83 - Plan Change

I announced this on the discord server, but I forgot to announce it here: In case you didn't hear, I signed with SoundBooth Theater to produce the audiobook for Bunny Girl Evolution, and they started on production for the book back in January! On Friday, I received an email asking about the pronunciation of the dwarves' names, so I guess that's an indication of how far the main narrator has gotten. Here's the cast as well:

Main Narrator: Dorrie Sacks

Freddy: Jeff Hayes

Emilia: Andrea Parsneau

Other female side characters: Tess Irondale

Other male side characters: TBD

Anyway, in addition to signing with SoundBooth, I also had to create a text format template for the stat sheet so that they could narrate it properly, so that now exists, and I've included a version of her up-to-date stat sheet at the end of the chapter.

Now, without further ado, enjoy the chapter! Thanks for reading!

***

Left! Elise sent, swinging her stick at Penelope’s right side. 

It almost worked. Penelope hesitated for a split second before deftly moving her own stick to intercept Elise’s, then responded with a counter, bruising Elise’s shoulder. 

Left! Elise sent again.

This time, she actually struck at Penelope’s left side, and she tried to time it better. It was a closer miss this time, but still a miss, and she got a welt on the hip for her troubles. A few more such exchanges occurred until one strike to the thigh made Elise fall to one knee.

“Your mental skills are good, but you depend on them too much,” said Penelope, reaching out a hand. “Your fundamentals get sloppy when you spend too much time on them.”

“I’ll work on them more then,” said Elise, accepting the hand and pulling herself to her feet. 

“Good,” said Penelope, nodding. “Let’s take a break.”

Elise nodded in return and trudged over to their main camp to grab a drink from the tank Hans had brought shortly after arriving. She dumped a cup on her head, then a second, then drank two more before collapsing against a tree. It had been a week since she started training swordsmanship with Penelope, and it was brutal. Her {Fairy Dust} proved to be both a blessing and a curse. It’s healing properties were just potent enough to heal her soreness and minor wounds, but that only meant that she could drill for even longer. Despite only working on it in the late afternoons after hunting the rest of the day, she had already swung the sword thousands of times.

Two days before, she had finally convinced Penelope to start sparring with her. Penelope warned her that it might be too early for that, but Elise thought it was necessary. Not only was it a welcome break from the monotony of repetitive swinging, but it also allowed her a chance to practice fighting against humans. 

In the first spar, Elise actually managed to score a hit on Penelope almost immediately by using her visceral {Suggest} to distract her at the wrong moment. However, after that, Penelope had gotten more serious. Apparently, knights had a powerful mental protection skill that they could activate while fighting. Elise connected the dots back to when Penelope had dueled Yuri, and realized that’s why she was unable to affect him. Even if he was higher level than her, her experience practicing her mental skills on Penelope had proven that knights didn’t have the stats to resist even her verbal {Suggest} normally. 

 According to Penelope, it was exhausting to keep the skill up long-term, but not so much that Elise could wear her out. Her physical stats were far too high, and her swordsmanship was beyond Elise’s comprehension. Even holding back, she could handle Elise easily.

During the first few spars after activating that skill, Elise was thoroughly beaten. Her {Suggest} didn’t seem to do anything, meaning she had nothing to rely on but her shoddy beginner’s swordsmanship, which was hardly better than nothing. However, through this, she was able to refine her combat sense. Penelope had already remarked a few times on how quickly her combat sense progressed, but Elise figured it was just due to her hunting experience. Once she got used to it, sparring with Penelope wasn’t much different from hunting one of the giant frogs. A much more powerful version, but still a single enemy that Elise could focus fully on to find an opening.

Through their sparring, Elise had also managed to refine {Suggest} even further. She had a minor epiphany at some point while they fought, granting her four full levels in the skill in one fell swoop, and that was just barely enough to put a few cracks in Penelope’s mental defenses. The epiphany she had was something she had already realized for verbal {Suggest}, but hadn’t thought to apply to the visceral variant. If she mixed a bit of truth in with the lie, it became much more believable. A simple sense of danger was good, but that same sense of danger combined with Elise taking a small step forward and raising her stick was almost twice as effective.

This method was doubly effective when applied to swordsmanship, since it was so fluid, and any movement could indicate the intent at any kind of attack. Penelope thought that using this during sparring was almost a kind of cheating, but at the same time, it provided her a chance to level the mental defense skill she so rarely got to use, so she allowed it. That didn’t mean she didn’t harp on Elise for letting her basics slip when using them though.

After resting for a bit in human form, Elise switched back to her changeling form, used {Fairy Dust} to alleviate her soreness, and then switched to {Mana Circulation}. She had gotten the skill all the way to level 20 in the past week, meaning she could fully cleanse the mana in her body in just over an hour. On top of that, because the circulation process was now handled by the Skill, she could focus on her mana absorption while circulating, meaning that even if she fully emptied her mana stores, she could refill and repurify them in just over an hour and a half.

Shortly after she finished meditating, while she was still relaxing and mentally preparing to start swinging the sword again, Jag stalked into the clearing, making very little noise for a creature his size. His face was wet from washing off, but Elise could still see remnants of his hunt clinging to his fur.

“Is Maia not back yet?” he asked, seeing Elise looking at him.

“Nope.”

It was already the tail end of sunset, and Maia was still nowhere to be seen. Her returns had been getting later and later ever since Hans told her about her sister, and she came back more worn and haggard every time.

“I’m getting worried about her,” said Jag. “I don’t know what it’s like to have a sibling, and I killed all my spawn-mates, but I don’t know how it feels, but I can see the results of those feelings.”

“Yeah, same…”

Elise has never been close to her adopted siblings, so she didn’t fully understand what Maia was feeling either. She could sort of empathize with it from the way she felt after the warg incident, but losing people she only knew for a couple weeks was very different from losing a twin with whom she had spent her entire life. On top of that, she could hardly imagine what she would do if she found Sophie again and learned that the girl had been brainwashed and was controlled by the threat of death, let alone if she had an actual sister go through the same thing.

One thing she did feel after hearing about the whole situation was anger. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that the Blood Syndicate could strike fear into so many without consequence. It wasn’t fair that they could rip people from their families and change their names and mind control them. It wasn’t fair that Elise had to just sit there waiting for the right time to strike, knowing that people were suffering and dying while she couldn’t do anything to help.

Between those feelings, and her increased time spent with Penelope, Elise was starting to come to a decision about what she wanted to do in the future. Even after she helped Ostra deal with the Blood Syndicate, that was only one problem solved. It was a big problem, but even after, there would still be people like Yuri and the Boss making life a living hell for innocent people like Annie and Marco. Elise couldn’t stop all of that, but she could at least be like Penelope, stepping in to help wherever she could. 

Like a superhero, she thought.

She imagined herself in her rabbit form flying around with a cape, saving civilians from danger, and had to stifle a chuckle. She probably wouldn’t work like that, but maybe it would be something similar. Her ability to make contracts was actually perfect for what she wanted to do. She could take criminals and force them to behave without having to resort to extreme violence and killing like Penelope did. Not that she thought Penelope was necessarily wrong for what she did, but if Elise could accomplish the same thing without the killing, wasn’t that better?

She didn’t know if she wanted to be a Changeling Knight or something else, but she had a solid idea of what her goals would be, and she would be able to make a decision based on what best suited that goal. 

“How’s your sword training going?” asked Jag, pulling her out of her idle thoughts.

“It’s going alright,” said Elise. “It’s hard.”

“Yes, I’ve seen you practicing,” he said, nodding. “I’ve always wanted to wield a sword. Unfortunately…”

He looked down at his paws. Elise chuckled.

“Well, maybe you’ll be able to once you reach your next evolution,” she suggested. 

“Maybe,” he said. “It won’t be for a while though. Evolutions don’t come often once you reach my level though.”

“What level are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I’m about three quarters of the way through the 7th tier,” he said. “Level 31. But I haven’t gained a level in over a year. To be fair, I haven’t been hunting too often, but still, it’s difficult at this level. Not only does it take more experience to level up, but it’s harder to find prey that actually can give that experience. Technically, hunting high-level humanoids would be the easiest way for me to level up, but obviously I can’t do that.”

“I see,” said Elise.

She hadn’t thought much about it before, but what he said made sense. It also made sense why Emilia had spent so long with the dwarves and drow. On top of just being a sadist who enjoyed causing suffering, the constant stream of consistent experience was also probably easier and safer than hunting creatures at her level. Especially considering her skills had been built around manipulating humanoids from the shadows, so her direct combat abilities might not have been enough to hunt things around her level properly. 

“How does anyone manage to get to 9th tier then?” she asked.

“Long lives,” replied Jag. “Lucky encounters. Unique species. Fortunately, lifespans increase as you get stronger, so even for someone like me who normally wouldn’t live forever like you fey, I still have time. It’s rougher on humanoids, since their lifespans increase far less than ours do with level, but even they can reach a few centuries old, giving them plenty of time to climb to the top.

“Even so, it’s out of reach for most people. I doubt I’ll reach it before I die, and even if I do, I definitely won’t make it to godhood.”

“That’s a shame,” said Elise.

“Oh, I don’t mind at all,” said Jag, baring his fangs in a smile. “I have no aspirations of divinity. I just want to live a normal life. Well, as normal a life as someone like me can live.”

Elise wasn’t sure how to respond to that, but fortunately she didn’t have to as Hans arrived at that moment. Like Maia, he had been staying out later than usual since the meeting with the lost twin, but unlike Maia, he didn’t seem to be borderline self-destructive about it. In fact, most of the time he was out late, it was explicitly so he could keep an eye on Maia and make sure she didn’t bite off more than she could chew in her efforts to get stronger to save her sister. 

“Maia is on her way back,” he said as he landed gently on the ground. “In the meantime, I’m glad the two of you are together.” He glanced at Penelope, who was practicing with her sword about fifty feet away. “You are both prepared for the meeting in three days, yes?”

“Of course,” said Jag while Elise nodded.

“You’ve got everything in order and ready for the mission? Or at least you will by the time we leave?”

“Yes,” said Jag and Elise.

“Good. We’ll be heading to the Syndicate’s headquarters the morning after we return. Also, I just received some news that I’ll share once Maia is back. Don’t go anywhere just yet.”

Elise had been planning on going to practice her swordsmanship again, since her transformation was back off cooldown by then, but she settled for messing around with {Prehensile Vines} instead. About twenty minutes later, Maia finally returned, trudging into the clearing. Her sleeve was torn just below the shoulder, and there was blood running down her arm, and there were dark circles under her eyes. She hadn’t applied the dye to her hair over the past few days, so the blonde roots were starting to show under the black, and overall, she looked like she wasn’t in good shape.

Elise flew up and rained {Fairy Dust} on her to heal her wound and alleviate the exhaustion, but Maia simply grunted her thanks and started grabbing water. Once she had sat down, leaning against a tree, Hans called Penelope over.

“The mission begins in four days,” he started. “In three days, Elise, Jag, and I will be going to a preparatory meeting. We will be gone all day. I want the two of you to rest while we’re gone. Especially you.”

“I’m fine,” said Maia, ignoring his pointed look.

“You’re not,” he said. “If you want to save your sister, you’ll need to be in your top condition. If you’re not in top condition, I won’t be taking you with us.”

She glared at him for a few seconds before huffing. “Fine.”

“What’s more important?” asked Hans. “One more day of leveling, or resting to be in your top condition? I’m sure you already know the answer. Don’t be stubborn about it.”

“I know,” said Maia, annoyed.

“...Anyway, Penelope, I want you to be with her at all times on that day.”

“Okay,” said Penelope.

“Now for the news. There’s been a slight change in the plan. Our role remains the same, but the whole operation has become more dangerous.”

“Why?” asked Penelope.

“We received word from some of our informants that the executives of the Blood Syndicate have been making moves. Specifically, they’ve been moving toward the Jungle. Our sole informant within has told us that they are planning something big for the night of the operation, but we don’t know what. All we know is that there has been construction on the arena, so likely they will be hosting some kind of large-scale event for the entertainment of the executives.

“This is both good and bad for us. It’s good because we now have an opportunity to strike at the entirety of the Syndicate’s leadership. It’s bad because with the executives come their bodyguards, and that makes things much more dangerous. Unfortunately for us, that also changes our target.”

He pulled out his map of the Syndicate’s headquarters and started explaining the new plan. Rather than going toward the center of the camp where the prisoners would be held, they would be going in the back entrance of the arena, where all the high-value prisoners would be kept for the duration of the event. This was risky, but they hoped to take advantage of the chaos that would ensue when the other squads performed their frontal attack. With all the enemies and allies in roughly the same place, there would be so much happening that it would be hard to notice a few slaves and prisoners escaping out the back. 

Ostra would be increasing their manpower that they were sending too, but since it was sort of last minute, they weren’t sure exactly what their numbers looked like yet.

“We should still have plenty,” said Hans. “As long as we move fast and work efficiently, we should be able to make it out with the prisoners without issue.”

Elise had a bad feeling about that, but without knowing more details, there was nothing she could do about it. Hopefully, they’d learn more at the Ostra meeting in three days. 

Penelope and Jag asked a few questions about the logistics of their new plan before they wrapped up the strategy meeting and returned to their individual activities. Elise practiced with the sword for a bit by the light of her wings, then meditated and slept.

The next three days past by fairly quickly. Elise continued the routine she had settled into, mixing hunting, meditation, and sword training. She gained one more level, bringing her up to twelve, and a few more levels in most of her skills. She wished she could get further, but all her major milestones were still too far out to achieve in the limited time frame, so she settled for shoring up her foundations and making sure she was as prepared as possible. 

On the day of the Ostra meeting, she woke up early with Jag and Hans and spent some time packing up the camp. Penelope woke up to help, but Elise used {Fairy Dust} to bless Maia with a deep, dreamless sleep, and they left her where she was as they went about their work. When it was time to leave, Hans produced a teleportation scroll from a ring that Elise had noticed earlier was a storage device similar to her necklace. He nodded to Penelope who gave a casual salute in return, then he tore the scroll, and the world turned white.

As far as I know, there's no way to do spoiler text in Patreon, so sorry for the wall of text, but here is Elise's current stat sheet:

[ Name: Elise Burrow ]

[ Age: 0 (20) ]

[ Race: Lesser Rabbit Changeling ]

[ Tier: IV ]

[ Level: 12 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: 163 (+0) ]

[ Agility: 340 (+0) ]

[ Dexterity: 328 (+0) ]

[ Fortitude: 161 (+0) ]

[ Charisma: 1350 (+0) ]

[ Intelligence: 478 (+0) ]

[ Willpower: 814 (+0) ]

[ Mana: 648 (+0) ]

[ Mana Control: 678 (+0) ]

[ Skills ]

[ Inspect, lvl 67: Identify the species and level of another creature ]

[ Nature Magic Affinity, lvl N/A: As a creature of the forest, you feel a strong connection to nature and natural mana ]

[ Leap, lvl 34: Jump with additional force. Can be used again in midair. Cooldown on second jump: 5 seconds ]

[ Rune of Fate, lvl N/A: A rune spawned by the user’s natural traits that indicates their latent ability to channel and control aether. Allows the user to channel divinely-given aether. Current charges: 2/3. Cooldown: 30 days. Grants the following Skill Quests: {Aether Sense}, {Aether Manipulation}, {Aether Absorption}. !@#$%^&* ]

[ Dart, lvl 49: Dash quickly in any horizontal direction. Charges: 8. Cooldown: 7 seconds ]

[ Sudden Growth, lvl 16: Cause all nearby plants to grow at many times their normal rate for 3 seconds ]

[ Mana Sense, lvl 63: Sense nearby mana ]

[ Magic Missile, lvl 59: Create missiles of mana that attack your target. Current missiles: 8 ]

[ Suggest, lvl 65: Plant a subtle thought or desire in the target's mind ]

[ Prehensile Vines, lvl 32: Vines grow out of the ground in front of you. You can control them as you would your own limbs. ]

[ Charm, lvl 21: Increase a target's attraction to you ]

[ Ensnaring Roots, lvl 25: Summon sturdy roots from the ground that wrap around the target ]

[ Fey Wings, lvl N/A: Fold or unfold your wings ]

[ Fairy Dust, lvl 31: Release dust from your wing that either blesses or curses (user's choice) any living creature it comes into contact with ]

[ Fey Bargaining, lvl 16: Form a contract with another creature. If either side breaks the contract, they will be cursed ]

[ Telekinesis, lvl 18: Use mana to move an object without touching it ]

[ Mimic, lvl N/A: Copy the voice of another creature ]

[ Lesser Transformation, lvl N/A: Transform into another species that your have interacted with ]

[ Tongues, lvl N/A: Speak and understand any language ]

[ Vicious Bloom, lvl 24: Create a magical seed. If planted, it will bloom violently when a creature steps within 1 foot of it. If thrown, it will bloom violently on contact ]

[ Whisper, lvl N/A: Speak privately to a target within range with whom you have established a connection ]

[ Mana Circulation, lvl 26: Circulate mana through your cores, purifying it ]