6 – The Adorable Creatures

"Do we really have to kill them?" Celia grimaced while looking at the winged bunnies circling in the distance.

"Our food is limited. It would be better if we find another source." Alan explained. "And I need to level up to take the water skill for our drinking supply."

The female fighter scratched her hair. "You thought about all of this thoroughly…. Unlike me, who chose a higher jumping ability for my first skill…. Ah, forget what I said."

Alan tried to read that girl's expression. She shrugged again and again, and the muscles in her face tensed.

"You don't want to kill those rabbits?" the young man asked.

Celia held back tears. "I really like rabbits. They are adorable…. But I must be willing to do anything to survive!"

"Could you wait for me first!" Alan was frustrated because that woman jumped and left him again. "I want to make sure they are dangerous for us or not!"

But Celia didn't listen. She had already jumped high with her spear drawn forward.

"I'm sorry, bunny-chan!" The female warrior stabbed one of the flying rabbits. "Your sacrifice will not be in vain! You will give life to us!"

This time she fell butt first and wiped away a drop of her tears. "Why can't I just meet slimes!?"

The other flying rabbits scattered, and Alan shot one of them. Alan sent out a second ground bullet as the target staggered. It instantly stopped the rabbit from flapping.

A [Level Up] notification text appeared at the top of Alan's UI. Apparently, the experience points needed by Alan to level up are low.

"Ah…." Alan was helpless when that animal dived down.

He felt that this whole thing was anti-climactic. He didn't get his target, and what made him level up was just a low-level animal.

However, a wyvern suddenly grabbed that animal and flew over to Alan. The young man had prepared for the worst, but the Wyvern landed in front of Alan and released the rabbit from its mouth.

There was no mistake. It was the Wyvern Alan helped up, judging by the sting marks on its back. Alan was a wonder. Does that beast want to return the favor to him?

The Wyvern then lowered its head and closed its eyes. Alan didn't understand the meaning of that gesture, but he worked up the courage to reach out his hand.

And when he rubbed the back of the Wyvern's neck, the monster did nothing.

"You were looking for us, huh?" Alan smiled, continuing to rub the beast's rough scales.

That beast raised its head back. Even though its face was scary, Alan didn't feel any threat.

"You want to thank us?" Alan asked again.

The creature nodded.

"You understand what I'm saying?" Alan was quite surprised, especially when the Wyvern nodded a second time.

Celia landed beside Alan with the rabbit stuck to her spear. Instead of looking at the Wyvern, the fighter's attention was drawn to the corpse of another rabbit lying on the ground.

"I'm ready to do some more hunting, Al." She muttered. Her gaze is blank. "We can collect some of those poor rabbits for stock."

"No need, Celia. They've gone too far." Alan couldn't bear to see the look of sorrow on Her face. "Rather than talking about that, we better welcome our new friend."

Celia's eyes were still blank as she stared at that beast, but gradually her face became more cheerful. "Mr. Dragon! Nice to meet you!"

The Wyvern shook its head.

"Huh?" Celia raised an eyebrow. "You don't want to be called Mr. Dragon?"

Alan sighed. "I told you, he's a wyvern…."

Before Alan could even finish speaking, Celia moved behind the Wyvern. Then, She lifted the creature's tail and looked at one point on its body. That creature flinched at the sudden action.

"She's a girl!" Celia exclaimed with exaggerated enthusiasm.

"Ah, sorry to have assumed you are a male." Alan chuckled. He then looked at the sun that was starting to set. The air temperature has also decreased. Luckily there were plenty of pieces of wood around them, and their new ally was a wyvern. "Hey, you can make fire, right? We need a bonfire to warm up and cook."

The Wyvern lowered its head and let out a small shriek. Seconds later, she turned her head to the side and opened her mouth wide.

She shot out a flame, but it was only the size of a golf ball and disappeared in a second. When she tried a second time, the result was the same.

"That's enough. It's okay." Alan rubbed the neck of his new friend again. "That's enough fire. We'll try to make it big."

The Wyvern lowered her head again, and her eyes filled with tears.

***

In fact, Alan and Celia find it challenging to maintain the fire, let alone make it big. It took several tries until they could raise the fire enough to warm them up.

"This is for you." Alan offered a skewered rabbit he had just roasted to the Wyvern, but the beast shook her head.

But it seems her stomach says otherwise. It released a pretty loud growl.

Alan then smiled and still handed the roasted rabbit. "It's okay. We've divided ours into two, and that's more than enough for each of us."

In the end, the Wyvern took the food with her mouth and started eating it.

Meanwhile, Celia just looked at her roasted rabbit with a dejected expression.

"Just eat this." Alan took out one of his ready-to-eat meals from his waist bag. "And give me the roast rabbit. I'll eat it tomorrow for breakfast."

"I apologize." Celia received the food that looked like a thick chocolate bar in the paper wrapper, then handed the roasted rabbit to Alan. "It's just... My uncle's family keeps rabbits, and I'm always thrilled to visit their place."

"Don't worry about it." Alan took a bite of his food. It's bland and a bit tough but still edible.

They then fell silent. The only sound in the air was from the crackling of the flames and their chewing.

"Hey, Alan," Celia muttered while looking at the fire. "I have two questions…. You don't have to answer them if you don't want to."

"What is it?" Alan stopped eating when he heard the fighter's serious tone.

"First question." The girl gulped. "Can I sleep without pants?"

Alan's body froze. Even the Wyvern reacted by staring at the girl.

"What the f*ck?" The young man hissed.

"That doesn't mean I'm going to sleep without wearing anything on the bottom…. I'm still going to wear panties, you know…." Celia looked down with a blushing face. "I can't sleep when there are lots of garments covering my lower body…." She then shook her head hard. "Forget what I said! I don't want to make you uncomfortable! We better move on to the second question!"

"Okay…" Alan prepared to hear some more outrageous words.

However, Celia's expression turned serious again. The blush on her face also vanished. "If no one saves us in the real world, but we don't die and can still live on in this world, how would you feel?"

Alan paused to think. But ultimately, he shrugged. "I don't know."