Bunny Girl Evolution [A Monster Evolution LitRPG]

84 – Dragon. Wolf.

Ever since her evolution, Sophie felt… different. And it went far beyond just the usual disorientation of increased stats. She almost felt inhuman.

Her new class was Mythic rarity, and it came with skills she didn’t even know existed, some of which altered her senses. For example, {Dragon Eyes} was a skill with a vague description, but since getting it, it felt like she was seeing a whole new world. She could see the mana flowing all around her. She could see the patterns it formed when she cast her spells. She could see the paths it traveled when it circulated through her body. Iris seemed to have a skill that prevented Sophie from seeing any more than just the sheer quantity of her mana, but there was still something else she could see.

Iris called it aether. Sophie didn’t know what that meant, nor what it did, and Iris had yet to explain any further, but she did know that all living things produced it. Iris seemed to have a lot of it, at least relative to everything else on the island. Sophie had more than everything else too, but it was nothing compared to Iris.

{Dragon Eyes} helped Sophie to improve her casting by leaps and bounds, since she could now see what was going wrong. Just the other day, she had finally succeeded in making the miniature portal that Iris tasked her with, and was now working on making it bigger. However, the skill did come with one downside: the beautiful green eyes she inherited from her mother were gone, replaced by Iris’ yellow, vertical-slitted ones.

She could disable the skill and the green would reappear, but after experiencing the world through the eyes of a dragon, going back to the eyes of a half-elf was difficult. She wanted to make a resolution to use her original green eyes whenever possible, but the yellow ones were just so useful that she could never stick to that resolution for long.

In addition to the eyes, she also had a new skill called {Dragon Heart}, which replaced her original mana cores with draconic ones. The draconic mana circulation that had been so difficult before came naturally now, and not only was it infinitely more efficient than the System’s version, it also condensed the mana, allowing her to contain much more of it than before. Her Mana stat had gone up a full 500 when she evolved her class, and she could only assume that the {Dragon Heart} had something to do with that.

However, while her eyes and cores were now very different, and most definitely contributed to the inhuman feeling, the most unsettling part was her own mind. She still felt like herself, but she also felt more dragon-like. She felt calm and confident, and most of her worries had been forced to the back of her mind.

She hardly doubted that they would get off the island. Perhaps that was somewhat due to the fact that she had successfully gotten the class Iris wanted her to, and now they should be able to leave, but even so, Sophie didn’t think she would have been so sure of it before.

She still worried about her family, but she had also started to mentally accept what happened. Her parents were most likely dead. She didn’t want them to be, but if they were terrified enough to have even Nick, a trained knight, teleport away, there wasn’t much chance they survived on their own. She had no idea where Nick and Bianca were, but wherever they had been teleported to, Sophie would just have to find them. And Snowberry… Well, if two adults couldn’t survive their attacker, what hope did a rabbit have?

Sophie still felt sad and anxious and everything else about all that, of course, but at the same time, she felt like she could control it. She could wallow in her emotions when she wanted to, but when it came time to do something else, she could set them aside like a book she wasn’t interested in reading at the moment. The first few times she did it, she was unsettled by how easy it was, but by this point, she had gotten used to it.

After Sophie’s class evolution, Iris’ mental health seemed to have improved dramatically. Sophie wasn’t sure if it was directly due to the class evolution, or if perhaps the fact she had succeeded in reaching it had spurred the dragon to action, taking more control of her mind. Unfortunately, this did not, as Sophie hoped, result in more time for instruction. Rather, it seemed to have the opposite effect, and Iris spent every sane moment flying about the island laying down mana in a massive, complex array.

Sophie was on the beach at the moment, watching the sunrise as Iris worked behind her. With {Dragon Eyes}, she could physically see the barrier around the island. It was like a faint purple shell, perfectly containing its interior. All the mana within stayed within, and Sophie could not see any beyond it. If she removed her focus from it though, she could still enjoy the sunrise as usual.

She sat in the sand for nearly half an hour, fiddling with her mana to make her seat more comfortable until she sensed Iris approaching behind her.

“It’s almost done,” said the dragon. “How is your practice coming along?”

Sophie responded by demonstrating her current level of portal magic as well as her multi-casting ability, creating two portals facing each other vertically with a vacuum in between and dropping some sand into one. The sand fell in and emerged from the other one, then fell back into the first and repeated in an endless cycle, accelerating to the point where Sophie didn’t dare put her hand between. The portals themselves didn’t take much mana to hold open, but each time the grains of sand passed through they drained a bit more, and with how fast they were traveling, it wasn’t long before Sophie closed them to avoid getting too low. The grains of sand smashed into the ground, each creating tiny craters where they landed.

“Good,” said Iris, nodding. “We will be able to leave within the week.”

“Alright,” said Sophie.

“I have the formation almost done. I should finish it tomorrow. Then, I will spend a day or two checking it over, and once I’m done with that, it will be time.”

“I’ll be ready.”

“Then I’ll leave you to your practice. Goodbye.”

The serious expression faded, replaced by the blank, distant one Sophie had first come to know. The now-crazy woman floated away, chattering to herself, and Sophie turned back to face the ocean. She looked at the sun for a few seconds– something she could now safely do– then sighed and stood up.

Time to get to work.

***

“Alice. Kill.”

Alice tried her best, but even after evolving, she was only second tier. She was no match for the fourth tier deer. However, the surprise of an almost-rabbit leaping at it made the deer pause just long enough that Alice could sink her new fangs into its leg before it shook her off and teleported away. That was all Walter needed.

A moment later he was bearing down on the deer. It managed to teleport away one more time, but he had been hunting them for so long that he knew all their patterns. As soon as it reappeared, his jaws were almost around its neck. It tried to get away again, but he grabbed it tight in his mouth, and its Strength was nowhere near high enough to break free.

He lifted it in the air and brought it back toward Alice, who was quivering in excitement. He let her scratch and bite it a few more times before he finally tightened his grip just a bit further, breaking its neck and ending its life. He tore off a leg and set it aside for Alice before chowing down on the main course.

Ever since evolving, Alice had become a much more agreeable companion. She still looked mostly the same, but she was a bit bigger, her snout a bit longer, and her teeth and claws a bit sharper. Most importantly, she now preferred meat to grass. He had still caught her eating grass a few times, but it was rare.

When this happened, Walter had a change of heart about her. Before, he had been reluctant to take care of her, and hoped she died so he wouldn’t have to anymore. Now though, he was actually excited about it. She was still weak and a little bit annoying right now, but what if she leveled up a few more times? What if she got strong enough to actually hunt on her own? Then she would be a companion worth having.

So, for the past few weeks since her first evolution, he had been taking her out hunting to help her level up. She hadn’t reached her next evolution yet, but Freddy explained this was because Walter was doing all the work, so her contributions were minimal. Still, anything was better than nothing, and she was helping to kill creatures far above her in level, so Freddy still expected another evolution soon.

Today was not that day though. After eating their fill, Alice hopped around excitedly, ready for the rest of the night.

Walter walked his usual route for a while with Alice hopping at his heels, occasionally running ahead, or stopping behind to investigate something, but she never left his sight. Occasionally, they came across other groups of deer or direwolves, but they all scattered when they noticed Walter coming. Alice did her best to scare them off too, standing between Walter’s legs and growling at them. Walter felt an odd warmth in his chest whenever he saw her do this.

When they had made it about halfway through the patrol, they reached one of the taller hills, and from its peak, they could see the growing dwarven city. Walter scowled. He hated the new city. It just suddenly appeared right in the middle of his territory, and he couldn’t do anything about it. On top of it being expressly forbidden by Freddy, after his first run-in with the dwarves, he had met another, and one that Walter felt he could not defeat.

He wanted to get stronger. To find something worth hunting. Unfortunately, he had outgrown everything in the forest long ago, and even the recent sudden change in their power levels wasn’t enough to keep him busy. If he wanted suitable prey, he would need to leave the forest behind.

He was actually thinking of doing just that. When he was with Freddy’s group of weirdos, he heard of lots of different places where he could find stronger prey. He didn’t understand the language well enough to know how to get to any of them, but Freddy said there was another meeting coming up, and his Fey was better than ever. It was good enough to ask how to get to those places and mostly understand the directions, at least.

The dwarves spotted him standing on the hill, and he noticed a few of them start gathering on the stone wall they had erected. They stared at him, and held their weapons at the ready. Walter bared his fangs at them for a bit, then turned to walk around, continuing his patrol.

He and Alice made the rounds twice, stopping near the end of the night to gorge themselves on another deer, then made their way back to the cave as the sky started turning gray. Walter was ready to lay down and sleep, but Freddy was waiting for him.

“Walter!” he called when he saw the giant wolf approaching.

“Freddy,” said Walter unenthusiastically.

“It seems you and Alice are doing well.”

“Yes.”

“Are you ready for the Ostra meeting today?”

“What?” asked Walter. “Today?”

“Yes. I told you about it a week ago?”

Walter vaguely recalled a similar conversation, but he couldn’t remember what “week” meant.

“Well, it starts in a couple hours,” continued Freddy. “I understand that you want to sleep now though. We can go later. However, what do you want to do about Alice?”

Upon hearing her name, the rabbit perked up and walked over to Freddy, nuzzling against his leg.

“Alice stay here,” said Walter.

“Will she be safe?” asked Freddy.

“...No.”

“Remember, you’re not allowed to let her die.”

“I know.”

“So, what do you think we should do?”

Freddy was smiling. Walter didn’t like that. Freddy only smiled like that after asking a question if he already knew the answer and was just waiting for Walter to say it.

“Bring Alice to meeting?” asked Walter.

“She’s not fully trained though,” said Freddy. “And she’s far from sapient. She would be out of place. Do you have any other ideas?”

A small growl escaped Walter’s throat, and Freddy’s smile immediately vanished.

“Walter,” he said in a warning tone.

Walter slowly let the growl die, and his tail lowered until it was almost between his legs.

“Sorry,” he grumbled. “I no know answer.”

“That’s fine,” said Freddy. “It’s alright not to know the answer. I didn’t expect you to have a perfect one. But I’d like you to try to think of some ideas. If we can’t leave her here on her own, and we can’t take her into the meeting, what can we do?”

Walter racked his brains.

“...Hide Alice in hole?” he suggested.

“An interesting idea,” said Freddy. “If she was hidden in a hole, it would be hard for the other predators to find her. But, what if she dug her way out while we were gone?”

“Hmmm,” said Walter. “Other rabbit hide in hole.”

“Elise is much more intelligent than Alice,” said Freddy. “Alice might not understand the situation. Is it worth that risk?”

“No…” said Walter.

“So, do you have any other ideas?”

Walter thought for a few seconds more before shaking his head.

“Well, what about asking someone else to protect her while we’re gone?”

“Oh!” said Walter. “Wait… Who?”

“Who indeed,” said Freddy, smiling. “Can you think of anyone who might be able to keep her safe?”

Walter didn’t answer.

“Perhaps someone close by,” continued Freddy. “A neighbor. Someone you would want to befriend.”

Walter couldn’t think of anyone that matched that description. He also recognized that Freddy was trying to lead him to some kind of conclusion, but he didn’t want to give the golden-haired man the satisfaction of knowing his plan worked, so he stayed silent. After almost a minute, Freddy finally spoke again.

“Let’s go ask the dwarves!”

“No,” said Walter immediately.

“Why not?”

“I no like dwarves.”

“Why don’t you like the dwarves?”

“Dwarves steal Walter territory.”

“Mmm, I see why that might bother you,” said Freddy. “But they don’t have a choice. Why don’t you be a bit charitable. You still have plenty of territory, and if you can befriend the dwarves, you might get a lot more than territory.”

Walter couldn’t think of what else he could possibly want other than territory. Unless they would let him kill some of them for levels…

“So, let’s go. Let’s get this sorted out before you go to sleep so that when it’s time to leave later, we don’t have to worry about it.”

Walter knew it was pointless to argue, so he sighed and turned around. To head back toward the dwarves. Alice hopped away from Freddy to take her place at Walter’s feet back, and soon, Freddy was walking beside him. The sun was just starting to rise when they arrived at the stone gates, and since they made no attempt to hide their presence, there were already a dozen armored dwarves waiting for them.

“Hello,” called one of them in Dwarvish, a language Walter did not understand. “What brings you here this morning, sir?”

“Well, my friend here,” said Freddy in Common, gesturing to Walter. “Who happens to be your neighbor, was hoping to form a positive relationship with your people. Walter, why don’t you explain it to them?”

Walter hesitated for a few seconds. While his Common was about as good as his Fey, it still wasn’t good. He didn’t know how to get his point across. He didn’t know why Freddy was making him do it either, instead of just explaining it himself.

“Someone need protect Alice,” he said.

“Alice?” asked the dwarf.

“This is Alice,” said Walter, nudging the rabbit with his front paw.

“So you need someone,” said the dwarf in slow, accented Common. “To protect your rabbit?”

“Yes,” said Walter, happy he got his point across successfully.

“For how long?”

“Just two days,” said Freddy, saving Walter from having to deal with numbers. “We will be back shortly, and Alice will go back to Walter. Also, this rabbit is a fairly ordinary animal. No need for any special treatment. You just need to keep her contained and feed her.”

“I see,” said the dwarf. “Is that all?”

“Walter, do you have anything else to say?” asked Freddy?

Should I? thought Walter.

“No,” he said.

“Then yes, that’s all,” said Freddy. “If you do this favor for him, I’m sure Walter would be more than happy to do you a small favor in the future.”

“That is fine with us,” said the dwarf.

“Excellent!” said Freddy.

He bent down to pick Alice up. At first, she didn’t struggle, but as he brought her closer to the dwarves and further from Walter, she started squirming, trying to get out of his hands. The dwarves parted nervously as Freddy approached, allowing him to reach their leader unmolested. The leader reached out to gingerly take the rabbit, at which point she started squealing.

Suddenly, Walter didn’t want to leave her behind. Alice was his rabbit, not the dwarves’. What if they did something to her? If she died, he would get punished. Or what if they tried to steal her or evolve her into something weird.

However, Freddy was there, and he was the one handing her over. He set his hand on her head, causing her to fall asleep in the dwarf’s arms, and then walked back to Walter.

“Thank you for this,” said Freddy. “I hope it’s not too much of a bother. By the way, she eats meat. She should be well-fed right now, but in the evenings and mornings, she should be fed as much fresh meat as she can take.”

“Yes, sir,” said the dwarf. “Anything else?”

“Her teeth and claws are a bit sharp, so don’t let your fingers get too close, but she is only tier 2, so she’s not that strong. Other than that, just take care of her and keep her safe, and that’s all.”

“Yes, sir,” said the dwarf again.

“Thank you for your time. We’ll be off then.”

Freddy turned to leave, and after staring at Alice a few seconds longer, Walter followed.

Walter had been tired when he left his cave, but when he got back, he only felt restless. Even after Freddy left, he couldn’t stay asleep for long, and woke up at the slightest noise. Even with Freddy letting him sleep in so that Walter would only arrive later in the meeting, when the time came to leave, Walter felt thoroughly exhausted.

“Ready?” asked Freddy.

Walter grumbled something incomprehensible, which Freddy took for affirmation, and then tore a scroll, and the two vanished.