Lucky Rabbit

For the first time since Pandy realized she really needed to be grinding her skills, she was able to do exactly that without worrying about anyone catching her. Thaniel and Isidor both knew she wasn’t just a rabbit, and while Tempest still watched Pandy closely, the tortoise didn’t seem to be actively suspicious anymore. Which was good, because being glared at by a tortoise was rather like becoming the focus of a loaf of bread’s attention. It was supposed to remain in one place and do loaf-things, but instead, it was watching you, and the whole thing was deeply unnatural.

Nonetheless, Pandy persisted, especially once she realized two things. First, she now had a better way to practice Minor Heal, and second, she could actually Hop all night long. The second realization only lasted until Isidor sat up, stared, then threw a pillow in her general direction, but after that, she just Hopped on the pillow instead, which seemed to muffle the sound of her landings well enough that the boys – or rather, Isidor, since Thaniel never stirred once he laid his head on his own pillow – could sleep.

Thanks to the small clock on Thaniel’s bedside table, Pandy was able to keep track of the time, and at just after midnight, she ceased her Hopping and pulled up her stats.

Name: Pandy

Race: Rabbit? (Deceased)

Age: 24

LF: -2/1

Mana: 2/19

Stats▾

Strength: 13 Intelligence: 12 Agility: 19 Pain Tolerance: 1Skills▾

Hop: Lv.19 (93/100) Bite: Lv. 19 (34/100) Scratch: Lv. 11 (2/28) Minor Heal: Lv. 19 (99/100) Wings of Glory: Lv. 1 Verdant Surge: Lv. 1 Vita Herbalis: Lv. 1 Spark: Lv. 1 Shifting Faces: Lv. 1 (1/2)Boons▾

Ismara’s Blessing IMark of KerosCorruption Points: 95

She had been going back and forth between using the poisoned black dagger to prick her paw, healing, and then Hopping until her Mana recovered enough that she could use Minor Heal again without using her Life Force. It probably made more sense to just keep using Minor Heal with LF, which would set up a loop where she could just keep going – which really was a cheat, when she thought about it – but using Life Force felt…bad, and the more she did it, the worse it felt. Better to use Mana, though running out made her feel a bit light-headed for a moment, and the more Mana she got, the more light-headed she felt when she used it all up.

Still, she’d managed to get Hop to level nineteen, which also raised her Agility to nineteen. Which turned out to be a good thing, because at level seventeen, Pandy could Hop high enough that her back brushed the ceiling, and at level eighteen, she started bonking her head every time she jumped. This, in turn, woke up Isidor, who just stared at her, incredulous, then rolled over and pulled his sole remaining pillow over his head.

After that, Pandy tried to Hop forward slightly, so the peak of her jump was lower, but then she had to keep moving her landing pad slash pillow, and finally she realized that if she had superhero stats, she should start learning to be a superhero. Or super rabbit.

So it was that by midnight and level nineteen of Hop, Pandy was using all nineteen points of her Agility to flip over in midair after every Hop, briefly ‘landing’ with all four paws on the ceiling, then pushing off again gently. She Hopped off the ceiling exactly once, and the less said about that, the better. Suffice to say that she didn’t need the knife to have something to heal that time.

Which brought her to the moment of truth. It was a new day, and she had several things to test. First, exactly when did Shifting Faces reset? Was it twenty-four hours after its first activation the previous day, twenty-four hours after its last activation the previous day, or at some arbitrary time like, say, midnight?

Pandy thought. Nothing happened. She didn’t even get a message telling her why the spell hadn’t worked, or when it would. She’d hoped that once the spell had completely run out, she would be able to cast it again, so the first thing she’d done after both boys were asleep was try it. Zip, nada, and nothing had happened then and every time since, which was at least once an hour.

It was looking more and more like she would have to wait until twenty-four hours after the last use, which would make it impossible for her to continue pretending to be Ms. Wellington. Thaniel would be disappointed, but Pandy herself was not. Without Thaniel’s big blue eyes practically begging her to try, she was absolutely certain that doing any such thing was a Very Bad Idea.

So, no Shifting Faces, but that was all right, because she was also ready to find out what happened when one of her skills reached level twenty. If she was still playing Gacha Love, when she reached the level cap, the skill should become turbo-charged and she should get a significant bonus in the associated stat, with a lower possibility of additional points in a secondary stat.

Casting of Minor Heal successful.

Healed Pandora for 2 LF.

Minor Heal is now level 20.

CONGRAЃULATIONS! You have rêaȹed the mÄximum level for this ƶpƺll. YoƲ maýnoƸ *)(#&%#)()(

ERRЮЯ

Pandy’s eyes widened, and she flinched back, half expecting an emaciated Keros to show up and start blaming her for his inadequacies again. Instead, the words flashed once, then disappeared, leaving Pandy sitting in the middle of the silent bedroom. The clock on the table ticked quietly until the minute hand jumped to the next little mark on the face, meaning it was now twelve-oh-two. When it seemed obvious that was all that was going to happen, Pandy timidly thought,

Name: Pandy

Race: Rabbit? (Deceased)

Age: 24

LF: 1/1

Mana: 21/39

Stats▾

Strength: 13 Intelligence: 12 Agility: 20 Pain Tolerance: 1Skills▾

Hop: Lv.19 (93/100) Bite: Lv. 19 (34/100) Scratch: Lv. 11 (2/28) Minor Heal: Lv. 20 Wings of Glory: Lv. 1 Verdant Surge: Lv. 1 Vita Herbalis: Lv. 1 Spark: Lv. 1 Shifting Faces: Lv. 1 (1/2)Boons▾

Ismara’s Blessing IMark of KerosCorruption Points: 95

Breathing a sigh of mingled disappointment and relief, Pandy examined the page, quickly noting that she now had twenty more Mana in total, but otherwise nothing had changed. She’d hoped for more than just some extra Mana, but she should probably be glad that Minor Heal didn’t look like it was glitched out. Still, she should probably check just to be sure. If Keros did show up, at least she could remind him that he’d never said anything about not using the skills he’d given her, just the gacha button.

Reluctantly, she reached over and pressed her toe against the tip of the light-absorbing murder-blade sitting next to her on the floor. Red numbers floated across her vision, and a bead of blood darkened her white fur. She licked it away, half wishing that she got Corruption Points for drinking her own blood. That thought led to some really creepy places, however, so she shied away from it, instead thinking,

Casting of Minor Heal successful. One hundred eighty-nine uses remain before next level.

Healed Pandora for 3 LF.

Wait, what now? Pandy pulled up her stats once more, and saw that Minor Heal did indeed indicate that she needed another one hundred eighty-nine uses before reaching level twenty-one. Except that level twenty-one shouldn’t even exist. Twenty was the level cap in Gacha Love, and always had been.

But this wasn’t Gacha Love. Sure, that idiot god’s magic made it seem like this was the game, but Keros had made it clear that this world wasn’t pretend. This was Pandy’s reality now, and apparently reality didn’t have level caps. Or, if it did, she hadn’t reached that cap yet.

That thought probably should have made Pandy feel overwhelmed. Rather than having a definitive end to her efforts, now they would go on, potentially forever. But that also meant the rewards might go on forever. Rather than ‘wasting’ all future uses of Minor Heal, now they would continue building, bringing her more and more Mana. Even if she only got twenty per level, that was a two-hundred percent increase over the one she had been getting. Or was it a two-thousand percent increase? Pandy had always found that whole subsection of math rather confusing.

She turned her attention back to her stats, seeing them in a whole new light. Before, she’d assumed that she would reach some fairly reasonable maximum power level. Something on the order of Spider-Man or Black Widow, just without the witticisms or femme fatale allure. Now, however, she could see something much more…excessive in her future. Pandy could be Superman or Wonder Woman. She could leap tall buildings in a single over-powered Hop, Bite through steel, or Scratch diamonds.

Pandy would have been rubbing her paws together in glee except for one thing. She wasn’t up against Doc Oc, or whoever Black Widow’s arch-nemesis was. No, Pandy was up against the power of a god, and even though she very, very privately thought that god would struggle to find two neurons to link together, she didn’t doubt his strength. That meant that Pandy, too, needed to be strong. Stronger than a god.

She also needed to use more of her spells and skills. If this really was Gacha Love, there was no way she would have allowed so many of them to sit at level one. Now that Thaniel at least believed he knew what she was, there was no reason she couldn’t start leveling Wings of Glory. She could probably also ask him for a small plant so she could practice Vita Herbalis and Verdant Surge.

Her eyes widened in sudden and completely unrelated realisation. She finally had a way to communicate. Sure, she could have scratched messages into the dirt with her claws before, but frankly, when she was human, if a rabbit had suddenly started writing in full sentences, she either would have started a TakTik channel for her new furry moneymaker, or checked herself into a psychiatric ward. Possibly both. Why should she expect the people in this world to be any different?

But now she could speak. Not only could she speak, but she could ask for things. Paper. Ink. Books. Food other than vegetables. Not that there was anything wrong with vegetables, and in fact Pandy’s bunny-body really liked them, but what wouldn’t she do for a bar of chocolate or a Dr. Popper? She would even settle for a root beer, and people made that from literal roots, didn’t they? Surely someone on this planet had invented it, and, if not, even she might be able to figure it out.

This was good. This was very, very good. Pandy began to absently Hop while thinking about what she would ask for. Better yet, what could she go and buy? She had all the money currently stuffed into Ms. Wellington’s loveseat, and an hour a day to walk around and shop, all while Thaniel was safe at school, surrounded by teachers and whatever Isidor was.

Hop. Twist. Bounce off the ceiling. Twist again. Land on soft bunny feet. She could buy a toothbrush. Hop. Twist. Bounce. Twist. Land. Maybe one of those glowy orbs that didn’t try to set things on fire? Hop. Twist. Bounce. Twist. Land. Did they have duct tape here? She didn’t even know what she’d do with it, but everyone needed duct tape. Hop. Twist. Bounce…

She was so focused on thinking about marshmallows and lip balm that she forgot to watch the notifications until she got another one that was just as messed up as the one about Minor Heal.

Hop successful. Hop is now level 20.

CONGRATϪLATIONS! You have reϬched the Щaximum level for this ϩkϊll. УФu ӎӔӣѭ *&#%(*&^#

EԖᵲOꜯ

Her next Hop launched her into the air with the ferocity of a drunken rocket, and she bounced off the ceiling before she was able to twist. Flecks of paint and what might be this world’s equivalent of drywall fell down around her as both boys sat straight up in bed, staring. Absently, Pandy cast Minor Heal, waving an apologetic paw as she checked her stats again. 

Name: Pandy

Race: Rabbit? (Deceased)

Age: 24

LF: 1/1

Mana: 11/39

Stats▾

Strength: 18 Intelligence: 12 Agility: 20 Pain Tolerance: 1Skills▾

Hop: Lv. 20 Bite: Lv. 19 (34/100) Scratch: Lv. 11 (2/28) Minor Heal: Lv. 20 (2/190) Wings of Glory: Lv. 1 Verdant Surge: Lv. 1 Vita Herbalis: Lv. 1 Spark: Lv. 1 Shifting Faces: Lv. 1 (1/2)Boons▾

Ismara’s Blessing IMark of KerosCorruption Points: 95

Oh. Yes. Five bonus points of Strength plus reaching level twenty in Hop would probably explain it. Maybe it was time to work on something a little…quieter. Pandy reached over and laid a paw on the dagger, making it disappear into her inventory again, then scampered beneath Thaniel’s bed like the coward she was.