Nicole sat on the bed in Soi’s hut. Evening sunlight poured through the window as she groaned.
"Fucking morons. My ass still hurts after yesterday. Ugh."
At that moment, Soi stepped inside.
"Nicole! Where were you all night? I was getting worried. You don’t usually disappear like that."
"Oh, I was just looking for hunters to get me some Ironhide wool—nothing too important. Anyway, I thought for a while and realized I should start going into the forest. I can’t sit in the village forever. And I figured that at least for the first few trips, I should go with someone who knows it well enough—you! Can I join you and your teacher tomorrow?"
Soi beamed, her eyes wide and shining. "Of course! I’m sure Vyrik won’t mind. As long as you don’t make too much trouble. He’s a pain in the ass when he’s pissed off—literally, hehe."
"Oh, I’ve had enough of that already."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Nothing, nothing."
* * *
The next day, Soi woke Nicole early, and the two were soon at the village gates. It didn’t take long for Vyrik to arrive as well.
"Hey, you wouldn’t mind Nicole coming with us, right?" Soi asked.
The tall man nodded. "Alright, just do what I say and don’t be too noisy."
"See? Told you he’d be fine with it." Soi grinned.
The trio walked through the tropical forest. It wasn’t dense at first—likely due to proximity to the village—so moving forward was easy. The forest was alive with a chorus of birds and other animals. Soi constantly pointed out various plants, naming them and warning Nicole which ones were dangerous. Nicole, in turn, gathered leaves, roots, and other parts of the flora, storing them in a bag Soi had given her earlier.
"Oh, look! This one is called a Pure Maiden." Soi said, pointing at a large, tangled bush of vines with white flowers wrapped around a tree trunk.
Nicole approached and saw the flowers resembled small, scentless roses, similar to the ones on Earth, but with no thorns. She took out a flint knife and prepared to cut one.
"Wait, don’t cut!" Soi grabbed Nicole’s shoulder and pulled her back.
Half a second later, a massive spike shot from the bush where Nicole had just stood, then retracted a moment later.
"Shit. It looked pretty harmless at first." Nicole muttered, swallowing hard.
"Yeah. But if it hits you, the vines and spikes drag you into the bush and feed on you."
"Who the fuck named it ‘Pure Maiden’?!"
Soi smirked. "I like it. Isn’t it ironic? Beautiful flowers on the outside, deadly parasite inside. Even the tree it's wrapped around is a victim—the Maiden’s spikes burrow into it and feed off it. The only good thing is the flowers are said to have cleansing and mild healing effects."
She glanced around and noticed Vyrik had gotten far ahead. Grabbing Nicole’s hand, she pulled her along. After another half hour, the forest grew noticeably thicker. Nicole’s small bag was almost full. Suddenly, Vyrik raised a hand to signal them to stop. The girls froze and quietly stepped closer.
"Look." he whispered, pointing between the trees.
Nicole squinted, seeing only a few large rocks—until one moved. Her eyes widened as she realized it was a massive, almost cow-sized, grey rabbit. Its enormous ears curled around its entire body. The creature looked around and began nibbling on a plant.
"Ooo, a Mountain Rabbit!" Soi whispered excitedly.
"It shouldn’t be this far from the mountains," Vyrik noted. "And it seems scared, staying still near the rocks."
It’s scared? I don’t even want to know what scared it...
"Let’s hunt it!" Soi grinned, looking at her teacher.
Vyrik sighed. "Alright, it shouldn’t be too dangerous. Soi, circle around it so it stands between us and you. Then shoot on my signal. Nicole, you’ll stay here, and I’ll form the third point of the triangle. This way, it shouldn’t be able to escape."
As Soi moved into position, Nicole whispered. "Wait. What am I even supposed to do? My aim sucks—I can’t throw my spear well."
"You won’t need to. If it charges at you, just yell and point your weapon. It’ll either turn away—or run past. Hopefully the first one." Vyrik disappeared into the trees and Nicole hid behind a thick trunk, just in case the rabbit looked her way.
Great. I’m gonna get run over by a giant rabbit.
Moments later, she heard a faint, rising whistle that faded just as quickly. Then, a loud squeal. The rabbit suddenly bolted—straight toward her.
Okay, Nicole, calm down. It won’t just slam into a tree, right? I can stand still and be fine… Wait, I’m supposed to scare it!
By the time she remembered her role, the rabbit was almost on her. Tightening her grip on the spear, she smirked.
I might’ve messed up the plan—but this could work even better.
Still hidden, she waited. As the grey fur appeared from behind the tree, she lunged forward with all her strength.
"RRR-GYEEEEEHHHH!!"
The rabbit shrieked as her spear pierced one of its eyes. It ran a few more meters, then turned to face her.
Uh-oh.
Two arrows struck its ear and torso, but that didn’t stop the animal from starting to charge at Nicole. Its massive ears slammed into the ground where Nicole had stood moments earlier, like a pair of fists. She barely dodged and jabbed at the ears while they were down, making small cuts. More arrows followed, hitting its unprotected body. Nicole heard rustling behind her—Soi and Vyrik had arrived.
Giant rabbit, seeing more enemies, seemed to be torn between running away and fighting. It rose it’s ears up, creating a barrier between itself and the trio and started to back off slowly. The defence was strong, but it had one critical issue—rabbit couldn’t see through it. Nicole rushed in, striking at its ears. Soi kept firing, while Vyrik tossed his bow aside and revealed his claws—larger and more curved than any Nicole had seen before.
He grabbed each claw with his free hand and yanked them out one by one. Then, like boomerangs, he hurled them at the rabbit. Several embedded themselves into its flesh. The rabbit squealed, turned, and tried to run. But running in a straight line was a mistake—more arrows and claws hit its hind legs and butt, making it stumble and collapse.
* * *
Minutes later, the trio stood over the fallen Mountain Rabbit. Soi carefully pulled out arrows, hoping to salvage some.
"Ugh, most of the tips are ruined. You’ve no idea how long it takes to make good flint or shell tips." She groaned.
Meanwhile, Vyrik retrieved his claws and examined the rabbit.
"I didn’t know you guys could throw your claws like that." Nicole said.
"That’s because we normally can’t," Soi explained. "It’s the other ascension path that allows it. Either this or elemental powers."
"Oh, right. And can you just stick them back in afterward?"
"Of course not! It takes over a day for them to grow back to even be somewhat useful. The discarded ones get used for crafting."
Vyrik used a metal knife to remove the ears and some smaller cuts of meat. Then he and Soi fashioned a stretcher using large leaves and thick branches. Together, they rolled the rabbit onto it.
"Alright, time to head back."
On the way, Vyrik and Soi carried the stretcher, while Nicole followed behind. She had offered to help, but they insisted she was a guest on this trip.
At one point, a deep, distant roar echoed behind them.
"What was that?" Nicole asked, gripping her spear.
"No idea. Let’s pick up the pace. Definitely not something we want to meet right now," Soi said. "Sounds dangerous. Maybe one day we’ll hunt it too."
The roar came again a few more times, but always from far away.
"Hey, Nicole," Vyrik said suddenly. "If you want to join us again, remember this—follow orders and don’t improvise. It worked out today, but it could’ve been risky."
"Yeah, I panicked and messed up. My bad."
"It’s okay," Soi said, trying to reassure her. "That happens. Just don’t make a habit of it."
Soon, they returned to the village without issue. As they passed through the gates, Soi turned to Nicole.
"You can go home now. We’ll take the rabbit to storage. I’ll come by later."
At home, Nicole fed the information about her forest findings to the Tora AI inside the pen. One by one, she took plants from her bag and had Tora analyze them. Nicole hoped to discover some unique properties, but the AI's analysis made her realize that most of the plants weren’t much different from those on Earth. However, there was one strange thing—every plant contained the same unknown substance. It took some time, but finally, Tora found an answer.
"Analysis complete. The substance is essentially a perfect STD medicine, capable of completely eliminating such diseases. Despite that, after running simulations, it appears the substance has no effect on any other type of disease. More tests are needed," the soft, robotic voice declared.
Huh, that’s convenient. But how did it get there? I’d understand one or two plants having it, but all of them?
While Nicole was building theories, Soi returned. Holding a pouch, she tossed it to Nicole.
"Here, your share."
"What’s this?" Nicole raised an eyebrow and peeked inside. There were white and yellow teeth. "Uh, thanks, I guess... What am I supposed to do with these?"
"Hunters are allowed to keep the teeth of whatever they catch in the forest. And it’s your first prey, right? I usually turn most of mine into arrow tips and keep only rare or unique ones. If you don’t need them, just give them to me."
"Alright, maybe they’ll be useful for something." Nicole left the pouch next to her.
I heard people used to use teeth for weapons. Though those were shark teeth... not rabbit.