Skipping across to the panel I hum slightly and bounce as I swipe through the settings.

“New skill, new skill” I excitedly pick the natural creation method and cross my fingers.

Telekinesis. Earth manipulation! Oh! Oh! Magic rune creation or something!!! I want a skill that’s good with crafting – eventually I want to make a magic sword or…idk something – I hope I get something crafting related!

The feeling of pressure has already begun to build.

I bounce.

Come on magic!

I look around and grab two of my tiny poles and begin sticking them together with my sticky fingers. The little system fairy mentioned I can do stuff to try and influence the skill creation but that it wasn’t guaranteed.

I hope I get something crafting related – that’s my whole goal after all.

…

Did I mention crafting?

Affinity filled. You have a feather affinity.

Compatible skill [The wings of fell] {culture translation ‘The wings of Icarus’}

Self status (click to expand)

Tier: 8

Status: Healthy

Skills 3/4 ->

[Triboadhesion] Tier 4

[Mana Crystal Creation] Tier 3

[Unknown feather skill] Tier 1

…I mean…if it’s the only option available?

I accept the skill that goes along with the affinity and gain a second sheet of paper. It makes a little “bzzzzt” sound as it prints out into the air beside me.

It’s the little things that make me know the goddess is trying.

Instead of a description like before, this skill ‘description’ is a schematic. A drawing of a flying contraption with a dizzying number of parts. It looks almost like a clockwork bird! There were tiny strings moving everywhere and wings covered in hundreds of tiny copper feathers. Finally, there are plenty of red and blue arrows pointing to key areas of the bird as if that’s enough to build this thing.

I’ve been ripped off people! I want a refund on my free skill! What isszzzzz this???

Finally after pouring over the schematic, I notice tiny margins covered in ink blots. They look cut and pasted somehow – proof the system translated it before ‘printing it out’.

Did the goddess really have to include the bad handwriting? I think she’s trying a bit too hard don’t you?

One margin mentions lift and surface area – I mean yeah. I’m no plane engineer but those seem to be related.

A line of notes on the side point to the feathers and…what does that say? I need a magnifying glass I swear to heck.

Okay…I think I figured it out. It’s in super condensed writing – every other word is dropped and the ones that aren’t are short forms or acronyms but…I get the gist of things. The sheet basically says the more you spend time on the wings and the more parts you make the better your control will be…Making your own feathers and placing them is better than just laying a sheet of cloth over the section.

…guys? I think…I think I actually have to craft wings from scratch to be able to use this skill. The skill doesn’t even help me make those wings. Just makes them magic when I finish.

I didn’t expect magic to just happen from scratch but damn that seems like a lot.

In exchange…if I make myself wings will I be able to fly?

Flight!

I’m pumped – flying is one of the bucket list bits of magic I’ve always been dreaming of. For some reason my mind had shifted to brooms or standing in the air like some badass air stander – T pose above the peasants! But…wings are solid choices as well.

Especially if I can make them look pretty.

Maybe I should practice on smaller and more manageable sizes first? The skill literally mentions Icarus in its translation... I don’t think I want to copy a mythological tragedy – why is it named after Icarus and not Daedalus? Seems like the skill namer was pessimistic as all heck.

Well then. I should probably keep this…but I can’t see any other important points on this. No more hidden margins just a complicated mess of parts…

Listen I can’t copy this – it’s hiding too much – It should be safe to ruin the page a teensy tiny bit – I literally don’t think there’s anything else useful on it.

Trying to figure out some baseline, I sit down cross-legged and carefully start folding the page.

I need a table – there’s nowhere to rest this and the grass is ruining things.

Finishing my paper airplane – honestly the best I can do with what I have – I take it and throw it watching the glider curve slightly as it flies.

I tried but somehow it's still not perfectly even. If I had a table, I’m sure I could have gotten it right!

Still even with that, the airplane is probably the best I’ve ever made.

Not really knowing what I’m supposed to do, I try concentrating really hard.

Fly!

Fly!

Fly!

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

I imagine the paper airplane flapping its wings and zooming about.

I will control these tiny wings with my mind! I will! Watch me!

Sadly, no matter how much I struggle and push my imagination, the paper airplane just floats far more than it should before finally falling to the ground.

I run and pick it up then throw it as hard as I can. The airplane disappears over the horizon stretching and shrinking as it does. Turning around I stare hopefully….yep! There it is.

The airplane floats towards me bending slightly as it turns and tumbles to the ground.

Okay…so obviously not this.

Taking the paper airplane back, I start ripping tiny bits of grass up and ‘gluing’ them onto the paper wings.

It…It does not look pretty – I’m not proud of this at alllll – the feathers look like something a child might have done in preschool arts and crafts.

Hoooboy.

Anyways I actually spend the time to put tons and tons of grass feathers. Finally I’m finished decorating my paper airplane – its time to try flapping the wings up and down manually.

Surprisingly – or perhaps not. This is what I’m trying to figure out after all – the wings provide a huge amount of lift. Not lift a person up levels of lift…maybe lift up a really small teddy bear or something?

There’s a pretty solid gush of air under each on the downward pull – I can feel the airplane float upwards with each flap – but…but this doesn’t help me at all.

You want to know why? It’s because the paper airplane is not actually flying. Something is definitely happening and I’m definitely doing something right but… it's not working how I was hoping it would.

I’m holding onto this plane – keeping it in my hands – and so it can’t fly. This skill…as far as I can tell it’s the ability to give magical wings to something. Not a skill to make birds.

The key point is the “thing” I give wings to is what has the magic wings. They also don’t seem strong enough yet even with plenty of grass glued all over it.

Before I try to give myself wings, I have to level the skill.

But at the size I’m working with…at the size I’m working with the skill doesn’t actually do anything. To make a flying contraption I’d have to figure out how to make the wings flap on their own.

I unfold the piece of paper and stare in reluctant horror.

All the moving parts I tried to ignore…those are all there to make the wings flap automatically.

I’d need to build a clock thing I could wind up to flap the wings for me. Something that I’m definitely going to try and do – a really fun project I can work on at some point but…

…but not something immediately useful for my new life.

I don’t…I don’t think the system works.

You know what? Fine. What I’ve just done isn’t enough to level my skill but that’s fineee. I waited to get this skill long enough I unlocked another. Maybe I’ll double dip and try and get a better skill?

Yeah! You know what. My last one will be fun in the future but maybe this one will be helpful right away.

…

Affinity filled. You have a frustration affinity.

Unique Affinity! Mana seed contains the frustration of waiting ages for a meal to cook – finally leaving it for a moment and then it burning while you weren’t watching it.

No rare or common recorded skills found. Affinity analyzed – contains emotional concepts and roots. Generalized emotion skill available. Affinity transfer book available. Either pioneer a new skill or attempt to adapt the work of others!

I stare at the second skill.

That was probably influenced by how I was feeling while creating the skill but come on! Nothing else I did seemed to have influenced my skill so much.

This time there isn’t even a skill sheet I can follow… it's literally just the affinity. Do I even want to try and build or adapt a skill based on frustration?

You know what… I don’t think I do. I’m so disappointed right now I think I’m going to take a break from new skills. I’ll decide what to do later.

Self status (click to expand)

Tier: 9

Status: Healthy

Skills 4/4 ->

[Triboadhesion] Tier 4

[Mana Crystal Creation] Tier 3

[Unknown feather skill] Tier 1

[Unknown frustration skill] Tier 1

…

I know why this happened. It's superstitious but I know. I moved on to another skill before finishing with this one. I knew it was bad to rush but I did it anyways. I jinxed it. I knew I shouldn’t and this is why.

I stare at my list. I want the feather skill. I want to be able to fly. I can’t say I want to keep it and not even finish settling it can I?

I don’t want magic based on frustration. That’s not fun at all. I’m defenitly going to drop it later when I want a new skill and know what it costs to drop.

Okay. Let’s commit! I slap my face twice then smile to banish the dumb thoughts. If I want to do it properly I need feathers. Let’s see what’s on the market.

Switching real quick I skim the ‘mundane’ section. Feathers….nope. Paper…just parchment. Scissors…they have scissors even if they are a bit big. Clockwork stuff…they don’t have that. Rubber bands...they have that. This shouldn’t cost too much, its all just craft supplies.

…it costs too much. I shake my head in sadness at my poor pathetic bank account.

I haven’t made pearls yet today. My balance is 3 moneys. Who used all my money? Did you? I didn’t realize this was our money. You can give suggestions of what to spend it on but I’m the one who worked hard!

I look for books and find a sad lack of literature – all written in a different language. I guess I’ll have to figure it out myself.

Making as many pearls as I could stomach without listing – 3, the answer is 3 – I list them and start making more while staring at the sign in impatience.

Finally after ages – agessss – of grinding I hear that wonderful bing.

I’m so excited I drop the partially formed pearl watching it fade with a pang of inefficiency before running to make my purchase. I list my new pearls and gather my supplies then return to my bed to work.

The bed works as a table – it's certainly hard enough to count.

Stacking my parchment 5 sheets at a time, I start cutting multiple feathers at once. The scissors are more like kitchen shears – they are much too big for my fingers – but I make it work. After cutting out tons and tons of ovals I start making small snips at the bottom of them to kind of jag up their ends.

Those look like feathers…kind of. Hopefully good enough to count.

As soon as I finish my massive stack of feathers, I shift to my paper airplane. You are going to need some renovations “Mr Plane”.

Standing up, I run to collect my leftover sticks then return to start making my wings. I cut the paper in two then trim off dozens of small bits. Mostly wing shaped. Next comes the feathers!

With one tongue stuck out for concentration, I glue feather after feather to both wings. I swap back and forth to make sure one side doesn’t get jealous of the other and glue them to my stick in the middle.

Done with that I pull out my rubber band – it's not made out of rubber but it makes me feel better to think that – and then I start brainstorming. How do you think I can set this up? I try to think about ways to make the wings flap while playing with the band. I’ve heard of people doing this – it has to be possible. Heck, I think children do it – I’m definitely smarter than a child I can figure this out.

Reveal to me your secrets!

…

Send help. Someone respond I don’t know how to translate rubber band to flap flap. I flap a few times hopefully in case you have an idea.

Nothing. Drat.

…

I give up on wing flapping for now. I can spin the rubber band a bunch but that doesn’t translate to flaps…it translates to a sort of propeller motion. I can do propeller!

First, I make a ring and glue it around the end of the stick, boxing it in with a glued bit of twine on each side.

Then I snap my last stick into three small pieces and sort of stick them around the ring making a triangle thing with six extended bits. Reusing several scraps I make six miniature “tail” wings and glue them to the end of the stick.

There we go…and now If I tie the rubber band around here and wrap it around there...

Perfect.

I raise a thumb to stare down at my creation cross-eyed then do my best impression of a mad scientist.

“It livesssss!”

Standing up I spin the propeller on my new creation and aim to the end. “Do we have clearance for flight miss operator? You have my permission. What are the wind conditions like? It’s very much not wimdy, you are good to go. Vertical thrusters Engage!” I release the propeller and push my plane off. I can feel it working. The feathers are very light. The propeller is spun well.

Off into the distance my paper plane flies. Turning I stare in anticipation – There! Just to my side. The plane splutters past from a slightly different angle than I was expecting.

There! It's now an entirely different direction. Giggling I spin and guess where it will arrive from next.

It's here! Basically right! I’m a genius! We have achieved flight! That direction next?

I aim at the horizon and stare….I keep staring. The plane has not arrived. Slowly I walk towards the horizon with a heavy heart. I don’t think they made it.

I was right. I rush across the distance and kneel beside the poor crashed plane. It's stuck into the ground head first. No survivors.

“Too young to die. Much too young” I wipe imaginary tears out of my eyes then spin the propeller and send it off once again.

“It lives! Zombie plane!”

Returning to my status I nod. It's harder to tell with this skill – there was no click or change...but I got it.

Self status (click to expand)

Tier: 10

...

[The wings of fell] Tier 2.