Chapter - 78

Some of Yuki's character sheet skills represented concepts instead of individual actions. [Athletics], for example, covered a bunch of things: climbing, jumping, running, walking, and throwing. At first, she thought it was all manner of physical activities, but [Brawn], which was somehow a resistance and skill at the same time, dealt with lifting, breaking, and contests of strength, according to the skill description.

That raised another question: Could she grind the resistance side of [Brawn] by lifting stuff? A not-so-distant part screamed at the possibility of becoming a gym bunny.

Yuki put her other skills out of her mind for now. No matter how much she liked [Driving], she didn't think she'd find any rabbit sized vehicles just laying around for her to drive anytime soon. Same with [Boating]. Not that Yuki had ever gone boating in the before; yet somehow, her skills page insisted she knew how to do it.

Yuki willed the system to organize things again according to her vision: first, resistances, followed by useful skills, and then lastly the not immediately useful ones.

Layout updated.

Yuki looked at the improved list. Now, she needed a grinding plan. Should she also enable the improvement notifications? Maybe seeing the numbers go up would help? Yuki thought hard about the system and the modification she wanted.

Preferences updated.

Done with that; she glanced at the Advanced Skills tab. There were far fewer skills here that she had access to; and most of them she had no real way of training right now. There were three crafting skills: [Leatherworking], [Sewing], and [Cooking]. Strange that cooking was an advanced skill. She thought it would have been common. She guessed those three being advanced represented all the effort she had put into creating her own cosplays and cooking for herself in the before. In the more recent years, prior to Truck-Kun's visit, Yuki had changed to purchasing cured leather and designing the costumes herself.

[Acting] and [Disguise] Yuki guessed were, well, all the acting and dressing and makeup while cosplaying. She hadn't been good at it, but it seemed to count well enough for the system. Casting her mind to the skills in question, she had a general feeling these were nothing like what she had done in the before. More of a con man skill. Yuki had no clue as to why she had [Bureaucracy], all she could think was that maybe a more modern world was bureaucratic by nature and that somehow was enough to get her the skill?

The last ones were Earth culture and languages, which didn't apply in any situation she could think of, nor did it need to be trained. She did the same here, grouping the functional advanced skills together. 

Layout updated.

Yuki only needed to think of a way to train all these up. For now, she concentrated on her common skills, given that all the advanced ones required opposable thumbs and raw materials to practice. Maybe she—

Jenny moved, lumbering awake and into a sitting position. "Urgh."

Yuki stopped her nascent training plan to check on her familiar. "Jenny? Are you good?" Immediately, she regretted asking that question.

Jenny shook her head. "I… drank too much?" She asked, sounding confused.

Yuki hopped on the woman's lap. "No, I tried to use the system to teach you magic. I didn't know it would hurt. I'm sorry."

A finger rose to the woman's face, and she removed a bit of dried blood from the corners of her eyes. "Ah, I remember now. Head still hurts."

"It's okay, pet," Yuki said, nuzzling the woman. "Go to bed. We can check over things tomorrow morning."

"Alright."

Jenny took Yuki and placed the rabbit on the ground before she lumbered up and shambled toward the bed. Slowly, she laid down near Bee and, not long after, was asleep once again. Yuki guessed this was an excellent time to put that training idea to the test. She hopped beneath the bed and cuddled with Whisker. Yuki would start with [Perception]. It seemed easy enough to pay attention to things around her and try to identify what the sounds were. On the plus side, she didn't need to move, make noise, or even be away from Whisker's A-Tier fur. Win-win if there ever was one.

Hours whittled away. It was already dark. The girls had woken at some point but stayed in bed whispering to each other. Yuki caught a few of the words at the start. Enough to get the idea, Jenny wanted to know how things had been since she fled. 

Yuki hadn't seen a single improvement log message yet, but that was fine. She would keep trying whenever possible. The sooner she understood how the system worked, the sooner she could take better advantage of it.

Exp: +1.

[Perception]: +2.

Yuki woke up to Whisker's nuzzling and a few, short log messages. The same old daily pittance of exp was there, followed by a [Perception] increase. If she remembered correctly, the system always gave the daily exp somewhere in the middle of the night. She didn't have a clock to know the time for sure, but she would guess around 3am if it was in the before. Her magic points also regenerated at that same time. Did the system only show the improvement information at the end of the "day" as the system saw it? 

In the bed above, Jenny stirred.

Yuki paid attention to the sounds: the rustle of fabric, the wet noise of gulping saliva, the creaking of wood, and the popping of bones. It was freaky; all the small noises she had never paid attention to were now audible and clear. She shuddered. It was icky. Yuki didn't like it.

Jenny got out of the bed. "Biscuit?" She whispered.

Yuki nuzzled Whisker one last time and hopped out. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

A smile broke on Jenny's face. She knelt, fingers tracing Yuki's fur along her back. "Yes, thank you. Head doesn't hurt anymore, and I know how to cast magic!"

"That's a relief." Yuki sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't know it would hurt."

"It's fine. It just took me by surprise. I won't have that problem next time."

"Next time?" Yuki asked.

"We'll do it again, no?"

"I…" Yuki sighed. Would she hurt her pet again? Jenny seemed happy with how things went. Was the blonde really a masochist? Should Yuki enable her? "I can't do it again. Not right now," Yuki admitted. "It uses something called stack points, of which I had only one left."

"Are those what you asked me about yesterday?"

Yuki bobbed her head up and down. "Yes. I don't know how I earned them. I'm not sure if it was before or after the dungeon."

Jenny's finger trailed circles in Yuki's back coat. It wasn't as good as when Jenny massaged the ears or cheeks, but it was nice enough. "I see. Thank you for teaching me the magic when you could have used it yourself."

Yuki looked again, demurring, more like mumbled. "I did use one myself."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing," Yuki said, louder this time. Better get started with the day. "Are you ready for the magic?"

Bee had also woken up by now, but the girl still sat on the bed, observing the conversation.

"Yes," Jenny agreed. "What do I need?"

Yuki thought about the [Enchant] spell and the things it told her she required for what she was about to do. "I need a knife," she said, shaking her head when Jenny grabbed the magic dagger. "Not that one; anything that can make a cut will do."

Jenny looked about, then took one of the crossbow bolts she'd been carrying. "Will this work?"

Yuki nodded. "Then the powder, you'll need to undress and lay on your belly. I'll draw the symbol on your back."

"Remove everything?"

"No, just the upper part and the trousers."

"Right," Jenny said and started removing her shirt. Then she stopped. "Isabella, Biscuit will cast magic on me. I need to lay still for a moment. Can you stay quiet while she does it? We can go downstairs for breakfast and washroom once she's done."

Bee nodded, head moving so fast. What had Jenny told the girl? Yuki was surprised Bee didn't get dizzy with the movement.

"Status," Yuki called out. She checked the number of Magic points she had—six after last night's regen. It was more than enough. Yuki cleared her mind and started chanting. First, she needed to transform herself. She needed fingers for this, then she'd curse Jenny. Easy.

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Yuki's Character Sheet:

Personal Info

Name: Biscuit

Age: 59 days

Gender: Female

Race: Mutant Dwarf Horned Rabbit

Evolution tier: F

Exp: 1400/3000

MP: 6/18

Ability Score:

STR: 1 | CON: 2 | SIZ: 1

DEX: 20

INT: 20 | POW: 20 | CHA: 20

Magic

Tradition: Sorcery

Invocation: 53

Represents spell intensity at 1/10 of the skill value, rounded up.

Shaping: 52

Point of shaping available is equal to 1/10 of the skill value, rounded up.

Resistances

Brawn: 3

Application of raw physical force. This skill covers acts of applying might, such as lifting, pushing, and contests of strength.

Endurance: 8

The capacity to endure physical stress, pain, and fatigue. It is also a general gauge of resilience, stamina, and metabolism.

Evade: 40

The ability to escape notice and from impending danger, such as being shot with a ranged weapon, avoiding traps, etc.

Willpower: 43

The ability to concentrate, channel force of will, or resist mental shocks. Also represents mental resilience.

Skills: [Useful Skills]

Athletics: 25

Covers a range of physical activities, including climbing, jumping, and running.

Conceal: 41

The counterpoint to Stealth, being the concealment of objects rather than the person themselves

Deceit: 40

The capacity to to mask the truth and offer a deceit of some kind; barefaced lying, misleading, bluffing or covering true emotions. Counterpart to insight.

First Aid: 40

The ability to treat minor injuries and stabilize severe ones.

Influence: 40

The ability to persuade others.

Insight: 40

The ability to read or intuitively understand another's verbal and non-verbal behavior to determine their motives and state of mind.

Perception: 42

Passive observation and focused detection;

Stealth: 40

The ability to hide out of plain sight, or moving with minimal sound.

Swim: 3

The ability to move through liquids such as water. Heavily dependent on ambient conditions.

[Occasional Skills]

Boating: 3

The operation of small floating craft on rivers, lakes, and close to shore.

Customs: 80

The knowledge of one's own community; its social codes, rites, rituals, taboos, and so on.

Dance: 42

The ability to move rhythmically and accurately.

Drive: 40

The control of wheeled or drawn vehicles, whether by one or more beasts of burden or more esoteric means: such as carts, carriages, chariots or sleds.

Locale (Earth): 40

The measure of understanding of a region or area's local flora, fauna, terrain, and weather.

Ride: 40

The ability to control and remain mounted on creatures that can be ridden.

Sing: 40

The ability to carry a tune. Anything from monotonous chants through to complex arias.

Advanced Skills : [Occasional Skills]

Leatherworking: 40

Techniques and knowledge to work on leather to create armor, clothes and other objects.

Sewing: 40

Techniques and knowledge to work on fabric to create clothing and other objects.

Cooking: 40

Techniques and knowledge to craft a meal from its ingredients.

Acting: 40

The art of being able to impersonate and convey a completely different character, whether in a staged performance or in social situations.

Disguise: 40

The ability to appear as someone, or something else with the use of cosmetics, costumes, wigs and hairpieces.

[Occasional Adv Skills]

Bureaucracy: 40

Culture (Earth): 80

Language (English): 80

Language (Old Aetheri): 80

Combat Style

Unarmed: 23

Ineffective Flailing: 29