“Kuro… what's that on the logs.”

“Well, Nyuk, how am I supposed to know? Looks like another one of those washed-up dead animals.”

“I don't think so, It's something else wearing furs... Hold on, I'll hook that bunch and pull it in.”

“God’s above and below! It's a pit-cursed human!”

“AYAH! What do we do?! Should we just dump it in the river? It's obviously dead.”

The back-and-forth conversation slowly dug deeper into Tilly’s consciousness and he was able to rouse just enough to mumble.

“Please… don't.”

“Ugh did you hear that, it said something!”

“Kuro, you need to calm down, pull him in and I'll go tell Lord Hiro about this.”

….

Tilly came to consciousness feeling warm and weak. He was lying on a bed of scratchy fabric that felt like a memory foam king after his past two nights in the forest. He looked around at his one-room abode and saw a small window and sliding shoji-style door opposite a river stone fireplace and a hewn plank floor. His patchwork leather jacket, pants, and moccasins were folded neatly next to the bed with his two hatchets laying on the floor next to them.

He attempted to sit up and found it very difficult. He reflexively pulled up his notification log to catch up with what had happened during his escape. He scrolled through the numerous damage notifications trying to find an explanation for his leveling during the escape.

A creature that you are in combat with has taken environmental damage.

A creature that you are in combat with has been defeated due to environmental damage.

You have earned 75 Exp.

Tilly guessed that the system counted any damage they took trying to follow him as if it was partially dealt by him. It hadn’t led to a ton of experience, but at least he gained a level, which had probably been the difference between life and death for him.

He also learned that his Identify Skill had picked up some of the insane things he had seen yesterday.

You have identified a Corrupted Ancient Cave Bear level 38.

You have failed to Identify the source of the corruption.

Congratulations! You have found a Place of Power. These are the source of all life and growth across Nephesh and can be used for great and terrible purposes.

Aside from that, he had leveled Forestcraft for his “Successful Night Hike” and had gained one more level in Ax Throwing. Probably from the few lucky shots he had managed to get off while on the run.

His health was at 100% and his debuffs were gone. All that was left was a status effect called Recovery.

You are in a state of Recovery. You have experienced extreme emotional and physical trauma over the last 24 hours and your need for healing goes deeper than just your body. -50% Strength and +50% wisdom while in Recovery.

He was wearing some bandages with old blood stains on them, and his ankle and the right side of his chest had some sort of poultice pressed against them. Pleasantly, neither of them even showed a twinge of pain as he gingerly attempted to move those parts of his body.

Feeling encouraged he unwrapped one of his bandages and found that they only covered areas of faint scarring. Despite everything he had just been through, Tilly found himself smiling. This world certainly had its drawbacks, but he could get used to the insane healing factor he already had with a Constitution of just 12.

Just as he was about to struggle into his clothing, the sliding door whispered open. Standing in the doorway was a full-on rabbit person holding a tray.

The figure was feminine and had on a distinctly Japanese-style kimono. She took his level of consciousness in stride and firmed the lines of her mouth before removing her sandals and moving into the space. She put the tray down on the floor next to his clothing, smoothly moving into a seated position on her knees.

Tilly didn't know what he was expecting when he had awoken in this mysterious village… but it wasn't this.

“Please eat,” she said in a voice barely above a whisper, looking down to avoid eye contact.

“Uh… can you tell me… where I am?” Tilly stumbled over his words, not sure where to even begin when it came to resolving his ignorance of this new world.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Her face was covered in a light fur that only slightly changed her mostly human features and her long rabbit-like ears were laid flat, falling behind her head and laying over her bun. She just shook her head at his question and bowed again, before rising and backing out of the room.

“Lord Hiro will answer your questions. So sorry.” She then stepped back out and gracefully slid the door closed.

Tilly was left there with his mouth hanging open. He had been expecting something weird… but Japanese rabbit people took the cake. Apparently this wasn't the bread and butter Middle Earth-style fantasy land. If they were any representation of the population of this place, things were only going to get stranger.

A loud growl from his stomach interrupted his musings and he looked back down at the tray, now noticing the generous bowl of rice, some grilled fish, and a glazed mixture of carrots. The bowl was of course topped with chopsticks and accompanied by tea. Any of the shock he felt at his first civilized interaction faded before the all-powerful call of hunger.

Sometime later, a burp sounded out through the room, signaling man’s triumph over food once again. Tilly could feel strength returning to his limbs and happily noted that the Recovery effect cleared once he had eaten and gotten dressed. He was glad they had left him his hatchets, hopefully, this meant he wasn't seen as a threat to these people.

Not knowing what else to do, he hesitantly moved towards the door and just as he was reaching for it, it seemed to open of its own accord revealing two rabbit men armed with spears. The one on the left flinched in surprise, while the one on the right nodded at the sight of him standing and dressed.

It was difficult for Tilly to tell them apart.

“Lord Hiro said you would be up, Come with us please.” After the request they simply turned and walked away, leaving Tilly to follow.

Both rabbit men wore simple peasant clothes in the Japanese style and had their ears tied behind their heads with thongs of leather.

He tried to keep up with their odd hopping gait, and did his best to take in the village that surrounded the small house he had woken up in. It was every bit feudal Japan, except with rabbit people instead of Japanese. For some reason, the strangeness of it all was already wearing off on him. Maybe it was the monsters or his afterlife experience but his pragmatism kicked into overdrive and he quickly adjusted to the reality of the people in this new world.

Underneath the strangeness, Tilly couldn't help but notice other things. The few children he saw were somber, the people; worn down and dirty, even as they went about their tasks with an aloof dignity that spoke of deep cultural pride. They quickly made their way through the village of simple but well-built wooden houses with sliding doors and opaque white grid siding. Before them reared a tightly built palisade of logs with an inner platform that seemed to circle the whole circumference of the town.

The front gate was a large counterbalanced affair rigged to collapse down if its tightly bound winch was disturbed, and it was manned by men in well-worn clothing either holding spears or longbows in hand, their vigilance outward remained unchanged by Tilly’s approach.

There were several ladders up the lookout walkway but no stairs, and as his escort reached the base of the one nearest the gate they turned and posted up on either side of it. The one on the right jerked his head up, towards the top.

With a small smile for the ease with which he could now scale vertical surfaces, Tilly climbed up the ladder and found himself facing the back of an actual samurai in full armor. Tilly could see from the ears pulled back and held by a thong that this was another rabbit-man, but that did nothing to ease the air of controlled death that emanated from the warrior. Something about his posture spoke of a profound readiness for violence as he stood facing the distant line of trees.

“When I heard my people had found you, my first thought was of killing you, just to save my people the grief you will inevitably bring if left alive.” His voice rumbled in a deep base, every bit a match for his intimidating aura.

This sudden threat to his person instantly put Tilly into a surly mood,

“I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean. I just got to your world and barely lived through a couple of nights in those woods over there. You have a serious problem brewing at the top of that mountain. What do you mean, ‘save my people grief’?”

At that the Rabbit man who could only be Lord Hiro turned and revealed a profoundly care-worn face, weathered by time, but unbowed before its relentless passage. His eyes were hard and carried a deep sorrow.

“I should have known one of your kind would come, you always do in times of great change, and change is seldom kind to its victims.” He said, looking over Tilly as if searching for something. Something about Tilly's presence seemed to set off an internal conflict in him, and suspicion warred with a flicker of hope on his heavily lined face.

“Look, uhh… Sir I don't know what you think you know about me, but I have barely survived my first few days here and while I appreciate your hospitality, you need to get over your prejudices and send people to stop what is happening up in that mountain.” Tilly said with a forceful gesture towards the looming mountain at the head of the valley.

"Some evil has taken over a Temple up there and it is spreading all throughout these lands!"

Nothing in Lord Hiro's countenance changed at his gesturing, but Tilly couldn't help but notice the nearest guard tighten his grip on his spear shaft as he struggled to not look like he was listening. His words seemed to strike some deep chord of worry in these people...

'They already knew about the Corruption'

The pieces he had seen on his way over to the wall fell into place. These were a people under attack, they had probably already lost friends and family, and here he was mouthing off. The angles of Tilly's self-righteous scowl softened and in a lower voice he asked,

“I can see that things have not gone easily here, but whatever is growing at the heart of that mountain is only getting stronger. I think that whatever forces you have seen are only a small portion of what will be brought to bear if it goes unchecked.”

Shadows deepened across Hiro's features as Tilly's simple statements hit him one by one.

“Do you think we are ignorant of this Human? We have already gambled our future to see this threat eradicated, and we lost.” He replied, a dark stormy fury settling over his expression.

“We sent our best, and the attacks have not ceased. Every night they come, and with me, we stand with few losses. But without me, my people would be overrun before I reached the source and attempted to stop them. Our loggers are good men but they have to sleep in the middle of the river on rafts to stay safe from attack at night. We simply have no one left to spend on this mission. We have lived with this burden for many days. Now tell me human, have you come to defeat this abomination, or are you simply a fresh harbinger of our doom?"

Something about Hiro using the same word as the [Title] he had below his name struck Tilly. He had been content with just warning the people after his narrow escape, but try as he might, he could not shake the feeling that there was still something he could do. This couldn’t all just be an accident, his starting point in this world, his only title, even these people, locked in a struggle for their lives. These were all variables stacked next to each other like dominos, in the hope that one would impact the other in a cascading effect that led to some unseen outcome.

This line of thinking and its implications played out in conflict openly visible on Tilly’s face. Hiro watched the human struggle to answer his question, his own face inscrutable. Tilly was vastly underpowered when considering the challenges these faced, and the idea of heading up that mountain to try and fight the bear again caused a surge of panic to rush up his throat from the pit of his stomach. A desperate thought crossed his mind and he flicked open his notification log to see just how powerful Hiro was.

Level 52 Samurai Lord

The idea of this guy asking him to solve a problem so far above his ability filled him with bitterness. This guy could snap him in half and yet here they were, in the classic, 'send the new guy to fix all of our problems' situation.

“There must be something you can do, I know you said you can't leave, but… For God's sake, It's feeding off of people up there.” Tilly uttered, trying to keep down his growing panic. The gut-level horror at what he had faced in the temple caused his voice to crack, and he looked down to cover the naked fear in his eyes.

But even looking down, he felt the air around him change, growing heavier. Then he heard the creak of armor in front of him as if it was straining to hold back the taut body beneath.

“Human… Answer me carefully. You said it is feeding off people. Did you see any alive?”