Chapter 17: Rabbit Hunt

‘-Is this self-pity…?’

Perhaps.

Who knew looking at school-going children would cause such nostalgia?

‘-It’s fun.. right..?’

Chatting while carrying bags, buying skewers with the little pocket money they get, eating them with friends.

Sneaking out during their breaks and eating snacks in class.

Playing dodgeball or maybe just cheering from the sidelines.

Going to school and experiencing childhood with friends.

I wanted to see my child do all that. I promised her a great childhood when I held her tiny body in my arms for the first time.

Her face was the thing that kept me going, after working my fingers to the bone and coming home to a distant wife, only to see my child’s face and tell myself.

‘- I must work hard for her sake.’

But now I had lost her forever, because of this regression. For all the things that I had left behind, she was my only regret. Wiped out of existence just so her father could get a second chance in life.

So that I could right my wrong and live a better life.

I didn’t even deserve a second chance.

‘-I really was a terrible father.’

I tried to gloss over this by occupying myself with the church. Trying to make myself feel less guilty about leaving her behind. But for how long can I distract myself?

Tears started rolling out of my eyes as I broke down.

I cried my eyes out.

I hate to admit it, but memories of how I met my wife started flowing in next.

We, in a way, met because of tragedy.

I met her in a hospital, I was visiting one of my relatives. She was there because her mother had been admitted there.

She had a good for nothing father who gambled himself to a huge debt and then jumped off a building.

Her mother having to pay off her father’s debt had worked herself to death.

We bonded over our similar circumstances. But was there ever love between us?

I am not sure.

It was a mutual feeling of pity that brought us together and made us stay together.

We pitied each other’s circumstances.

And you can only pity someone for so long….

Sometimes I do wonder

‘-How would her life be if we never met?’

Even if we meet someday, I would offer her my apology and truly wish for her to be happy.

***

After I pulled myself together from that mental breakdown, I logged into [New Century] again.

This time armed with the knowledge I had gathered from playing all the different MMOs.

I had grown more accustomed to the map now.

The unexplored areas were dark and lit up when I walked into them. Not an earth-shattering revelation but a revelation nevertheless.

Last time I had travelled from Marter to a village called Galen.

After roaming around the village for some time I got familiar with quite a few key figures.

Like Denik, the blacksmith and the village chief, Geron who really enjoyed basking in the sun.

Then there were residents such as Faren, who likes to collect herbs and look for her missing husband.

Galak, a middle-aged man who ran a leather shop and Pirettle, an old granny whose hobby was sewing.

The hunter was a resident too but had recently moved to Marter.

However, they weren’t just mere add-on characters. Each had their own purpose, the hunter taught players about energy and basic skills. While Denik and Geron taught blood Power and magic respectively.

I soon got acquainted with all of them, all of my encounters being overwhelmingly positive thanks to my 1% sensitivity. It felt as if I was cheesing my way through.

Anyways, since it’s quite easy to level up early on, I decided to ignore quests and go out to hunt instead.

As I walked, I touched the tattoo with my right hand.

I was hoping that the tattoo would react in one way or another but nothing happened.

It feels weird when things get easy.

Since I couldn’t find any info about it in the real world. Perhaps I could find something regarding the tattoo in this world?

For that, I would need to read books about this world and that is only possible if I found a library.

As far as I remember, cities should have libraries. That should be my next target.

‘-Getting to a city.’

Speaking of which.

If I was going to read books…I need to distribute my stats accordingly.

I opened my stats window.

“Allocate:

3 points in strength.

3 points in agility.

4 points in wisdom.”

The raspy voice rang out again.

[Confirm Allocation.]

[Yes or No.]

“Yes.”

~Tring

[Points allocated successfully.]

As I headed towards the rabbit hunting ground, I watched as many players ran up and down the path completing quests. Some were collecting herbs while others were hunting rabbits.

“Doing the same thing, again and again, is sooo boring!”

A girl complained as she held a rabbit in her hands.

“And these little fuckers are so difficult to catch.”

“Quit complaining you two! We need to grind if you want to buy better gear. This isn’t that hard of a job.”

Another girl scolded them, she was probably the leader of that trio.

‘-Playing with friends really is something.’

Well, I did have my ‘helper’ to accompany me.

As soon as I set foot on the hunting grounds, the raspy voice rang again.

[Beginner’s Hunting Ground]

[Enter grass to find rabbits.]

Since most people were busy doing the ‘Capture A Rabbit.’ quest, there weren’t many who were actively hunting. Even less were here without a weapon.

Well, I should have been more careful with my wooden sword’s durability when fighting the Orcs, but then again, did I even need weapons to hunt rabbits?

I just needed to kill a few and gain 4 more levels. Then I can learn a basic skill.

As I navigated through the grass, a rabbit suddenly appeared in front of me.

‘-Sorry little guy but I need some EXP.’

I swooped down and punched the critter.

[-3 HP]

The rabbit jumped away. I ran after it, and as I concentrated my gaze, an HP bar appeared on top of it.

[30/33.]

I caught up to it and tried kicking it this time. The rabbit let out a welp before leaping away yet again.

[27/30]

This 1% sensitivity made it so that all my attacks were registered as the same. The damage was the same no matter which part of the body I struck because my stats were evenly distributed throughout my body as I mentioned before.

‘-This would be a lot quicker if I had a weapon on me.’

I followed the rabbit, repeating this awkward hit-and-run tactic. Finally, after a long chase, I was able to bring its HP down to 12.

That’s when something unexpected happened; as I tried to kick the rabbit once more, it in return clawed my leg using its hind legs.

The raspy voice was quick to point it out.

[You were attacked by the rabbit.]

[-6]

‘-What the hell?! The rabbit does twice as much damage than I do!’

Luckily it lost its balance when it attacked and slipped. I took the opportunity and grabbed it by its ear and lifted it up. It took two consecutive punches to drop its hp to 0.

[Rabbit Slain]

[+10 EXP]

[Rabbit Meat Acquired.]

The item automatically moved to the inventory’s storage.

[Rabbit meat: Ingredient for Cooking.]

So the most effective way to hunt them was to hold them with one hand. Running after that rabbit caused my stamina to deplete, so I had no choice but to stand still for a while and let it recover.

As I waited, a man in full-leather armour appeared out of a nearby bush. His armour made him stand out quite a lot amongst the other players, who mostly wore casual tunics. He also carried a weapon, a club.

Those were some really good items for this stage.

Whereas I struggled to keep up with a single rabbit; this man was just swinging his club left and right. Two hits were all it took for him to take down a rabbit. It was a slaughter.

After killing what appeared to be a dozen rabbits, he then pulled out a small knife. He then slid it inside the carcases of the rabbits. As he continued the bodies started disappearing.

I looked closely and noticed that he was cutting something out of the rabbit carcasses.

‘-Ah, I get it now. That’s a skill!’

I don’t remember the exact name but it was something along the lines of [Harvest] or [Butchery]. It was a basic skill that helped in extracting special parts from your hunts. In this case, he was probably taking out their livers to make medicines for curing poisoning

When he was finally done he smiled happily and walked back into the village.

As he left envy filled the air. The other players who were on their quests started murmuring.

“What a try-hard? How much did he grind to get armour so early on?”

“I don’t know, but he sure likes to show off.”

[New Century] was not so foreign to toxic behaviour as I had previously thought. After all, it’s humans playing the game. It is natural for people to envy others’ success while not acknowledging the effort one put in to achieve that success.

My stamina had recovered so I stood back up. In the distance, I saw a rabbit nibbling on the grass. As I approached it, I saw another individual of interest. A black-haired Asian man who wore a grey tunic.

His face was very calm and collective. I decided to let him take this rabbit since he had walked over to it first. He looked at it and took a deep breath, he then took a fighting stance similar to what professional martial artists take.

“Hmm~The wind favours me today.”

Just as he said that, the rabbit flew up in the air as if a gust of air suddenly pushed it up from below.

The Asian man then proceeded to deliver a round-house kick; Causing the rabbit to fly away and hit a tree trunk.

‘-What the hell was that? He went way overboard on that rabbit…’

But damn, he must be a high sensitivity player. That kind of attack is only possible if one distributes strength to their legs properly.

“In the next level, I have to invest more strength in the biceps femoris and the semi-tendons.”

He said aloud as if taking mental notes.

But this time the air was filled with excitement as people flocked around him. A complete opposite to what happened moments before.

“Oppa, please take me into your party!”

“Sir, how did you distribute your stats?”

“Do you practice taekwondo??”

Judging by his use of unfamiliar muscle names, he either came from a medical or martial arts background. Either way, that stunt made him a sort of celebrity.

This also reminded me of something. After all, he was a shining example of what I should definitely not do.