What Side Didn’t Know Vol.2 – A5,C2. Fair

Killing an orckin with my newly developed powers, and well trained control, is pretty simple.  It doesn’t matter if that practice was temporally accelerated, right? Anyway, I have tested myself a few times.  This time, I threw a straight-ish stick like a spear, and applied a certain rotation – based on the shape – with some hefty forward acceleration.

The stick flies with a curved trajectory, around a tree that is in the way.  I couldn’t see the orckin, due to that tree, but could feel it’s presence, nonetheless.  These runes have heightened my senses ability to process that information. I no longer need my eyes to see if I am focused on an object.

Melsy quietly touches down behind me.  “That’s. Hm. That’s definitely not fair.”  She is frowning at the path the stick took.

“But life isn’t fair?”  Is that not a thing in this world?  It took me a long time to understand that in my old world.  Maybe the idea just doesn’t exist here.

“Well, certainly.  Maybe. No. Yes, Dryads are broken and impossible, so yes.  What I mean is, how could you do that? I couldn’t with all my powers, and, I remind you, I am currently stronger than you…erm…rune-wise.”  She looks at me with a pensive frown.

I can understand her frustration.  She is like, what, a million years old?  And has super powers at her fingertips? I think there are a few mitigating factors though.  First, she used to sleep WAY too much. Second, I have the creativity and knowledge of my old world.  Maybe that is what I should ask, to explain. “How would you do it, make the stick curve?”

“Well, I don’t know.  I wouldn’t bother, I guess.  I’d just cut his head off with some wind or something.”  That’s a fair way to look at it. If they can’t hurt you, and you can kill them whenever, why bother with hiding?

“Pretend to be me.  I don’t have a shield.”  I tap my fist against her shield, my hand clad in some accelerated particles. It becomes visible half an inch above her skin.  “I can’t just ignore enemy attacks and go on with my day.” Melsy has a bit of a confusion showing on her face. “So, I have to protect myself by not letting the enemy know I’m there.  To do that, I sense them from further away, and attack them without letting them know.”

“Yeah…”  She nods slowly.  She knows I’m right, but she still doesn’t completely understand.  I can hear her thoughts whirling. Dragonfolk are amazing. When they are thinking hard, their heads go so much faster than humes or bearfolk.  I can’t even pretend to keep up. Dryads, on the other hand… Very rarely do I find Lillia actually pondering anything.

“But, if you can do that, why don’t you just keep a shield up?”  Ah. Yeah. I get that.

“It takes a lot of thought to keep a shield up.”  It’s honestly really hard. Putting one up for a second or two is no big deal, just energize some atoms near you to become an outward force, or magnetize them with a strong rejecting force… Or just materialize some additional atoms.  There are a number of ways to go about it. But how would you keep a shield up permanently? You would need to let some air through so you could breath. To stay healthy, you would need to let light through, but how much? If you took a bath, you would need to let the water through.  When you eat or drink, that would need to go through. How do you decide? What if someone touches you versus punches you?

“It doesn’t though.  I don’t think about it at all, really.  I mean, maybe a little bit when I was younger, I’d boof myself while eating.  Now though, it’s just there.”

Maybe… Maybe she doesn’t realize it?

“Melsy, I’m going to hurt you intentionally.  It’ll be small and insignificant, but before I do, I want you to think of what to name our son when he is born.”  Oh, that was evil and perfect. Her mind is just whirling right now.

“S-son…?”  I can see her runes are turning reddish and her tail is very still.  “Ouch!”

I poked her with a small, sharp stick.  Enough to go through the scales and draw a bit of blood.

“Where was your shield?  I noticed this when you were wrestling with Lillia the other day.”  Her mind is spinning again, but not about having children this time.

“Oh.  Oh, yeah?  Where, er, why didn’t my shield block that?”

“Melsy, when you think really hard about something, you don’t have a shield.”  It might not be conscious, but it still requires thought power to work. If she is pondering something, it doesn’t protect her.

“Huh?”  A glazed look passes over her face before she smiles.  “Hehe. Huh. Heh. Uh, yeah, I guess. Hehe. Oh, I gotta try this on Glen next time I see him.”

Glen?  Well, whatever.  “Your brain works so fast, that you don’t notice it keeping up the shield all the time.  In fact, I’d guess, it is actually a defense mechanism to prevent you from getting bored.  Every time you start using your brains in full, I can’t even start to follow your thoughts.  It’s like trying to understand an explosion.”

“Really?”  Her eyes are sparkling for some reason.

“Yep.”  I nod.

“Ahahahaha, I’m smarter than Tristain, ahahaha.”  She laughs and sticks her tongue out at me.

Really?  That’s where this is going?  That’s what you take away from this?

I sigh.  Yeah, okay.  “No, you’re not smarter.  You’re more intelligent. Smart means you know stuff.  Intelligent means you can process it faster.” How about no.

“Hehe.  Honey, guess what?”  She puts her arms around the back of my neck and pulls me in a hug.

“Hm?”

She whispers in my ear.  “I’m smarter than you~.”

Author’s Note: Thanks for the support!  I am in your care! Oh, man, he is so getting teased.

Editor: DungeonPalmz