Hunting Wild Rabbits
Arthur arrived at the forest where the girl from earlier pointed to.
Arthur could see the vast forest as it stretched miles upon miles. Trees cluttered the forest, while numerous small birds nested in them.
The ground was covered by grass that could reach Arthur's knee.
The aroma here was a lot different compared to in the village.
In the village, you could smell a variety of different things, whether it was food, the people, the grass, and the trees. It was a mixture of everything, while here, you just smell the pleasant trees. It was really refreshing for Arthur.
Arthur kept his hand on the sword that was located on his hip. He didn't want to bring it out because he didn't want the light from the sun to reflect off the blade. How did he know that? Arthur just had a feeling.
Arthur carefully walked into the forest, he could see plants, insects, and some snakes that slithered around, avoiding Arthur.
Arthur kept walking through the forest until he heard a noise from a tree branch cracking and immediately stopped his movements.
He looked in the direction the noise came from and saw a group of 5 wild rabbits.
They were a little bigger than rabbits on Earth, but rabbits are still rabbits.
Arthur was a little far away from them, so he slowly and carefully approached the rabbits, trying his best not to make a sound.
'I think the best thing I should do is creep up on them and kill them in quick succession' Arthur thought.
He wasn't aware of how capable these wild rabbits were but figured they were not ordinary rabbits and dared not underestimate them.
Arthur finally managed to get close to them where he was confident he could run up and kill at least 2 with his sword before grabbing their attention.
Arthur then ran towards them, swung his sword once, and killed 1 of the rabbits.
Arthur then quickly moved his body and slashed another one, killing it in one swing as well.
In 2 seconds, 2 rabbits died, they slowly looked up, but Arthur had a thought.
'I could maneuver my body to give out a palm strike, but I'm not sure if it'll kill it in one hit'
Without taking a second longer, Arthur ran after the closest wild rabbit. Using his agility, he arrived at the rabbit in 2 seconds and used his palm strike.
Fortunately, Arthur killed it without any problems.
'3 down, 2 to go' Arthur thought as he saw the wild rabbits glaring at him.
The wild rabbits would've attacked Arthur together, but seeing their friends die at an incredible speed they knew they wouldn't stand a chance, so they ran.
"Oh, no you don't" Arthur said as he leaped towards the 2 fleeing rabbits.
Before the rabbits knew it, they were quickly cut down by Arthur.
"Sigh... I thought it would've been harder" Arthur said as he wiped the sweat and blood off his face, he then sheathed his sword.
....
[You've killed x5 Wild Rabbits]
[You've earned 500 EXP]
[You've leveled up! You have earned 2 AP]
....
Arthur closed the blue screens and thought he'll check them later.
'500 EXP for 5 Rabbits, so 100 EXP for each rabbit' Arthur thought that wasn't bad, considering he's a low level, so he can come back later and grind rabbits if he wanted.
'I think I did well... If I planned before the fight to use the palm strike right after killing the first 2 rabbits, I could've killed the last 2 quicker. I have to end my fights quickly because I don't know what or who is in this forest that could be a potential enemy' Arthur thought, reviewing the fight that had just occurred.
"!" Arthur panicked and looked at the carcasses of the rabbits.
"How am I going to bring them to Braxton? I didn't bring a bag with me..." Arthur thought aloud but something came to mind
"Of course! Why didn't I think of that" Arthur shook his head as his worries were stupid.
Arthur then walked towards the carcasses and waited for a prompt.
"..."
"Uh, Hello?" Arthur said in a confused tone.
Arthur then crouched down and touched one of the dead rabbits and finally, a blue screen appeared in front of him.
....
[Would you like to store [x1 Wild Rabbit Carcass] in your [Inventory]?]
[Yes/No]
....
Arthur's mouth widened and said "Yes"
The deceased rabbit in front of Arthur turned into pixels, disappearing from his sight.
Arthur stood up and did the same for every rabbit.
Now, Arthur has 5 rabbits in his [Inventory] and he only needed 5 more to bring back to Braxton, so he could complete the quest.
'The other rabbits probably scattered from the vicinity because of the fight, looks like I'll have to find them again' Arthur figured and started to find more rabbits.
...
10 minutes later, Arthur spotted a group of wild rabbits again, however, this time there were only 3 rabbits instead of 5.
Like before, he got close to the rabbits and did his "Slash, Slash, Strike" combo as he called it, and killed all of them before they even knew it.
He stored it again, leaving now 8 wild rabbit carcasses in his [Inventory]. He got [300 EXP] from killing the rabbits.
Arthur only needed 2 more to complete the quest. He then started walking, making his way to another group of rabbits.
...
It was only a few minutes this time and Arthur spotted 2 groups of 4.
'There's going to be a confrontation this time...Maybe I should try killing 3 rabbits then palm strike and the new name for that combo will be 'Slash, Slash, Slash, Strike' Arthur thought.
'To do that, I should put 1 AP in both Agility and Dexterity, leaving me 2 AP' Arthur suggested to himself.
Arthur opened his status and put 1 point in Agility and Dexterity
....
[+1 Agility]
[+1 Dexterity]
....
Arthur barely noticed a difference, but it was there.
Arthur with his increased stats crept up on 1 of the groups of 4 rabbits.
*Slash, Slash, Slash*
*Pow*
Arthur does his combo, successfully killing half of the wild rabbits, and drawing the attention of the remaining 4.
*Growl*
The rabbits growled and glared at Arthur. 2 sprinted towards Arthur, while Arthur did the same.
1 rabbit jumped and aimed for Arthur's throat, while another one aimed for his ankle.
'They're coordinated, looks like they have some intelligence' Arthur noted in his thoughts.
Arthur dashed backward, causing both rabbits to miss, he then quickly slashed them and sprinted forward to the remaining 2.
Seeing their friends fail, instead of running away from Arthur, they got angrier and ran at him.
The wild rabbits did the same pattern as the rabbits before them, only this time Arthur dashed to the left and palm struck the one in the air, causing it to fly over a distance. Arthur used that time to dash forward and slashed and killed the remaining rabbits.
....
[You have killed x8 Wild Rabbits]
[You've received 800 EXP]
[You've leveled up! You have earned 2 AP]
....
"This is...really fun" Arthur thought.
This is the first time in a while Arthur genuinely had fun without worrying about his family's circumstances, but while that is so, he didn't forget.
Arthur knew he needed to become much stronger if he hoped to get his family into better circumstances.
Arthur shook his head and stored the 8 wild rabbit carcasses in his [Inventory].
Arthur sheathed his sword, but as he started walking away back to the village he heard a roar
*ROAR!*
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Thanks for reading!
If you have any questions post them in the comments and I'll respond as best as I can without spoiling too much of the story.
If you like this novel, check out my other one -
"Broken Vampire with a [System]" - Ongoing
Chapter 8: Hunting Wild Rabbits