Chapter 26: Legendary Beast

Derek walked into the forest. Thinking about his Awards and new skills. For the most part, he was happy with his new skills. Still, he wished that he could have picked more than one from each category. Really, he missed his Heavy Blow and Wide Sweep skills. He was still able to use the skills, albeit with a massive headache, when he first arrived at the new planet, but ever since his new system suppressed the old one, he was unable to.

He was really hoping to have a chance to obtain some sort of heavy weapons offensive skill. By his calculations, his Wide Sweep skill would be level 20, or at least closing in on it by now. If he could find the right skill to combine with it, he may be able to receive another upgraded skill, and this time it would be an area of effect attack skill.

But all of that would have to come at a later date. For now, he had a plan. He needed to increase his Identify skill and find something over 100 levels above himself to kill. He figured that if he found any injured creatures along the way, he could cast Rejuvenate on them to help level his new restoration skill. Or is it a spell? They both take mana to use, but some sounds more like spells than skills. Oh well, I guess it doesn’t really matter.

Derek kept walking into the forest, making sure to cast Identify on everything he could. He was identifying trees, plants, rocks, basically, if he could not remember using the skill on it, he tried to Identify it.

For a long while, he did not find anything other than rocks and flora. Though, he knew from experience that some plants could be as dangerous as any monster. Finally, a little bunny hopped in front of him. He quickly used Identify and was shocked by what he saw.

Horned Rabbit

Level 54

A rabbit native to forests and other lush areas.

Damn, what’s the odds that the first monster I come across is a level 54. And it’s the legendary horned bunny. It must be fate. Derek approached the bunny cautiously, but it had already taken note of him. However, it did not flee or move.

Soon, Derek was within arm's reach of the creature. He squatted down. “Hey there little fella, what are you doing out here in these big bad woods.” He reached out to pet its head, then the bunny jumped.

“Ow! Shit!” Derek jumped back, holding his nose. It had launched itself at him the moment he reached his hand out. Derek had not taken much damage, but getting head-butted in the nose by a level 54 jumping animal at full force still hurt, and it was not like he had any increased pain tolerance skills.

Derek removed his hands, checking them for blood, seeing that there was not any, he looked at his HP. Ha, 26 points of damage to me. To Derek, this was nothing. But then he thought about Thomas and shivered. That would have been over a quarter of his health. No, he doesn’t have any Endurance, so that probably would have one shot him. If I end up taking him anywhere, we’re going to have to be extra careful.

Derek thought about everything that he’d learned so far. The fact that his bunny is as near to the edge of the forest as this is crazy. I’m not even sure that Ms. Village Chief herself would be able to take this little guy... Derek looked at the rabbit sideways. This little girl on.

He shook his head and kept walking. After about 50 meters, he felt something hit him in the back. He turned and saw the bunny sitting there, looking up at him. Does it have a grudge against me? Derek walked forward for some time before the rabbit hit him again. He looked at the cute creature again and chuckled. He continued on.

It was not long before Derek came across another creature. It was a level 34 fox. Derek kept walking, not bothering to be stealthy. The fox raised its head to look at him. It seemed timid, but not afraid enough to run. Then, it seemed to notice the bunny hopping along behind him. Instantly, the fox was terrified and fled for its life.

At that time, a little grey rocket flew past Derek. “Woah!” He laughed out as the bunny caught up to the fox. Holy shit. He watched as the bunny landed in front of the fleeing fox and, without any hesitation, launched itself into the fox’s head. It was a one hit knockout.

Derek scanned the fox again and noticed that it was not dead, but only incapacitated. He waited to see what the bunny would do. Sure enough, the bunny backed up and flew towards the unconscious fox. This time, the fox was not as lucky, and it died on the spot.

“This little thing’s a daredevil.” He said out loud as he watched the scene in front of him. He watched as the little grey bunny ripped into the fox, tearing out chunks of flesh. I thought rabbits and the like were supposed to be herbivores. He thought, then he remembered the condition of the forest. Maybe it has had to become a predator to survive in a diseased forest. That would explain why it has such a high level.

Derek got an idea. I wonder if it injured itself at all. He cast Rejuvenate on the bunny. The bunny hopped backwards and shook its head. Then it turned and looked at Derek. It tilted its head, then cautiously approached its kill. It looked back at Derek, who did not do anything, then continued gorging itself.

Instead of continuing on, Derek decided to wait until the bunny was finished. Soon, the bunny hopped away. Derek walked over to the animal carcass. No sense in letting this go to waste. He quickly dismantled what remind of the fox. He stored what was left of the hide in his bracelet. I bet that girl would want this.

He left the rest of the fox there and continued walking through the forest. It was not long before he heard rustling from a bush. He turned and looked, ready to use Identify, but when he saw what it was he laughed. The bunny was sitting there, staring at him. I guess this thing is going to keep at me then. He walked forward, and the bunny flew at his face again.

This time, instead of taking it on the nose, Derek tilted his head and avoided the flying rabbit altogether. “You’re going to keep trying to take me out, huh? Did I murder your family or something?” Like this, man and bunny traveled deeper and deeper into the forest, his bunny nemesis constantly trying to smash into his back.

Hours later, the sun began to set. Derek did not have any problems traveling at night, but it was harder to see, and therefore, Identify. Anyway, he was in no hurry. His only plan at the moment was to unlock the next level of his Giant Slayer Award, and level up Identify. He did not want to take much longer than a month, because he did want to help Thomas unlock his system. But he doubted it would take more than a month to find something at a high enough level for him to hunt.

Derek made a small clearing and went to gather some wood. Soon, he brought it back and started a fire. He was running low on firestones, so he started the fire the old-fashioned way, with a zippo. Once the fire was stared, he took a bird out of his bracelet to roast.

I can’t believe that damned bunny launched itself high enough in the air to take out this hawk. Just thinking about the flying bunny head-butting a bird out of the air caused Derek to chuckle. Once the hawk was killed, Derek had rushed over and stored it in his bracelet before the bunny could mutilate it like it had other monsters.

The creature had not taken kindly to Derek stealing its prey, so it launched a series of attacks on the man, which Derek took in full.

Other than the entertainment, there were some more pluses to traveling with his hot-blooded companion. His Dismantle skill had reached level 5, and his Rejuvenation skill had leveled all the way to level 3. He had to admit, the bunny was an idiot. Most monsters were dumb, but the bunny was a special kind of dumb.

It would attack any living thing it saw. Which was clearly demonstrated by it taking on a level 60 boar. Derek was sure it would have died if he hadn't hit it with multiple Rejuvenation casts during its fight. This was also how Derek found out that he would not share in the experience gain of something he healed during a fight. He did not know if this was because he had no intent to kill the other creature, or if it was just because he did not have a healing class.

Either way, it allowed him to be quite liberal with Rejuvenation, which is why it was already at level 3. Not to mention that the skill already recovered 15% HP over 30 seconds. With his calculations, Rejuvenation would completely recover one's health when it reached level 20. Also, the skill would be extremely cheap to use in terms of mana. His only problem with the skill was the long cooldown time.

Derek removed the feathers from the hawk and put it on a spit over the fire. The gluttonous bunny was looking back and forth between the roasting bird and Derek. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll let you have some too.” He was enjoying traveling with the creature, especially after it stopped trying to murder him every two seconds.

The bird was soon done roasting, and Derek took a bite. Ah… Tastes like chicken. Man, I’ve really missed chicken. Derek took another bite. Then the bunny flew into his shoulder. “Yeah, I know, I didn’t forget. Stop being so damn impatient.” He ripped a big chunk of meat off of the roasted hawk and tossed it to the bunny. “That’s all you’re getting. If you wanted more, you should have killed a bigger bird.”

With this, the two enjoyed their meal. Once he was finished eating, Derek slipped into Greater Meditation. He had spent more nights like this than he could count, especially after his stint in the void. In fact, he preferred spending most nights like this as it left him refreshed and helped him level his skill.

Apparently, the bunny decided that this would be a good time for it to sleep too. So, like this, the man and beast spent their night, waiting on the sun to rise to start their day.