Bunny Girl Evolution (BOOK 2 COMPLETE) (STUBBED!)
116 – New System Feature

Having had her aether drained just minutes ago, Elise was still just a bit loopy, but that didn’t stop her mind from racing. She chided herself for being so excited, but at the same time, she recalled how Oberon explained to Irylax that System v6.1 had added a massive feature, so she held out hope that this alpha test would be similar.

What are the new features? she asked.

“System version 7.1.0 Alpha contains many highly requested features, from quality of life updates, to a whole new System feature to take care of one of the single most highly complained-about issues with the current System. It’s been highly requested by people and races from all over the world for centuries, and it’s only now after rebuilding the System from the ground up in version 7.0.0 that we are finally able to begin testing for it!”

No way! thought Elise. Something actually useful?

“I will start by explaining the quality of life upgrades. First and foremost, we have added the highly-requested feature to show enemy tiers in kill messages. Second, we have added the ability to customize the Status Window display. Users can have up to three presets, and for each one, they may select which information does and doesn’t display. Users may also select different fonts, styles…”

As the System explained all the different style options now available not only in the presets, but also for System messages in general, Elise pulled up this menu and started messing with it on her own. The first thing she did was remove skill descriptions from her main display. She had no idea why the System maker had thought it was a good idea to display them on the default Status Window in the first place. As she did this, in her second preset, she removed all information except the skills and skill descriptions so she could still pull them up at will if she needed to.

As she fiddled with it more, she also found that she could set the skills to display all in one comma-separated list, rather than each having their own rows, so she did that as well. Suddenly, her status window became significantly smaller, though the skill list was still quite bloated. She didn’t even have any use for half her skills anymore.

Still, with this done, she was happy with the Alpha test in its entirety. Even if it did nothing else for her, or if the big, highly-requested feature they claimed they were adding was a bust, she would still be completely satisfied. Well, unless that feature turned out to be something she really wanted, and then it didn’t work and they removed it entirely. Then she would probably be disappointed.

Elise messed with some of the fonts and colors a bit more while she waited for the System finished explaining all the styling updates, then closed her interface as it started explaining the big new System feature.

“Over the centuries, we’ve received a lot of feedback on the System, and while most have been resolved, we still have a couple issues that have been with us since the very beginning. With System version 7.1.0, we seek to finally resolve that issue! That issue is, of course, drum roll please…

“Skill bloat! While it has gotten better since version 1.0.0 when there were no limits on skills whatsoever, skill bloat is still one of our most common complaints among high tier users. Especially those with rarer species or classes. Yes, we are aware that the status windows got very long, and we are aware that it is impossible to actually use all those skills to their fullest potential. However after this update, that will no longer be an issue!

“We are proud to announce the introduction of Skill Recipes™, the all new way to reduce the amount of skills without compromising functionality! We have gone through every single skill and ranked, categorized, them to fit into the new Skill Recipe™ system as well as adding over 700 new skills. Now, with the exception of highest-tier skills, all skills are part of recipes that can be used to combine multiple weaker skills into singular, more powerful, more versatile skills!

“And just in case you’re worried about not being able to upgrade your skills due to not meeting specific requirements due to a unique class path, don’t worry about it! Nearly all of the Skill Recipes™ are at least partially modular, so there are multiple ways to form the same skill. And if you’re worried about losing functionality of certain skills during a merge, don’t worry about that either! All skills created through Skill Recipes™ have the functionality of their ingredients baked in, so everything you could do before the skill merge, you’ll be able to do afterward!

“Accessing Skill Recipes™ is the same as accessing any other System feature. Simply will yourself into the menu, and it will appear! Once you have accessed the Skill Recipes™ interface, the Skill Recipes are automatically organized by which you are closest to completing, though you can still view all recipes if you would like.

“Please note that in this Alpha version, a few features are missing. When viewing all skill recipes, they will be organized alphabetically. Sorting and Filtering has not been implemented. Additionally, the System Assistants have not yet been updated with information about any new Alpha features, so you will not be able to ask them for assistance. However, do not be alarmed. Every main feature has been thoroughly tested, and in the rare case that there is a bug, we have saved snapshots of all Alpha testers’ windows, and will continue to do so, so any failures can be reverted easily.

“Thank you for volunteering to participate in this alpha test! As with all early access System tests, you will receive your compensation once you have submitted your feedback at the end of the test! Until then, please experiment with the new features as much as you’d like so that you can give detailed feedback.”

The System message ended, but Elise was still left motionless for a few seconds. It almost sounded too good to be true. While skill bloat hadn’t been quite at the forefront of her mind, she had idly wondered how long her stat sheet would get as she got into the higher tiers, since it was already getting quite lengthy as it was. It looked a lot better now that she had removed the skill descriptions though.

…Or at least that’s what she thought. However, when she pulled it up to admire it, there was a slight problem. While she did enjoy how much smaller it had gotten. The new Skill display segment was broken, and the text didn’t wrap, so her skills were just a single, unbroken line extending off to the right in her periphery. The rightmost skills were completely unreadable, since the screen followed her eyes, and she couldn’t focus on the words.

System, I’d like to file a bug report.

Thankfully, the bug report sheet did have a section for Alpha test bugs, so she was able to report it without issue before she turned her attention back to the interface and started on the more exciting things: Skill Recipes!

The organization on the Skill Recipe menu was much better than Elise expected, given the disclaimer about the sorting and filtering not working on the full list. Her personal list though showed not only combinations with skills that she already had, but even included combinations with skills that she didn’t have, but could combine to get. For example, one combination available to her was merging {Mimic} and {Whisper} into {Ventriloquy}, and then right below that, {Ventriloquy} could be combined with {Telekinesis} to create {Puppet}.

Elise didn’t make any skill merges immediately though. While it sounded relatively risk-free, based on the System’s explanation, even if everything worked perfectly, there were still more things to think about. For example, while she could use {Mimic} to create {Ventriloquy}, there was also an incomplete recipe available to her to create {Transformation} that required {Lesser Transformation}, {Lesser Partial Transformation}, and {Mimic}, and since she would lose the skill if she used it in any merge, it would lock her out of using that skill for other merges.

Overall, Elise had dozens of different Recipes that she either partially or completely qualified for, but many, she could eliminate fairly easily. Some of the ones she eliminated were simply because there was a better option available. For example, while seemingly any combination of two or three of her various Nature spell skills would create new spells, If she combined all of them, {Sudden Growth}, {Prehensile Vines}, {Ensnaring Roots}, and {Vicious Bloom}, with {Nature Magic Affinity}, she would get {Nature Mana Manipulation}, which could theoretically do all of those spells and more. She almost did that instantly, since any skill with “Mana Manipulation” in it was rare and powerful, but she decided to wait until the morning to look everything over again, just in case she was missing something.

Other skills were easy eliminations simply because she had no desire for the skill. For example, {Suggest}, {Forced Feeling} and {Charm} made {Brainwash}. She had no plans to brainwash anyone and no desire to even be tempted by having the skill at her disposal, so she struck that off the list.

Others were difficult to eliminate, but were difficult to commit to as well. The {Ventriloquy} upgrade into {Puppet}. Assuming there were no issues with the recipe feature, and the new skills did actually contain all the functionality of the old ones, she saw no reason not to. Proper changelings got {Transformation} on their own, so there was no point in saving {Mimic} for that, since she would be evolving soon and didn’t have {Lesser Partial Transformation} anyways. There was technically another interesting recipe that could create ordinary {Mana Manipulation} using {Telekinesis} as an ingredient, but it required a total of 10 different unattributed mana spells, of which she currently only had 2, so there was little hope of getting that any time soon.

Still, she decided ultimately that she wouldn’t make any frivolous combinations, just in case. She had a gut feeling that having these lower level, base skills would be more useful in the future. More combinations might unlock with her next evolutions that called for those lower level skills, or at least that needed those skills for some kind of chain.

Of the remaining options for combinations, there was only one other that Elise felt certain she would choose, and that was the combination of {Dart} and {Leap} into {Move}. Not a single other skill combination called for either of those two skills, and as she idly scrolled through the entire recipe list, it didn’t seem that many other skills did either. Many of them, however, did call for {Move}, so combining them seemed like a good move.

She didn’t make that merge just yet either though. The momentary bout of energy she had gotten when she got the System message had vanished, and she was struggling to keep her eyes open. When she almost nodded off for the second time, she finally decided to set her excitement aside and go to sleep.

She slept for a full fifteen hours after that, and woke up feeling still a bit tired. The aether drain from the strange black box had taken more of a toll on her than she realized. The others had all already finished lunch, but Sophie joined her and munched on some cookies and chattered away while Elise ate. From Sophie, Elise learned that there had actually been a minor incident the night before when a drunk young nobleman tried to flirt with Irylax. Irlylax relieved the man of his legs, and it was only due to Oberon’s quick reaction setting up an illusion around the incident that it didn’t cause a public panic. They reattached the man’s legs and Oberon bargained the man’s memories away and they quickly fled the scene.

Elise didn’t share the details of her own escapades with the unfortunate Mr. Robert Robertson, but she found it mildly amusing that both hers and Sophie’s nights had featured the removal and reattachment of legs.

While they ate, a maid stopped by, asking Elise to go to Oberon’s office whenever she was ready. Elise nodded, and then decided she would wait a few hours. She knew that her lessons with Oberon were important, but she was also tired and wanted to take a break after the previous night. She still needed to make her skill combinations, and she wanted to do some reading before she had to think about work any further. Plus, it wasn’t like Oberon would mind. He would probably be glad about her using her freedom to make him wait.

After her meal, she hung out with Sophie for a bit longer, but thankfully, the half-elf girl must have sensed that Elise’s mind was elsewhere and excused herself to do the mana practice that Irylax had assigned her, leaving Elise free to return to the Skill Recipes.

After reading back through the options, and double checking the longer list, she confirmed her thoughts from the previous night. She would sacrifice all the nature spell Skills that she rarely got the chance to use for the much more versatile {Nature Mana Manipulation}, and {Leap} and {Dart} would be combined to create {Move}. Since she was most excited about {Nature Mana Manipulation}, she decided to save that one for last, and crafted {Move} first.

[ {Dart} and {Leap} have been combined to create {Move}. The level of {Move} has been adjusted based on the user’s experience with its ingredient skills ]

[ Move, lvl 36: Move quickly in a direction of the user’s choice. Charges: 6. Cooldown: 9 seconds ]

The description was simple, but as Elise tested it out in her room, she was very pleased with the result. As promised, it still functioned about the same as the prior two skills had, but with more versatility. She could now move up and downward quickly while flying, which was huge, as it added a whole new dimension to her mobility. It still had the restrictions from {Dart} forcing her to keep charges and cooldowns in mind, but since it functioned the same, it was only a minor mental adjustment to the new numbers before she was settled into it.

After combining her nature spell skills into {Nature Mana Manipulation}, she had to go out to Oberon’s garden to test it. She considered stopping by and asking permission before likely destroying the garden, but decided against it after recalling Oberon’s three F’s. She still didn’t fully agree with the three F’s, but since it was Oberon she was keeping waiting, she had no problem using that philosophy against him.

The first thing she did with {Nature Mana Manipulation} was verify that she could do all the same things as before, which she could without issue. After that, she started experimenting with more freeform nature magic, and with every new test she tried, she got more and more excited. {Nature Mana Manipulation} was beyond what she had imagined. The general area of effect growth from {Sudden Growth} could be concentrated on much smaller areas, and she was able to grow a branch a full ten feet out from a formerly well-trimmed rose bush.

The control she had over {Prehensile Vines} could be applied to just about any plant now. She manipulated the same rose branch and had it bend, wave, whip around, and even had it pluck her a flower from a different bush further away.

One of the other options for combinations had been {Vicious Bloom} and {Ensnaring Roots} to create {Nature Snare} and after only a bit of trial and error, Elise was able to replicate just that. A seed that fired forward, and rather than sprouting aggressive vines that put roots into what they hit, it sprouted into solid wooden roots that tied down whatever they hit.

{Nature Mana Manipulation} was easily one of her best skills now, and now that she had it, she was just about ready to forgive the System designers for the rest of their poor choices. Now if they just added the ability for monsters to earn experience without fighting, she would sing their praises for a century.

She experimented with her new skill until she ran out of mana, then replenished her mana and did it again. During the second round, Bianca and Sophie joined her, and since all three of them had either {Nature Mana Manipulation}, or in Sophie’s case, just {Mana Manipulation}, they all worked together to eviscerate that section of the garden. Bianca showed the other two a few tricks she had picked up in her time as a Nature Witch, and when she and Elise ran out of mana, the three went inside together for dinner. Elise ate lightly, since it hadn’t been that long since she ate breakfast, but with Nick and Maia joining them later, they had a lively meal.

It was only after this meal that Elise finally went to visit Oberon. Despite knowing how badly she had messed up the previous night with not-Franz, she was still in high spirits from the success of her skill combinations, and was determined not to let Oberon’s criticisms get to her. It turned out that she didn’t even need that much resolve though, because Oberon seemed to have no intention of lecturing her.

“You’re here!” he said when she entered.

The box was gone, but the centipuppy was still there. Elise was in her changeling form, so it didn’t seem to recognize her, but it was happy to see her all the same. After greeting the puppy, she flew over to the couch, and Oberon sat across from her, smiling.

“So, I know it’s only been a couple days,” he started. “But whaddya say we move on from the noble lady angle? You’ll still need to work on the finer etiquette, but that’s boring, and you’ve got the attitude mostly down. You didn’t get a big secret out of any of the other young ladies, but you got a bigger one from Franz, so I consider that a pass. Plus, I just had the best idea for your next disguise.”

New stat sheet:

Spoiler

[ Name: Elise Burrow ]

[ Age: 0 (20) ]

[ Race: Lesser Rabbit Changeling ]

[ Tier: IV ]

[ Level: 21 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: 199 ]

[ Agility: 376 ]

[ Dexterity: 364 ]

[ Fortitude: 197 ]

[ Charisma: 1665 ]

[ Intelligence: 604 ]

[ Willpower: 994 ]

[ Mana: 783 ]

[ Mana Control: 813 ]

[ Skills: Inspect (70), Nature Mana Manipulation (16), Move (36), Rune of Fate, Mana Sense (65), Magic Missile (59), Suggest (67), Charm (41), Fey Wings, Fairy Dust (43), Fey Bargaining (60), Telekinesis (29), Mimic, Lesser Transformation, Tongues, Whisper, Mana Circulation (29), Forced Feeling (12), Sense Emotions (7) ]

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