Cinnamon Bun Chapter Five Hundred and Fifty-Eight – Lunch and Learn

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Stray Cat Strut (A cyberpunk system apocalypse!) - Ongoing

Fluff (A superheroic LitRPG about cute girls doing cute things!) - Ongoing

Love Crafted (Interactive story about an eldritch abomination tentacle-ing things!) - Completed!

Drear's Ten-Tea-Cle Café (An insane Crossover about cute people and tentacles) - Hiatus

Cinnamon Bun (A wholeso LitRPG!) - Ongoing

The Agartha Loop (A Magical-Girl drama!) - Volu Two Complete!

Lever Action (A fantasy western with cha!) - Volu One Complete!

Heart of Dorkness (A wholeso progression fantasy) - Completed!

Dead Tired (A cody about a Lich in a Wuxia world doing Science!) - Ongoing

Sporemageddon (A fantasy story about a mushroom lover exploding the industrial revolution!) - Ongoing

Past the Redline (A girl goes too fast, then she does it again) - Completed!

Magical Girl Crystal Genocide (Magical Girls accidentally the planet, and then try to fix it) - Completed!

Magical Girl Rending Nightmare (A sequel to Crystal Genocide! Cute girls in a soviet dystopia having a picnic on the roadside) - Volu Two Completed!

Noblebright (A shipcore AI works to avenge humanity) - Completed!

The Complicated Love Life of Ivil Antagonist (The Empress of Mars finds love) - Completed!

Pokebun (Broccoli Bunch in the world of Pokemon) - Hiatus

Queen Violence (An Assassin Reborn as a Kitten) - Completed!

No Strings Attached (An Elden Ring/Bloodborne inspired progression fantasy) - Ongoing

Save Scumming (A ti-looping system apocalypse) - Ongoing

Chapter Five Hundred and Fifty-Eight - Lunch and Learn

Since it was nearly noon, it only made sense for Desiree and I to grab a little bite to eat. We were spoiled for choice--the northern parts of the city were dotted with countless cafes and open-air restaurants.

Before leaving the Adventurer's Guild, we'd gotten to speak with an older man who was about my dad's age. He'd been very nice, but a little confused about what we were doing. In any case, his job as an Adventurer had been to clear and protect the roads from Southerfell all the way to the furthest of the small towns along the coast.

That ant that he'd visited every one of them, at least a few tis each year, and had a good idea of where each one was.

When I asked him about a mysterious disappearing fortress he had ntioned that one of the towns had a myth that wasn't too dissimilar to that and had pointed it out on the map.

It was a town called Blackwatch, which, when I asked about the na, did strike him as sowhat weird.

Blackwatch was the third-farthest town from Southerfell, with a population in the mid two-hundreds. It mostly did farming, so bit of mining, and there were apparently a few decent bloories there.

I had to ask what that was. Apparently it was a big slter thing that turned iron-rich rock into lumps of low-quality iron that was shipped back to Southerfell by the trainload. Neat!

With the map we'd bought safely tucked away and a bunch of extra information cramd between my ears, I had decided the lunch was in order. Hence the hunt for a good spot to grab a bite.

We settled on a cafe along the main street. It had a small picket fence taking up so of the sidewalk, and there was plenty of space to sit down at a few tables with parasols above them.

Desiree sat across from , her chair turned at an angle to accommodate for her tails. "Hey," I asked. "How are chairs made where you're from?"

Desiree blinked, then giggled into her hand. "What an outlandish query, though I suppose it is I who is the outlandish one here. As for our seating, you'll find that we prefer stools for simple seating at ho and the like, but most seats with backs are designed so that the backrest cos in from the side and sweeps around to support your mid-back. There are, of course, male and female chairs."

"Huh?" I asked.

"It depends on the side in which the back has a slit," she said.

"Really?"

She nodded. "Just as how garnts have their tail clasp on the left for won and right for n."

Wait, was this like wearing watches on opposite wrists, or the zippers on pants being on different sides, only for tails? "I didn't know that," I said. "That's neat! So if I ever look for sothing with room for my tail where you're from, I'll have to pay so attention to that?"

"Perhaps, yes," Desiree replied. "Rare as foreign visitors may be, it is customary to extend concessions to them. Any faux pas would be excused away, just as they would be for children... well. To a point."

"That makes sense," I said. Then I perked up as a nice lady ca over and took our orders. There was tea and biscuits and little puffs of sweet bread--the sll of baking bread had been one of the reasons we'd stopped here--covered in fresh jam made from local fruit. We ordered a bit of this and so of that, and then the lady headed out to prepare everything.

"This is a pleasant day," Desiree replied. "Perhaps this afternoon I'll take so ti to consolidate my gains."

"Your gains?" I asked.

She nodded, then paused and eyed with... not suspicion, maybe sothing like curiosity. "We did survive quite the little ordeal overnight, did we not? Surely your skills have flourished."

"Oh, I guess?" I said. "I guess I haven't even given it any thought until just no--"

I started a bit as Mister nu popped up next to , almost as if he was making up for lost ti.

Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Snoozing skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!

Rank C costs 1 Skill Point!

"Oh, hello there," I said to the nu.

Desiree giggled sweetly. "I see!"

"Usually the skills just... pop up," I said.

"Only if you're attempting to press them forwards. The World refrains from interrupting at ill-advised tis. In my lands, most people have a ritual of taking stock of their growth each and every day, so any new levels or advancent becos swiftly apparent, but for the few who don't pay as close attention, the World doesn't press."

Huh, I supposed that made so sense. I reached up and poked Mister nu, but as usual, he poofed with a soap-bubble pop.

"Do you mind if I look over my stats?" I asked.

"I do not, of course," Desiree replied. "I'll keep an eye peeled on our surroundings and both ears perked for trouble, yes?"

I smiled, thankful, then poked at the nu with my mind.

NaBroccoli Bunch RaceBun (Riftwalker) First ClassCinnamon Bun Bun First Class Level

18​

Second ClassWonderlander Second Class Level

7​

Age

16​

Health

165​

Stamina

185​

Mana

170​

Resilience

80​

Flexibility

95​

Magic

40​

SkillsRank Cinnamon Bun Bun Skills CleaningS - 32% Way of the Mystic BunC - 100% GardeningD - 59% AdorableD - 100% ChivalryD - 48% Wonderlander Skills Mad MillineryD - 100% Proportion DistortionC - 45% Social ButterflyD - 100% SnoozingD - 100% General Skills InsightC - 100% Makeshift Weapon ProficiencyC - 100% ArcheologyD - 100% FriendmakingC - 100% Hugging ProficiencyC - 100% CaptainingC - 100% Skill Points Cinnamon Bun Bun Skill Points

5​

Wonderlander Skill Points

7​

General Skill Points

6​

Skill Slots First Class Skill Slots

0​

Second Class Skill Slots

0​

General Skill Slots

4​

I humd as I read over my sheet. There was a lot of progress there, and yet. "Oh... I really ought to spend a skill point one day," I said.

"Do you have much to spend?" Desiree asked.

I nodded quickly. "Yup! Um... eighteen of them."

She stared so hard I could almost feel it. "Eighteen? Dearest Captain, do my ears deceive ? You have nearly as many unspent points as I have lived years?"

"Um... maybe?" I tried. For so reason I was feeling a smidge of sha. "I'm saving so of them! My Cleaning magic is really cool, so what if I got it to the rank past S?"

"S being the Master rank of a skill?" Desiree asked.

"Yeah, I think that's what it's called," I agreed.

She tilted her head to the side a little, which made her ear flick slightly, which was very cute. I had to wonder if she, too, was burdened by the Cute or Adorable skill line. "That's a lofty goal, I suppose. Grandmastery of a magical ability is doubtlessly an impressive feat that most wouldn't truly consider. Nonetheless, is that skill not tied to only one of your tails? Classes, I an."

"Yeah," I said. "My main class, Cinnamon Bun Bun. The other has... a lot of unspent skills too."

"Then perhaps consider investing so of those? No one ever profited from hoarding their points under their tails. If you have a goal for them, then certainly they might co to be of so use, but otherwise, they're potential with no outlet."

"Hmm..." Well, she wasn't wrong. "I also... ah..." I glanced around, making sure no one was near enough to overhead.

"We have been conversing in my native tongue, if privacy is a concern," Desiree confided. By the look of her, she was amused that I hadn't noticed.

That made a lot of sense, it was a great way to keep our conversation private. Although, if we were speaking in a foreign language, it might explain so of the looks we were getting. But then again, I suppose we also appeared foreign ... and cute too, unfortunately. We attracted attention in a lot of ways.

"I have a lot of General Skill points as well," I admitted. "From the World asking to, uh, fix up the occasional dungeon."

"Ah, yes. Sothing of great worth, that. And uncommon to the point of enormous value. I can see why discretion is warranted."

"Yeah. I've been trying to get so new General Skills, but they've been tricky. But you know about that." Thick Skin and Mana Regeneration were still out of my grasp. "But I think I might use a few points to improve so of my other General Skills. I think I know what I want out of them."

"Oh? Please, go on, satisfy my curiosity?"

"Sure! So... at first, I was thinking more combat-y skills and such, but really, I don't think that's ever really been my role. I think I might spend more ti and effort improving my social abilities. Stuff like Captaining and Friendmaking, or Social Butterfly and Hugging Proficiency?"

"That seems eminently sensible, for a captain to have the skills of their trade seems only natural to . You've steered us well thus far, but learning to feel the nudge of the World wouldn't hurt."

***

A note from RavensDagger

Three pieces of news!

First!

The TTRPG has done way better than I expected it to! almost $30 Canadian dollars raised for what is essentially a free product is... actually really cool. Like, legit, thanks to anyone that joined in on the Kickstarter, I appreciate it