Jake had to admit, the next few months or so that past was really nice. Master Grizzly taught him allot, and not just how to communicate with Flopsy. He learned how to fight like both a rabbit and a hybrid. After the first session of train fighting in his other forms, he was glad he hadn’t chosen that first [Scout] skill. His new “Acrobatic Strike” skill worked wonders no matter the form Jake was in.

As there were only a few dozen “people” in the den, everyone had to contribute to the survival of the community. As Jake had the necessary skills, he would join the group responsible for making sure there was enough meat to go around, and yet not enough to kill the surrounding ecosystem. Those responsible for the continent in general would come to investigate if there were suddenly no animals in their section of the wilderness.

Jake’s group also went for the occasional security matter. He refused to be called a “City Guard” though. He would go on localized short-term escort missions, even if the subject didn’t want to be escorted. Wolfe was also in the group and had a similar opinion. As such, the two became friends before too long.

Something else also happened before long. As to be expected, Jake got in quite a good number of both spars and actual combat in which he was to use his rabbit form and abilities. As such, his rabbit level grew quickly. Once it hit level 15, “MAX” appeared by the class and it stopped leveling. Jake naturally got concerned, until he tried looking at the class section of his Status after activating his “Graduation Bound” skill which explained the issue. He did very specifically focused training for almost a month to get his Agility to 105 and his Stealth to 20. At which point, after giving the correct people a fair warning, the command “Evolution Approved” caused him to black out.

Upon awaking, 3 days later, very few things had changed physically. His natural body hair was darker and slightly thicker, as was the hair on his head, but otherwise there was no difference. At least the experience from the training hadn’t gone to waste. His rabbit level jumped straight to 17. His animal form however changed significantly. To start with was his size. Whereas his normal rabbit form had roughly gotten to a head height of an inch or two over his ankles (on all 4s obviously), his new rabbit form was now 2/3 the way up his shins. The ears continued almost up to his waist. There was also a change to his paws. While it was definitely still an animal, there was and apposable quality to the inner fingers on both front paws. Not to mention the claws on all 4 paws didn’t quite withdraw all the way back into the flesh. He could also move his “thumbs” separately as well. He wouldn’t be able to do much with the little stubs, but at least gripping was an option. Finally, the fur was longer, thicker, and rougher than it had been. Finally, his teeth had changed. Whereas before he had the type of flat grinding teeth expected of an herbivore with the exception of the 2 iconic buck teeth, now all his teeth were slightly sharper, and the two extended ones in the middle came together in a point. All of which echoed the screen Jake received upon waking up.

EVOLUTION COMPLETE! CONGRATULATIONS!

RACE CHANGE: LYCANTHROPE -DIRE HARE

NEW SKILL AQUIRED, ANIMAL REVERSION

SEE STATUS SCREEN FOR ALL CHANGES

Activating the new skill surrounded Jake in a thick fog momentarily, and when it cleared he was back to being a normal rabbit. It took a chunk from his MP, but given what happened, the sacrifice was an acceptable one.

Jake also learned a variety of new more trivia information that explained a handful of things to him. For instance, he had learned of a magic enchantment that let bags like Wolfe’s absorb into the lycanthrope when they transformed. Apparently, it was up the to the lycan whether the bag emerged in hybrid as well. Apart from these enchanted items, magical items and weapons were all that transformed with the lycan. The rest either burst when the lycan grew too big or billowed around them as they shrank. The only exception are clothes that were skin tight. Somehow, these were seen as a second skin, and so they merged with the lycan. Unfortunately, only one outfit can merge in at a time, so in cases like Val’s were the human and hybrid wore different sizes, the lycan had to decide which form transformed clothed, and which didn’t.

On top of just learning more things about being lycanthrope, Jake picked up a new hobby. That recent boost of experience increased his Arcane knowledge in the form of some extra [Apprentice] levels. Even better, the next time he cast a spell he hit level 5. This confused Jake to no end, because the 2 spells he knew, were still just the 2 his old mentor had given him during the month he thought he would be a wizard. As useful as Spark, and Breeze were, he had heard of other [Apprentice]s shooting lightning and fireworks into the sky. As such, he started to think maybe he shouldn’t wait for the system to provide new spells. So, Jake started trying a few things. Unfortunately, nothing worked until it became winter.

Jake Gina and Wolfe were trying to track down a group of kobolds which tried to use a series of tunnels to break into what they thought was a magic repository. When the group was clearing out the swarm, one had gotten away. Jake used his dire rabbit form and darted after the red lizard as it disappeared into a tunnel the group must have used to get as close as they did. It lead to an underground cavern where Jake finally caught up, and finished off the final kobold. Unfortunately, when Jake made his way back to the surface something was waiting for him, and the next thing he knew Jake was flying quickly through the air in the clutches of a giant raptor, either a Roc or a giant eagle, he couldn’t tell exactly. With a chomp, he used his full strength to sever and go straight thru the ankle carrying him away. The good news is that means Jake was no longer on the menu. The bad was that it left him plunging from above until the ground broke his fall, and from the pain in his entire body probably quite a few bones. He transformed back to human, but just because it mended the bones, doesn’t mean the pain was gone. Infact, it hurt too much to get up, so he couldn’t get back. Rather than freeze to death, Jake had to resort to magic for a fire. Unfortunately, he couldn’t risk more kobolds seeing the smoke and coming to get him.

He decided his ideal solution would be to find a way for the fire to be fueled by his mana only. After all, it’s the burning of fuel that produced the smoke, not the fire itself. He started with the spark spell he had used so many times before. He activated the magic, let it flow through him and created the sphere of flame. This time however, rather than sever the flow between him and the now created double hand full of flame on the ground, Jake pushed on the connection. With all the effort he could muster, he pushed the magic from him into the flame. He poured all of his MP into it. When his MP hit 0, the connection broke and every muscle in Jakes body felt both tired and tight. He didn’t like the repercussions of hitting 0 MP, but the result was worth it.

NEW SPELL ACQUIRED:

CAMPFIRE – This spell creates a small fire.

While the fire will provide heat, light and even cook meals, it will not burn its surroundings for fuel.

Instead, during casting, the caster pours additional MP into the spell.

The fire will continue to burn until the MP reserve is empty.

Probably because he was the one who cast the spell, Jake was able to tell the Campfire had about 10 hours of charge. Now he had solved the problem of potentially freezing to death, Jake willingly succumbed to the darkness gathering around him.

It wasn’t long after, Jake figured out lightning pull, which did exactly what it sounds like and directed where lightning would strike from a thunder cloud. He knew he wasn’t the source of the lightning, he more pulled it from the sky and aimed it at a target. It was extremely limited in that he could only use it when it was stormy, but Jake thought it was the start of something stronger.

Jake wasn’t the only one who got stronger over the passing months. Val had taken the time to formally apologize to everyone she had “ran away” from. Therefore, within a month of her return, she found herself with a relatively clean slate. As such, she decided to use and expand her crafting talent. As such, she had gotten in touch with a local named Madame Kobra who taught her the additional information she needed to once again grow her completed [ApprenticeArtificer] class, this time into an [Alchemist]. She also got additional practice and was able to expand her range of marketable goods from ammunition to weaponry. She even got permission to take over one of the unused shops, and set up a small forge, and a crafting workshop in the basement. Jake and Master Bear agreed the newly opened “Fox Fang” was a good idea, despite distracting her from training. After all, the duplex they shared was not a free gift. They both had to give back to the community. As there was no way selling shoddy craftsmanship could be accepted as a helping the community, Val dedicated a good amount of time to perfecting her weapons both ranged and melee. She had by now heard Jake’s less than enthusiastic evaluations of her non-ammunition work. As such, she left the arrow crafting to him, and focused on other weapons and alchemical creations. She also had a few secret projects she was working on. These were things she wouldn’t even talk to Jake about. She didn’t want to get his hopes up if they didn’t work, or get him too excited so he accidently slips the news before she’s ready to announce. Mostly though, she wanted to see the surprise and pride on his face when she shows him the final product… and hopefully get a reward for a job well done.

Unfortunately, her artificer skills were the primary growth she had managed to accomplish. After hours upon hours of meditation, she still had finally managed to tempt her animal side into showing itself, but rather than the talk Jake and Flopsy had, Val’s fox spirit wouldn’t show any more than its eyes blinking out of the darkness. According to Master Bear, she needed to spend more time in her fox form to better understand what the fox was telling her. As a result, many a patron entering her shop had done so to find a fox jumping from a high shelf, or crawling out from under display shelves. Many took it as a marketing gimmick for the Fox Fang, even if they couldn’t quite figure out how it was to raise customers. Regaurdles, since she couldn’t make contact with her animal spirit, and hadn’t been able to leave to fight outside the city, her fox class hadn’t gone up at all. It, and [LYCANPUP] were so far behind the rest of her abilities it was really starting to annoy her. She really needed something to boost her lycan based abilities, or atleast boost her mood. Luckily, her Jakey had something special planned that was bound to cheer her up.