Well, here's another chapter. Enjoy. Also, I find comments as a good way to gauge how well the story is being received by the audience, so I would appreciate the comments.

The three red rabbits ran directly to the edge of the clearing as Alistair chased them. After doing this for 5 hours, he was getting pretty good at it. The trick to corner the red rabbits was to force them into a place where they couldn’t turn anymore. Like a harbinger of death, Alistair swung his horrid sword and managed to kill the first one of them; he couldn’t kill the second or third because after he slashed the first, about 3 inches of the sword broke off, and also snapped into three other pieces and rendered the weapon unusable.

“Snap… what to do…”

He looked at his broken sword with misery in his heart, and a nonchalant face. His only option for killing the rabbits was gone. The other red rabbit had almost turned around. In frustration, Alistair kicked one as hard as he could, and it went flying into a tree, suffering internal damage. Alistair saw this, and looked down at his boots. He kicked at the other one as well, trying to see if he could have the same effect, however, the rabbit had completely turned around at this point and it dashed between his legs and ran for its life. Alistair clicked his tongue and picked the broken sword and went over to the struggling rabbit. He looked at the remaining rabbit, and picked up the sharp point piece and approached the rabbit with a look of sincere pity in his eyes.

‘Please, allow me to put you out of your misery.’

He stabbed the rabbit and it passed on. Alistair looked at his broken sword and then at the piece he held in his hand. He sighed and gathered up the rabbits and his broken sword and walked back to his resting tree. At the base of the tree, there was a pile of rabbits that amounted to about 88 rabbits, now 90 with the new red rabbits. He sat down and pulled a piece of barley bread out and started to munch on it. He only had 2 pieces of barley bread and 2 more liters of water. His food situation was dire, despite the amount of rabbits that lay in front of him. Without the sword, he was weaponless except for hand to paw (?) combat; and yet, he did not seem particularly worried as he fiddled. He stayed there for about thirty minutes fiddling with one of his boots and the sharp piece of his now useless sword. After that time had elapsed and he had finished his barley bread he held up the fruit of his labor. The boot was the same except with one difference. The sharp piece of metal was now embedded in the toe of the boot sole, with the sharp end sticking out. If he kicked anything with the toe, the sword tip would embed itself into the target, however, he had attached the blade deep enough that he would be able to pull it out without the risk of losing the sword tip.

Alistair put it on the boot and walked around the tree for a little while to get used to the modification. He started to run around the tree, but immediately fell because the blade dug itself into the ground. He picked himself up in embarrassment and started to run again, this time, instead of letting the blade get stuck in the ground, he used it to pierce the ground, and propel himself forward, like a track runner’s spikes. He tested the boot blade with a few kicks. He found that the in-game body was much less flexible that his actual body, thus, his kicks didn’t have as much range, but it was sufficient. While he was doing this, a hooded stranger appeared out of the forest, she walked towards the tree that Alistair was practicing around. Her hood rolled back to show a beautiful face framed by her brown hair.

She called out to him in a gentle, soft voice.

“E-excuse me… wh-who are you?”

Alistair looked up from his experimenting.

“Before you ask for someone’s name, you should give yours first” He admonished playfully.

He saw the girls cheek twitch at this and she resumed her innocent demeanor.

‘She’s hiding something’

Being in the acting business, Alistair was adept at seeing through the facades that people all around him put up.  There seemed not to be a single honest person. NO one to connect with... well except for one, but that will be explained later. So even if everyone was physically close, everyone was psychologically distant. However, in that type of environment where one would go insane, Alistair thrived. He had been raised by a politician and an actress. The politician taught him to always be composed and never caught off guard. The actress had taught him how to conceal the fact of his composure, and how to wear different expressions like a mask. Thus, even if Alistair gave off a trusting, innocent expression, he was cold and calculating under this exterior, kinda like a kolache stuffed with ice cream.

“I-I am Kora…”

“Well… nice to meet you Kora. I'm Alistair. Are you here for hunting too?” Alistair smiled, even though his eyes didn’t. However “Kora” seemed to not to notice.

“Yes… I have to get food for my family…” she said as she looked away from his eyes. Anyone else would pity this beautiful girl, but Alistair wasn’t so altruistic. While others would see the expression as pitiful, all he saw was something suspicious.

‘Whatever is she hiding…?’

“Well, I have hunted enough rabbits, I think you can take a few.” He gestured to the pile of rabbits that lay by the tree. He did this to see the reaction, this would help ascertain what in the world she was hiding.

He got a reaction, but not the one he was expecting. An emotion flitted across her face for a second. It was not gratitude, which would have supported her story of “Hunting to feed my Family!”

No, the emotion that flitted over her face was rage.

Alistair was shocked by this, but it didn’t show on his demeanor. He kept up his warm, inviting façade. The girl nodded. She picked up a few of the rabbits and bowed her head, shook his hand, gushing out praises and thanks. She left after this.

‘

I wonder if that will have negative repercussions in the future…’ Alistair thought to himself. He noticed he wasn’t as worried as he usually would be. ‘Must be an effect from Sigh of Acceptance.’

Thus, he went back to hunting the rabbits. He ran, chasing three more red rabbits towards the edge of the clearing. Because of the boot blade propelling himself forward like a track runner’s spikes, he was able to kill one of the rabbits before the even arrive at the clearing. All he needed to do was plant his non bladed foot beside the rabbit, and then continue his stride. The boot blade came and pierced the rabbit. The damage was actually greater than when it was a full sword. This, Alistair attributed to two things.

1: The momentum of his leg was greater than that of his arm when running.

2: The leg can exert three times more force than the arm can.

He cornered the last two rabbits. He did a spinning kick and his heel connected with one of the rabbits and threw it into a tree. He planted his foot down, and used his boot blade to finish the other one.

‘This is a bit of a brutal way to hunt… what am I going to do with all those rabbit corpses though? It seems a bit wasteful…’ Alistair started to feel guilty as he brought back his rabbits to the pile. He had gained 7 levels, putting him at lvl 9. This was no surprise because by now, he had hunted over 300 rabbits. He had lost count after three hundred. The boot blade made things extremely efficient in hunting down the rabbits. The pile was now extremely large. He sat down tired eating his last piece of barley bread. He stared at the pile of potentially delicious meat. He calmed himself thinking to himself things like “This Barley Bread is delicious AND Nutritious.” In response to this internal propaganda, his stomach growled in rebellion.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

As he ate, there were people sneaking around in the forest behind him. At the opposite side of the clearing, the girl with the pretty brown hair came back. Alistair was already aware of the people in the forest. He could hear the twigs snapping unnaturally as they clumsily approached. He watched her approach and his cautiousness under a friendly smile. He waved at her while still sitting under the tree.

She walked forward, no longer with that innocent demeanor that she had before, but a cold, haughty look as she walked towards him.

‘Well, this is going to be interesting… wonder what she wants’

Alistair stood up and brushed himself off, that is when he felt the intense pain the back of his thigh.

“What the-“

You have taken 187 damage.

You are now in Critical Condition

‘What!?’ Though Alistair as he kicked backwards. He saw a black blur retreat back into the forest. Alistair planted his boot blade into the ground and propelled himself towards the middle of the clearing to avoid any more surprises attacks. There was a hole in the middle of the clearing where the rabbits seemed to spawn from about a 2 meters in diameter, and Alistair situated with his back to the hole.

The only reason he was still alive is because as long as one does not have a class, one automatically gains and additional ten health per level in addition to the distributable stat points. When one obtains a class, the 10 additional stats are given to the stat that the class most benefits from. In the case of an assassin, they gain agility instead of health when they level up.  

‘Crud… judging from the damage… Speed of attack… Speed of character… Lack of observable skill usage… I’d say that assassin is at least 18… no 20 levels above mine…’ Thought Alistair in a cool and calculating manner.

He had done extensive research upon the game whilst he was finishing up that certain acting job. He had researched especially into the assassin profession because that was the route he planned to take. Not many people chose that route because it involved an extensive training period where one could not log out. So therefore, Alistair was surprised to see an assassin among their group. That assassin had already pulverized his health, and he was left with a measly 3 health left. A pain spread like a wild-fire from his thigh. The oppressive pain that spread forced him down to his knees.

Kora gave a haughty smile as she saw this.

“I see the Gora Venom is taking effect. It’s quite a lovely venom. Not many people use it though. All it does is cause pain, but does absolutely no damage. That’s why we can beat stupid players like you to the brink of death, and then have FUN! Of course, being alone, I would not be able to do this, but I have a guild of like minded people, so this is easy!”

Kora’s face had contorted into a demented smile, marring that lovely face. In its place was the face of a demon. Alistair was disgusted. Out of the forest came the assassin that had dealt the hated Gora Venom, and two others that looked like knight builds.

During Alistair’s last acting gig, while he was researching the “culture” of MMO’s, he came across the section of PKers. For as long as there was MMO games, there are those who like to play as the “bad guys.” They would be called Player Killers or PKers. Now, as time progressed, the games began to get more complicated, PKing became more profitable. It is natural that actual players would have better equipment than regular monsters, so despite the significant infamy penalty, there were those that would follow this extremely profitable path. Now, amidst those profiteers, there were those that still liked to PK just to be the “bad guys.” They used the virtual reality to unleash their sadistic tendencies. From Kora’s speech, it was obvious which category she and her cronies fell under.

Despite the pain, it did not show on his face. No longer did he wear that friendly face, he showed what was under that smiling mask.

He looked up at Kora. This was not the face of someone that was being preyed upon, picked upon… hunted … NOR was it the face of rage that was outraged at the perpetrators of the heinous crime. NOR was it the look of self-pity, one that despises the world for the unfortunate situation it had thrown upon him. NOR was it the look of fear that prey display in their last moments of life.

His face showed no emotion, no resentment. His face was cold and blank, betraying nothing. It was as if daggers of ice pierced Kora’s soul as he looked at her.

Skill Learned: Freezing Stare

His expression was of nothing. Kora briefly reacted to this but then returned to her haughty and demeaning attitude. Alistair, pushing himself up with difficulty, pain briefly flashing across his face, knew that there was no way he was going to survive the situation.

His eyes that were so cold also burned with a freezing, flickering flame of determination. He would NOT let them have the satisfaction of seeing him writhe in pain.

“Awwww. How much longer are you going to keep up the cool guy act? Reparations for trespassing into our guild’s hunting ground must be paid. Pay with your screams!” Kora said with that demonic smile as she took out a crossbow. The fact that her features were so beautiful just made her expression seem all the more grotesque. The sickening curl and twitch that the edges of her mouth had. The lips drawn thin showed the teeth underneath.

Alistair stepped back towards the hole.

“Kora… My name is Alistair… Remember me… Because I am coming for you, and your whole guild.”

He said in a voice that would freeze the warmest of hearts. He smiled thinly and extended his arms to the side, like he was going to be crucified. The smirk left Kora’s face and she hurriedly loaded her crossbow and aimed, just as Alistair fell backwards dramatically into the hole. As he fell, he heard the curses and saw the arrow whizzing overhead. As he fell, an odd little thought popped into his mind.

‘Down the rabbit hole… I wonder if I will go to Wonderland…’