A series of eleven loud snaps followed by whimpers reverberated throughout my hideout as I broke the neck of most of my furry prisoners.

After I discovered I could enter the Carbuncle’s shields, I had kidnapped a few more females, building a stable of 6 of them and 6 males. I could’ve gotten more but it wasn’t necessary at this point plus the amount of grass I had to collect to feed them was getting out of hand. With this setup, there had been minimal downtime between samplings.

When I did have any free time, I used it to practice my sewing skills. The result of all my efforts was a mana syphoning thong of “excellent quality” which bumped up my mana regen to 47MP/H. Seeing as the maximum regen for this build was 50MP, one would assume I was close to perfect but those last few points standing between me and a flawless build might as well be a chasm. No matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t get better. Maybe I was missing something?

I also finally crafted myself some clothes. I made a fur hoodie, moccasins and cargo shorts, complete with big pockets on the side. My current fashion style looked like what you’d get if a caveman had a chat with a modern urban fashion designer. I liked it although I’m pretty sure animal rights activists would want to throw paint on me.

And so I had spent an entire week raising my levels and now both my mana beam and shield sat at level 10 each, the latter spell now costing only 100MP to cast and 2MP to maintain. I had wanted both to be higher but XP gained by sampling had vastly decreased once the dna profile for this particular species reached a certain threshold. Trying to get more was like trying to squeeze blood out of a stone, or well… you know. I had looked into that and saw in my menus that this was due to my class rank being low-it drastically reduced exp gains after reaching that threshold.

Alas, my furry companions had served their purpose and since I wasn't planning on coming back afterwards, I put them to rest as humanly as possible. I did however keep one of them alive for the next step in my conquest of the warren.

I returned to the warren for the last time. The field before me was empty, my prey hiding still. Wasn’t going to be a problem tho. I found myself a clean spot in the middle of all access tunnels, put down my female carbuncle then, after taking a breath to ready myself, took out the celestial panties and slipped it on her head.

At first, nothing seemed to be happening but moments later, I began sensing a light tremor in the ground. Then came the squeals of hundreds of bunnies coming closer. Suddenly they burst forth from all exits, running like sex starved maniacs towards the one at my feet. None of them took shots at me as they were fixated on that one target.

My head was on a swivel, keeping an eye on the swarm that was coming in all directions. My pulse quickened as I let them close the distance between us. I could see the whites of their eyes now. As they were just about to reach us, I brought a shield into existence. The Carbuncles out in front of the pack smashed into it headfirst, some so hard that their necks broke on impact or their own horns were jammed into their brains.

Those behind reached the shield and began piling up over each other trying to find a way in. Many of them died by being stepped on, crushed by the accumulating weights. For the rest, I unleashed Aero all around us as I sat safe inside my space. The celestial panties were a horrific weapon, taking away the free will of it’s victim. I watched as the bunnies ran into the slashing winds without hesitation or regards for themselves. I had used it so far only to defend myself but seeing as I’m the one who instigated this massacre, I realized how easy it would be for me to take things to far with this power. I’d have to keep myself in check.

Throughout the whole ordeal, I kept an eye on my ever depleting MP. I wanted to keep enough to cast Fly in case I had to drop my defenses and bail. For a moment, there seemed to be an endless supply of Carbuncles coming from the underground lair but fortunately, the tide did eventually stem and I was able to dispatch the remaining forces dipping only a bit below my MP’s cutoff point.

After snapping the neck of the last one at my feet and retaking my panties, I dropped the forcefield and checked my stats. While fighting, I had heard the telltale jingle that sounded out whenever my level went up one.

“Holy crap, that many?” I exclaimed to myself when I noticed my kill count. I had slaughtered 241 Carbuncles. Each gave wildly different experience points depending on gender, age and level but the overall average was 370 exp per which total just a touch over 89 000 xp, boosting me up to level 12 and one third into the next one. Nice.

For some reason, this payoff reminded me of the crazy dude I used to chat with at the boxing gym I frequented during my drug dealing days. He’d yell out “GET THEM GAINS” behind other patrons at random while they were pumping iron and scare the fuck out of them. Good times.

I put my 3 LP’s in MP again, raising my magical reserve to 500. Of my 6 AP’s, 4 when to Smarts and the last 2 I put in Dexterity. Maybe if I had had better reflex and speed, I wouldn't have lost those fingers to a beam earlier.

I also received a few interesting notifications:

You have accomplished the Hidden Feat “Kill 100 Carbuncles”. Damage inflicted on Carbuncles increased by 10%.

You have accomplished the Hidden Feat “Kill 250 Carbuncles”. Damage inflicted on Carbuncles increased by 25%.

Great… A world that incentivizes the genocide of races and even gives you bonuses for doing so well. I take a gander at my own race in the menu and a chill runs down my spine. Hoomans; are we also part of this hidden feat thing? Will I be hunted just for that reason?

Wait, creatures give more exp the higher level they are. So that means that the stronger I get, more enemies might be gunning for me, not because they have to but simply to boost their own power. Shit. This truly is a predator’s world. Better keep on my toes always.

That done, I began climbing over the mound of corpses surrounding me. I needed to sift through hundreds of bodies for the loot and didn’t know how long I had before the window to collect would close so I had to move quickly. In my hurry, I might have slipped on blood and viscera while on top of the pile and took an embarrassing tumble down the slope but seeing as I'm the only one left alive around here, let’s just say it didn’t happen.

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To save time, I didn't bother reading what I was getting, deciding to only check my item screen when I was done. Not that it mattered, I always received the same stuff.

I spent what felt like two hours going trough all the bodies, moving some of them when I had to get to those lying beneath. The loot window was still there when I collected the last of it so I knew it lasted at least this long. At some point, I would need to figure out the exact timeframe and if that changed depending on weather and other factors.

When I finally checked my haul, I had hundreds of the usual pelts, horns and meat which, luckily, didn't age; Time stopped inside spatial inventory. Imagine having to dump out hundreds of pounds of rotten roasts by the side of the road. I had also previously wondered if there was a limit to how many of the same items I could carry. Guess not as my inventory showed over 250 each.

I hope there’s a way to sell or trade all this at some point. Fur trade used to be big business back on Earth a long time ago so what I’m carrying could be worth a pretty penny.

As my eyes scanned the item grid, I noticed that I had actually picked up something new along the way so I inspected it.

Carbuncle’s foot (accessory, ultra rare): +10 LUCK. Chance of lootable targets dropping rare items increased by 10%, ultra rare items by 5% (stackable)

I was ecstatic. Because of my class, I had no luck stat but this would rectify the problem. I had the option to equip it in one of my two accessory slots so I did. The item, which was an amulet, materialized around my neck and settled on my chest. The thing was soft and had a slight heft to it but there didn’t seem anything special about it.

Sadly, even with the item equipped, my luck remained at zero. Guess there was no way around that. At least I might be able to get some sweet loot once in a while with the item’s effect.

Once done, I headed towards the tunnels leading inside the Carbuncle’s den. The prospect of exploring a rabbit habitat was exciting. Back on Earth, those places were too small for humans to enter but with the Carbuncles being the size of very large dogs and digging in a way to give themselves lots of space, I could just waltz in.

As I neared the closest opening, I caught sight of a blue glint in my peripheral vision. A mana beam! I desperately dodge-rolled sideways and landed on my back, finger guns pumped with 100 MP worth of energy rising to blow my attacker to smithereens.

False alarm. No enemies in sight but there was something blue on the dead tree’s trunk. It was near the roots which partially obscured it. I had missed it before. Now that I think about it, I hadn’t had the time to inspect the tree as I had been busy fighting.

After releasing the mana energy stored in my hand by shooting it in the air, since it was staring to hurt, I made my way to it. I berated myself about not having used my shield spell to protect myself back there as I did; can’t leave the enemy any openings.

I got to the tree and found a large crystal growing from the rough bark. It was lootable. I touched it and obtained;

Received Fossilized concentrated mana resin (rare, crafting material). Found growing on trees commonly referred to as Mana trees (M. sacharrum). The fossils are formed from the constant dripping and hardening of the tree’s mana infused resin over a very long period. Can be sold, traded or used for crafting.

Another rare item. My accessory was already paying dividends. So this is a mana tree… interesting. I snapped off one of the lower dead branches. Instead of being straight, the piece of wood coiled in a spiral and looked like a loose spring. Couldn't find leaves as they had all fallen off long ago and probably had been blown away by the wind or turned to mulch over the years.

I walked around the trunk which was as wide as a house looking out for more of that resin but ended up finding two holes instead. The first was a large unnatural crater. It was as if something had ripped off a chunk of the tree and since the tree was leaning away from this position, I surmised that this was what knocked it over and killed it.

Near the blast zone, lower down, was the second hole. It was hollow and seemed to have been excavated by a bird or critter while making itself a nest at some point. Just above the opening were a faded circle and letters within it etched on the bark. E + M. Strange place to find signs of civilization but at least I knew that people had been here before. Maybe I was close to a settlement?

I peered inside the cavity and swore there was something in there. Cautiously, I reached in, felt around and found something rigid. When I pulled it out of there, it was a rusty ornate metal box. Inside were a bundle of letters and a smaller box, this one wrapped like a present. I couldn’t make out the text as it was in a language I didn't recognize but I could tell there were two sets of distinct handwriting. The papers where yellowed with age and all of them were signed by either E or M. Maybe these two who put their initials on the tree were exchanging letters?

Next, I unwrapped the bug-eaten silk-like cloth covering the gift to find a cube with no seams. I received a tutorial screen.

You have found a portable treasure cube. These boxes offer the protection of a treasure chest in a portable format. If unsealed, put your palm on the top and press down to open. If sealed, use fingers to draw the password rune on top then press down to open.

I used to have to draw a shape to open my smartphone. Funny how some things don’t change even when in a completely different world. Well here goes nothing. I pushed down on the top of the box, curious to see if it would open for me. It did. There was a click, a seam appeared then the lid part spun 360 degrees once while collapsing on itself. A strong orange glow came from the now open box. The source of the glow was a mesmerizing item;

Sun-kissed orb (Fabled): Core of a dead Greater Fire elemental inscribed with restorative magic runes under sunlight during the summer solstice by a Mystic tier mage or higher. Only a few are created each year. A warm appeasing feeling spreads through those holding it and the target of holder’s spell; Status ailment healing spells now only cost 1 MP and no longer have a chance to fail. (you do not have the required stats to wield this)

Absolutely beautiful. The only other item in the box was a pair of fancy gloves;

Benevolent touch gloves (Masterworks): Gloves crafted by Radiant monks for use by healers; +1000 smarts, +1000 mp, Reduces cost of restorative spells by half. (you do not have the required stats to wield this)

These items were amazing but way too advanced for me and I don’t know that I would ever really delve into restorative spells as my current mission is to destroy a demon lord. Can’t cure him to death. I’ll keep them for now and who knows, I might be able to get a ton of money for them if I sell to the right buyer.

Done examining the tree, it was now time for me to explore the warren proper. I entered the closest opening into the underground lair and began my descent down the narrow earthen slope.