Hare of Misfortune

Rachel stared up at the mango-tinted moon, hovering overhead as if stalking her, whistling a joyful tune and dropping into a sitting position. Her presence warped reality to suit her hunting style, everything rearranging to fuel her thrill of the hunt.

The honeyed mist closed in around her as she drew inward, opening up her inner world to a wealth of Halloween-themed decorations in a pumpkin field dotted with scarecrows. Crows lingered on posts and in the sparse trees that spotted the endless zone.

Her thoughts on the frightmare hummed with the clicks, screams, and howls that occasionally broke the whistling night. Unlike the singular Black Moon or normal lunar spheres, this was a themed moon, situated between the two. Everything about this Legend Quest had been quite educational, helping her to understand more about the secrets hidden beyond dimensional veils, and even the gods were caught up in the mystery.

The Harvest Moon wasn’t an embodiment of nightmares that fed off hope, but it was similar. Where the Black Moon brought nightmares to life, trapping its victims in an endless nightmare from which, normally, there was no escape, the Harvest Moon was all about terror and feeding off the fright of those it terrorized, reflecting that power onto its denizens.

This phenomenon was a companion to the creatures of the night, sharing in the feast of blood, soul, and negative emotion. It gave her a sense of torment and thrill in the climax of fright that was what she thought shooting heroin straight into her veins might feel like.

Rachel went over her many options, deciding where to place her four Stat Points. If she was going to get another weapon, she needed to be more dexterous and controlled in its use, and she was already quite high in those areas.

Her choices were fairly obvious, but Penetration caught her gaze; it would be a future consideration. She decided to put points in Power, Agility, Speed, and Quickness. If she was going to get a weapon, it would help to have extra raw punching power to break past defenses, like Conner’s.

One of the new Equipable Feats made her chuckle, and she swapped [Lunar Burst - E-tier] for [Lunar Spike - F-tier]; if she consumed 25% of Nia or her Lunar Pools, then she could flood her body with that type of energy for thirty seconds.

She could see it useful for these themed or unique lunar spheres, and [Lunar Burst] was good for a big hitter, but it had proven to be a tad less useful than she’d hoped thus far. Perhaps it would have its uses in the future.

Making her choice of Feat, Rachel opened her eyes to the orange rays bathing her in light. She got up and flipped the blazon bowl over, spreading the cursed coral flames to the field; ice spread across the soil as the wheat lit up the night. It had been worth the trip.

I’m done, Nia, she said, peering through the winding paths of the burning fields to see herself from a back angle; her ghoulish smile widened as she watched herself peer backward, head tilting while walking into the fire. How goes the night?

”Wonderful, I see you’ve started the fire.” The bunny flipped out of the misty sky. A reaching, gnarled branch recoiled as Nia landed in the fire, her ripped skirt and military coat showing signs of damage. ”They’re persistent. We’re going to take our time to fill up our pools. Oh, you’ve been caught? Haha. Watch out for the tree creepers, Major!”

Rachel’s ears twitched to the side as a quivering root shot out of the ground, coiling around her foot. The world flipped upside down as she was whipped into the air. She wasn’t concerned, having expected the roots to try and feel their way toward her, but this did force them to come into contact with the cursed and burning field to expose themselves.

Plus, now she had a glorious view from the sky, allowing her to see the writhing vines, roots, and trees that closed in around the flaming wheat.

Unfortunately, [Lunar Spike] didn’t get an Extension for her to reduce the cost like she’d hoped to tap into the Blood Moon. Yet, for the third time, [Rapid Mode] showed up, and although it had been tempting at other times, she didn’t have other tempting options, and [Mental Acceleration]had been very helpful. After barely any delay, she locked in her choice.

Her wide field of vision caught sight of hobgoblins, zombies, and werewolves breaking away from the trees, creating a field of wood-based monster impersonations. Nia darted into the blazing field to find her own safe place to make her own upgrades.

Well, Rachel commented to the bunny, having done her job. I’ll take it from here. I want to see how much I’ve improved since that first quest.

Her big bright-orange eyes drifted to the left as vines shot out of the distant treeline to spear her. Fingers touching the nearest spike, she twisted her body, using it as leverage to twirl around it.

[Mental Acceleration: Rapid Mode: Activated]

[Cursed Frostfire] would be the easiest way to counter the Hateful Heartwood and the wooden creatures of the Creeping Forest, but Rachel opted not to use her Harvest Moon abilities to see how much she’d grown at Level 9.

She laughed, feeling like a ballerina or gymnast as her nimble and quick fingers found their hold on the skyborne assault. With [Rapid Mode] active, it felt like the whole world was moving at a snail’s pace; between her sharp vision and calculating mind, she could spot the trajectory while her acute and divine-enhanced hearing made her aware of distant attacks.

Misfortune smiled on her in this battle, but it could swiftly shift course if she let it go on too long. Monsters aside, her worst enemy was her own poor Endurance and Stamina. A rush of exhilaration filled her belly when she activated [Curse: Karma] on the forest assaulting her; it spread to every wooden entity. Any damage she took would be returned.