Chapter 29: Damage Dealt: 0
[Herb gathering success]
[Item received: Peacebloom]
[Quest Progress:]
[Peacebloom 4/5]
[Silverleaf 5/5]
After over an hour of walking around, John was almost complete with his quest, needing only one more peacebloom. He had failed on several occasions when he tried to gather the herbs, normally because he was distracted by a nearby noise, thinking it might be some dangerous animal.
As he was walking along and looking for his final herb, he saw what looked like a small bunch of herbs gathered together at the edge of the stream that were a strange greenish-yellow colour with black spots on them
“Inspect.”
[Stranglekelp]
[Common herb used in alchemy, often found along the banks of streams, rivers and oceans.]
{Hmm, it's not on my quest list, but maybe I can gather some for Sajiko as a thank you for the help she showed me.}
Approaching the stranglekelp, John pulled out his trowel and attempted to gather them.
[Herb gathering failed]
[Herb gathering failed]
[Herb gathering success]
[Item received: Stranglekelp x 5]
In the bunch, there were eight Stranglekelp; however, he unfortunately only managed to gather five successfully, while the other three turned into particles of light and vanished.
"Not too bad." He said with a proud smile before heading off to look for his final peacebloom.
After about ten more minutes, John finally found what he was looking for, though as he got closer to it, he noticed a second herb sitting right next to the peacebloom. This herb looked like some sort of strange root, and he originally thought that's what it was, but after inspecting it to make sure, he found he was wrong.
[Briarthorn]
[Common herb used in alchemy, normally found at the base of trees.]
"If it's so common, why have I not seen it before now? I mean, I'm in a damn forest,” John grumbled before a sudden movement from a bush just to the side of where the herbs were startled him.
A moment later, a white rabbit jumped out of the bush and hopped towards the herbs before it started to gather them.
John studied the rabbit before thinking, {Inspect}
[Name: White Rabbit (Normal)]
[Monster Category: Balanced]
[Level: 1]
[HP: 100]
[MP: 20]
[Description: A white rabbit, though it may look cute and cuddly, be careful as they live in groups.]
"WHAT THE FUCK!" John shouted in surprise as he stared at the rabbit's stats. "How the fuck does a rabbit have higher attack power and endurance than me?"
His sudden shout alerted the rabbit to his presence, causing it to stare at him cautiously.
As he slowly approached the rabbit, John crouched down and slowly approached it, expecting it to flee so that he could gather the herbs. Unfortunately, the rabbit didn’t seem to want to give up its prize as it suddenly hurled itself right at his chest.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from NovelFire; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
[Damage taken: 6]
[Current HP: 94/100]
After getting hit in the stomach, John fell back on his ass and stared at the rabbit in shock.
Only after registering the pain did he say, “Ow.”
While Genesis did not give 100% pain immersion, as that would be too dangerous to the players, pain was still a thing in the game. The default pain setting when first starting was set to 20%; however, players could increase it if they wanted to, but only to a maximum of 50%.
John watched the rabbit warily as he slowly got back up while rubbing his chest where it had hit him. It had situated itself between John and the herbs while keeping a slight distance between the two of them.
"Come on, little guy, we don't have to do this, do we?" John said as he tried to reason with the rabbit, who just stared back at him. "I only need one, and I will be gone."
Whether the rabbit understood him, John didn't know because all it did was stare back at him.
John tried moving to the left a little, and the rabbit moved with him, always keeping itself between him and the herbs.
Seeing this, John decided he would try to trick the little guy. He slowly started to turn around as if making to leave, and when he saw the rabbit relax slightly, he made a mad dash for the herbs.
The rabbit, however, was too quick for him and once again hit him in the chest, causing John to once more end up on his ass.
This time, however, the rabbit did not stop there. As soon as it landed back on the ground, it seized the advantage of sitting on the ground and shot towards him again.
A dull thud was heard as the rabbit once more impacted his chest, sending John rolling backwards.
[Critical Hit]
[Damage taken: 12]
John managed to stop his roll just as he saw the rabbit leaping towards him for a fourth time, and John quickly decided to dive to the left. And as he did so, the rabbit flew right where he had just been.
[Player Dodged]
The rabbit missed and landed a couple of meters away from John before spinning around to make another leap.
John quickly jumped to his feet and watched the rabbit as it once again leapt towards him.
This time he side-stepped out of the way and smacked the rabbit away with his hand.
[Player Dodged]
[Damage Dealt: 0]
"FUCK!" John cursed as he saw the damage.
Suddenly, the bush rustled again, attracting his attention just as two more white rabbits appeared
{Inspect.}
[Name: White Rabbit (Normal)]
[Monster Type: Balanced]
[Level: 1]
[HP: 100]
[MP: 20]
[Name: White Rabbit (Normal)]
[Monster Type: Balanced]
[Level: 1]
[HP: 100]
[MP: 20]
"Shit," John said before making the only sensible choice. He turned on his heel and fled.
The rabbits chased him for a few seconds but then stopped and turned back when they got too far from the herbs.
"What the fuck, I can't even damage a level one rabbit without a weapon."
After a moment of complaining, John decided to go look elsewhere, but he made a mental note of the location just in case he ever passed this way again in the future. He was not so shallow that he would return for revenge when he was stronger, but if he ever saw the rabbits while he was passing, he might take a slight detour and return the favour. Besides, if he ever needed Briarthorn, he at least knew the location of some now, even if it was protected by some OP bunnies.
After searching for a few minutes, he heard a new notification sound he had not heard before as a notification window appeared before him.
[Message received from: Madam Death]
[Do you wish to open?]
[Yes] [No]
"Yes," John said as he could guess who this message was from, and sure enough.
[He kiddo, guess who? Yup, that’s right, it’s your favourite medical genius and necromancer fangirl, Rebecca. I added each other as friends while I was updating your access band; hope you don’t mind. (cutestonguestickingoutemoji). You’ve been in the game for a while now; log out so we can check the MK 0 results and condition.]
"Well, I guess that's it for now, shame.] John sighed out loud before saying. "Log out."
[WARNING]
[You are not in a safe zone; logging out from here will take 30 seconds, during which you will not be able to move your body. Any damage received in this time will cancel the log out procedure.]
[Are you sure you wish to log out here?]
[Yes] [No]
{Well, it's a good thing I learnt that early}
"Yes," John said before feeling his body freeze all over, and found that he was indeed unable to move it even after he tried several times.
[Log out procedure initiated]
[Log out in 29 seconds]
[28 seconds]
.....
[2 seconds]
[1 second]
[Logging out of Genesis.]
***
After he opened his eyes, John stretched his body before looking around and saw he was still lying on the medical bed while Rebecca was looking at some monitors, and Sarah and Kaela were no longer in the room.
"Ugh," John moaned as he found his body to be stiff.
Rebecca turned around on her swivel chair upon hearing his moan and smiled at him when she saw he was awake. "Welcome back, kiddo. Did you have a good time? Also, don't worry about the stiffness in your body, you get used to it, and it will be fine in a moment."
"I did,” John nodded excitedly before telling her what happened. “I arrived in the middle of Dawn Forest, then wasn’t allowed to enter the starter village because the guards wanted me to be the waiter or something, only to be helped by a Kitsune alchemist called Sajiko who said my magic felt strange. She then gave me a quest to go pick herbs where I almost got killed by a level one bunnie.”
Rebecca gaped at him in surprise as John gasped for breath after rapidly telling her everything in excitement. “What do you mean you arrived in the middle of Dawn Forest and couldn’t enter the starter village? You're supposed to spawn into the starter village after picking your name.”