[Invocation]

  Represents the combination of the understanding of the spell formula, the mental state required to invoke a spell, and the spell potency.

  [Shaping]

  Represents the sorcerer’s capacity to shape the spell to meet specific requirements such as extending range, number of targets, duration, and others.

  Yuki glared at the two system notifications. She took a deep breath, then glared some more. She even snarled for good measure. It wasn’t only the notifications. With this partial unlock, the missing spell knowledge was now available in her mind.

  The whole thing was… not as complicated as she had thought, even if it wasn’t the simplest.

  Invocation served two purposes: The higher the skill level, the stronger her spells would hit, the harder her curses to resist, and the easier it was to contend with opposing effects. It also gave the basic building blocks needed to cast spells. How to reach the necessary mental state to use magical power.

  Shaping, on the other hand, was how Yuki could mold the spell to her will. Without shaping, her magic was limited. She could only use it within the touch range of a single target, would last a few minutes and so on. Shaping also was what let her meld spells together.

  Protective ward came to mind here. That spell had no use alone; it had to meld with another. Shaping was what let Yuki do it.

  She looked at her skill rank:

  Shaping (Apprentice): I

  Yuki could only meld a single effect in her casting at this rank. The available ones were range, target, duration, and melding.

  The two locked tabs were now also accessible: Skills and Characteristics.

  She clicked on the characteristics tab.

  Yuki looked at the numbers and names. None of which made any sense. No, some made sense, it just didn’t seem to be important. Characteristics tabs had all manner of information, from height, to weight, to age and more.

  She sighed, deep and tired. It didn’t seem to be a need to ever open this tab again. A notification blinked into existence.

  Layout updated.

  Yuki looked at her character sheet, and the characteristics tab wasn’t there anymore. Panicking, she willed it to show again, and sighed in relief when it did. Well, good, she hadn’t committed some horrible mistake.

  Yuki pushed away the thoughts about system things. She would dissect that new information later. Right now, she wanted to be a cool magic bunny— and maybe heal her injury. Her ear was hurting so much that Yuki couldn’t even think. Yes, that was the sole reason. Yuki hadn’t been distracted for the past half hour by magic thoughts. Nope, she was learning how to heal her abused ear.

  With one final glance at the notifications, Yuki focused on the magic, the spell formulae, and the necessary movements.

  The skills Invocation and Shaping taught Yuki about magic and how to modify a spell. In comparison each spell she selected at character creation was the blueprint, the formula, gestures, and, when needed, knowledge about the materials required to cast it.

  Esoteric knowledge about magic laws that didn’t exist on Earth filled Yuki’s mind. She drank it all in. She waved and chanted, the world outside and pain forgotten. At long last, she was a sorceress! Maybe a bunny sorceress, but a sorceress nonetheless!

  With a final push, Yuki willed her mana into the formula and targeted her injured ear.

  The vanilla scent that represented her magic blossomed in the cave. Why vanilla, though?

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  Despite all the build-up, the effects were… underwhelming. There were no flashy lights or instant regeneration. Yuki barely felt anything aside from the pain fading away. It wasn’t a fast-acting spell. Maybe it was because of her lack of proficiency with the skills, or maybe that was just how the spell worked, but it took minutes of concentration to heal the damage to her ear.

  Yuki opened her eyes. A small notification blinked in the corner of her vision.

  Despite the underwhelming effect, bubbling happiness started at the base of her tail and rushed to the tip of her ears. Yuki victory danced. “That is so cool!” Magic took her breath away. Yuki was magic! Yuki was a sorceress! The world wasn’t ready for it. She hopped in circles, she jiggled and giggled. “Yuki, the magic bunny!”

  When she calmed down, Yuki mulled over the regeneration spell. It wasn’t an emergency healing spell but something to be used after the action if the victim was still alive. Even so, Yuki was happy with her choice. Slow or not, a life-saving spell was a must.

  Yuki paid attention to a feeling she hadn’t noticed until something changed. It was like a cup that had always been full, but now was missing a tiny bit. She understood that represented her magic, but there should be an easy way to see it represented, right?

  Layout updated.

  Immediately, she opened her character sheet. The rabbit now held a crystal cup with blue liquid sloshing inside.

  A smile blossomed on Yuki’s muzzle. She hopped in circles with a quick dance. Then she spoke, looking at something that might or might not be there above her.

  “Thank you system.”

  The system, of course, didn’t respond.

  Yuki looked at the cup. It was almost full, but still, maybe a few numbers would help? When nothing happened, she glared at the goblet until something changed.

  Lines appeared beneath it.

  Mana: 19/20

  Good. Yuki knew that wasn’t really the correct representation of her mana, but just a simplification based on the things she knew. It was fine. If other spells also cost the same amount, Yuki could cast about twenty of them. A good number.

  Finally, Yuki looked at the still blinking notifications in the corner of her eye.

  Invocation (Apprentice): 1 ? 2.

  Shaping (Apprentice): 1 ? 2.

  Look at that! God blessed skill grinding! Yuki hopped in happiness in her corner of the nest. Thoughts of relentless grinding consumed her mind for a moment, but it was soon interrupted by her growling stomach.

  Right, days without eating. It wasn’t time to play with magic. It was time to brave the above world and find food. She dashed toward the burrow entrance.

  She didn’t leave immediately, however. Yuki waited, paying attention to her hearing. Time crawled at a snail’s pace. She wanted to make sure the hunters wouldn’t return. The lemony scent had dispersed. It was probably safe to go outside. Her stomach growled, and she made up her mind.

  With a hop, Yuki left the burrow’s safety. She counted the milliseconds in her mind, ready to bolt inside at the first smell of danger. Nothing jumped at her. “A small hop for a rabbit, but a giant leap for rabbitkind.” She appropriated those famous words from her world.

  It indeed felt like a giant leap.

  She took another, further away from the entrance, then another when no monstrosity or worse, humans appeared. She lowered her head to grab a bite. Given her almost all-around vision and inability to use her paws to hold food, she wondered if she would be in the first or second Judge’s group? Yuki shook her head. It wasn’t time to ponder passages from the before’s holy book. If followers from that book ever learned about her and her newly awesome magic, they’d probably start a crusade.

  Other rabbits, emboldened by Yuki’s daring display of courage, hopped outside— first just a few, then more and more.

  Yuki ate, tension releasing from her body with each passing second. While she ate, she remembered that her, now only and favorite — sister slept inside. Yuki grabbed the biggest leaf she could find and ran underground, toward the nest. She ducked and weaved between rabbits. At some point, she stopped and snarled at an oversized rabbit who tried to steal away her food. She nipped his paws when they didn’t heed her warnings.

  Bite (Apprentice): 1 ? 2.

  Worth it!

  It took two more aggressive negotiations with other rabbits until she finally arrived at her destination. Sir Hopsalot was still here, still digging at the walls. So was Whisker. Yuki cut a portion of the leaf and put it near Hopsalot, who immediately stopped digging and dug in. Satisfied, she took the other part of the leaf and teased the sleeping Whisker.

  It started with a twitching nose. Yuki moved the leaf closer, and for a moment, the sister opened her eyes, but no one was home. Whisker’s eyes closed again, and her teeth ground against each other. Soon after, Whisker bolted awake and dove toward the leaf.

  Yuki held back her laughter.

  Yuki had wanted to cuddle with Whisker while she inspected the new system’s tab. Traitor Wigglebotton fled outside as soon as she finished devouring the leaf. That was fine. Yuki was magnanimous enough to forgive that transgression.

  Right now, she had more important things taking her attention. She focused on the characteristics tab again.

  With more time to look over things, most of the information made no sense why they’d be on a system tab. Like, there was even one that read: Ear size. How was that even important?

  She hid the tab again. That would help, hopefully.

  Keeping those game-like details hidden was good. Yuki didn’t want to treat this as a video game. She was in her last life already.

  With giddy anticipation, she focused on the Skill tab. It was time to learn what goody skills the system had gifted her with.