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Oh?

Ugh... whatever, I'm tired.

I need to exercise more... the forms haven't kicked my ass like that since I was a kid.

Now, let's see...

I got that script? Text? Whatever it was to show up again by continuing the forms. I’m still stumped on what the hell they are and why I'm seeing them. Though... not going to lie, it is rather satisfying when they pop up.

A reward maybe?

When I eventually head to civilization, I’ll have to find someone to explain this stuff to me. If I'm the only person that can see the text, then I have gone completely batshit crazy or this is all some sort of simulation out of some ancient fiction.

I’ll just ignore it for now... I can worry about it later when I can actually do something about it.

Though for now, I'm going to strip and get some sleep.

I awake the next morning from yet another night of dreamless sleep to a new misty dawn. The beauty of this world still astounds me, even now as I gaze up at blue sky streaked with red and yellow it instills a sense of awe in me.

With a pep in my step I collect my decarded clothing and retrieved my short-sword from my piled gear before exiting the grove. I walked naked as the day I was born to the nearby stream, planted my blade in the bank and hopped right in with my clothes clutched to my chest.

“Ah! Uhh! Fuck it’s cold!”

I may have underestimated the chill in the water... just a bit.

Gathering my shirt and trousers into my arms, I got to work rinsing and wringing them in the cold water. Once I was done with my laundry, I draped my clothes out of the way over a clean looking stretch of rocks along the bank near my blade. With that chore completed I took my time to bathe and relax in the cool waters. It felt great on my sore muscles when I layed in the stream and submerged myself in its cool embrace. My long hair fanned out around me as I let myself float along the water’s surface.

I’ve never let my hair grow out this long before, I usually kept it shoulder length or shorter to keep my hair out of the way. Doing so was an necessity when working with machinery and complex armor systems, less you lose a chunk of your scalp.

Now though… it doesn’t really matter all that much.

I think I’ll keep it long and wear it in a single braid, like my mother did in the pictures…

Sitting up in the water, I reached up to run my fingers through my hair when I felt something most strange.

“What the…”

My ears are pointed.

I can’t even… I can’t even start to figure out why or how this was done to me. I know my hearing and other senses are better than before, but to be modified to such an extent shouldn’t feel so… natural.

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Like I was always this way…

always… perfect.

Once my existencal crisis was over I got out of the stream and collected my belongings before making the short walk back to the grove. I hung up my clothes to dry from low hanging branches, then collected my bow from my shelter and restrung it. I might as well practice archery while I wait for my clothing and self to air dry.

When the sun was nearing it’s zenith I stopped for a late breakfast and took stock of my supplies, I had little less than half remaining. It was time I started hunting, I need to stretch my remaining supplies with wild game if I’m going to keep hiding out here.

Throwing on my still damp clothes and pulling on my boots, I exited the grove and followed the creek upstream. Traveling low and quiet, I listen and scan the world around me for any sign of any potential prey or hostiles with careful steps.

I stalked along the stream bank for nearly an hour without seeing or hearing much of anything before a high pitched screech interrupted relative quiet of the woods.

“Hmm?”

I paused and notched an arrow onto my bowstring, then stealthily advanced further into the wood away from the stream and toward the disturbance. The screeching gaining in volume and frequency as I steadily approached, the agitation of the animal could clearly be heard in it’s cries.

I reached the edge of a clearing, peering through the bushes along it’s edges I could see that it was a large meadow and in it was a large mass of white fur surrounded by four green figures.

The fur ball looked very close to an animal I once saw in a wildlife index I studied as a child, I think it was called a rabbit. But… I’m pretty sure the one in the index was much smaller and didn’t have a horn growing from it’s head like the one in front of me did.

The green figures were short humanoids that look disgustingly hideous. The fuckers look like someone tried to beat them to death with an ugly stick. One had a pig like snout while the others had more human like features and their builds varied from stick thin to heavy and thick. They were clothed in rags and we’re armed with crude looking short spears.

I observed as they drew closer to the horned rabbit with their spears at the ready, the rabbit remained where it was and eyed them as they approached.

When the greens closed within five meters of the rabbit, it suddenly tensed and shot toward the scrawniest member of the band like a furry white cannonball.

“Woah…”

Was my reaction as the horned rabbit tore the head clean off the green man with little effort by simply slapping aside the spear with it’s paw and closing it’s maw around the green man’s thin neck.

The other three after seeing this, turned and fled their overwhelming foe in panic.

“Hm Hmm Hmm… Ha!”

I watched as they fled the clearing to the opposite end from me, I struggled hold in my laughter as they stumbled and fell over each other in their retreat.

The horned rabbit remained in the clearing, sniffing at the fresh corpse at it’s feet. The creatures had presented it’s flank to me and held still as if it was presenting me a gift. The distance was a bit far, but not to much so.

I raised my bow, drawing back in one smooth motion and released.

My arrow took flight in a shallow arc for a brief moment before it hit it’s mark in the rabbit’s flank.

The animal released a loud squik at impact and ran a half dozen steps before collapsing to the ground.

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I ignored the text that appeared and went to claim my kill, the horned rabit. It’s body went up to my knees and stretched nearly a meter long with it’s legs extended.

It’ll feed me for awhile yet.

I slung the rabit over my shoulders and made my way home, walking the way I came until encountering the stream and following it back. I stopped only once to dig a shallow pit to bury the kill’s innards on my way back after putting some distance from the clearing.

I had made a quick look at the dead humanoid as I neared it, the thing looked like it had some sort of genetic disease or something. The type generations of inbreeding would cause…

So… suffice to say… I would rather not meet the neighbors any time soon.

That evening I skinned and butchered the horned rabbit.

Skinning it was rather easy, I just had to make cuts around it’s feet and pretty much just pulled it off like a shirt. I then stretched it between two saplings I trimmed into posts in preparation of drying the skin over a fire tonight.

Once I finished dismantling the carcass, I quickly built myself a fire pit using stones from the stream and stocked it with extra wood I collected while building up the camp.

With the use of a fire-drill I jury rigged together, I had a fire roaring in my camp by nightfall and with it the first hot meal since awaking to this world.