The next morning, he discussed his plans with Mother. She reluctantly agreed. She was clearly worried. “Is there any reason I shouldn’t go explore the next floor?” he asked, hoping she would explain herself.
“If get [LEVEL 15]… all go there… few come back. Three mates gone… no come back. Kits gone… only two come back,” his mother appeared very sad.
“How many… kits, have left for the next floor?” he asked wondering if his mother even knew the number of siblings he had.
It took a long moment. She seemed to be lost in her thoughts, and began to cry. Just as he was about to change the topic she said “Fourty-two. Lose forty kits. Lose first mate… make sure to pick stronger mate… no change. They all die. Know will lose two older boy kits soon too. None survive long.”
His jaw dropped. Two? Two out of forty-two had survived up until now. She said they were from the most recent batch before his and that they probably wouldn’t live much longer. All of her previous litters were dead. All her chosen mates were dead. That was beyond tragic. Then again, he guessed that was just the typical life of a monster rabbit. They were born to be prey after all. He wasn’t going to let that happen to his family anymore.
Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t really seen any higher levelled male rabbits. He had seen a [LEVEL 17] on the first day he got the [IDENTIFY] skill, but that rabbit had seemingly disappeared not long after. The only higher levelled rabbits he saw were female, all with matron in their race, and they all stayed within the burrow. Looking after their young. He had even recently spotted a [LEVEL 45] rabbit with matriarch in the race, but again, she always stayed in the burrow watching over the matrons. Besides the matriarch, the highest level matron he had seen was [LEVEL 27]. That did leave him wondering why the matriarch was so much stronger, but that question would have to be left for another day.
With the plan decided on, his family set out once again. This time he would not be assisting in the hunt, but he made sure they helped each other out in groups of three. He, Mother and [REYNARD] each kept an eye on one of the groups. Success was achieved. A [LEVEL 12] rat, [LEVEL 13] snakelike monster and a [LEVEL 14] frog brought them all up to [LEVEL 8]. Then all nine ganged up together on a [LEVEL 15] possum that had tried to ambush one of the groups. Mother had stepped in right away, but he had talked her down and convinced her to let his siblings give it a try. He held it with his telekinesis again to assist, which ended up giving him another level.
Adolescent Pygmy Possum – Level 15 has been slain
*DING*
[LEVEL UP] You have reached Level 15.
12 Attribute points have been distributed according to the natural inclinations of your race.
You have 3 Skill points and 3 Attribute points to distribute manually.
Then he felt it. He NEEDED to go down there. It was so exciting. He felt the magic shift. It was clearly more powerful from the entrance to the second level. He needed to see what was down there. To grow his magic and strength even stronger. He needed to-. Wait… He shook himself. The urge was still there, but he could think again. Woah. That was scary. The moment he hit [LEVEL 15] his magic had strengthened and his instincts had gone into overdrive. He would need to be wary and warn his family about the upcoming takeover that they would need to keep in mind. Would [INTELLIGENCE] and [WISDOM] help? He’d have to look into it.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Just as one crisis ended, he felt another from the other cave opening. He hopped up one of the ridges to look at what had entered. Five human looking beings walked through the entrance and then began to eliminate every monster that came into their sight.
Humanoid – [WOOD ELF] – [LEVEL 33]
Humanoid – [FOREST ELF] – [LEVEL 37]
Another urge came. He had to go fight them. Kill them. It filled his every thought. He had to-. Shit. He needed to get them all to safety right now. Taking in a deep breath, he called not just to his direct family but the rabbits throughout the floor as well, “Hide inside home, now!”
With his order, he and his family dashed for the burrow at top speed. He noticed with relief that there were quite a few rabbits obeying his order. Hopefully all of them. After seeing everyone inside, he crouched down at the entrance to the burrow, waiting and watching. He observed as the five elves slaughtered their way through the first floor. The crouched bunny shivered in fear. He wanted to go outside and talk to people. He wanted to experience the life of a humanoid as he had before. But no one would listen to a rabbit, especially not a monster rabbit. He would be shot, sliced apart or have his head bashed in. Just like these elves were doing to the snakes and frogs that lunged like rabid animals. Hey, wait a minute. Where were the rats? They should have the same instincts too right? Even with his perception and upgraded sight skills, he couldn't spot one. They had all hidden away. How? Why? Hmmm… At that moment, he sensed the true abilities of his skill [SOVEREIGN’S CALL]. It didn’t just affect rabbits, but rodents and lagomorphs in general? His OP ability, [WHIMS OF THE WORLD], let him know that those who would obey fell under the Glires category. Something else to test out later.
“Hey, ain’t there usually be liddle rabbies and ratties ‘round ‘ere?” one of the elves asked casually to his companions in a lilting accent.
“Mmm” came the reply “those rabbies musta bin wiped out by the froggies. They be hangin’ on by their tails tha las tim I wos ‘ere. No rats is a weird one though, those critters multiply tha fastest an’ always manage ta survive.”
The adolescent rabbit held his breath as the five companions nodded in agreement. Luckily, nothing came of it as they finished their conversation and entered the second floor. Only another five minutes after their disappearance did he finally release a big sigh of relief. The compulsion to follow them was still very strong. To both murder the elves and travel to the second floor. For now though, he decided to postpone his plans. He would wait however long it took until those elves come back up and left. It sounded like they had been here before after all. That meant even if they left though, they would come back again. Also, they probably weren’t the only parties that challenged this dungeon regularly. He would have to make sure all his family members got their smartypants attributes up so that there wouldn’t be any compulsive accidents in the future. Man, that was very scary.
While waiting, he helped his siblings evolve into adolescents. Their race didn’t change but their titles went from [BARON] and [BARONESS] to [VISCOUNT] and [VISCOUNTESS]. He dumped their six attribute points evenly into [INTELLIGENCE] and [WISDOM], and then used the six skill points to up their proficiency. There was sixty percent from the skill points, and of course ten percent from going up a noble rank. He topped up all their [LIGHTNING] and [LIGHT] proficiencies to one hundred percent and then gave the left-over ten percent to their additional affinity.
Five days later he could sense the elves coming back, so he sent out his [SOVEREIGN’S CALL] once again. The five slaughtered their way back out of the dungeon a few levels higher then when they’d entered. After much consideration he taught all eleven direct members of his family [MANA CONTROL] and [MANA BODY]. It took a lot longer for them, especially his mother for some reason, but eventually they all got it. The rabbit then promised his mother that he would bring his two older brothers home if he found them. Feeling that he’d be leaving his family just a little bit safer with the new skills, he ventured out. It was time to explore a higher levelled floor.