Matter Magic

[ScribeOfProportions]

Well I suppose this is my introduction post, hi everyone!
I've written a tale similar to Quik's isekai story here, because there really isn't enough isekai stories with SW in it.
I've reposted to my DA too, and it'll come with AI illustrations once I get my comfyui working

Of course, it was a truck.

On the upside, I was hit hard enough that my brain was crushed without having time to process the pain, but still, right after I graduate from university? I hope that prick’s insurance refuses to provide him proper compensation.

So now what?

I attempted to stare at my surroundings, but found that I didn’t have eyes to observe with. Well, that would make sense. My eyes were probably pulverised alongside the rest of my body. Yet still, I heard a voice from the incomprehensibly large darkness.

“You, of strong soul, bright mind and strange fetishes.”

Well now, there’s no need to kink shame me. First the truck, now a kink shaming deity. I think it was a deity at least, it seemed unreasonable to assume there was any other being that could commune with me postmortem.

“I am Caladine, the goddess of this world, and I call upon your spirit to restore balance. I bestow upon thee a gift.”

What could only be described as a searing headache tore my mind in two as a rushing warmth tickled my skin. My… skin. I had skin again. I had a body again. I cracked my eyes open to see a glowing woman in front of me.

Glowing both literally and metaphorically.

She had quite the figure. Curves in all the right places, slim yet not skinny, yet her head was obstructed by a blinding light I couldn’t see past. A pity, really.

Blushing and deciding to focus elsewhere, I inspected… myself. Floating in an endless void of dim lights, I saw engraved on my arm a strange tattoo of sorts, depicting a stereotypical magical circle. As I rubbed it, it glowed with a warm yellow.

“That is a rune of knowledge. It grants you the knowledge enchanted within. In your case, the ability to craft runes of your own.” Caladine spoke, “I haven’t the power to grant you the usual blessings. However, I believe the strength of your will shall guide you through my world.”

Unsure of whether to feel reassured or frightened, I simply nodded.

Suddenly, a strong pull pulled my arm backwards, and I tumbled away from the goddess.

“It seems our time is up. Good luck… hero.”

No time for questions, no time for thoughts, it seems I would be flung into the deep end.

And flung I was.

Into the very hard ground.

Unceremoniously deposited upon the dirt, I spat out the mouthful of mud that had found its way into my maw. The glowing lights were gone; the goddess had all but vanished. I stumbled to my feet, dusting myself off, and I took the time to inspect my area.

The transition from heaven to here had flung me onto a long brown footpath which split an endless field of green in two. A quiet breeze swept through the tranquil patch, letting the grass whisper a quiet rhythm. It was quite the change in mood, considering I was obliterated via vehicular manslaughter only minutes prior.

I sat on the grass, taking some time to just… breathe. This emotional rollercoaster felt a little too much for me to handle. First of all, I died, so I needed some time to think about that one. Second of all, I got isekaied into a brand new dimension, so that was at the forefront of my mind.

 Yet a rustle immediately put me on edge once more. So much for calming myself. Leaping back onto the path and raising my hands in readiness, I locked onto the patch of grass that had dared disturb my meditation.

Then my fear turned into a sick mix of arousal and disgust when the creature emerged from the greenery.

It was a woman, yet she was barely 6 inches tall. Crawling on the ground, completely naked, covered in dirt and blood, she dragged herself with what remained of her only arm and leg, the other limbs missing and the stumps trailing red behind her. I bent down to her and inspected her more closely. Her back was covered in a curved row of evenly spaced punctures. Bite marks… perhaps?

Then, with one last strained breath, she succumbed to her injuries, slumping in front of me. Mildly panicked, I grabbed her and lifted her to my face. The bite had gone deep, blood pooling in the holes. One breast, which would’ve been perfectly perky like the other, had been mutilated by the beast that had done this to her.

I shook off the lust and considered any option to save her. There was… probably nothing I could do.

I dug a small hole and placed her within, filling it with the mud and patting it down. How my overwhelmed mind didn’t shatter at that point was a miracle. Perhaps it was the rune that provided mental stability, or perhaps it was the fact that amid all the death, my secret fantasies had been fulfilled.

I could use a drink right now…

Once again picking myself up, I decided to investigate where she had come from. Maybe it led to a nest of tiny people attacked by a predator? That gave me pause. What if the predator was still there? Still skulking about in the tall grass?

Then again, I wasn’t 6 inches tall, so I could probably take it in a fight without dying. Probably.

Marching through the thigh high greenery, I pushed aside the plants and attempted to follow the trail of blood. The trail turned to erratically spaced splotches, then nothing. Pursing my lips in a mix of confusion and disappointment, I turned to return to the path when I noticed a few patches of grass that seemed to be missing in the otherwise uniform field.

Approaching, I noticed that the grass wasn’t missing, but instead pressed down by a variety of items. Within one of the patches, a strange stick. In another, a pair of women’s underwear. In another, a long flowy medieval dress and in the last, sandals and a bag.

Upon first glance, a scene comes straight from an erotic movie. But with a bit more niche knowledge, I deduced my own assumption.

That woman I had buried had been shrunk, shedding her equipment as she tried to flee from… something. Considering her state at the end of her run, it probably wasn’t a horrible guess. It… also made me much more nervous about facing this potential predator. I wasn’t 6 inches tall… yet.

I appraised each item for any more clues, but no luck. Finally coming back to the wand, I picked it up for closer inspection. It was made of some type of wood, though the darkness wasn’t one I recognised.  Engrained within were small red gemstones that led up the tool, wider at the base, thinner near the tip.

And it was surprisingly ergonomic for a mythical medieval weapon. There were indents where I assumed my fingers were to slide into to hold the wand properly. So humouring the design, I held the wand out.

Then suddenly, instinct took over. I felt my mind begin to push my focus into the wand, a wave of exhaustion hitting. After a few moments, a large ball of flames burst forth from the tip, sailing a solid hundred meters away before exploding in a burst of light and heat.

Did… Did I just cast fireball?

Though my celebration was short lived as I collapsed to my knees. It felt as if I had been punched in the gut, my lungs removed, and I had still been forced to run a marathon. Casting fireball was probably not on the list of things my body could handle too well, understandably.

The feeling was slowly fading, thankfully, but I needed to lie down as I caught my breath. I assume that was… mana exhaustion or something similar. All medieval isekais tend to have some form of magic and some form of mana. Overuse said mana, and you get fried.

During my attempts to catch my breath, I had time to ponder. What now? Searching the bag, I found some days' worth of rations and clean water, along with some strange glowing blue rocks. I’m uh… sure that the late adventurer wouldn’t mind me “borrowing” the supplies.

But that was only a temporary solution. I had taken very basic survival classes in school, so I at least know some basics of how not to die, but a human settlement would be ideal. And footpaths or roads are typically constructed between two settlements.

All I had to do was continue down the path in one of the two directions, and I’ll be fine, right?

After finally regaining my energy and picking an arbitrary path to continue down, I glanced backward one last time and grabbed the meagre pack of supplies, praying it would be enough to last me until the next settlement.

One foot after the other, one step at a time. My mind drifted once more, still trying in vain to catch up to the chaotic events. The blood of the woman had dried on my palm, and I didn’t wash it due to potentially wasting water. Yet the feel of another’s blood quite literally being on your hands greatly disturbed me.

I distracted myself by feeling the weight of my new wand in my pocket, hopefully a symbol of my future potential in this world. The rune engraved in my arm still glowed a muted yellow as I trekked onwards.

But as the sun began to dip, I heard the clattering of wooden wheels behind me. Spinning around, now on edge once more, I whipped around to note a man leading a comically long carriage, with the back extending at least 4 meters backwards.

“Greetings, young adventurer!” The man greeted as he rode past. “Are you travelling alone?”

I briefly looked around, my social anxiety requiring confirmation that he was, in fact, talking to me before responding. “Uh, yeah.”

“You need a ride?”

I blinked, processing his statement. “Um, for free?” I stuttered out.

“Well, no.” He chuckled, “I need someone to relieve Alia of her guard duties at night, since she’s been doing it since Yiron and I don’t want to push her too hard. But other than that, no shards. Us middles  should stick together, especially in Alstur, after all.”

Shards? Middles? Questions for later. As long as I didn’t have to use my legs, I was grateful. As I thanked the man and entered the caravan, I learned why the van was 4 meters long.

In the front half was another woman of obscene size, my estimates placing her around two to three meters in height as she sprawled out and slept peacefully. In the back half of the caravan were cages upon cages of tiny women, all varying in appearance and size, yet all dressed in rags and chained to the floor of their cages.

They gazed at me as I sat, yet didn’t say a word.

I felt a minor excitement bubble up within me again. That deceased tiny lady wasn’t the only one in this world, and it seemed the way they were caged suggested they were quite the commodity. Perhaps I had a way of purchasing them in the near future…

I see what the goddess meant by “strange fetishes”, I should’ve thanked her, I suppose.

The cart ride was silent until the giantess stirred and yawned. “Oh? Who has Marek recruited now?” She shifted her positioning and reached out a hand to shake. “Alia,” I returned the gesture in kind,

“Jared”. Her hand engulfed mine as we shook. Though she was massive, she had… quite the cute charm to her. Something about the way she postured herself and her facial structures made her feel quite adorable.

“Marek, I think you said his name was, is taking me to the nearest settlement, in exchange for some night guard duties.”

She squealed in delight. “Oh, finally, I get a good night's sleep! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

We talked a little while longer before she asked me.

“You’re an adventurer, right?”

“I… I go on adventures, so I suppose I am, yeah.”

“No, like, adventurer. You know, adventurer’s guild, do quests, that adventurer.”

“Oh uh… no…?”

She pursed her lips before shaking her head, chuckling. “I keep telling Marek not to conscript the random people off the street for adventuring duties, but he never listens. Well, still, you must have some pretty good gear to adventure alone, right?”

I presented her with my wand that I had nabbed off the other lady. “I have… this, I guess.”

She inspected it for a moment, reaching for a glassy instrument and holding it up like a magnifying glass. She gasped. “You’re a middle… carrying this thing?! This would cripple you in like two shots! It’s a good thing you’re a man.”

Wait what? Sexism in my new fantasy setting?

“Good thing I’m a… man?”

She gave me an incredibly confused look. “Yeah… if a middle woman were to fire it, she would probably lose half her height in a single shot and the rest in a second. Whereas you, as a man, only lose muscle mass, so you can still function somewhat…”

I slapped my forehead in fake realisation. “Oh yeah… duh… silly me.” Having people realise my otherworldly status was probably not the smartest decision at the current moment in time.

Luckily, she seemed to buy into it somewhat, giggling cutely. “You are in no mental state to be a night guard. Take a nap, I’ll wake you when we need you.”

I took her up on that, not to rest but to think more without interruption. Retrieving the wand from her, I lay back on my wooden seat to take a nap.

First things first, adventuring. Apparently, there was an adventurer’s guild, which is a must do for protagonists like myself.

At least, I think I fit the protagonist description.

Secondly, magic. I had a lot to deduce from that short statement, but by the sounds of things, people lose body size in some way by using the wand. Males lose muscle and females lose… I think their whole body size? Is that what happened to the caged ones?

I squeezed my biceps in semi panic, but relaxed when I felt my semi toned gains were in fact still a thing. Then again, I would probably need to fire a second time before figuring out if my muscles shrink to a point of crippling me.

My racing thoughts eventually did come to an end once the rattling of the cart rocked me to sleep, only to be shaken awake once more by a pair of very large hands.

“Hey, sleeper, you finally up?”

I blinked a few times, the Amazonian’s face obscured by the darkness.

“You slept right through dinner. I’ve convinced Marek to leave you some food for your shift. I’ll take over after 4 hours or so.”

I sat up groggily. “Yeah, that’s… okay.”

I must’ve been super overwhelmed to have taken that long a nap.

Fair enough, given the fact that I literally died.

I swear, isekai protagonists usually get over that fact faster.

I climbed outside to see yet another open field, green still stretching out to the horizon and beyond. The night sky glittered with countless bright lights arranged in constellations I didn’t recognise. Marek seemed to have parked the cart in a fairly large clearing and lit a campfire, complete with a cooking pot suspended above.

Cracking open the lid, I found a generous serving of a sort of soup within, and proceeded to enjoy the first proper hot non microwaved meal in months.

I leaned back, twirling my wand in my hand. 4 hours, how was I going to keep myself occupied? Investigating my world seemed productive, and I suppose now that Aria and Marik were most likely asleep, I could test out that spell again, figure out if it actually incapacitated me.

I stretched out my wand and used that instinct to flood the wand with my energy again. Wait, what if it did incapacitate me? Was this a bad idea?

The concerns were unfortunately slightly too late as the fireball formed and was launched far, far into the distance, causing a quiet explosion upon hitting the ground. That sense of exhaustion earlier returned in full force, causing me to collapse to catch my breath. Though the feeling gradually faded, I grasped at my arms. It… didn’t feel any different. No shrinking, no nothing.

 Then, an ingenious idea came to me. I grabbed the wand and fired again because, of course, I enjoyed entertaining the idea of tempting fate constantly.

After the exhaustion faded and my muscles measured, I confirmed that casting spells didn’t seem to have any lasting effects on me… well, any visible effects. Casting fireball could give me cancer, for all I know.

I put down the wand. Until I figure out what the hell Aria meant by “debilitating me within two uses”, I wouldn’t activate the wand again.

But as I leaned backwards to stare at the stars once more, I remembered another way I could perhaps use magic. “Remembered?” It was strange considering I never learned how to use it in the first place. I kind of just… knew.

Lifting my arm and illuminating it in the starlight, I gazed at the inscription in my arm once more. A rune of knowledge, I was told. A gift that let me craft my own runes.

With muscle memory that I had never trained, I focused. A sensation like pushing out my energy into the wand filled my finger, yet slower, more controlled. As it shone with a brilliant blue, I drew a circle in the air and watched in amazement as a beautiful blue thread trailed behind.

A prompt filled my mind. A whisper like a voice. “Purpose”, it asked.
I didn’t think this one through. I made the base for a spell, but what spell would I make? I thought back to my wizardry basics back on Earth and commanded the first spell that came to mind. “Magic bolt, I guess, I don’t know.”

A familiar exhaustion began to creep as the threads began to spin into a more elaborate tapestry of interconnected patterns, creating magnificent blue shapes within the circle I had drawn.

Then, finally, a sense of completion. Floating in front of me was a… rune. The mana exhaustion wore off, allowing me to concentrate on my creation. Though my divine knowledge told me I was missing a key step. Runes had to be bound to a mana conductive object, through which the user could channel their mana to activate the rune.

I didn’t have a particularly mana conductive object, other than the wand, which I still didn’t know if it was carcinogenic, and unwilling to let the rune fade, I had simply bound it to my finger. Given that mana exports seemed to be sourced from there anyway, I may as well feed the rune straight from the source.

With that last flash of light, the rune faded into nothingness. Yet as I held out my left index finger and pushed my mana through, for a brief moment the rune illuminated the dark area, and a shining purple arcane blast flew from my fingertip and out into the distance.

For the first time since my untimely demise, a smile crept onto my face. A world of magic, now under my command with this gift. Granted, more questions needed to be answered, but the power was quite literally at my fingertips, and all I needed was to draw and to command.

I could also now finger gun quickdraw people I didn’t like, shooting another bolt of purple energy to prove my point.

The rest of the night passed by in a blur. Throughout the dark hours, I experimented with countless runes until boredom decided otherwise. By the end, the campsite was scattered with various magical traces. Patches of dirt burned, wet, and blown apart, sculptures formed in the sand among various other miscellaneous effects I had attempted.

And I had discovered something quite peculiar. Upon crafting the final rune, I noticed my energy wasn’t quite as drained as when I first crafted my magic missile rune. Perhaps my mana reserves would grow after exhausting it and letting it regenerate, like a workout. That would be awfully convenient.

Kicking around the dirt to cover up my mess as best as I could, I shook Aria awake in time for her night shift and settled to sleep once more where she once lay.

 And drifting off, I could only imagine what the world would bring once I awoke.

And now something special for you all. I've been lurking here for some time, and you're all pretty chill, so *your* opinions matter

That's right! I will be consulting this board with various polls and questions when I run out of ideas or can't make a decision.

And with that, I ask my first question to you. What would you like to see in this story? Throw any idea you have out there, and I'll see if it works! (Totally not because I didn't think hard enough and am due to run out of ideas soon)

[TheBigG]

A interesting start I like to see more of this world like can someone draw on another’s mana to steal there height or vitality

[ScribeOfProportions]

A interesting start I like to see more of this world like can someone draw on another’s mana to steal there height or vitality

That’s the plan!

I’d say stay tuned for chapter 2 but I lost a decent bit of work due to Onedrive backup shenanigans, so it’ll take a bit

[TheBigG]

Have to wait and see then

[ScribeOfProportions]

So the onedrive deletion thing might've been a blessing in disguise. I rewrote the deleted part and it turned out a lot better than before. Though as a downside, I ran out of words to do a part I was hoping to cover in this chapter, and so this chapter is coming out a little early.

The walls of Alstur were much larger than they had any right to be. Thousands upon thousands of boulders, shaped into bricks at least as long as I was tall, stacked into one of the greatest fortifications I had ever known. As I looked left and right, I gaped as the wall carried on and on, passing beyond the horizon and into the unknown.

Guarding the oversized gate were oversized women. Guards at least four times my height knelt to converse with Marek as he fiddled with various documents made of what looked to be a form of proto-paper.

Alia had only recently shaken me awake, my nocturnal sleep schedule forced upon me by night guard shifts and mana exhaustion.

Eventually, we were waved through, and I took a seat next to Marek. “I take it you’ve never been to Alstur.”

“I have not. Do you have any… guidance?”

“Unless they’re in official districts, don’t do any dealings with merchants. Them higher love to take advantage of us middles.”

He turned to me with a pitiful look and offered. “Look, mate, I’m only here for a bit to sell off my cargo, then I’m off again to Yiron. If you pick up an adventurer’s license, I’ll pay ya a solid few if ya tag along. I could use another escort.”

I paused for a moment. “I’ll think about it.” That was all I could offer him.

The cart clattered past the gate, and we were briefly plunged into darkness as the sheer depth and height of the wall had cast incredible shadows, only illuminated by the sparse torches.

And when my eyes adjusted to the light outside, I was introduced to a world filled with peculiarity. The road widened and was flanked by various tightly packed buildings, styled with tall wooden roofs and the classic medical architecture. Though each abode varied wildly in size. Some seemed normal, whilst others seemed to stretch upwards and outwards, looking as if a whole block of buildings merged into one.

And the streets were filled with Amazonians. The smallest of the women was still a head taller than I, with the largest being at least 25 feet tall. All were dressed immaculately.

But as my eyes scanned onwards, I gazed upon the centrepiece of this city. Though the base was obscured by the skyline, I saw gigantic spires extending to the sky, almost scraping clouds as they stretched upwards. It looked like the top of a palace fit for the gods.

“Head down, good looking,” Marek chuckled. “There are stories of middles being tracked and snatched. 'Specially with your kind of build. They may drain you for mana.”

Yikes.

I heeded his advice, pulling a gifted robe on tighter and flipping up the hood.

“I’ll drop you in the lower city centre, and from there you’ll be able to find a couple places that fit you. I have to drop by the merchant district, so find me if you need anything.”

And sure enough, our brief time together came to an end as the cart stopped beside a grand stone fountain featuring a woman enshrined within the centre. I disembarked and bid farewell to my companions before scanning my surroundings.

It seemed like the multi-size chaos had subsided within this region, with most of the structures built to accommodate my height or similar. I sighed and stretched as I sat myself upon the fountain, ready to begin considering my next moves.

Good news, I was no longer in the wild. Bad news, starvation and thirst were still on the menu if I couldn’t find a way to make money. “Shards”, I think the currency here was called.

Though one job that I knew of was to become an adventurer. If it worked like those in stereotypical isekai stories, it would just be a fancy word for “odd jobber with a sword”. If there happened to be dungeons here, they would go out and risk their lives for treasure and whatnot.

Yet competing odd jobs seemed to be the money solution right now. And that big hall with a large board covered in papers outside seemed to indicate something adventurer related.

Approaching, I read the jobs one by one. Each was labelled with a variety of different letterings, A to G. Demon slaying, camp establishment, convoy escorts, it seems like the whole job market was present here.

I inspected a G-ranked mission with the highest number. “Prisoner processing.”

Fascinating, and hopefully it wouldn’t murder me.

So, tearing it off the board, I entered the building. Marek had implied the existence of an “Adventurer’s license,” which I hoped would be as easy as simply writing one’s name down.

Five minutes later, I found myself standing within the quaint rustic hall, presented with my new adventurer’s license by the lovely lady manning the desk. Writing one’s name was, in fact, the peak of difficulty.

If only the job markets back on Earth were this easy to enter.

With the day still young, I had plenty of time to help out with this request and get that sweet, sweet salary. Instructions said to navigate through the city with brief instructions on how to get there from the adventurer’s hall. The paper said work would’ve already begun, so they just needed extra hands whenever I was free.

The bustling commercial district soon transitioned from lively stands and smiling merchants to marble monoliths that created claustrophobic alleyways that zig-zagged confusingly. Thankfully, someone competent had written the directions, and it stopped me standing outside a structure three times as wide as the buildings around it. “Standard Mana Yield Detention Centre.” It was labelled.

The interior looked as unwelcoming as its exterior. Dirty cobblestone walls and marble flooring, silent as I walked through, no echoes to even mark my presence. The desk was attended by a frail man, who seemed to only be formed from skin and bone. He stared at the paper I presented him, pointing right towards a doorway.

“Ask for Brareth, and show him that paper”, he croaked.

As I cracked open the door, I felt the hair that stood on end begin to fall, as another organ began to rise.

In one corner of the room were cages, each filled with a nude miniature lady, no larger than 3 inches in height. In another, the discarded clothing of the shrunken ladies. In yet another, a line of scruffy men and women was shuffling quietly, as neatly dressed people scribbled upon papyrus.

And I stared upon the last corner in awe. One of the women, tailed by a pair of men holding a completed form, was dragged to the corner and pierced by a strange, needle like glowing device. She screamed in agony as her head began to drop. Her clothes loosened and began to drop to the floor.

Her already petite frame got smaller and smaller. The needle was pulled out, but a glowing blue thread still connected the pair. The woman frantically tried to free herself from the man that held her still, only to slip in her oversized clothing once she was released.

The man dug around in the pile and pulled all that was left of her. A kicking and screaming 3 inch tall doll of a woman, who was quickly flung into a cage.

“Enjoyed the show?” I jumped at the sudden voice, turning around to its source. The man’s partner, the one who handled the paper and needle thing, was grinning at me. He deposited the sheet into a box and approached. “I assume you come from the adventure’s guild right?” He held out a hand to shake. “Name’s Brareth.”

I took his hand and shook, and presented him with the job request. “Jared, I heard you need some help?”

He nodded and beckoned for me to follow him.

“We’ve had an influx of prisoners lately. Getting guards is simple enough, but scribes are hard to come by.” I… hadn’t actually considered if I could write. Upon arrival, I found that the script here wasn’t English, yet I still managed to understand through some divine knowledge.

I suspect I could write, but I would be in for a tough time if I couldn’t. Apparently, most of the population couldn’t either.

He knocked on a door, and a huge, hulking figure emerged. A man, a head taller and two times as muscular as I, stepped forth from the frame and folded his arms, smirking. “Hey, squirt,  Brareth briefed you yet?”

“About to.” He began. “Anyway, Jared, was it?” He handed me a blank form from a pile in a corner and gestured for me to sit at an empty desk. “Just fill out the form there, each field is written and pretty self explanatory. If the prisoners are giving you a tough time, tell Marc here, and he’ll take care of things.”

The large man chortled and gave a heavy pat on my back.

“Once you’re done, take them over here, jab them with this,” He held up the needle device from a large pile of them. “And once the drain stops automatically,” he pressed a button on the side of the device, and a small compartment opened with a hiss, ejecting a blueish purple crystalline object.

Brareth caught the object and carelessly dumped it into a box, to which the crystal shattered and rained its shards into the container. He noticed my flinching and laughed, “Don’t worry if it shatters, just make sure all the pieces end up in the box. That stuff is raw shard, so it’ll be melted down anyway”

I chuckled nervously and took the strange writing utensil and papyrus, sitting at a desk. “We need to get through all these prisoners by today,” Brareth called as he started shuffling things around. “I’ll organise your pay by the end of your shift.

I stared out at the line extending far outside the room and sighed. Better get to it, I suppose.

The first prisoner, a young woman, shyly shuffled up to the desk. Even through her tattered appearance, she looked quite beautiful. Long, knotted black hair, her perfect face coated in dirt, her clothes torn and tattered.

I finally pulled my eyes away from the woman and got a good look at the fields in front of me.

“Uh, name?” I nervously began.

“Olaina”, she muttered quietly.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I found I could, in fact, write the foreign characters.

The next few fields were standard: age, date of birth, place of birth, etc.

“War occupation…?” I questioned. Were these prisoners of war?

“Uh, shard courier, I think.”

“Mana density…?” Whatever that was. She winced and responded quietly,

“0.1 aether…” she whispered. The large woman behind her laughed mockingly. “Well, no wonder our division fell apart when you were on watch. Can’t even handle a single mana blast!”

I gave her a pitiful look and gestured for her to follow me. I watched as tears formed in her eyes, and she scurried after me, seemingly eager to free herself from the presence of that jerk.

Marc grabbed hold of the girl and held her still whilst I prepared the device. Approaching, I noted how cute she looked, scrunching her face and looking away. The subdued sex drive began to resurface once more as I jabbed her with the needle and she gave a quiet “eep”. Within my grasp was a tool of fantasy I had long thought impossible.

But as I prepared for the show, I was mildly disappointed to see that the transformation was almost instantaneous. But only mildly. She gave a short squeal before… nothing. Her clothes crumpled to the floor, a small lump wriggling around inside.

I placed the needle down and reached in, now holding the fruits of my labour. Curled up in my palm was a 3 inch tall, tiny Olania.

And oh, what a beauty she was. Her figure, hidden under those loose clothes, was surprisingly voluptuous, though clearly underfed. Her breasts and butt were perfectly rounded and soft to the touch. As I gripped her in my fist and placed her in the cage, I lamented the fact that I couldn’t keep such a pretty toy.

The next few prisoners were rinse and repeat, though no girl was as pretty as Olenia, nor did they shrink as fast. The men didn’t actually shrink in size. It seemed they had a different unit of mana density, called Arcana, and once I jabbed them with the needle, their muscles deflated like a balloon, a fascinating discovery.

It seemed like people held mana within their bodies that was based on some measurement of their mass, a theory I had earlier confirmed.

But mana density was something new I had to consider. Perhaps each “bit” of every person held different amounts of mana? Was that their mana density? And it seemed the average density was around 7 arcana or 4 Aether.

It was all quite confusing. I was just having fun shrinking women for the moment.

The line shortened quicker as I got into the groove, the constant ecstasy from shrinking defending against my boredom.

The woman who came up next was a pleasant change from the usual and a far cry more stunning. Her glowing blond hair and her piercing brown eyes framed a small face that gave her quite an adorable appearance. And by taking a look at her body, I would have quite a nice time picking her up after her shrinkage.

“Name?”

Though I feel like I should’ve taken the woman’s extra bindings as a red flag for what came next.

“I don’t owe you shit imperial scum!”

I looked up in mild surprise, then at Marc, who shrugged and said, “Just jab her. If she chooses not to give identification, we can sell her elsewhere.”
I needed no further prompting. Marc yanked her by the chain and dragged her into the processing corner, and I pierced her with the needle. Though I noted she shrank incredibly slowly. Maybe she had a higher mana density than usual?

A couple of minutes later, she was about half her height. Her clothes had slipped off as her hands were restrained, and she was unable to keep them up. My theories on her body were confirmed.

But as her clothes slipped, so did her restraints.

And that meant Marc was now clutching a chain attached to nothing.

The woman took this opportunity to scream what I assumed was an incantation of some kind, sparking a blue glow around her naked body and causing her to drop a foot in height to about two feet now, yet that didn’t stop her.

With abnormal speed and strength, she leapt atop me, knocking me to the ground and kneeling on my chest, winding up a fist and getting ready to strike. Marc reacted quickly, grabbing her and tossing her to the side. The needle had clattered to the ground, yet was still draining her mana thanks to that strange blue thread that connected the pair. I noticed the woman was shrinking faster now, losing maybe a centimetre per second.

Yet somehow, she found the mana left to hit Marc with another spell, knocking him to the floor and stunning him. With a foot and a half left, she leapt on top of him and started hammering his face with her fists. Each punch held a significant force concentrated to a tiny point, causing tiny punctures and bruises in Marc’s face.

I acted too, grabbing the now foot tall woman between two hands. She struggled and tried to pry my hands apart, but between her rapidly diminishing size and her wavering blue power that had flickered out, it was in vain.

I held her in a fist as she struggled at three inches tall. The needle ejected a brilliant golden crystal as we sat there in silence. It was a stark difference from the blueish purple crystals I had seen earlier when extracting mana from the others.

 I applied enough pressure to not give her any room to try anything funny, and as an added side benefit, I could feel every feature of hers. Her sizeable breasts spilled from between my fingers, and I could squish and enjoy every single curve that she sported.

Though there were greater matters to deal with. I tossed her into the cage, her mana suitably drained, and helped Marc to his feet.
“Little lady throws a punch, heh… I didn’t expect her to be a mage. Real shame she’ll be sold into the kitchen. Uh, sorry for not protecting you…”
I dismissed it, he clearly got the worst of it. Besides, I was more interested in the concept of a ma- wait, KITCHEN?

“Did you just say kitchen?”

“Yeah, those that don’t provide their ID get sold as a delicacy to royalty. They need to provide productivity somehow…”

I shivered slightly at the thought.

After he cleaned himself up and made sure none of the wounds were too deep, we cleared through the rest of the prisoners with ease. Perhaps seeing us down, a colleague of theirs scared them into compliance.

“Phew,” Brareth said after the last frail man was escorted from the room. “Tell you what, Jared, you’re a natural. I didn’t expect to get through all those prisoners today. So I’ll go organise your payment, and I’ll get you a little bonus. How bout it?

I nodded and reclined in my chair. Depending on how good the pay was, I would definitely consider repeating this job a couple more times. The power at my fingertips when shrinking those pretty ladies… intoxicating.

He returned with a beautiful, small golden crystal cube, tossing it into my hands.

“50 mana, standard pay for your time here. But your bonus…” He gestured to the cages. “You can take one of these beauties if you wish…” He smirked. “I saw how you handled them. Don’t tell me you’re not interested.”

So he had seen me fondle them a little.

I sighed and gave him a smirk back. “You know me too well…” I gave an exasperated sigh.

So, moving up to the cages, I started scanning the prisoners, though two were already on my mind.

Olenia, that beautiful Asian beauty from the beginning of my shift. Her body would feel incredible when I played with her, and her meek and shy attitude was simply to die for.

Or that unnamed feisty blonde that tried to kill me earlier. Now that she was only 3 inches tall and presumably drained of most of her mana, it would be amazing to show her the pecking order and watch as her last dregs of hope fade away.

But Brareth did say only one. So as I lined the two cages next to each other, analysing both of them, I had a choice to make…

And now for question number two... who should Jared pick? Vote in the new thread I'll make in SW stories, since I can't make a poll for a reply sadly.