My Magic stat rose to 1, and all sorts of skills popped up.
But first, I approached the fully bloomed Fairy’s Flower.
Wrapped like in swaddling clothes, inside the flower’s stamen was a small—but not too small…
“It’s really Thumbelina.”
A baby the size of a thumb is sleeping soundly.
Its form is clearly visible through the petals.
“It’s totally a human baby.”
[Indeed! Fairies don’t differ much in appearance from this world’s people.]
“The ears?”
[You can see them? That’s surprising!]
The only signs proving it’s the “fairy princess” I kept hearing about
are slightly pointed ears and light green hair, despite looking newborn.
But the ears are so small it’s hard to tell if they’re pointed or rounded.
“What do I feed it? Can I just keep watering the pot?”
[Of course, you need to feed it food now!]
This jerk.
This guy’s solution to everything is “eat first.”
I should’ve named it IronRiceBowl.
“Hey, RiceCooker! How’s a newborn gonna eat rice?!”
[What can I do? I don’t produce milk!]
“Oh, give it milk?”
Fair point.
That’s a pretty universal answer.
“That’ll cost milk formula money… wait, no.”
I started worrying about formula costs, then slapped my own head.
At that size, one can of formula would last past its expiration date.
“Uh, hello?”
I waved at the tiny baby sleeping in the Fairy’s Flower, but it just sleeps.
“Guess it doesn’t cry or fuss?”
[Won’t it if you don’t feed it?]
“Not rice again. Didn’t they say it stays young for about a thousand years, like a tree’s lifespan?”
Wait, so even if formula costs are low now, does that mean feeding it formula for decades?
[Correct!]
“This isn’t in the Memorial either. I’m clueless. There’s barely any info on fairy growth. Aren’t you a spirit that came with the fairy?”
The Swordmaster’s memories gave a lot of info, but there’s still plenty I don’t know.
There seem to be almost no humans who understand fairy ecology.
[I’m a refined spirit soul, so I’d need higher intelligence to know more! Cook some rice!]
Come to think of it, RiceCookerMan needs higher intelligence to understand more.
But cooking rice hasn’t leveled it up much. How many meals does it take? Should I treat Room 202 to a meal?
“Anyway, uh…”
Now that it looks human, saying “I love you” feels super awkward.
“…It’s sleeping, so let’s not wake it by talking.”
It’ll sense my intent not to wake it, right?
The petal stem shakes, nodding as if agreeing. Is it really nodding?
“Found it.”
<Awakening in D+240>
The speed depends on affection.
You can gain greater affinity after awakening.
Pressing the air above the stamen shows more details.
It’s still saying I need to pour in tons of love.
This is embarrassing. Can’t it just sense my feelings without words?
Bow.
“Huh?”
The flower bud briefly closes and bows, like it’s greeting me.
Since affinity is tied to Magic, investing 2 stat points to raise it by 1 might improve things.
Next, I checked out the Magic 1 the Swordmaster hyped up and its changes.
<magic activation bonus>
[You can choose three basic magic types.]
“A freebie?”
With Magic at 1, I could pick activation bonuses.
I might actually become a superhuman.
“Ugh… If this was 10 years earlier, I could’ve won a million dollars.”
Back then, a Santa-looking guy had a show looking for psychics, with a million-dollar prize.
“So, what’s available?”
With Yeoraesinjang-level destructive power, fire fists, floating, and recovery clocks, I’ve built up plenty of skills, but nothing magical except levitation.
I’m regretting not picking teleportation.
Wait, is teleportation even useful?
Fire.
Creates flames.
[You already possess the top-tier magic Unextinguishable Flame.]
Ice.
Lowers surrounding temperature to create ice.
“Ice sounds good.”
Ice seems more useful than fire.
I can just carry a lighter for fire.
Ice looks way better.
“Air conditioning’s expensive…”
It’s summer.
Lightning.
Inflicts lightning power on opponents.
Can utilize lightning-based devices.
“This…”
This means I could use the limit-broken fan outside as a wind weapon.
RiceCookerMan could operate externally too.
And above all, a portable battery…
“Pointless.”
I can just carry a portable battery, right?
No need to test that.
Light.
Illuminates darkness. Highly effective against nocturnal beings.
“Turn on a flashlight. Pass.”
Healing.
Heals wounds. Recovery depends on injury severity, Magic, and level.
“Healers are elite. But…”
Since I got regeneration from zombies, it’s useless for me.
Healing others?
“Unlicensed doctor… Let’s think more.”
Can it repair RiceCookerMan? What about the fairy?
“Wait, this is totally…”
It reminds me of a psychic-alien-concept idol.
Anyway, I can pick three basics, and the rest can be acquired with more Magic.
Among elements, ice looks good, so I chose it.
As for the others…
“Detection.”
With higher intelligence, I saw a description better than an alarm bell.
<level detection>
Detects low-level prey or items needed for synthesis.
Helps avoid high-level or overwhelming opponents.
Sounds useless.
Monsters only spawn in my room—why need this?
I can hunt monsters by staying home.
“…Until that damn cat showed up.”
My immediate task is catching that <lv94 cat>
The biggest issue is it might harm people.
[This world’s been scouted by specters. They say its combat culture focuses on explosive and ranged attacks. So, expeditionary forces come with skills to dodge ranged attacks.]
Normally, you’d hunt big pests with guns, not fists or spears.
What if a beast is immune to bullets?
That’s chaos.
And even if it’s not, it’s still trouble.
If that cat gets taken down by a human special forces’ firepower, someone around level 94-95 could emerge.
Think about it—how many people live like me, using levels just in their room?
‘You need Magic and top-level personnel to control it.’
I helped the Swordmaster ascend, but he left that warning like a mentor.
Once levels appeared, a dystopia opened where people killed to absorb levels.
No reason that can’t happen on Earth.
“Humans flipped the world twice without that stuff. But before that, won’t people storm my studio to monopolize the gate?”
[National Intelligence Service! Come out!]
[You little punk! This is hot!]
[FBI! Open up!]
Bang bang bang!
“Ugh, nonsense…”
It’s a horrifying thought.
No choice.
I need to pick this to avoid carrying mackerel in this summer heat.
Why do I even have mackerel in the fridge?
***
A grandma running a cockle specialty restaurant often got visits from a black cat.
It seemed newly adult but instinctively followed the fishy smell.
With bright green eyes staring, she couldn’t help but give it scraps.
She thought, like feeding stray dogs, she could toss the cat some food.
Running a seafood restaurant, with leftovers like soy sauce shrimp, grilled croaker, and cockles, the cat must’ve thought it was living luxuriously.
That Nabi was so cute—giving it freshly cleaned, blanched cockles from the mudflats, she pampered it with special treats.
“Come on, Nabi.”
“Uh, Grandma? What’s this?”
Her granddaughter, visiting after years, took interest.
If only it was just interest.
“The collar stresses it out. Grandma, it bites?”
“No, Grandma! You can’t feed it human food!”
The granddaughter, busy with studies and visiting after years, threw a fit, acting grown-up.
To Grandma, the cat was cute, customers loved it, it ate scraps, and chased rats, so she wanted to keep it. She cleaned thoroughly so fur wouldn’t stick to food, but worried it’d wander too far, so she collared it.
The granddaughter, saying cats should be free, took off the collar, “There’s spines! Grandma.”
She forbade giving Nabi cockles or leftover croaker.
Then, rarely visiting, she came back and insisted, “I told you not to!”
Grandma kept sneaking fish, ignoring the granddaughter who wasn’t paying for feed, until she got caught.
“No way. Grandma, I’m taking it. I can’t trust you.”
She decided to take Nabi.
“Fine, then.”
Grandma was attached to Nabi, but since her granddaughter wanted to raise it with good feed in her tiny studio, a mere animal wasn’t more precious than her granddaughter.
So, she handed Nabi over.
But…
“You’re not feeding Nabi?”
“Uh… yeah, I will.”
Grandma’s coddling, “Aww, so cute, Nabi, good kitty,” was new, but nothing really improved.
It didn’t last long.
“You have a cat. Where’d you get another one?”
“No, Mom! It’s a purebred! A Ragdoll. Look, so cuddly. You said cats don’t recognize owners and you hate that? Look how cute!”
“You can’t even care for the one you have, and two in this tiny place?”
A new cat entered the territory, and, “It’s a girl purebred. No way.”
“Nabi! What’re you doing? Ugh, gross!”
When the Ragdoll made seductive meows and Nabi tried sniffing under her tail, he got whacked.
“Let’s neuter him!”
What did he do to deserve that?
“Nabi, you’d be happier in nature! Live free here!”
Soon, Nabi was released in a trap.
He missed the voluptuous Ragdoll a bit, but not the weirdly high-pitched human.
The salty diet was true, but packed with protein and taurine, Nabi was the strongest stray.
Then, a crazy rat killing his friends appeared.
After a fierce battle, Nabi ate the rat.
<level up>
Something strange appeared.
With improved intelligence, he understood human speech.
Among skills,
‘They get sick eating even a bit of human food since they’re not human-sized, Grandma.’
He chose gigantification.
His stride widened dramatically.
He felt he could go anywhere.
And Nabi wanted to go to Grandma’s cockle shop, probably far away.
But people freaked out at his giant form.
“Uh, leopard, leopard!?”
Even the human who brought food fell and couldn’t get up.
To repay the food, he meowed loudly to alert others, but they feared him.
So, he used gigantification only to move with wide strides and shrank to escape the city.
He remembered being taken from Grandma’s in a car, so he followed roads with cars, running toward where Grandma might be.
Before Nabi stood,
“Oh, found it.”
A human with a flyswatter and a towel around his neck appeared.
Like Nabi, a level 94 floated above his head.