When the jackalope finally met back up with his family, there were two surprises. The first was that they had all already reached over [LEVEL 80] due to reaching the thirteenth floor. Apparently because they were his family, the oni had just let them through. And instead of racing through the floors like he had, they had been grinding. The second surprise was their races. After evolving at [LEVEL 80], there had been some major changes. One by one he read his siblings races.

  [COTTONTAIL] was a [LEVEL 82] [GōNGZH? ESSENCE RAVRAKI] and radiated [LIFE]. [MIFFY] had become a [LEVEL 84] [GōNGZH? ESOTERIC SKVADER], with her dreamy and quiet nature only adding to her mysticism. Both [FLOPSY] and [MOPSY] had reached [LEVEL 86], but the two older sisters had gone in completely opposite directions. [FLOPSY] appeared tranquil as she calmly analysed the environment and seemed to be at one with her surroundings, completely matching her race, [GōNGZH? FOREST RAVRAKI]. [MOPSY] on the other hand darted around in a frenzy, attacking monsters then backflipping or spinning out of the way ‘looking so cool’. The [GōNGZH? AQUA WOLPERTINGER] looked very proud of herself. [PETER] followed her lead looking ‘cool’. He clearly didn’t want to let his sister win. The [LEVEL 88] [WáNGZI FLURRY WOLPERTINGER] not only copied her but tried to look even more dashing and maybe even heroic. The eldest of the litter slowly shook his head in disapproval, though there was slight smirk on his face.

  The monsoon jackalope was a fair ways off from his family and his vantage point allowed a wide view. [BUGS], now a [LEVEL 88] [WáNGZI METAMORPH SKVADER], ranged ahead of the group scouting out more dangerous prey before reporting back to [FLOPSY] and [THUMPER] who were doing the decision making. Good. Having cool heads make plans was a great idea. [THUMPER] was now a [LEVEL 86] [WáNGZI AFFLICTION RASSELBOCK]. The other rasselbock of their litter a [LEVEL 84] [WáNGZI FORCE RASSELBOCK] sat beside him. Benjimen wasn’t contributing to the conversation but he looked on with determination in his eyes. Far from where the plans were being made a [LEVEL 86] [WáNGZI RESONANT JACKALOPE] flitted about in pursuit of his more energetic siblings. [SNOWBALL] watched [PETER] and [MOPSY] in wonder, occasionally adding shrieking spells or sending vibrational, miniature earthquakes at the enemies to assist his amazing older siblings.

  Hidden amongst the foliage he spotted three stealthy kitsune vigilantly keeping an eye out.

  Monster – [ESOTERIC KURO YOKAI KITSUNE ADVISOR] – [LEVEL 78]

  Monster – [SAGE KURO YOKAI KITSUNE ADVISOR] – [LEVEL 79]

  Monster – [MYSTICAL MIND SHIRO YOKAI KITSUNE VIZIER] – [LEVEL 82]

  The lowest levelled members of his family were also staying back and watching with caution.

  Monster – [ELECTROMAGNETIC JACKALOPE] – [LEVEL 81]

  Monster – [PHASE RASSELBOCK] – [LEVEL 81]

  Monster – [TàI HòU VOID JACKALOPE] – [LEVEL 81]

  The real surprise though, had been viewing his family’s levels one by one. They had really improved.

  There was something confusing him though. “Even with grinding through levels. How are they leveling up so fast. I’ve decimated nearly entire floors to reach my level, but they clearly haven’t been doing that. How then?” he muttered quietly.

  [ABRAXAS] heard him and answered. “It’s the race.”

  Both rabbit and wolf looked up at him sitting in the air, legs crossed at the ankles.

  He went on. “A standard wolf is born much stronger that a rabbit, so it has a tougher time leveling up then said rabbit. In the same way, there is a large gap when comparing someone of your race to mere prince and princesses that only made the achievement through association. Though they have a tougher time leveling up then regular [HORNED RABBIT]s of the same level, its still far easier for them than you.”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Hmmm” the jackalope responded, deep in thought.

  “That is interesting, but let’s keep moving” the magic wolf said, sounding antsy.

  Following along, they made their way down quickly to greet the family. Rey was the first to spot them, [SNOWBALL] was next.

  “Brother! Hey brother! Brother, brother, brother. Hey big brother, you’re back!”

  At the tirade of calls, the rest of his family searched about before hopping for him. He figured they would stop in front of him, maybe some head bumps after so long apart. To his surprise there was suddenly a pile of bunnies trying to cuddle him from all sides. Horns, antlers and even some wings got in the way as they smothered each other. The storm jackalope dug through the fur for an opening.

  “GASP! Guys… Need. To. Breathe!” he cried while gasping for air.

  Squirming with effort, he managed to finally extricate himself from the large bundle of fur. Finally regaining his bearings, he jumped in surprise again as Mother’s head bumped him from the side. He was letting his guard down a lot around his family, but it was worth it.

  “Its good to see you again.” came her soft voice “Will you stay with us a we journey down? Your siblings wish to gain strength like you have.”

  He beamed with pride, “I’d love to. Though I do have some questions about all your new forms. Wings, really? And was that healing magic earlier?”

  The two skvaders, [MIFFY] and [BUGS], fluttered their wings as if to show off. [MIFFY]? Showing off? Now that was once in a blue moon. [FLOPSY] and [COTTONTAIL] at the mention of their healing prowess instantly preened.

  “Well, our magics are inclined towards [NATURE] and [LIFE]. As [RAVRAKI] evolutions are natural healers, of course we chose it.” [FLOPSY] said with an informative tone.

  “Look at my upgrade, me and [MOPSY] are the coolest!” [PETER] but into the conversation, making [FLOPSY] frown.

  The two [WOLPERTINGER]s still had the main body shape of a rabbit, but there were also squirrel-like attributes as well. The claws and curling tails were the main giveaways. The sharp claws and jagged antlers also gave a clue as to what direction their evolutions had taken.

  “Yes, very cool, out of everyone, your forms are the most attack focused” he replied good naturedly.

  “Exactly!” both wolpertingers chirped in unison.

  Observing further he saw that ravraki forms were even more delicate than jackalopes. Their fur was also slightly glowing. [FLOPSY]’s was green whereas [COTTONTAIL] had a golden glow about her. [NATURE] and [LIFE]. Made sense.

  Looking over he saw that almost everyone had antlers, except for the [RASSELBOCK]s. They had one curling unicorn-like horn, just the same as when they were mere [HORNED RABBITS]. However, their forms had also changed. [BENJIMEN], [THUMPER] and [GEORGE] all had much stockier bodies and after a moment, he realised they also had massive wings curled around their sides and back.

  “You have wings as well?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” [BENJIMEN] answered, “but we can’t use them to fly, the bone structure and density is too heavy. Ours are for defence.”

  “Hey, we have wings too and we can fly like [WOLPERTINGER]s and [SKVADER]s. [FLOPSY] and I even have long tail feathers to help guide us” [COTTONTAIL] interjected, fanning out her almost peacock-like feather tails, “[MOPSY] and [PETER] are just big squirrels. [BUGS] and [MIFFY] just have glider tails to help balance them. But [FLOPSY] and I can fly the best with all our feathers.”

  As Mother lightly berated them for all their showboating, the storm jackalope ran some major calculations and came to a shocking realisation. The jackalopes were the only variant without wings! Sure, Rasselbocks couldn’t fly, but even if it was just for defence, they still had wings. His ears drooped as he silently pouted.

  An exited voice interrupted his thoughts. “Big brother, look, we got the same one. We’re the same. We’re the best! We’re the most magicky out of everyone! Mother and [FRED] too. We don’t even need wings to fly. We can just do it with magic. Aren’t we amazing?!”

  [SNOWBALL]s ears waggled in excitement and his fluffy tale followed suit as he stared with intense delight at the eldest brother of their litter. [ROGER] instantly perked up. How could he be mopey when so much enthusiasm was sitting right in front of him.?

  “That’s right,” he agreed, “You’re all very cool but [JACKALOPE]s are the best.”

  There was an instant uproar of disagreement as each sibling loudly debated with each other about why their decision was the best. [FRED] and [GEORGE] joined in and even [MIFFY] nodded or shook her head fervently at the arguments around her. [ROGER] and [PETER]s voices were the loudest as Mother tried her best to settle them, failing miserably.

  A trio of kitsune, a large wolf and a demon watched on with amusement as the rest of the floor listened in terror. In the minds of the inhabitants of the floor, such a row was just the beginning of a fight between powerful monsters that could wreak havoc upon their habitat. Little did they know that the worst was a light tussle between the two loudest advocates. Half an hour later a sorry scene played out. Smirks were being exchanged around siblings and family as two of the most powerful monsters on the floor were scolded by their lower levelled mother. Tails tucked and ears drooped they listened solemnly as she reminded [ROGER] and [PETER] who was actually boss.