Bunny Girl Evolution [A Monster Evolution LitRPG]

“A really funny idea?” asked Elise.

“We’re going to prank Freddy,” said the king.

“It’s going to be hilarious,” said the jester.

Elise glanced between them, trying to see if they were just messing with her. Honestly, she had no idea. They both looked incredibly serious. She glanced at Irylax, who was sniffing her own armpit and making a foul face.

“I don’t know…” said Elise.

“It will be really funny,” said the king.

“Please?” said the Jester.

Elise didn’t know how to respond. She had been preparing herself for a more serious topic, so being asked to be an accomplice in whatever “prank” they were planning had completely blindsided her. She didn’t really have anything too against a light and simple prank on Freddy. Actually, it sounded pretty interesting. He always seemed so calm and in control, so she thought it would be interesting to see how he reacted.

“...What kind of prank?”

“Freddy is going to be coming here in about…” the king trailed off as he pulled out a pocket watch.

“Three minutes,” finished the jester. “To talk to you about something.”

“He said something about a mission that he mentioned to you before.”

“I remember that,” said Elise. “He didn’t tell me any details though.”

“Well, he’s coming to tell you the details,” said the jester.

“But, we’re mad at him,” said the king.

“Very mad,” agreed the jester. “He ruined our prank.”

“We were going to prank you during the audience,” explained the king. “But then Irylax showed up and ruined it. And it’s all because of Freddy.”

“I bet he knew that she would show up when we were trying to do that,” said the jester. “He’s always so good at ruining a good time.”

“So we’re going to waste his time.”

“We’re going to tell him you went out.”

“Make him search around the city.”

“And then laugh at him when he gets back.”

“...That’s it?” asked Elise.

She had been expecting something more elaborate.

“You’ve been spending too much time around humanoids,” said the king, shaking his head.

“But we’ll make a fey out of you yet,” said the jester.

“The best pranks are always the simplest ones.”

“Fewer points of failure.”

“Easier to pull off.”

“Big elaborate pranks are only for special occasions.”

“...I see,” said Elise.

“So, are you in or not?” asked the king.

Elise thought for a few seconds. She didn’t feel great about wasting Freddy’s time for no reason like this, especially when the reason was that he had prevented her from getting pranked. At the same time though, she didn’t want to offend these two other 9th tier monsters, especially since they were changelings like her. They could help her out a lot if she was able to convince them, and helping them out with the prank would probably go a long way to getting on their good side.

Besides, it wasn’t like Freddy had never done anything to her. She was incredibly stressed for two months after he told her that Ostra was awaiting her return, and he really didn’t need to do that. That was a much worse “prank” than what she was about to do to him. She could get a little bit of harmless payback.

“Alright, I’m in,” she said.

“Great!” said the Jester. “Alright, just stand over there. Right behind Irylax.”

Elise did as instructed, and the dragon didn’t react beyond just watching her move. Elise was a bit unsettled by the yellow eyes, and she was certain that they were the same as the one she had seen in her dream over a month before, but they carried no malice. In fact, they looked mildly amused by what was happening.

“Alright, now don’t move,” said the king.

“We’re going to make you invisible,” said the jester.

“Even Freddy won’t know you’re there, as long as you don’t move around too much.”

“And he won’t dare use any more invasive detection skills so close to Irylax.”

“I’d beat his ass,” agreed the dragon. “I still might beat his ass. He’s gotten cocky while I’ve been gone. Needs to be reminded who the real boss of Ostra is.”

“Shhh, he’s on his way!” said the king.

Elise felt a sudden film of mana cover her entire body, and suddenly, she ceased to exist. Not literally, but even she couldn’t feel her own body. She moved her arm slightly to see if she could, and she could tell it was moving, but only because she felt her own muscles move. There was no visual indication, no sound, and not even a slight bit of wind on her fingers.

A second later, Freddy appeared in the middle of the office in a flash of light. He looked around, making eye contact with both the king and jester, then turned to face Irylax.

“Welcome back, Irylax,” he said, bowing.

“You got stronger,” said the dragon.

“You didn’t think I’d stay the same as I was after half a millennium, did you?” he replied with a smile.

“How’s my lair?” asked Irylax. “Have you been caring for it like I asked you to?”

“Of course. I have a small tribe of kobolds living just outside it, caring for your garden and maintaining preservation spells on the inside. Of course, no one has been inside during this time.”

Irylax glared at him for a few seconds. “Hmph. Good work.”

Freddy smiled, then turned to the king. “So, where is she?”

“Out,” said the king.

“What do you mean?”

“She said she wanted to reach her next evolution, so she went hunting,” said the jester.

“And you didn’t tell her I was coming?”

“Nope!” said the king. “You ruined our prank, so we’re wasting your time. You have to go look for her now.”

Freddy stared for a few seconds, then sighed and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“Dang, I thought he was gonna react more,” said the king.

“He probably didn’t want to piss off Irylax,” said the jester, nodding.

“Well, it was still a success,” the king said with shrug.

“True. He’ll be gone for a few hours.”

The jester waved his hand, and Elise reappeared.

“Have a seat,” he said. “We have some things to discuss.”

“Very serious things,” agreed the king.

Elise walked over to the couch opposite Irylax, now feeling a bit nervous. She was half-expecting whatever they wanted to talk about to just be another prank, but she couldn’t be sure.

“I’m going to talk to my disciple,” said Irylax, suddenly standing up.

“Don’t forget to put on some clothes first,” said the king.

Irylax made a hand gesture that Elise didn’t recognize, but could assume was rude before disappearing. With her gone, the two other changelings took her spot on the couch opposite Elise, and leaned forward, staring at her with brows knit.

“You…” started the king. “...Don’t know how to be a fey.”

“What?” said Elise.

“Not at all,” said the jester. “You’ve been spending too much time with humanoids and weirdos like Emilia and Hans.”

“Well, Emilia was an alright fey,” said the king.

“She was a cowardly idiot,” said the jester.

“But she was a fey-like cowardly idiot.”

“True.”

Elise frowned. “I don’t want to be anything like Emilia.”

“Good,” said the king. “You shouldn’t be like her. But you’re a fey, so you should act like one.”

“What exactly does that mean?”

“What level is your {Fey Bargaining} skill right now?” asked the jester.

“41. Why?”

“Tsk,” said the jester. “You’re almost ready for your tier 5 evolution and you don’t even have {Fey Bargaining} capped?”

“What are they teaching the younglings these days?” said the king, shaking his head.

“I bet you got those levels through a few big deals too,” said the jester. “You probably don’t even use the skill regularly.”

Elise didn’t respond.

“I knew it,” said the jester.

“Alright, here’s the deal,” said the king. “Freddy wants us to help you evolve.”

“He thinks that as long as we let you into some hunting grounds, that will be enough.”

“But he’s wrong. He doesn’t understand how fey work.”

“I bet you don’t even have any skills capped yet.”

“If you try to evolve now, your options will suck.

“Well, she is an aetherborn, so maybe not.”

“True, but they’ll still be better if she spends more time working on them before she rushes to evolve.”

“Right. So, Elise, here’s our plan: we’re going to train you.”

“You’re going to practice a lot, and before you do any more hunting, you’re going to cap all your useful skills.”

“And only then will you evolve.”

“How’s that sound?”

Elise thought about it. She didn’t like it at all how they called Emilia fey-like, and then told her that she needed to be more fey-like, but from a more pragmatic standpoint, it was an excellent offer. Two 9th tier changelings offering her guidance on her skills and evolution path was probably not something she could find anywhere else. She was also definitely interested in their offerings, since they mentioned her evolution options being bad if she didn’t level her skills more.

She had to admit that she had been neglecting some of her skills. She had barely used {Fey Bargaining}, and while she had been training hard for the past month or so, she had spent most of her time focusing on just a few skills that were most useful in combat while neglecting the others. She had a few that hadn’t leveled up in… well, she couldn’t remember the last time they leveled up. She didn’t see {Sudden Growth} being all that useful to her future evolution options, but she did feel bad about how it was just sitting there at level 16, untouched for months.

She also thought back to her dream from the previous night where Titania had mentioned that she would receive an invitation soon, and that she should accept it. Was this that invitation? Was Titania referring to the changelings’ offer to train her to be more fey-like? That would make sense. Titania was the goddess of the fey. Elise wasn’t going to accept solely for that reason, but she held a bit of trust toward Titania after learning that the goddess had prevented Elise from accidentally becoming subservient to her.

“I don’t want to do anything evil, like manipulating people into killing each other or anything like that.”

“We wouldn’t force you to do anything,” said the king.

“In fact, here’s your first lesson for free,” said the jester. “Being a fey is all about freedom.”

“Forcing you to do things you don’t want to do would be antithetical to what we’re trying to teach you,” agreed the king.

“So, will you let us train you?”

If they actually weren’t going to force her to do anything, Elise saw no reason to reject. She still activated {Fey Bargaining} to make sure that was the case.

“As long as I’m not forced to do anything, yes.”

“Great!” said the king, breaking out into a wide smile.

“Congratulations!” said the jester. “You’ve passed the first test! Never agree to a deal where you don’t set the terms yourself.”

“And the second test!” said the king. “Always use {Fey Bargaining} whenever possible.”

“It’s considered one of the most powerful skills in existence,” said the jester. “If you’re not using it all the time, you’re squandering a great gift.”

“That’s your second lesson,” said the king. “We have a few hours before Freddy gets back, so let's try to pack in a full hundred lessons before then!”

“Before that, can I know your names?”

The king and jester shared a glance, then smiled as both their forms blurred. A moment later, there was only one man sitting in front of her, a mix of the two before. On his right side, he wore the king's regal robes, and on the left, he wore the jester’s patchwork costume.

“My name is Oberon,” he said. “And your face looks hilarious right now.”

Oberon? she thought. That can’t be a coincidence.

She wasn’t the most well-versed in Shakespeare, but she knew that Oberon and Titania were supposed to be the king and queen of the fairies. She had sort of brushed it off when she first heard about Titania, but now that she was meeting Oberon, she felt that there had to be something going on between the two. It didn’t totally make sense, since it sounded like Oberon had been around and powerful for centuries, but Titania was a goddess. Was he unable to ascend, or was he just not trying?

“Now, for the lesson,” he continued. “Lesson number 3: Do you know what the intended use of the {Lesser Transformation} skill is?”

“To transform into other species to trick them?” guessed Elise.

“Exactly!” he replied. “Lesser Transformation has its drawbacks, but it is excellent for that. And the fact that you know that raises the question: why aren’t you using it for that?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not using your skill to trick people. You’re trying to use it to live as a human. You can’t do that with {Lesser Transformation}. That skill is for trickery and that’s it. Transform into a human, pretend to be lost, then kill anyone who tries to help you.”

“What?!”

“That was just an example. But do you see what I mean? You’re trying to use a limited time skill as if it has no limit. It wasn’t intended for that. You’re not getting everything you can out of it. If you were using it as intended, you probably would have discovered some of its other features.”

“Other features?”

“You can change your age.”

“I can?”

“Try it. Just think about getting older or younger and you will.”

Elise concentrated, and a few seconds later, she was a child. Her dress, unfortunately, stayed the same size, so she was suddenly swimming in it, but she took a moment to look at her now much shorter arms and stubby fingers before aging herself back to an adult. Then, she went a bit further until her hands started to wrinkle and her back started to hunch.

“Very good,” said Oberon as she returned to her usual age. “You can also make minor changes to your form, like your hair and the length of your nails. You can make yourself thinner or fatter, more or less muscular, or paler or tanner, and you can give yourself calluses and scars and things like that. You will always have the same base form, but you can change the more ephemeral aspects to suit your needs.

“Need some food? Transform into a very thin child. Need to intimidate? Age up a bit and put on some muscle and scars. Pretending to be lost in the wilderness? Long hair and nails and maybe a bit of a tan, depending on where you are. Posing as a wealthy hedonist? Put on some weight and make yourself pale. You are not locked to your default transformation.”

As he spoke, Elise tested out each one of his suggestions in turn. The dress almost burst when she tried putting on weight, and she was shocked at how tan she was able to make her skin. She shortened her hair until she was bald, then lengthened it until she felt like Rapunzel, then returned it to it’s normal semi-long state. She ballooned up like a body builder, then dropped so much muscle mass she looked almost skeletal.

“Lucky,” muttered Oberon as she changed.

“What?” she asked.

“You aetherborns are lucky,” he said. “What you just did would have drained an ordinary lesser changeling.”

“Oh.”

“Which brings us to lesson four! Never show off how much aether you have. It will only invite trouble. Try to keep your use to a minimum when there are others watching.”

“You’ve said ‘aetherborn’ a couple times now,” said Elise. “Is that the official name for what I am?”

“Semi-official,” he said with a shrug. “I’m not sure there is an ‘official’ term since most people don’t even know that aether exists, but that’s what we use here, at least.”

“I see.”

“Now, lesson 5: {Fairy Dust}. This one is less intuitive, but you can actually use {Fairy Dust} without having {Fey Wings} active. The description is still technically correct in that you release it from your wings, but you can sort of siphon it out of your wings into other body parts, even if the wings aren’t active. It’s nowhere near as effective as directly doing it from your wings, but if you just need a touch of {Fairy Dust} while in disguise, you can get it if you try.”

Elise tried to retrieve a bit, but couldn’t figure out how to do that. The skill was refusing to activate, and she had the urge to use {Fey Wings}, but that went against what Oberon had described.

“It’s easier to start siphoning it to your arms while the wings are active, but you can work on that later,” said Oberon. “If we wait for you to master everything right now, we’ll never get to 100 lessons. Now lesson six: {Fey Wi-”

He stopped talking and looked toward the door.

“Shit.”

The door flew open and Freddy walked in with a triumphant smile on his face.

“I knew it,” said Freddy.

“How did you find out?” whined Oberon.

“You should have told me where you sent her. I might have actually gone. But since I had to look for her myself, I asked around to see if anyone knew, and one of your Maid Changelings kindly told me exactly how she had brought Elise here just a few minutes before I arrived.”

“Hmm,” said Oberon. “But if I had told you where I sent her, you would have been even more suspicious.”

“True,” said Freddy, shrugging. “Anyway, Elise, I came here to speak with you. Do you remember at the last meeting how I told you about a mission that I wanted you to participate in?”

“I do,” said Elise.

“The mission is something that I think you’ll enjoy,” said Freddy. “As of today, Ostra is officially a public organization. This has caused a bit of uproar, but we’ve made some inroads in a few countries, including Jelor, and we’re starting to garner a slightly more positive reputation there.

“Right now, Firona is working with the current king of Jelor to create a program that would allow us monsters to begin integrating with human society. It’s been difficult, since any monster with sentience is powerful enough to be dangerous, meaning that they won’t let us roam around unrestricted, but we are about to finalize a plan for an experiment of sorts. Have you heard of Jelor University?”

“I have,” said Elise, feeling a little bit of excitement.

“Well, we’re working out a deal to allow a few of our members attend. Officially, I mean. We’ve already had a few go through the curriculum secretly. But regardless, this is a huge step. These attendees will be heavily monitored and guarded at all times, but they will be allowed to attend classes at the university and interact with the humanoids there.”

“And you want me to be one of them?”

Elise wasn’t sure how she felt about being publicly known as a monster.

“No,” he said. “I want you to be part of the secret members who will also be joining at the same time. We have the king on our side, but public sentiment is very much not in favor of allowing monsters so close to their children. Even with the heavy security measures being taken, we can’t rule out any kind of foul play. So, you and a few other changelings would be attending disguised as humans in order to keep an eye on things, and provide a bit of additional security for our own members.

“Most of the time, you wouldn’t need to do anything. In fact, your job would be to do nothing in regards to the official Ostra students, for the most part. Too much interaction would be highly suspicious. You would instead be devoting yourself to your studies and fully infiltrating as a normal student, and you would only be called upon in case of emergency.

“I thought it was an excellent opportunity for you for a few reasons. You’re young, so I think that the education would be very useful. And, despite your age, you’re one of our more level-headed members, and you already do an excellent job of posing as a human. You’re skilled enough to be of assistance in case things go poorly, and while it may have hindered your growth, your disposition against killing will be incredibly helpful if things do go wrong and you need to take action.

“In short, you would be getting a free education, with the only condition being that, in case of an emergency, you would be called in to help. What do you say?”

Elise thought for a few seconds. Attending Jelor University wasn’t really on her radar until then, but she felt drawn to it. She had already decided she wanted to level up, but having only been in the world for a few months, attending a university for a little while would expand her horizons. Plus, as Oberon explained, having all her skills too low in level was bad. She couldn’t just run off to go hunting all the time. Spending time in school would let her level them up, giving her better evolution options down the line.

“This wouldn’t be starting immediately, of course,” Freddy continued. “You need time to evolve, and there will be plenty of politicking involved, so the official Ostra students likely won’t start for at least a year. I’d like your answer within a month at the latest though, so that we can start finalizing our preparations and making your false identity. But you are free to wait until that last moment if you’d like. You can spend some time training and growing here, and maybe reach your next evolution first so you can decide your path.”

Elise thought for a few more seconds, then shook her head.

“No need to wait,” she said. “I’ll do it.”

“Excellent! I’ll let Firona know so she can start preparing your identity.”

“Actually, I’d like to handle that,” said Oberon.

“You would?” asked Freddy.

“I have something fun in mind,” said Oberon. “And don’t worry about the timeline. Making people appear out of nowhere is my specialty. I’ll have her ready in time for sure.”

Freddy narrowed his eyes at Oberon, clearly not trusting the mischievous fey.

“What is this ‘something fun’ you’re planning?” asked Freddy.

“You’ll see,” said Oberon, smiling.

“I’m going to have Firona prepare an identity anyway,” said Freddy. “But if yours is suitable we’ll use it.”

“Fine with me,” replied Oberon. “I think you’ll like what I have in mind.”

“Well…” said Freddy. “That was quicker than I thought it would be. I’ll be staying here for a bit longer, but you were having a conversation, so I’ll get out of your way. I need to discuss something with Irylax anyways. Elise, I will see you later.”

“Bye.”

As he walked back out the room, Elise couldn’t hold back a small smile forming on her lips. School had never been a place she really enjoyed growing up… but how could she turn down an opportunity to attend magic school? It was a childhood dream come true!