Bunny Girl Evolution [A Monster Evolution LitRPG]

“Good evening,” said Rayna with a smile. “It is evening here, right?”

“Yes,” said Elise. “Sorry for calling you all the way over. I just–”

“You can stop there,” said Rayna. “I don’t mind at all. I think it’s fun. I heard that you were with Oberon, and seeing as you’ve already evolved, you don’t need any help on that front anymore. That means that this must be for general aether help. Or maybe you’ve changed your mind about becoming a vampire?”

“Just general aether help,” said Elise quickly.

“I was just messing with you,” said Rayna with a light laugh. “So, what did you need help with?”

“Well, earlier today…”

Elise went on to explain the lesson of the day, and what had happened and why she wanted help. She was not the best storyteller, stumbling over her words and occasionally forgetting things that she had to go back and explain. Rayna’s presence didn’t help. There was something about her gaze that left Elise unsettled, and when the vampire licked her lips, Elise almost shivered.

She managed to get through her story, but by the end, she was almost regretting summoning the vampire. Rayna had seemed fine at the Ostra gathering, but right now, she looked almost predatory.

Did I make a mistake? she wondered.

“I see,” said Rayna, staring unblinkingly at Elise. “So you don’t like having your mind invaded.”

“I– I guess that’s one way to put it…”

“I share the sentiment,” she replied. “Also, you look a bit uncomfortable. Is something wrong?”

“It’s just– You’ve been looking at me weirdly.”

Rayna blinked in surprise, and her gaze returned to normal.

“Oh, my apologies,” she said. “Your aether just smells… delectable.”

“Oh…”

“But don’t worry,” she said. “Vampires beyond 5th tier can control their impulses. I just got a bit lax and let myself enjoy the aroma.”

Elise now felt even less comfortable than when she didn’t know what was going on.

“But that’s neither here nor there,” Rayna continued. “Going back to the topic at hand, I have a few questions for you. Have you ever been drunk?”

“Once or twice.”

“Recently?”

“No.”

“Have you ever tried any drugs? Hallucinogens, stimulants, sedatives…”

“No.”

“Do you dislike following orders?”

“Where are you going with this?”

“Bear with me for a moment,” said Rayna, raising a finger. “Do you dislike following orders?”

Elise tried to think back to the last time she had been given an order. She had worked part time at a restaurant once, and she did remember feeling mildly annoyed when customers gave her orders instead of making requests. No, that wasn’t quite right. She wasn’t annoyed by the ones giving orders. She just preferred the ones making requests.

Going back a bit further though, when she had been living with her adoptive parents… yes she most definitely disliked following orders. Part of that was that their orders were ridiculous, but she wouldn’t have been surprised if that conditioned her against following commands in some way. And the feeling of relief she experienced after finally moving out and having no one to boss her around anymore was very real.

“I think so,” she eventually said.

“Do you feel anxious when others borrow your things?”

“I– I don’t know.”

She couldn’t remember the last time she let someone borrow something of hers.

“Do you prefer to plan your days, or go through them not knowing what might happen.”

“Plan… I think?”

She thought about it for a moment, then nodded. While she didn’t often make thorough plans, she did like knowing what awaited her each day, and wasn’t a huge fan of surprises.

“I see,” said Rayna, nodding back. “Final question: How do you feel about the way the System regulates mana and aether?”

“...What do you mean?”

“Skills, Levels, Evolutions, Classes…” said Rayna. “They’re all created by the System to help us mortals and monsters progress. By creating clearly defined patterns and enforcing a structure, it makes it easier to progress.”

“I mean…” started Elise. “I guess I like it? I get to get stronger and learn magic and evolve?”

“But do you ever feel constrained by it?”

“...Doesn’t everyone?”

Rayna laughed. “Not everyone, but it’s not uncommon.” Thıs text ıs hosted at n0velfire.net

“So what was the point of all those questions?”

“Partially to satisfy my own curiosity,” she said. “But also, I see you’re still having a bit of an identity crisis.”

“What do you mean?”

“You were quite unsure of yourself last time we spoke, and while you managed to evolve and seem satisfied with your evolution, you’re clearly not out of the woods just yet. Your aether is still quite chaotic, and I doubt you’re sure of your future path to goddesshood. Are you?”

“Well, I think I know what I want to look like?”

“Well, that’s a good start,” said Rayna with a laugh. “But you don’t know what kind of abilities you would want to have. You don’t know what you want to be the goddess of.”

Elise gave a hesitant nod of agreement.

“Were those questions supposed to help me figure that out?”

“That was another part of it,” said Rayna, nodding. “But it was still mostly selfish. They were supposed to help me figure that out.”

“Did you figure it out?”

“What you want to be the goddess of? No. What kind of person you are, and what directions you will eventually go? I believe so.”

“...Can you tell me?”

“Why don’t you try to figure it out yourself for a moment? What did all of your answers have in common? Look into why you answered what you did.”

Elise frowned and started contemplating. The first question about alcohol was easy. She didn’t like being drunk. But why didn’t she like being drunk? She thought back to the third time she got drunk and ended up saying things she later regretted. It hadn’t ruined any friendships, but she felt it had been close, and never wanted that to happen again, so she swore off alcohol entirely. She wanted to be in control of her own words and actions.

That was the same reason she never tried drugs. She didn’t have many opportunities to, but the few times she did, she went out of her way to avoid them. She didn’t want to be an addict. She didn’t want to be a slave to her own impulses.

She disliked following orders because she liked being in charge of her own life. She didn’t like being at the mercy of someone else.

When other people borrowed her things… The only thing she remembered lending out was pens and pencils in school, and while she didn’t remember feeling anxious about it, she did remember that she always made sure she got them back. She never forgot to ask for them later.

She liked knowing what her days had in store so she could mentally prepare. She didn’t like being surprised because she wouldn’t be mentally prepared for it.

And of course she felt constrained by the System. She didn’t entirely blame it for not letting her go full human from the beginning, because that simply wasn’t within its parameters, but she also felt that some of the things it did were too limiting. The only magic she could use was the magic she had a Skill for. That was why she was gunning for {Mana Manipulation}. And now that she was more aware of what aether was capable of and how terrifying it was, she had half a mind to make a strong push for 6th tier so she could unlock {Aether Absorption} from her Rune’s Skill Quests.

So all of that tells me… what? she wondered. What do they all have in common?

The alcohol and drugs questions were easy. She didn’t like losing control of herself. And for following orders… In a way, that was similar. She didn’t like when other people controlled her. When she lent out her things, she liked knowing where they were and getting them back. She liked knowing what she was doing each day because it gave her some semblance of control. And she felt constrained by the System because… Well, it didn’t let her do what she wanted to do.

“So…” she started slowly. “I like being in control of myself.”

“You got it!” said Rayna happily. “Yourself and anything included in your mental image of yourself. Your possessions, your emotions, your future… Your people. That’s also why you’re here now. I hear you’re living with Irylax. She could have told you plenty about defending against aether intrusions. It sounds like your instructor could have as well. No doubt Freddy would have been happy to help you, and so would Oberon.

“You could have waited for any of them. It wouldn’t have been more than a day. You could have left a message for Freddy, or asked him to send a message to Oberon. I can sense that Irylax isn’t in the city right now, but if she’s decided to make a lair here, she wouldn’t be gone for long.

“Instead though, you felt so unsettled by the mental invasion that you felt you needed to summon me to get answers more quickly. You wanted a solution. Something concrete to work toward that wasn’t dependent on someone else.

“All that combined with your answers to my questions proves beyond a doubt that you, Elise, have a strong desire for control.”

Elise thought about it for a few seconds, then nodded. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

“Well, there you go,” said Rayna. “There’s your answer.”

“What?”

“Well, it’s not the full answer,” she conceded. “But it’s a start. What you want— no, what you need, is to seize control. Of your life, your future, and your soul. This is true for your path in general, and is also applicable to your current dilemma. Your issue with what happened earlier today was that you weren’t in control of your own mind, and even worse, someone else was. To keep that from happening, you just need to keep them out of your mind. Out of your soul. And to do that, you need to take control of your aether.

“{Soul Defense} is indeed a useful and powerful Skill, but it won’t satisfy you. It needs to be activated to work, meaning that if you don’t know you’re being influenced, you won’t know you need to activate it. And you could walk around all day every day using it periodically to make sure you’re in control, but that’s a dangerous path to walk. Paranoia on that level isn’t healthy.

“{Soul Defense} is also a very simple Skill that can be broken through, worked around, and even nullified by someone who knows what they’re doing, and Erin definitely knows what she’s doing. If she wanted to, she could lock you within your own soul and you would never escape. Well, actually, you might, but you would have to change before you could.

“There are other Skills that provide defense against aether, and while many are better, such as the famous {Impenetrable Mind Shield} Skill, none of them are infallible. And as long as you’re dependent on a Skill like that, you’ll never be satisfied. Especially not now that I’ve told you they’re imperfect.”

Elise frowned. Rayna was correct. Had she not told Elise about the weaknesses of {Soul Defense} and instead encouraged her and helped her unlock it, she probably would have been satisfied. At least at first. She would no doubt come to realize the issues with it later on, but for a time, she would feel secure and comfortable. Now that she knew it was useless against people like Erin though… It wouldn’t be enough.

“How do I seize control then?” asked Elise. “{Aether Manipulation}?”

“That’s one piece,” said Rayna, nodding. “Another piece is something you’ve already started with your soul meditation. You can build defenses against things like that. Walls that foreign aether can’t penetrate. Traps to trick it into thinking it’s being effective when it’s not. Automated defenses to destroy foreign aether when it is detected. You can even make living constructs within your soul for more complex personalized defense.

“If you want to do that though, I have to warn you that under no circumstances should you attempt that until you have reached my level. Making living constructs can go very poorly, and it is a fantastically stupid way to kill yourself if you dont know what you’re doing. And even if you do know what you’re doing, it can still fail, and trust me, you do not want to clean up the aftermath of that.”

Elise nodded. She didn’t need to be warned twice. She wasn’t entirely sure what a “living construct” would entail, but the thought of anything else living in her head made her feel uncomfortable enough that she doubted she’d ever try it, even once she reached Rayna’s level.

“Fortifying your soul manually is the most secure way of ensuring that you are not affected by foreign aether,” Rayna continued. “At least at higher levels. As you are, {Soul Defense} will be stronger, but the sooner you begin, the sooner you will reach the level you want. If you can manage to somehow unlock {Aether Manipulation}, it will make the process much quicker and easier, but it is not strictly necessary. Do you know what the best part about fortifying your soul is?”

“What?”

“It doesn’t rely on the System,” said Rayna with a smile. “Anyone can learn soul meditation, and anyone can manipulate their own soul without the System’s help. No Skills, no Skill Quests, and no Stats are required. You don’t need to be a particular Species, or have a particular Class, or be in the favor of any deities. All of those things can help, of course, but you don’t need any of them. Just your own self, and time.

“And, a secret side benefit of this is that when you eventually unlock your Domain Skill, if you’ve worked hard on learning to control your soul, your Domain Skill will be many times more powerful than it otherwise would have been. Many times.”

Rayna paused, smiling almost fanatically.

“Work hard, young Elise! Your mind is a sacred temple, and your soul is the fortress surrounding it. Thicken your walls, raise your defenses, strengthen your soul, and make sure nothing undesirable can ever set foot within. That is how you seize control!”

Rayna closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath, and when she opened them, her expression had returned to normal.

“And that is all the advice I can give you on this,” she said. “I could try to give you some specific tips on how to fortify your soul, but most would go over your head. For now, I suggest you do what you did today, entering soul meditation as your mind is under attack, and rather than simply expelling the foreign aether, study it. You have a unique opportunity before you where you will experience many different kinds of intrusions with none seeking to do any real harm. You can study them, and build your soul up to defend against them, all while in the safety of a classroom.

“Irylax should be able to help you with the specifics if you need help later, so you can go to her. When you do though, don’t mention me. Tell her you were just trying it out on your own, or maybe that Freddy or Oberon gave you a hint.”

“Why?”

“There’s a bit of… bad blood between us,” said Rayna. “It’s nothing for you to worry about, but I doubt she will take kindly to my meddling. Especially if she considers you family. It’s best for everyone if she doesn’t know you spoke to me.

“That said, I want you to take this.”

She produced a scroll from nowhere with a wave of her hand and gave it to Elise. Elise recognized it as the same kind of scroll that had set the anchor for Rayna to teleport to.

“As I said, Irylax and I don’t get along, so whatever you do, don’t use this when she is in the same city as you. It will put me in danger. But, if you ever need me when she’s not around, feel free to use it whenever.”

“Alright,” said Elise, stowing it away in her necklace.

“And finally, I have one small request,” she said. “Would you mind giving me a bit of your blood?”

“What?”

“Not much,” Rayna continued. “Just a small vial. And I know you fey don’t like giving things for free, so in exchange, I’ll tell you a secret. A true, sincere secret that I doubt you’ll be able to hear from anyone else.”

Elise narrowed her eyes. A secret like that offered by a 9th tier was likely to be quite useful, but for just a vial of blood, it seemed like a high price.

“Why do you want my blood?” she asked.

“Because it smells delicious of course?”

“Will anything bad happen to me if I let you drink my blood?”

“No, but my word alone probably isn’t enough for you. Let’s make a deal. I will ask you what city you currently reside in. You will ask me why I want your blood and what the consequences of giving me your blood will be. Both of us will answer truthfully, and will answer with the complete truth, leaving nothing out. Sound fair?”

Elise thought it over, then nodded, activating {Fey Bargaining}.

[ {Fey Bargaining} has leveled up! 70 -> 72 ]

“What city do you currently reside in?” asked Rayna.

“Jelor City,” replied Elise. “Why do you want my blood?”

“I’ve never tried the blood of an aetherborn before, and yours smells positively divine. If I were a younger vampire, I might have sunk my fangs into you already. We vampires feed on aether and blood, so we develop a taste for it, and aether like yours is hard to come by. The consequences of giving me your blood will be that I have a tasty snack, and I will also gain a detailed analysis of your aether signature, but I am more than willing to forego that second part as part of the deal for your blood. A fey bargain will prevent me from gaining that analysis. I just want to know what you taste like.

“Another consequence is that you will have somewhat less blood in your body, which shouldn’t affect you in any noticeable way. You will also have a minor puncture wound in the location where you draw the blood, as well as a number of negligible medical effects that I need not go into detail for. Finally, a small bit of your aether will be spent and imparted in the blood, but it will be no more than you passively give off, and will regenerate as usual.

“So, can I have some of your blood?”

“...As long as you don’t get that detailed analysis,” said Elise, activating {Fey Bargaining} again. “And you tell me that secret and promise that this won’t harm me or anyone I care about in any way.”

“Of course!”

[ {Fey Bargaining} has leveled up! 72 -> 75 ]

Immediately, Rayna grinned and produced a small syringe and a glass vial.

“Could you change to your base form?” she asked. “It will taste better that way.”

Elise couldn’t see a reason to reject the request other than mild embarrassment over what she looked like, but Rayna didn’t seem to care at all. She barely looked at Elise, immediately jabbing the needle into Elise’s front leg when she transformed. It was an uncomfortable prick, but that was it, and a moment later, the needle was removed, and Rayna transferred the blood to the vial.

Elise turned back into her human form as Rayna held the vial up to the light, gently swirling the contents before taking a small sip. Through {Sense Emotions}, Elise detected pleasure intense enough that it made her uncomfortable, and Rayna’s face turned euphoric. A moment later, it passed, and Rayna put a stopper on the vial, and the vial and syringe both vanished.

“Thank you,” said Rayna, turning to Elise. “That was better than I had hoped. I will finish it off in my own private residence, since I doubt it’s comfortable watching someone drink your blood. But rest assured that I did not get any analysis of your aether signature, and I will not from any of the blood that you gave me just now.

“Now, for the second part of the deal. This is a secret that you should likely not tell anyone, as it would only put them in danger.”

Rayna’s mouth stopped moving, but her voice continued in Elise’s head.

“This knowledge has been wiped from every record so completely that even the Collector doesn’t know. As far as I know, there are only three people in the world that know, those being myself, Freddy, and Firona. Should the other two find out that you know, I suspect that you will not have a good time, so you will need to make sure your acting skills are good enough.

“The secret pertains to the most recent two aetherborn. One was a young man who appeared in the middle of Jelor City a century and a half ago and grew to be the most famous warrior of his time. The other was a poor noblewoman from three centuries ago who one day changed drastically, turning from a meek young lady to the jewel of high society, singlehandedly raising her household up from mere barons to the Larcombe ducal family you know today.

“Neither of these aetherborn died natural deaths. The young man disappeared soon after reaching 9th tier, and the noblewoman suddenly fell ill and passed away at age 55, seemingly aging a century in the span of a week. What happened to them both was a mystery to all but the three I named before. And now, you as well.

“Freddy was the one responsible for both their deaths.”