As morning came, I walked out of the cave after a quick breakfast and fed some food to that rabbit. The rabbit just ate and said nothing, retreating into the cave afterward.
"I'm going out hunting," I told the rabbit as I left, but it didn't even flinch at the thought.
As if it didn't care at all.
You might wonder why I'm keeping this rabbit or bringing it food. It's simple to answer. This rabbit is not from the first realm and could be from another intelligent race with unknown strengths. If I offend it, they might chase me across this entire realm for who knows how long. In the first realm, the environment is primeval, making long-distance travel risky and not worth the effort unless one is super strong. Here, it's a world that humans know very little about, with new dangers at every turn.
Well, not like we know much about the other realms either, but from the scattered information I've heard, this world seems almost endless. No one has ever managed to accomplish anything like Columbus, who sailed the Atlantic to create a trade route with India. Even to this day, all the realms are still being explored, with new things being added constantly. Many new races are being encountered, and even they don't know how vast each realm is—only that they are massive.
Humans have explored the most in the third realm. How much land have humans explored? An area three times the size of Jupiter, and they are still exploring. The exploration is led by Wei from the eastern territories. He made a name for himself 50 years ago when he discovered ancient ruins. Rather than settling down, he used the money from selling those ruins to fund his explorations into the third realm.
Back to the present, as I reached the bottom of the mountain, I wondered where all those rock tortoises went. They can't just migrate to another place in such a short time. Shaking off these thoughts, I went to the river where I had once come from. As I reached it, I saw some monsters drinking from the river. I hid behind some trees so I wouldn't be spotted.
The monsters in question were creatures similar to deers, but different. They had eight eyes and an exoskeleton-like armor covering their necks and backs. They had evolved in such a strange way. Exoskeletons—were they bugs or mammals? This was a good question, but I wasn't a scientist or particularly interested in it. So I decided to hunt them down.
As I approached, I soon heard a sharp cry, and the deer-like creatures ran off. I looked up and saw a bird-like creature screaming at me. Its high-pitched voice was much louder than any regular bird, more like the call of a great tit, but much more aggressive.
This bird had scared off my prey. As I turned around and started to leave, the bird didn't give up. It continued to follow above me, screaming nonstop. What had I done to make it follow me like this? It felt like I was being tormented by a banshee for hours. I tried to throw rocks at it, but that only agitated it more, making it scream even louder at me.
Ten minutes passed… and I was still being followed by that stupid bird, with it still screaming at me non-stop. How could anyone tolerate this constant noise?
Just as I was about to throw another rock, hoping to finally hit it and put an end to this torment, the bird suddenly stopped screaming and, as if losing all strength, fell to the ground. I was overjoyed at such a sight. I ran up to it, hitting it with full force. Its blood splattered over me, but I didn't care. I had been haunted by this bird for 10 long minutes! Do you know how tormenting it is to be screamed at non-stop for that long? I felt like I would go deaf from the constant screeching.
After dispatching the bird, I quickly looted it. I learned its name Death Screamer. Whoever named it must have had an unfortunate encounter with one.
As I was cashing out the monster, a sense of danger overwhelmed me, and I felt something closing in on me at high speed. I tried to dodge to the left, but I felt something slice down my leg. Turning around, I saw the back of my leg had a huge wound, but thankfully, it wasn't deep. With some basic first aid, I could manage the injury easily. But I wouldn't have time for it just yet, as I looked at my new challenger.
A giant blue praying mantis—what I meant by a giant was that it was only around 40 cm in height, but its blades were at least 20 cm long. I saw one of its front legs was covered in blood, and I realized I was lucky. It had tried to slice off my leg, but dodging in time had saved me.
As I looked at the mantis, I knew it wasn't normal, it was extraordinary, approaching an elite level. Just its speed alone was something I couldn't keep up with. Thankfully, we were in a forest—well, not as lush as the giant forest I had been in, but it still had enough cover for me.
The mantis stared at me, licking the blood from its front legs. Then, suddenly, it sped up and closed in on me. Utilizing the spiritual energy I had in my legs, I dashed backward, but it only gave me less than a second before it was on me again.
I wrapped my blade in spiritual energy and slashed at the mantis. It backed up as it sensed the threat from my weapon. Sensing an opportunity, I canceled the spiritual energy on my blade. Without feeling any more threat, the mantis charged at me again.
I knew it, this monster wasn't too intelligent, fully following its instincts. As it extended its front legs to slice at me, I blocked it with my short sword. Our blades clashed, and I was pushed back, leaving a strip in the ground behind me. Its strength was incredible for such a small creature, but its speed and aggression compensated for its lack of intelligence.
Soon, the mantis made the distance between us, leaping back. I needed to make a plan—and fast. My only advantage was being faster than it. I could also sense my arm was going numb from just two hits it had landed on me.
The mantis sped up again, but instead of coming straight at me, it faked a frontal attack and attacked my side. I channeled spiritual energy into my side, taking the hit without being plummeted into the ground. Now, it was above me, ready to strike me down. In desperation, I channeled energy into my blade and struck at its body, but sensing danger, the mantis backed off.
This time, I felt some resistance when I swung my sword. There was purplish blood on the tip, and looking at the mantis, its chest had blood oozing out of it. But it didn't care about the blood, it didn't flinch or hesitate and went straight for another round, seeing me getting up from the ground.
I tried to dodge, but I got hit again, though not as brutally. This time, I was only pushed back half a meter. My arm felt numb, so I switched my sword to my other hand. I couldn't utilize my full strength with my dominant arm, so even if my other arm wasn't as strong, it was better than fighting with a half-crippled arm.
While I did so, the mantis didn't give me a moment's rest. It struck again, aiming for my head. I saw the blades coming fast, and with my spiritual energy depleting, I channeled all my remaining energy into my sword. Last night, I had tried to recreate what the rabbit had done—using its aura to suppress me. Instead of mimicking that, I focused all of it in front of my blade. A green wave erupted from my blade, slicing the mantis's head off along with one of its front legs.
But this wasn't the end. The mantis still attacked with its other working leg. Its other front leg inserted itself into my shoulder, easily penetrating the flesh. "Argh!" I could only scream in pain as I frantically sliced at the mantis. In a series of desperate strikes, I managed to sever its other arm from my shoulder.
Blood was gushing out from my wound. I opened the system to find some herbs to stop the bleeding and used bandages from the system to try to halt the bleeding, but it wasn't enough as I saw the bandage turning red. I collected the mantis parts and sold them. I received 6 silver and 12 copper for them.
Not caring about the money, my full focus was on stopping the bleeding. Moving with such a wound would be a death sentence, as the injury could easily worsen. So I had no choice but to limp away from this battle. I didn't want to fight another monster here. Sighing to myself, I realized I was far too weak to strategize against my opponents. Only if the two forces opposing each other were equal would strategy appear. The mantis didn't need a strategy to kill, it just simply followed its instincts to hunt me down, and I almost died. Thankfully, it was stupid.
As I reached the river again, I found some bushes and hid in them. They provided a good hiding spot from any nearby monsters and gave me an advantage for spotting any prey I could hunt. But with such a wound, it was a dream only. I looked at myself—torn clothes everywhere. I needed to find a settlement so I could buy a new set of clothes for myself.
Resting for a few hours, I felt I could move somewhat, but had to stop several times to drink from the river to replenish my blood loss. The bandages had to be changed several times as they soaked through with blood.
Once I reached the mountain, I went inside my cave, but I left a trail of blood at the entrance where I had come in. Moving through such a narrow space with my wounded arm made it impossible to avoid brushing against the walls. I had to clean it up, otherwise, monsters would be drawn to this place, smelling the blood.
But not now, I cannot afford to move and I need to rest. Going through the system I found some herbs that specialize in calming down the mind and helping against fever as I felt my head is heating up. Most likely I got an infection.
Having no choice I could only lay down and rest.
I only got up to eat, but most of the time I slept as the pain was unbearable even with painkillers.
It took me a whole day to fully heal. So much time is wasted instead of gathering herbs or killing monsters for money, but what can I do?
Getting up to leave and check on the rabbit as I haven't been given any food for a whole day and most likely be pissed at me.
As I entered the rabbit cave the rabbit was nowhere to be seen.
Most likely left as I did not come to deliver food. Smiling to myself I went back to my cave and rested for a few days, before departing from the way I came.