Despite all her early misgivings, Yuki saw her current situation for what it was: a wake-up call to reality. She had taken things for granted, living her best rabbit life, and ignoring the rest of the world. The most important thing now was to understand all her options; how her magic worked, how her skills worked, and how the system worked. Some themes in her current situation were achingly familiar. She was a monster, she had an evolution tier, she could gather experience from killing things.

Fingers traced gentle circles on Yuki’s forehead, then trailed down to her cheeks. Yuki wasn’t a cat, but she purred, nonetheless. The reaction was as instinctual as the involuntary thumping.

Eyes still closed; Yuki did her best to ignore the giggling from above. Yes, right now she was making plans for her survival and wouldn’t indulge in the crafty hands. She wouldn’t be distracted by the petting. Yuki’s second priority was to learn about magic. With the system now unlocked, she could cast her spells, and think of ways of using them. Her selection wasn’t ideal. Some of the magics didn’t do what she expected them to do when she selected them at character creation. [Dominate] and [Shapechange] were the spells she needed to understand. Both seemed incomplete, like it missed some part of the magic.

The fingers that rubbed gentle circles in Yuki’s ears and cheeks ceased their movements. Yuki pressed against the hand. The gall of the human to stop!

Jenny giggled but didn’t resume the petting, instead, hands enveloped Yuki. “That’s enough for now, Biscuit.” She got up from the bed, crossed the room, and placed Yuki inside the wooden cage. The girl then tidied her uniform, left the room, and locked the door.

Yuki opened her eyes. She glared at Jenny’s retreating form. She didn’t appreciate the new name but let it go for now. She didn’t want to alert the girl to any other weirdness. She looked at Jenny’s room. The large four-poster bed dominated most of the space with its frame carved out of dark wood. The carving and varnishing were dulled and faded. The bed linens on the bed were well made but of simple fabric. The room’s wall was adorned with faded tapestries that depicted pastoral scenes, but their color was muted, washed away. A small leaded glass window let the sunlight through, casting gentle patterns on the wooden floor.

Jenny’s wardrobe stood in one corner; doors slightly ajar. Inside, neat arrays of dress uniforms: the white long-sleeved shirt and orange skirt and corset combo. Besides the wardrobe, a small dressing table held a few personal items: a comb, a simple mirror, and a vase with a fresh flower. A picture of a dark-haired girl. In another corner of the room, a small unlit fireplace. A couple of well-used books and needlework laid on the hearth.

Across from the hearth stood the mystery door. At first, Yuki thought it was a bathroom, but it wasn’t. Jenny often locked herself there for hours and always triple-locked the room once she left. Yuki was curious about what was in there, but she had more immediate things to worry about.

It had been three days since her kidnapping. Thankfully, Jenny — or Jennifer — wasn’t keen on making rabbit stew. Yuki’s new home was now a large wooden cage. Jenny had covered the bottom panel with dried grass and then added a wooden bowl filled with water. Once Jenny left in the morning, she took hours to return, which gave Yuki the perfect opportunity to practice and test out her magic.

“Status,” she called out. A moment later the white rabbit holding a crystal goblet appeared in her vision. It took three days to fill the goblet again. With that confirmed, she willed the system to bring back the Advanced Skill tabs, and concentrated on the two skills that governed her magic.

[Invocation]: 41.

Invocation, base value: INT x2. This skill represents the sorcerer’s ability to wield the magic. The skill covers magical principles from understanding the philosophy of how the magic works, and how to achieve the mental state necessary to manipulate reality.

[Shaping]: 41.

Shaping, base value: INT+POW. Shaping is the method used to change the parameters of a spell to meet the needs of the sorcerer. Invoked spells can be shaped by the sorcerer to meet specific requirements, such as extending their range, adding multiple targets, increasing duration, and so on.

Yuki willed the system to hide the tab again. She noticed the skill had gone up by one point. Was that because she used the magic for the first time? Or because she tried to understand the magic? Did disabling verbose mode make the system also ignore skill increase messages? Yuki would need to test that later.

The text on those two skills wasn’t the most obtuse. Yuki had a good grasp on them, even more after using [Wrack]. Then there was also the price she needed to pay to invoke the magic. At their base form, each spell cost one magic point to invoke, with the price increasing with each parameter she shaped. Right now, it effectively meant each of her spells cost between one and four magic points. Based on the past three days, Yuki restored one magic point per day.

For this test session, Yuki decided to cast the spells at their most basic value. No need to use more magic than necessary. Two spells she decided to skip, after thinking about their requirement. To [Enchant] something, Yuki needed tools and materials. Most important of all, she also needed opposable thumbs to work those tools and materials.

[Contract Familiar] was another choice that right now she couldn’t risk. What if the spell summoned a creature from another plane? Worse, how would she hide the familiar? She wouldn’t deny it was tempting, but the more she delved into the magic details, the more she realized she wasn’t ready for this one. The spell created a contract between the caster and a creature. If no creature was present at the time of casting, the magic would act as a beacon to entice would-be familiars, based on the materials components used. Yuki also noticed something else: the ritual had no built-in protection for the sorcerer. Yuki read enough novels to know what would happen if she summoned something from a different plane without any way to protect herself.

[Regenerate] and [Wrack] she didn’t need to test again. She’d seen their effects firsthand. Yuki started with something safe, she picked the [Sense] spell. She got up on her legs, and with slow deliberate movement, traced the necessary lines and arcs. Soon after she chanted the mystic words. Yuki took her time, she was in no hurry to finish, more than that, she wanted to understand how this whole thing worked.

At some point in the casting, Yuki needed to select what she wanted to sense. It was a versatile spell, but contrary to her first impression, it didn’t allow her to sense someone’s mental state. The choices were more pragmatic. An object, water, a unique substance. She pictured in her mind Jenny’s earing. The pretty blue stones hung on a thin delicate metal chain.

The vanilla scent that represented her magic blossomed in the room, but nothing changed. Yuki peeked at her status; the goblet wasn’t full anymore. She looked around, but there was nothing. Was this a bad job? Then she heard it, low and far away, the clinking of precious stones tied to metal chains. It was faint, and growing fainter, but Yuki knew if she went in that direction, she would find Jenny.

Yuki opened her eyes, and victory danced. “That is so cool!” Even if she had already used magic before, it still took her breath away. Now she could properly appreciate the magic in play. Yuki was magic! The world wasn’t ready for it. She hopped in circles, she jiggled and giggled. “Yuki the magic bunny!”

FatElf

Questions? Suggestions? Join Discord