Onwards, To the Capital

"Congratulations, Cory, you can fly now," Lia says, "but we're going in the wrong direction."

"... I knew that," I say, turning around.

"We're still going in the wrong direction," Aurelia says as she releases the overhead barrier.

"..."

Remaining silent, I just float in the air as Lia points me in the direction of Talonia. After figuring out the correct position, I fly forward in a straight line, making it a little harder for me to lose my way... again.

"So other than flying what else can you do now that you've gained control over gravity?" Aurelia asks.

"It's not so much I can control gravity as a whole, but more like the constraints of it have been lifted from me and I can manipulate my own gravitational force. I don't really know how it works but I can pull things towards me or push them away. I've also gotten larger."

"I think I've got a better understanding of gravitational attraction and repulsion than you do, so I can explain it later," Aurelia says.

"Teacher, what do you mean by having gotten larger, aren't you already pretty big?" Wanjing asks.

"Have you not been paying attention to my biology lessons? Most terrestrial creatures have a maximum size they can be because of gravity and biomechanics," I say.

"I've been paying attention, but you've never talked about this before," Wanjing replies.

"I'm sure I did, you just don't remember, so pay attention this time. After a certain point, you can't keep getting bigger since gravity would generally weigh you down and crush you under your own weight unless there were significant changes to the body structure and even then there would be a limit, although this limit is relaxed for aquatic creatures. Being larger also requires significantly more energy to maintain, meaning you need to eat much more, and that much food isn't always available. And a lot of that energy would be spent maintaining the large size, cold-blooded creatures are better in this regard since they don't need to dedicate so much energy to maintain their metabolism," I explain.

"This seems really complicated," Wanjing says as she tilts her head in confusion.

"I already greatly simplified it. Anyway, this only applies as a general standard, and there are factors that can cause creatures to transcend those limits, like all my abilities. Gravity was the last remaining barrier that limited my size and greatly reduced the size I gained from my mutation choices. I don't need to put much effort into gaining energy since I passively absorb it from the Elements. Oxygen also isn't an issue since I can create it and after I consumed the Void Root, I don't even need it anymore. Regulating my body temperature is also easy for me, having consumed both an Ice and Fire Root. My maximum size has nearly doubled from before, now I'm 1,040 metres long," I say, as I relieve the effects of my Size Manipulation, bringing me to my full length.

"You really are massive. While I understand in my head how large you are, actually seeing your full length is something else," Aurelia says.

"Ignoring... your size... I want to... run some... experiments... with your... abilities..." Hakase says, reminding unfazed by my massive shift in size.

"Interesting, despite the large change in size, your flight speed actually remains unaffected," Boshi says.

"It is rather interesting, I wonder if it's because of her control over the air or gravity, or maybe it has something to do with her feather-like scales," Gyosu says.

That isn't quite the reaction I wanted to see. Thankfully...

"Wow, you're so big," Wanjing says as she is running up and down my body like an excited cat.

If not for Aurelia's barriers, Wanjing probably would have fallen off of me with how wildly she's running around.

"Why are you so much faster than me, despite being several times my size?" Lia asks.

"Probably because I don't have to deal with air resistance and gravity trying to pull me down," I say, but when do you think we'll arrive?"

"At this speed, we'll probably arrive at the shores of Talonia within a few days, although I can't say for certain we'll be in Alliance territory. But once we arrive, with your speed, we should only need a little over a day at most to get to Mount Dragspear, maybe less depending on where we are upon arriving in Talonia," Lia says.

"Think we can stop my Draelgium before we return to the mountain?" I ask, "actually, I'm driving, we're going to the Capital first. I want my skewers."