Chika:
When I woke up I felt like nothing had happened. Well, admittedly I was a bit sore, but all my cuts and wounds were healed, and I was dressed in soft cotton night clothes that felt warm and fluffy against my skin. Rather than sweat and blood, the soft scent of brown sugar and lavender filled my nose. Which… I mean it was nice I guess. I’m glad it was thin though, otherwise, I probably would have hated it.
It all felt like a dream, but after a moment or two, the memories came back to me. Judging by the bright light shining through my window I guessed it was midday, most likely, I had been unconscious for around 20 hours or so, which tracked with my understanding of healing magic.
‘They could easily mend the damage, but regenerating the lost blood was a separate technique that only something nearly as strong as resurrection magic could do, which is also why it’s so hard to heal damaged organs that are filled with said blood. But wait… They did that, didn’t they? How am I alive right now?’
I started by slowly sitting up. Carefully standing, I walked over to a mirror, struggling to catch my balance as I got light-headed. ‘My body feels so heavy… And my balance seems off again. Did they not recover my blood after all? Field surgery then.’
By the time I got to the mirror I was starting to get my bearings back, but the moment I took a look at myself, and realized it was me that I was looking at I froze. ‘Just who… Am I looking at right now?’ My brain was so shocked that I wasn’t sure what parts I should compare to the self that I remembered.
‘My hair is… No, it’s not the same either… It was always kind of a greasy black, but now it’s more… Soft? And half of it’s ash gray… Did someone curl it like this, or is this just how it dries when it’s healthy.’ I ran my fingers through it and sure enough, there was no itchiness or grime. Although admittedly, that was still a relatively normal change that I expected upon returning to society.
‘That’s not really important though, is it? I guess I should probably check my injuries first… I lifted my shirt, and sure enough there was a scar in my lower ribs on my left side, and my upper ribs on the right. It didn’t even look like a real scar though, as much as just a memory of one, and as I touched it I couldn’t even feel a difference in my skin. ‘That’s disappointing…’
I unbuttoned my shirt halfway before I froze again. I looked so different that it felt like I was in someone else body, that feeling made it somehow embarrassing to watch myself undress in front of a mirror… ‘I guess… The magic didn’t wear off all the way…’
I focussed my magic, but I couldn’t sense anything acting on me, furthermore, I couldn’t sense any scars in my circuts that would have been left if my body had been permanently altered by it either. ‘Now I really feel like I’m in someone else's body…’ I let out an uncomfortable groan as I buttoned my shirt back up.
‘On second thought… They used divine magic to heal me, so I’m sure everything is fine…’ Leaning back I stretched my arms and wrists. I still felt like I had the so-called growing pains, but they weren’t actually that bad, just a bit of achiness in my joints if anything, and without the stretching of my skin and muscles.
I couldn’t get over how weird it felt to move. Part of it was the soft clothes gliding across my bare skin as I stretched, but the rest of it was something else entirely. It was like that feeling you get when you put on tight clothes and start to feel bigger, even though you’re the same size. Only… It was everywhere all at once, and I wasn’t wearing tight clothes.
I took another look in the mirror, poking at my face. I was definitely taller, and I had gotten my thicker arms back instead of looking like a twig. My face was a bit pudgier as well, oddly making me look younger, as opposed to the more angular shape it had while I was starving.
My neck was still slender though, and looking down at my hands, they appeared the same. My calluses and chipped nails were the only things telling me that it really was my body.
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Stretching for real this time, I slowly sank down into a horizontal split without much pain, just feeling a good stretch. ‘I’m sore, but my flexibility was never that much higher than this in the past, so that tracks.’ Bending over, I grabbed my ankle and leaned to one side, then the other, doing similar stretches until my body loosened up from staying still for so long. ‘If I’m really taller does it make sense for me to be able to do this? But if it’s only an inch or two it wouldn’t be that big of a change.’
I raised out my hand and opened up my storage to pull out a change of clothes. ‘If I died, the contents would have exploded everywhere, so that means I never actually bit the dust and got revived. Furthermore, it confirms that this body really is mine, if I somehow switched, the magic circuits would be different. They are… They are the same… But why are there so many more of them?’
I snapped my wrist creating sparks of electricity to feel the surge of mana leaving my body and refilling. ‘Oh, no I remember. The magic suppressing chains. I was constantly trying to use magic despite there effects which led to my mana draining fruitlessly… It didn’t make any of my technical abilities increase, but it effectively increased my capacity, similar to extreme training.’ I snapped my fingers to open my storage. ‘I actually feel better than just pretty good.’
Luckily, when I went shopping for clothes I bought several sizes up, so instead of them being baggy and comfortably too big, they were a bit too tight and a little small... ‘Nothing to be done I guess…’
Putting them on, it became easy to figure out that it wasn’t that I grew, or shrank. Rather, my arms had gotten larger, but my shoulders were slightly narrower. My chest was a bit bigger, and my waist was smaller. The large muscles in my hips and legs remained the same, but carried a bit more fat as well. I pulled up my pant leg expecting to at least find one thing that was the same… But unfortunately no, my calves were definitely larger, and… I was pretty sure my toes were smaller… But after staring at them for a moment I started to think I might have just been losing my mind…
Trying to ignore how uncomfortable I felt in my own skin, I looked around the room and quickly inspected my weapons, saving a more thorough examination for later as I became unable to focus on anything until I got some answers.
My knife, great blade, longsword, and dagger were all fine. My ax was broken, and of course, the only thing left from my spear was the metal head. ‘I gave the shaft to Mochi… I need to figure out what happened to her too.’
‘Let's see, I promised to help her. Second, on the list is to collect the bounty for taking down the thugs, and third should be buying a new house and getting everything sorted. Then I can worry about my gear.’
I tried to adjust my clothes over and over, but it felt like I could never get them to sit right. ‘I have a lot of money now, so I should be able to get some sweet upgrades before I go back to the great forest. While I’m at it I should update my ID card… And get some more clothes… I was promised two promotions at least.’
After changing I ran my fingers through my hair one more time ‘If only Lola could see me like this, who looks like a guy now…’ I struck a pose and winked at myself. ‘It’s not too arrogant to say I look cute is it?’
Honestly speaking the look didn’t suit me… The cutesy face and big smile felt unnatural, even if they looked pretty. And the way my chest moved as I jumped into the pose made me feel a little gross if I was being honest. ‘Sometimes I feel like I’m really an elf trapped in a human body…’
The sound of the door creaking open made me scream and move to cover myself, even though I was already fully dressed, it still didn’t feel like it somehow.
“Oh… You’re awake…” Lola said softly, her eyes widened.
Dead silence hung in the air. “U-uhm… Yeah…” I slowly cleared my thoat, returning to a neutral stance.
We stood still, awkwardly staring at each other. “Were you in the middle of something? I can come back later if you want to finish privately examining your new body.”
“Don’t say things like that!” I felt my heart pounding in my chest as my face must have turned bright red. “What do you mean by new… Explain…”
She shrugged carting in the food. “Eat while I do.”
I nodded as she served a warm soup for me.
“Your body was badly damaged, so in order to save it Arther used a combination of a couple of high-level divinities. Thinks like regeneration and greater healing for example. They went a bit overboard and blessed you with so many different spells that you’re body not only fully healed, but was restored back to its most full and healthy state.”
I raised my arm out in front of me. “Is that really all though?” The fact that my stomach with a deep breath no longer stuck out farther than my chest, was more enough to convince me there had to be more to the story… “I mean…” ‘It’s not nearly as dramatic as before, but…’
She sighed. “Right… All the negative effects you had started correcting themselves. For instance, you’re stunted growth from malnutrition is no longer a factor, that’s why you’re a couple of inches taller now. And your body isn’t constantly in a stress and survival state, which is why you look normal, instead of like an anorexic pigeon on muscle enhancers.”
‘Was that comparison… Really necessary…’ I sighed. ‘And I really only gained a couple of inches? Well… Thinking back… My parents only seemed big to me, but they were shorter than most.’ “So, if I’m understanding you right, this is who I would have been if I grew up normally?”
She shrugged again. “I highly doubt that. But who could say really? I can’t even use divine powers, so I’m not the one to ask.”
‘Figures…’ “Ok. Well… What happened to the girl I was with when I passed out?”
“The girl you were with… The halfling you mean? She’s currently in jail for attempted murder.”
“What… Who did she try to kill?”
“You… She admitted that she shot you in the back while you were fighting.”
‘Great, just… great…’