ground, but did not touch it. She floated like she was sitting in the air, her bare legs and feet were bent towards them. Her toes wriggled with giddiness as she saw her feet were nearly 5 times their size.

“T-That’s the fairy? S-She’s a giant,” the masked bandit stuttered.

They had not paid any much attention to the fairy earlier when they were normal sized, but now that she took up most of their view, the trio could see the White-Winged Fairy’s elegant silver-colored dress that exposed both her stomach and her shoulders. Felis was on guard and nervous about her master’s safety earlier, but now she was looking at three powerless men the size of bugs, her fairy’s carefree and mischievous smile returned.

“Ehehehe~! Look. Some super tiny bandits. They’re even smaller than Felis,” she snickered. “Master, did their jobs change to ‘Bug’ when Felis used [Edit] on their sizes?”

“Edit?” the skill was not something any of the three bandits knew, even their experienced leader who frustratedly ground his teeth. “Damnit. Doing this to us...”

Neither Felis nor her master could hear the bandit leader’s grumbles. Up high above, Selina was more preoccupied with the implications of the skill’s potential. “T-This is unbelievable. This skill… Just what miracle did we do to gain access to such an outrageous skill like this?”

“Hey, the battle’s not over yet, Master!” Rather than focusing on their new power, Felis was more interested in the men who were suddenly now vulnerable and frozen beneath her shadow. “These guys are bad people, aren’t they? So we still have to finish them. Felis wants to see if you can get squished!”

True to her own words, the three men saw the floating giant suddenly start getting closer and closer to them. Felis purpose fully stopped floating, allowing her body to fall right down to the ground. The shadow over them started to grow as the fairy’s butt plummeted with the force and speed of a Meteor spell. 

“Squish? Wai-”

“Dammit. Run!”

“What? A-Ah-”

Whaaaaam!!!

The impact of the fairy’s fall to the ground made no noticeable sound other than a gentle plop to Selina due to Felis’s light weight, but to the miniscule bandits, a destructive crash created an earthquake and sent them falling to the ground. Felis did not actually sit on their attackers, aiming her drop to just barely miss them. But to the men, this was equally as intimidating as they opened their eyes again to find the surroundings to be encircled by the fairy’s bare legs. They formed walls taller and thicker than any city’s gates, and when her feet crossed each other at her ankles, their escape routes were entirely sealed.

“Ahahaha~!” Felis giggled. “Felis never had someone smaller than her before. This is the first time.”

The fairy curled her index finger back to her thumb, readying a flicking motion. She brought her hand close to the former axe wielding bandit who had been the largest of the three. The 30 cm fairy’s finger alone was longer than the 1 cm man was tall.

“Hey, Mister. Bye!” she cheerfully waved him farewell with her other hand.

“No. Wai- Pleas-”

Flick!

“Gwaaaaa- grk!”

Felis gleefully watched the shrunken man get sent flying from her simple flick. He flew from his position close to her thighs all the way past her ankles, flying right over the feet. She almost wanted to cheer that she had scored a goal like she had heard human children in the Western Continent say when playing games. His scream was so high-pitched and weak that it made her laugh.

“Egil!” the bandit leader shouted his comrade’s name helplessly. It was already too late. The fairy saw he had landed right in front of her feet. By just leaning forward, she allowed her foot to fall flat onto the ground where the shrunken man was.

Slaaaaaam!

“And one!” she cheered, continuing to grind her foot onto the dirt. A fairy-sized footprint was barely any bigger than a human’s toe, but Felis did her best to create an impression in the ground. When she lifted her foot up, she could hardly make out the centimeter tall human who she had buried into the ground. 

“You monster!” the masked bandit shouted, but he and the boss couldn’t do nothing in their current state.

“This is so cool, Master! It’s so easy to beat them when they’re even smaller than Felis’s foot.” Felis was not listening to him either way. Selina heard her familiar and turned her attention down to the ground where the fairy was dealing with the now two bandits.

“Beat? Ah, right. I forgot,” the scholar admitted she had gotten distracted. It took her a moment to regain her composure and properly speak to her familiar and check the status boards noticing one was gone. “We really shrunk them. And there’s… Felis, you already killed one of them?”

“They were trying to attack, Master. Did you want Felis to be nice?” huffed the fairy.

“No. Even I’m not that stupid,” Selina frowned. She knew the law of the land - only the strongest survived. There was no room in a land of monsters and marauders to be gentle. “But bandits are supposed to be caught and sent to the nearest town’s guild or guard. We can get a reward for turning them in.”

“Eh? Money?” Felis’s eyes sparkled upon hearing the word ‘reward’. “Ooh! We can buy a bunch more Tolberry sweets with that right? Grk… Felis squished one of them already. Does that mean we’ll get less?”

“I’m afraid so,” nodded Selina.

Down below, the bandit leader and his remaining subordinate were in disbelief. They were thinking of turning them in? As much as that would be reasonable, what would the guild do to them when they were this small? 

“H-Hey, boss. They can’t leave us like this, right?” the masked bandit nervously asked.

“I don’t know, you idiot. They’ve got to, don’t they? They sure as hell can’t identify us if we’re this small,” the leader was clutching at straws for some semblance of hope as much as his subordinate was.

Sadly, their fate was in the wandering’s magus’s hands, and magi weren’t exactly the type to care for anything other than their own research.

“Wait, no. We can’t give them to the guild at all. They saw this skill,” she put her hand under her chin as she pondered. “[Edit] isn’t something normal. I doubt anyone knows of it. If this information spreads to the guild, we’ll probably be questioned and probed...”

“Probed? What’s that?”

“We’ve got to keep this a secret, Fel,” Selina decided. “[Edit] has to be kept hidden until I learn more about it.”

“Then what should we do?”

“We…” Selina started, but then paused. She was originally thinking of how tough it would be to eliminate the bandits, but at that moment, they were so small that she could barely even make out the two survivors in between Felis’s legs. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? We just have to skip on the reward and finish them. Since they’re bandits, nobody will care anyways.” 

Hearing the half-elf magus’s decision caused the two bandits to despair. Their hopes were extinguished because the researcher wanted to keep her power hidden. They regret ever thinking she was an easy mark when they spotted her travelling alone.

Felis gave the bandits a hint of freedom her wings started to beat and she took flight. The giant fairy grew distant as she fluttered to the level her Master’s face. However, there was no actual freedom or escape. Though the fairy had moved, the mere act of her sitting down on the dirt had left a mark all around them. Her butt, legs, and feet had pushed rock and sediment upwards to form a ring around them. Being a fairy, the ring of kicked up dirt and rock wasn’t that thick, but for some reason, they realized, they weren’t actually on flat ground. They were in an already present indentation in the dirt.

High above looking down, Selina was actually surprised. All of the bandits Felis had been playing with had been in the center of one of the boot-prints she had left while making the base. It was a strange sight to consider - 3 strong men who had tried attacking her had been toyed with and one of them even killed by her little fairy friend who had taken a seat in that boot-print. She could clearly see the butt print Felis had left in the middle too. Since they were a centimeter tall, they could probably escape her bootprint if given time, but considering what she was about to do, they weren’t going to be able to make it.

“I guess this would deal with them... ” she mumbled as she raised her boot.

The two surviving bandits saw what they could only describe as a moving mountain. That was the only way they could interpret the monolithic Selina. Dirt and rocks fell from the sky, creating a sandstorm and avalanche they had to avoid to survive. The sky became dark because Selina lifted her leather boot over them and the boot-print. She tried angling her foot so that it would perfectly fit the boot-print without reshaping it. In doing so, she could no longer see the bandits, but she could hardly see them in the first place anyways so it did not matter. She relied on her [Appraisal] sight to confirm their locations.

“Oh Gods! We’ve gotta get out of here, Boss!”

“You don’t have to tell me twice!”

The two men ran for their lives, desperate to escape and survive, to get out of the shadow in hopes of not being crushed. The leather boot they say was dirtied by blades of grass and pebbles as large as if not larger than they were. If they didn’t make it out, they’d join them as untraceable stains under Selina’s boot. 

Sadly for them, there was no possible way they could flee in time.

“Hoo~!” Selina gently breathed out as she stomped.

“Noooooo!” “I don’t wanna d-”

Slaaaaaaaaaam!

And that was it. An incomprehensible weight even a mountain of orichalcum ore couldn’t compare to annihilated Selina’s remaining attackers in an instant. Their status screens disappeared from sight the moment her boot hit the ground. It surprised her how quick and simple it was. She didn’t put in any extra effort nor did she press any harder than a normal step, yet it was over.

“That’s it?” she was surprised as she lifted her boot to inspect. She couldn’t distinguish the dark marks from the ground as the remains of the bandits, dark dirt, or just shadows. She tried to check the same with her boot, but likewise she couldn’t tell the difference there either. The stains of mud, sand, and Tolberries left more of an impression than the now deceased bandits. “This made things far too easy. Did I really just kill a person? It didn’t feel like it... This skill is actually a little scary.”

“Is it scary, Master?” the White-Winged fairy tilted her head. “There’s all kinds of magic out there that can kill someone super quick, right?” 

“That’s true actually.” 

Selina saw her familiar had a good point. She pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to sort her thoughts. She was starting to get a headache, however, because so much had happened in such a short span of time. Exhaustion was getting to her.

“Hoo… Forget about it,” she gave up thinking and started scraping her boots against the ground, hoping it would get rid of any residue she couldn’t see from the dead bandits. It was getting late, and they still hadn’t had any time to rest yet. “We can think about that tomorrow. Let’s have another snack and get some rest, Fel. We protected ourselves, and practiced our new skill, so I’d call that a good day, right?”

“Okay, Master!” Felis nodded.

The [Edit] skill’s newest users had discovered what they believed was an outlandish method for using it, but in truth, this was the proper application of the skill. To use [Appraisal] on another’s status and then [Edit] it to one’s whims, the [Edit] skill was a rare ability that could be used to surpass the realm of the Gods. As such, important questions had to be asked:

Just who else possessed such a skill and how had they made use of it?