As I woke up, I realized it was morning, but my stomach already started to make a big ruckus, demanding food. I bought some food from the system, and after finishing it, I left the cave to explore the field today. Before I left, the old armor was replaced with the same type, but sadly, the lioness had torn through my back, and I didn't want to risk something attacking me from behind.
Climbing down the mountain, I entered the field. As I traveled in the field, I had to watch out, as the weeds reached up to my waist. Not only did this slow down my travel, but it also made it harder to spot monsters hiding in the weeds. As I walked, in the distance, I saw the weeds moving in a different direction than the wind blows. I knew a monster was approaching me. Preparing myself for a big battle, I saw the monster jump at me.
A horned rabbit?! I was flabbergasted. Why? Horned rabbits don't like to live in high weeds. Because of their fast reproduction, they mow down the weeds at an extremely fast speed, resulting in their habitat having small weeds and making it easier to spot predators. But here?
Dodging to the side, the horned rabbit flew past me and sprinted into the distance. From what did it run away? Puzzled by this sudden event, I heard howls. "HOOOWL!" Hearing the howls, just like the rabbit, I started sprinting after it. No wonder it didn't pay any attention to me.
As I looked back, I saw the weeds moving in my direction. That rabbit used me as bait to lure away the wolves! Damn it, I will make a rabbit stew out of that rabbit for putting me in this danger! Looking back to see how many wolves were following me, I counted four from the way the weeds were moving, but there could be more.
To my surprise, two went after the rabbit. So I had to deal with only two wolves. I didn't stop running, as it would draw the other two to me. I needed to put some distance between the two groups of wolves so reinforcements wouldn't come as fast.
Soon, I could no longer see the ones chasing the rabbit, so I turned around to face the wolves. The wolves didn't attack me directly but moved around me, trying to find a weak spot to attack from. Even their coordination was perfect as they moved in total synchronicity, each on opposite sides. I had to pay attention to both, and as they moved, I knew I needed to strike first. I didn't know how many more wolves would come, and the rabbit might already be caught—who knew how long they had been chasing it?
As I dashed towards one of the wolves, it jumped back and tried to dodge my attack, but my sudden outburst and speed left the wolf unable to dodge in time. I also saw it for the first time a grey wolf with a horn on its head. But this didn't stop me from attacking first. With a swift movement, I pierced its head. Feeling no resistance, I was shocked—at how weak this wolf was.
As I turned around, I saw the other wolf, shocked and turning to run away. I didn't chase it but turned toward the mountain and ran towards it. If I chased it and it led me into its group, even if I could kill them with one strike, that was based on whether I could pierce their heads.
As I was running, I suddenly felt the weeds opening next to me. The rabbit that had been chased by the wolves jumped out, and I swear it showed me a mocking smile. Soon, the two wolves that chased the rabbit caught up to me. Seeing me here and not the other two wolves, they were shocked, but then they smelled the blood of their kin and started howling.
"HOOOWL!"
Damn it—they are calling for their pack to come to their help.
The other one didn't call for help as it viewed me as a big threat and was scared away, but these wolves didn't know anything at all. They gave up on the rabbit and instead followed behind me, constantly howling, reminding their pack of where they were. But soon, the weeds started getting smaller and less as I got closer to the mountain.
It wasn't even time for lunch when I returned to the mountain. What a shitty stroke of luck, and that rabbit! It was intelligent to make the wolves target me, coming back later to let me be followed by the wolves that smelled the blood on me. They would rather take revenge on me than chase that rabbit.
As I left the field, I looked to see if the wolves were chasing after me. Was this out of their territory? No, wolves chase their prey outside of their territory. But as I was watching, in the distance, I saw a big wolf—three times the size of a normal grey wolf! A grey wolf is about 0.8 meters in height, and that thing was at least 2.5 meters high.
Looking at it made my blood run cold, and I felt a primal fear from it as if I knew I had no chance against it. Shaking my head, I sped up to the mountains and made myself a promise never to return to the field, hoping it would not chase after me. Such a monster is hunting here.
The great grey wolf stopped once it reached its kin and looked at me with a ferocious light in its eye but didn't give chase. It was hesitating as it looked up the cleaved mountain in the distance. Even this monster felt fear of the creature living on that mountain.
As I was running, I forgot to cash out the wolf corpse!
"Ahh, I'm so stupid! I forgot the corpse." I could only curse at myself for my stupidity.
"Yea, you are really stupid." A voice sounded from my left side. I was scared shitless as the rabbit that drew the wolves onto me was running next to me.
In fright, I slipped and fell to the ground, face-planting into the dirt.
"What are you?!" I could only point at this rabbit in fright. You have to know there are no intelligent creatures capable of speaking in the first realm—at most, they have the intelligence of a 5-year-old. To be able to speak, I don't know what effort I had to go through to be able to do it.
"Hey, calm down. Otherwise, the guy behind us will catch up with us on the mountain." Said the rabbit, as it stopped next to me and spoke to me.
"You can speak? Wait, no—why did you follow me?!" I screamed at the rabbit and looked back as I saw the big wolf getting restless, seeing me face-planting into the ground.
"We can talk once we reach the mountain, the tortoises is sleeping, so we won't have to worry about anything." The rabbit said as it started running towards the mountain. Having no choice, I followed the rabbit. As we reached the mountain, the rabbit started talking again.
"Thank you for helping me out. I was quite in danger from those stupid guys. Oh, right, can you lead me to your hiding spot? I need time to regain my strength."
"You were the one who threw those wolves at me, and secondly, no."
"They would have found you as you didn't mask your spiritual energy. Oh wait, those guys can't detect spiritual energy," the rabbit said, giving me a side-eye.
"Spiritual energy? What is that?" I was interested because the system had mentioned it when the cave started heating up back in the forest.
"You don't even know about this? What kind of low-class race are you from?!" The rabbit opened its eyes wide at me and pointed one of its paws at me.
"Hey, don't call me low-class, and it's not my fault I don't know anything about it. No one ever told me about it, so can you tell me what it is? In exchange, I won't hold a grudge against you." As I said this, I kept in mind I wouldn't keep my promise. Who's stupid enough in this world to keep their promises?
"Okay, I will tell you about it, but bring me to a safe place as I need to regain my strength," the rabbit replied.
As I led the way to the lion's cave—since I wouldn't lead it to my hiding place—once inside, the cubs' bodies, which I had left there, had already turned to stone. Something had eaten them.
"You picked the mountain lion's cave as a hiding spot, not bad, it would scare away most monsters. Good job, low-class," the rabbit praised me, but I could hear the sarcasm in its voice.
"Now tell me, what is spiritual energy?"
Seeing the impatience in my voice, the rabbit didn't answer but changed the topic instead.
"First, I need to regain my strength, then I will tell you. First, you need to bring me food every day and also cook it, as my stomach can't handle raw food." Hearing what it demanded, I got pissed, but I held back when I heard the rest of it. A rabbit who can't handle raw food and needs it cooked? This was not a normal rabbit. Could it be hiding its true appearance as something other than a rabbit? I wouldn't back down that easily, though.
"No, tell me what spiritual energy is first, you promised it to me," I insisted. The rabbit sneered at me, then released an aura similar to the Elite monsters I had felt. Feeling myself at death's doorstep, I took several steps back until my back hit the cave wall.
"Heh, low-class is low-class, no matter what. Now, bring me food," the rabbit demanded, sneering at me.
My hands were shaking, but I remembered, if it had such a scary aura, why had it run away from the wolves? Seeing the change in my eyes, the rabbit then added to its sentence.
"If you bring me food, not only can I tell you what spiritual energy is, but also how to use it."
I didn't say anything, just turned around and left the cave. As I was outside and was sure the rabbit didn't follow me, I opened the system and checked the skills, searching for spiritual energy, but I found nothing. Why is there nothing from the system? Could it be I need to master it before I can get the skills to use it? Well, it does make sense after all—spiritual energy is like fuel, and the skill is the car that uses this fuel to function.
Sighing, I bought food from the system and brought it back to the rabbit. Seeing me back so fast with food, the rabbit was amazed and then suspicious that I led it to a fake hideout. I could only smile awkwardly at the rabbit. But smelling the food I brought, it ate all of it in one sitting, and I was surprised as its small body fit all the food into it.
"This food was not bad, but what can I expect from a low-class? Still, I have to praise you for making it so fast." The rabbit said as it lay on the ground.
"Will you tell me what spiritual energy is?"
"Once I finish my nap, then I will tell you," said the rabbit as it started snoring right after finishing its sentence.
I wanted to beat up this rabbit, but I held back. Once it told me how to use spiritual energy, I would teach it a lesson, but I left. I need to make money first to become stronger.
While I left the cave, the rabbit inside opened its eyes and looked at the cave entrance for a few seconds, then sighed. Shaking its head, the rabbit got up and took out from nowhere a small wood ring. It put it on its small finger, and a portal appeared in front of it. Soon, items came out papers, ink, herbs, and crystals.
The ink started floating, and the rabbit controlled it into the paper, making different types of signs. Using the crystals, it inserted them into the paper, and as it did so, the crystals disappeared into the paper. The paper then lost all the signs it was drawn upon and turned into a blank sheet.
"Another failure." With that sigh, the rabbit put everything back into the portal, took off the ring, and with a blink, it disappeared.
With everything done, the rabbit went back to sleep.
As for our protagonist, he is currently going around the mountain to search for any herbs that can be sold. He gave up on hunting monsters after the recent encounter with so many strong monsters, and even if he sees any monster that is dying, he would rather run away at the sight of it. Bad luck upon bad luck.