Rabbit's Foot

Name: Nymia

Age: 10

Species: Rabbitfolk (juvenile) Lv. 1

Class 1: Locked

Class 2: Locked

Stats:

Strength: 1

Dexterity: 2

Vitality: 1

Perception: 2

Intelligence: 1

Mana: 1

Willpower: 1

Free points remaining: 1

General Skills

Unselected

Unselected

Unselected

Unselected

Unselected

Species Skills

Rabbit’s Foot: enhanced nimbleness and kicking power. Increased jumping power.

Enhanced Senses: wider cone of vision and improved sense of smell. Improved vision in darkness.

Foraging: improved ability to find edible food in wild.

Burrow: improved digging ability. Scales with strength

Cuddle Bunny: improved cuddling abilities.

You have unlocked the following General Skills:

I quickly disentangled myself from the twins and crept out of the house as sneakily as possible. I went to our field and started looking at options.

Well, first the no-brainer.

[Willpower+1]

[0 Free Points Remaining]

Now let’s see which General skills look interesting. Some of these are automatic passes. I don’t want to have more reasons to have to clean, so that’s out. Why walk better when I can run? I don’t even know what a picket is, so pass. Also don’t want to spend my life hitting things with sticks. Turnip Lover?! I didn’t eat them for fun!

What was left was , , , , , , , , , ,and .

Now, can it tell me more about these?

Prompts filled my head as descriptions started getting listed out.

Alright, let’s go one at a time.

Running: You run here, there, and everywhere. Now you can run faster for longer. +1% bonus to speed and endurance per level.

Definitely something I do all the time. On the short list it goes!

Edible Cooking: You have managed to learn to cook without killing your consumers. 5% less likely to make poisonous food per level.

Is the System insulting me? Anyways, I do love yummy things, but it’s not super important. Onto the maybe list!

Blade Proficiency: You’ve studied swordplay and learned to use knives in kitchens. .25% Blade Proficiency per level.

Thanks, Allie. I’m going to be a great swordswoman just like you. Guaranteed Lock!

Barefoot: You have foregone the use of shoes and enjoy the wind on your feet. Be trapped by shoe prisons no longer. Feet are resistant to injury while uncovered and you can move faster. .25% running speed and resistance per level.

I do like running barefoot. On the short list with .

Evasion: You dodge and weave through attacks. .25% boost to reflexes against attacks per level.

Maybe I can train this up and finally dodge Allie’s ear flicks. Short List!

Stealth: Just because you never successfully stole anything doesn’t mean you weren’t sneaky when you were trying. .25% boost to stealth and sound muffling when moving per level.

Okay, it’s definitely insulting me. But I do like being sneaky. Short list!

Guardian: You have risked life and limb to protect someone. Now be better at taking hits, so you don’t have to lose those limbs. 5% boost to Vitality when shielding someone else per level

The boost is awesome, but do I think I’d rather be avoiding hits than tanking them. Into the Maybe pile.

Jumping: You skip, hop, and jump around. 1% increase to jumping power per level.

Sounds fun, but I don’t jump around that much in a fight, and the species skill makes jumping a dex stat. Skip!

Shoe Flinger: Why settle for just wearing shoes when you can turn them into projectiles? +5% power bonus when throwing shoes.

I just wanted to see the description for this one. Skip!

Bone Crusher: crack heads and crush bones. +2% damage to skeletons per level.

Definitely useful, but doesn’t quite feel right. Into the maybe pile.

Cinnamon Lover: You are a true lover of the flavor of cinnamon. Now let it empower you. 1% boost to strength for 1 hour after consuming cinnamon

The name alone makes it tempting, but I can’t just rely on cinnamon being around. Haven’t had any in this town since Allie disappeared.

Alright, I think we’ve narrowed it down. Um, System, can you like, make a list of the things I put down as maybes or better?

short list

maybes

Guaranteed Locks

Evasion

Edible Cooking

Blades

Running

Guardian

Barefoot

Bone Crusher

Stealth

First, Blades are an absolute must. selected.

Evasion still looks great, so let’s take that. selected.

I don’t need two running skills. I think barefoot since it’ll help with some amount of resistance. Plus, it just feels like it fits me better. selected.

Stealth also seems better than anything left. selected.

As for the last slot, I’m going to spend a lot of time not fighting. I should probably take something that makes life easier. selected.

Looks great, but something about this still feels un-me. I’ve heard the display is customizable, so let’s really make this my own.

Name: Nymia

Age: 10

Species: Rabbitfolk youngin' Lv. 1

Class 1: Locked

Class 2: Locked

Stats:

Bonk: 1

Zoom: 2

Beefy: 1

Senses: 2

Brain: 1

Mana: 1

Best Stat: 2

Free points remaining: 0

General Skills

Blades

Dodge!

Barefoot

Sneaky

Edible Cooking

Species Skills

Rabbit’s Foot

Enhanced Senses

Foraging

Burrow

Cuddles!

Perfection.

I stopped focusing on all my mental lists and finally focused on the world around me. It was like a fog had been lifted. I could see further into the distance, my vision had expanded more in every direction, colors were crisper, I could smell the lingering traces of acid and fertilizer in the soil. I could hear the birds chirping in the distance. It was incredible.

I can’t wait to see what cinnamon buns taste like now. Wait, does this mean turnips are going to taste even worse? Nooooo!

I tried moving my body. I felt like I had a new understanding of my body and how to move it just the way I wanted. I kicked off my shoes and jumped as high as I could.

Woo! I think I can jump clear over my house. I wonder how high I could jump with Allie’s hat—oh shit, Allie’s hat.

I bolted towards Corby’s house, loving the feeling of the wind in my fur and the ground beneath my bare feet. I had left the hat at Corby’s for safe keeping–Mom had decided to sell off some of Allie’s leftover gear for food. I hated the decision, but I also understood the need. We had been relying on Allie’s help with money for a long time.

I was about to knock on the door when I had an idea. I jumped up and grabbed onto the windowsill on the second floor. I pulled myself up and saw an adorable sleeping otter. Then I knocked on the wall. Corby jumped up and fell out of bed.

I started cracking up, a little too much, since I lost my grip and fell down. Nonplussed, I hopped back up to see a startled Corby approaching the window cautiously like he was ready to challenge someone to fisticuffs. I poked my head up and he finally saw me.

“Torrentus’ ass, you scared the crap out of me, Nym.”

“That was the point. Too good of an opportunity to pass up.” I grinned smugly. “So you picked Torrentus then?”

“It’s who my moms pray to, and I love the water. Felt like an easy choice,” Corby explained. “What about you?”

“I dunno. Maybe the truth guy? He seemed interesting.”

“Can you not talk about the gods so casually? I’m usually standing next to you, and I’d rather not get smote by association.”

“It'll be fiiine.” I waved dismissively. “So, ready to share?”

Corby gulped, then nodded. He opened his Status first.

Name: Corbin

Age: 10

Species: Otterfolk (juvenile) Lv. 2

Class 1: Locked

Class 2: Locked

Stats:

Strength: 3

Dexterity: 3

Vitality: 3

Perception: 1

Intelligence: 1

Mana: 1

Willpower: 1

Free points remaining: 0

General Skills

Tracking: improved tracking abilities

Mapping: enhanced memory of terrain you’ve seen and improved ability to copy it down

Pack Otter: can carry more weight without encumbrance penalties. Scales with strength.

Axe Proficiency: Proficiency using an axe. .5% per level.

Woodworking: able to do intricate carving and shaping of wood

Species Skills

Otter’s Grace: increased swim speed. Combat ability not hindered by water

Whisker Sense: able to better sense movement. Improved further underwater

Thermal Coat: resistance to heat and cold

Deep Breath: enhanced lung capacity. Enhanced stamina underwater

Wait, blocked?

I gave a confused look to Corby. He was blushing like crazy. “I know we said we’d share everything, but it’s just way too embarrassing. I’m sorry.”

Maybe it’s a skill that makes him cuter.

“No worries. I’ll respect your limits. Now, my turn to share.”

I opened my status to him, and it was a bizarre feeling, like letting someone stare directly at my soul.

Corby must have been freaking out. He got nervous when we were just bathing with each other when we were little.

I distracted myself by indulging one of my favorite pastimes: staring at Corby. He’d finally gotten a few cm taller than me. He was still small, but his noodly limbs had been replaced by taut muscle. No one teased him about how weak he was anymore, which also meant I haven’t had to kick anyone’s ass in a while.

So much subtle change, and yet he’s still so adorable!

“Uh, Nym?” Corby asked, confused by my vacant look.

“All done?”

“Yup. Can’t believe you changed the name for all your stats. I mean, ‘Bonk?’ Really?”

“Absolutely. It’s my status. Why wouldn’t I make it more like me?”

Corby just sighed.

“Why did you pick up as a skill?” I asked.

“To help out with the family business while I’m still here. Hopefully, I can upgrade it into something useful for adventuring down the line, but it’s no big loss if I can’t.”

“Gotcha. What do you plan on doing with all your free points?”

“I thought about doing a targeted spread, but I think I might just dump them all in Strength. It just seems right for some reason.”

We kept chatting about builds and upgrades for a while, until I heard his moms wake up. I jumped up and bolted towards them. “Hi, Ms. Scully. Hi, Ms. Clea. I unlocked!”

They both blinked in confusion.

“Nymia? How are you here? And in Corbin’s bedroom…” Ms. Scully asked, before a grin appeared on her face.

“My, my, Corbin, aren’t you a little young for that?” she teased.

Corby’s face turned all sorts of fun colors.

“M-mother!” he stammered.

I bounced in place, unable to contain my impatience.

“Can I have it now?”

Realization slowly dawned on them.

“Of course, sweetie.”

Mrs. Clea went back into their room and returned with Allie’s hat.

I tied my hair into a ponytail and put the hat on, and it just felt *right*.

It took me a moment to recognize I had gotten a notification from the System.

[Hat of Fortification equipped. +20% Bonk, +20% Sturdy]

Nope. We can do better.

[Allie’s hat equipped]

Perfect.

I looked back at Corby and grinned. We were finally ready to start a brand new chapter in our lives.