The Book of Unknown Origins

Alec woke up in bits and pieces, as if his mind was fighting against him to keep him down and out for the count, but he stubbornly fought, relying on the very same pain that was the one who sent him down to wake up.

The inside of his mouth tasted faintly of blood, where he bit the side of his mouth during his tumble on the ground.

There was a strong feeling of concern he could feel from the bond so close to him, causing his foggy mind to clear up more. Curiously, with his good hand, he fumbled around in the dark, feeling for the bunny's body.

His fingers brushed against the soft, silky fur that he had grown so used to, feeling all over to make sure that there wasn't anything wrong with this terribly naughty bunny of his.

Bunbun squirmed against his faint caresses, rubbing his head against his hand, which caused Alec to feel relieved. He really wasn't hurt anywhere, which meant that he had protected the bunny properly.

Now that he was assured that the bunny was unharmed, his earlier anger came back, but that could wait for a while as he treated the worst of his wounds.

Before he could start, however, Bunbun nudged him, giving a faint feeling across the bond that he should follow him.

Alec stood up with much difficulty and his leg hit something, causing the clatter of metal. Surprised, he groped around and found a metal cup, realizing that the inside of it was still a little bit wet.

Alec raised a brow. Had Bunbun brought him water upon seeing him hurt? He didn't think that the bunny was this smart before this. There was a faint, niggling suspicion that entered his mind at that thought, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to think about anything else unless he checked, so he picked up the bunny with his uninjured hand instead.

Bunbun patted Alec's slightly bruised face, feeling both remorseful and relieved that his owner seemed to be alright.

Alec prodded the bunny's cheek with his index finger, limping slightly in the direction where the bunny directed them to. As he did this, he sunk his magic into the bunny through the bond that they shared as Awakener and Awakened.

He was not surprised when he found that the bunny's core was a lot brighter than before. It could almost rival the brightness that he found with the linkage of trees he Awakened together.

What did surprise him, however, was the faint trail of something from the core to the bunny's brain. This must be why Bunbun was displaying a lot more emotions and reasoning as compared from before.

Alec checked his magical reserves and realized that they had, once again, dropped by a fair margin, with his magical capacity hitting rock bottom. Unable to do anything about it whilst they were moving around, he could only put it off for now. Besides, it was just another faint echo where the rest of his body was screaming out in pain.

Since he did not have the slightest visibility in this darkness, he could only rely on the bunny's superior night vision to guide the both of them.

Thankfully, they did not encounter any obstacles along the way, which was almost a miracle by itself.

It reached the point where Alec was almost convinced that this was another one of the Mainframe's little tricks to try and 'help him out'. Not if he had anything to say about it!

Could it really be called 'helping out' if you had to face almost certain death before getting to safety? He didn't think so! He was sure that the fall alone would have killed him had it not grabbed on without letting go.

Even now, his fingers were throbbing in pain at every slight movement, and he was pretty sure that his shoulder was dislocated. He had to have fractured something or the other in his right leg, since it was sending spikes, and at times, entire stabs of pain back to him.

By the time they reached the pond, Alec's brow held a layer of perspiration, though he managed to avoid it mostly.

The pond seemed almost to beckon to him, with the way it sparkled slightly under the glow of shining rocks from the rocky ceiling above them.

Alec was surprised. At most, he had expected that he would find perhaps a trickle of water in one of the rocks due to groundwater, but he hadn't expected to find an underground cavern that had a pond of all things.

The pond was clearly man-made, with how precisely cut it was into a circle, and the fish inside swum without a care even as Alec dipped the metal cup that Bunbun had brought to him earlier.

The fish were unwary and did not possess the instinct to dart away when he went near it, meaning that they did not have any natural predators.

Alec was surprised. What was this place, exactly?

Should this be the work of the Mainframe, then he should find something like a miraculous legacy long forgotten by the ages of time or something, as per common plot point number four, but this wasn't it.

He didn't know how he knew, but he could feel it down in his very bones. This was something else entirely.

Looking around, he found the skeletal remains at the far side of the cavern. Alec paused briefly and prayed for the person's soul.

Beside the skeletal remains, there was a spilled over backpack, which was fantastic, because as Alec and Bunbun were running from the monster earlier, he had left behind hid pack in the tree.

With that said, Alec brushed against the bonds that he made earlier, realizing that the monster who had chased him down so persistently earlier, had not returned to the area where he was found.

He did not know if the monster was still guarding the entrance where he fell in, but with its low intelligence, it should have been distracted by something. At least, that was what Alec hoped.

What spilled out caught his attention instantly. There was a bound book of sorts, as well as a few vials of unknown liquids. He itched to take a look inside the book but put it aside for the time being.

Alec dug further into the backpack, checking the various pockets and zips. At last, he found a roll of bandages.

He placed Bunbun down on the ground, who hopped towards the strange patches of grass. Alec left him to it. With his upgraded intelligence, he should be able to effectively tell whether or not something was dangerous to his digestive system.

Alec dragged his body towards the pond, using the up once again to drink, clearing the faint, coppery taste in his mouth. He sat himself down and started pouring the water over his wounds.

This was the best he could do for now. He did not have any disinfectants, so he had to painstakingly clean out each wound with water.

If you were thinking that this was some sort of spiritual water that would miraculously recover magic and heal wounds, then you were wrong.

Alec would have indeed preferred and would have been rather grateful if it was such, but sadly, this was just plain, ordinary water, which led him to believe that the Main Character really had it good. See, even if ordinary mortals encountered common plot points, that didn't mean that they would make it out alive.

See that skeleton on the side? Yeah, he probably encountered common plot point number four as well, only to end up dying by the side. Not that Alec had any intention of going through the same thing.

Using around half of the roll to make a sling, Alec set his dislocated arm in it to prevent it from flopping around and generally making things worse.

His medical knowledge was basically zero, unlike some transmigrators who were so miraculously gifted in the art of medicine. Heh. What a joke. Even in his human life before being a System, he was lucky to receive any knowledge to fight at all, let alone anything else.

His medical knowledge basically boiled down to 'don't fucking touch it if you don't want to make it worse, idiot'.

He tended to the various cuts and bruises before letting out a weary sigh when he was done.

At least that person there was dead. It would have been a lot worse had he been required to keep up the blasted smile on his face even as he sweated from the pain that enveloped his body.

Alec imagined a terribly wounded young boy who plastered a smile on his face even as he endured the excruciating pain and shuddered. People would be freaked out instead.

Then, of course, he heard the Mainframe's voice.

[Awakened Bunbun Intelligence +1]

[Bunbun displays good critical thinking skills.]

[+10 Points]

What the fuck.