I hid behind the tree, staring closely at the cute, white-furred rabbit innocently eating away at the grass. I waited for the right time and the perfect moment for me to jump out and capture it in one shot. Although I say that to make myself seem like a wise hunter, my heart seemed to contradict what my mind wanted to do, which made me very hesitant in taking the next move.

When I thought I was ready and made a move to apprehend the rabbit, I stepped on a twig which made a crack sound. As expected, these kinds of situations can’t go on without this kind of “You thought it’d go well? Hah, fuck that!” event.

The rabbit perked up it’s fluffy ears and turned it’s head towards the sound that was made, staring at me with it’s red-beaded eyes. I stared back at it, surprised at what just happened. In a flash, it hopped away as fast as it could, holding the grass it was eating in it’s tiny rabbit paws.

Seeing the little guy hopping as if it’s like depended on it made me recover. I really need to do something about my bad reaction time.

“Oh no you don’t!”

I got out from behind the tree and began to chase the rabbit, abandoning all thoughts of stealth behind.

Although the rabbit was quite fast for it’s size, I was faster and managed to catch it. The little guy squirmed in my two hands, trying to find a way to escape. It then looked at me with it’s cute beady eyes, and perked it’s ears down. The little guy was totally immersed in it’s “Spare me!” mode.

“No, even if you look at me like that…”

The rabbit trembled, and handed the grass to me, hoping that I would let it go with this little token. It’s too cute! How can I be doing something so horrible? I can just abandon this job and make this guy my friend…

“Guh!” I slapped myself across the face to snap myself back into reality, holding the rabbit in my other hand. No Ari, focus! How can I give into this little guy’s temptations!?!

“Sorry, cute one, but this is something that I must do!”

The rabbit was surprised for a second, wondering if I was stupid because I slapped myself across the face. At the words I spoke, it went back into it’s “Spare me!” mode and actually started tearing up.

I can’t handle this kind of mental torture any longer! I took the knife I bought before out of my bag and stabbed the rabbits stomach. It’s blood squirted everywhere and onto my face like some kind of gore movie. In this grueling process, I made sure to lock my eyes into it’s eyes to force myself to remember this moment forever.

Oh, sweet rabbit, I will never forget your red-beady, donut-like eyes, or your pure white fur, which is now stained a dull red. Nor will I forget the kindness you showed me when you offered me your grass, or your cute little paws and feet which tried to escape from me-

Level up!

You are now level 2! Upon gaining a level, you have received 5 stat points. Open up your status window to distribute your stat points.

A level up, huh? Usually, the first level represents the first step towards an amazing journey, and should have people celebrating in their minds, but what is this sense of gloom I feel?

Hmmm? I feel something staring at me...

“Jiiiii-”

I thought I saw a grey blur for a second behind that bush over there. Is that what I think it is?

“Jiiiii-”

Yup, it's definitely what I think it is. A grey wolf. But is it… looking at me?

“Jiiiiii-”

It’s looking at me.

Now that I think about it, the wolf may have been there longer than I thought, and I just didn't notice because of the mental torture I was just facing. This kind of thought process makes me even more scared...

"Jiiiiii-"

Oh my oh my oh my. Well now, how do I get out of this predicament?

Was I too loud when I was trying to skin this rabbit? Or maybe it followed the smell of blood?

I should probably learn how to properly skin animals too. I’m not too sure how so I kinda went with the flow and just put my knife into it’s flesh. I’m guessing that skinning it properly wouldn’t lead to having it’s blood squirting everywhere.

Wait- what matters the most right now is this wolf in front of me. Think Ari, think!

First of all, let’s review the situation: A wolf is 10 meters in front of me. I’m sitting down with a knife in my grasp which is stuck into this rabbit. The wolf caught me in this weird state, which would be me skinning an animal for the first time...

What are the few ways to go about this situation?

A.) Try to make friends with it.

Aren’t dogs and cats exact opposites? Well, wolves may not be dogs but they’re preeetty close, aren’t they? Can I even make friends with monsters? Monster is a starter race so it sounds possible… Is there a monster/beast tamer job, I wonder?

B.) Feed it the rabbit.

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It might take the rabbit, but I have a feeling that it won’t be full with just a rabbit...

C.) Fight.

I do have a few racial skills, but I haven’t exactly tried them out yet. Even if I did use them, I’m not sure how much damage it would do, considering I’m still level 1 and the wolf is like, level 10? Wait, I'm actually level 2 now...

D.) Flee.

Sounds like my best option, but the chances of success don’t look very high. Agility may be my best stat, but alas, I’m only level 2.

E.) Splash attack!

Where the hell did this even come from!?! This attack doesn’t even do anything! I’ve experienced it first-hand, you stupid Magikarp!

Okay, after thinking about all of my options, I think I’ll try option A first and see how that goes.

“He-hello! My name is Arika! I may be a cat, but I love dogs! And wolves! Let’s be friends and stop the bad relationship between our kinds together, yeah?” I try to flash him my kindest smile ever, which proved to be difficult with my bloodied face.

Suddenly, the wolf growled as I spoke. It didn’t work!?! Throw him more bait!

“Hey, you want to eat this rabbit? I was kind of skinning it but I don’t really mind if you want it! Rabbits are delicious aren’t they? Ha-hahaha.” I threw the rabbit towards him and laughed an awkward laugh. Sorry little guy, I must sacrifice you for my survival!

“Grooooowwwl!”

Oh shit. It’s running towards me! Flee it is!

I stood up and ran towards the gate which separates the Artisan Center and the forest in full speed, eyes bulging out of my sockets and my jaw dropped against the floor, screaming my lungs out.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

From a third-person perspective, this would be quite the spectacle. I admit that if it weren’t myself, I would probably be laughing at the victim. Hmm, now that I’m imagining it, it’s quite hilarious! Nihahaha- Guh!

Ugugugu… it seems like I face-planted right into the tree and fell on my ass. I took a look behind me to see how close the wolf was and how close the gate was. The wolf was only 7 meters away and the gate was about 60 meters away. If I kept running towards the gate the wolf would probably catch up to me and eat me.

Hmmm… it seems like there’s only one option left- which is to fight! I got off my ass and turned towards the wolf with a fighting stance and full determination in my eyes!

Okay, I’m actually kind of shaking right now. I’m just a normal high school girl! Why do I have to experience something so scary?!

First of all, how did I even get into this situation!?!?!

One hour ago...

“Hello, Arika.”

“Hey Alice. Got another job for me?”

“Hmm…. I do have a job but, I wonder if it’s the right job for you.”

“What is it? You can tell me.”

“… It’s a gathering job.”

“A gathering job?”

“Yeah, I need some rabbit skin for my new work.”

“And where do you get rabbit skin?”

“If it’s rabbits, then they can be found in the forests just outside the gate…”

“Hmm... I’ve never skinned before, but I’m a genius so I’m not too worried about that. Just give me the quest. I can handle it, promise!”

“Are you sure? There are dangers you have to be aware of outside the gate. There are not only rabbits, but deer, goats, and-”

“Alice, just who do you think I am? I think you underestimate me too much. You don’t know me very well yet, but I’ll have you know that I can face any dangers thrown at me! That’s just how amazing a woman I am!”

“There’s just no stopping you, is there, Arika? Sigh. Alright, I’ll give you the quest. Thank you, Arika.”

“No problem!”

Back in the present...

Oh yeah… that was how it happened.

I honestly didn’t think it would be this hard of a job, mentally and physically. At the time I was probably thinking something along the lines of, “Dangerous monsters, what are the chances? Hah!”

No matter how stupid people think my mindset is, this is a part of me that never changes. I’d actually consider it one of my strengths.

Well, forging on is good and all, but maybe I should have fully listened to what Alice was trying to tell me.

As I think this, the wolf was just 3 meters in front of me. I start to brace myself for the impending danger that is about to befall me.

Here goes.

“Cat claws!” My nails turn long and sharp, and I run towards the wolf into a suicide-attack.

“Groowll!” The wolf bares it’s fangs, as if it were mocking me. Or at least that’s what I imagine it to be doing.

“Don’t underestimate me, bastard!”

We were only a meter away from each other, and I tried to stick my claws into it’s fur, but the wolf got to me first and bit me around my neck.

That was my first death in the game world.

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